My Take | A case of British ‘efficiency’ worthy of Monty Python
- BN(O) readers take note; an expat relates an extraordinary tale of how electricity was restored to a household somewhere in Britain involving no less than 10 work teams in less than a week
George Orwell is usually considered the most important British writer to warn against future political dystopia. But, given the current dysfunctional state and society of “Great” Britain, I find Monty Python to have been far more prescient. The following may serve as a cautionary tale to BN(O) passport holders from Hong Kong ready to move to what they consider to be their “home country”.
So, to continue with what a regular hate-fan has called my “disgraceful slandering” of the United Kingdom, let me relate the experience of a friendly reader who recently visited close relatives in the affluent town of Epsom in Surrey. You may actually consider the following story praise of sorts, given the work units involved in the repairs promised a completion date of August 2 when they finished the job by July 31. It is perhaps British high “efficiency” or what the reader called “‘the extremely fast progress’ made in this project”.
Now, let’s hear from our reader, whose experience – I am not joking – sounds like a comic skit straight out of Monty Python’s Flying Circus or John Cleese’s Fawlty Towers.
It all started on the dark and stormy night of July 25 when the electrical supply to their house was interrupted by what officials called “a major rainfall”, somewhat akin to a typhoon signal No 3 or No 8 in Hong Kong.
“A person came the same day/night to inspect the interruption of the electrical supply – of course nothing could be done by this ‘team’ consisting of an ‘engineer and a driver’,” the reader said.