RIOTS...

Well, Saturday night I was sat in Spain around the pool and enjoying the relaxing atmosphere.  Sunday I was vaguely aware of a rumour of trouble in Tottenham that reflected my childhood in a bizarre way; I was 13 in 1981 and remember the TV footage of Toxteth, Brixton and Handsworth in Birmingham.  My son is 13 now and watching the developing crisis with much the same mixture of fear and amazement.  This time he lives in Manchester so it's a little closer to home than my sleepy medium sized town in the east was..

Night four of rioting has just closed with Manchester, Birmingham and - strangely - Gloucester becoming involved.  The footage is quite extra-ordinary on youtube; St Ann's Square being looted for gods sake, parts of the Arndale on fire? cars driving straight at people just protecting their own homes in Birmingham (with a resulting 3 people dead)?

Soon, hopefully soon the British establishment is going to start asking the awkward questions; the political issues beihnd the reason why this has happened beyond the sheer greed of a few young people who have been brought up on a diet of consumerism and having anything they want without having to work or it, and the generation just above theirs; the twenty-somethings who seem to be in denial that it can be anything to do with social structures and is all about the lack of fairness or disgruntlement with the current government?

To me the only real question is, 'what makes the rioters think they can do this?' but then a good friend just asked me if I honestly thought the rioters even thought before acting...

Good point...

What next for this nation that proudly boasts some of the 'highest' low educational achievement in the West?

Hopefully, the British weather has come to the rescue as it has started raining today and nobody likes getting wet - least of all the pathetic, cowardly little kids that have formed a large number of the looters...

Here's hoping...
 

LET IT SNOW...

Snow. Snow. Snow. Lots of it. And this time, for a very long time – at least in the balance of 21st century weather patterns (which isn't hard given this is the 10th year of 100?).. or is this just a tipping point?

I do love snow. It brings out the best in people and the worst in people. How many times in the past few days have you heard people moaning about the snow and ‘when will it go away’ or ‘it’s alright but I’ve got things to do’.

My advice to all is simple. Get over it. Not a damn thing you can do about it. You ain’t that important and if you didn’t turn up for work for a few days, you know what? Not a damn thing would change anyhow.


Don’t get me wrong, life isn’t as easy with it. This morning I had to spend 30 minutes digging a channel to two chicken coops and digging them out before I could even get food and water to them. And the water is freezing within an hour so it needs changing and warming back up again. You have to spare some thought for the animals that are stuck out in this stuff – one or two hours wrapped up in trendy, bright coloured Berghaus or North Face clothing with a bobble hat to top it all off and us humans are as toasty as anything. Then we return to the comfort of our constantly running central heating (not our house I hasten to add!) and log fires (our house, most definitely).

I live on a hill. A very steep hill that is exposed to the wind. This means my hill is cut-off – to all but those with (some) Land Rovers, tractors and quad bikes.. but when it really snows, then forget any of these as feet are the only useable method of transport.


So, as I take it easy over the next week or two (the forecast is for more peeps!) this gets me a thinking..

What are life’s essential comforts when you get snowed in?

1. Top of my list has to be a warm human being to cuddle up to. Preferably an attractive one with a brain and plenty of conversation as well as warm blood pumping through their veins. It helps.
2. A pub within 2 miles walk, that has a real fire and serves good beer.
3. A sledge for the fun of it.
4. Call of Duty MW2 on PS3 (rumour has it that Xbox’s give up the ghost in such extreme weather – tongue embedded in cheek)
5. A Land Rover.
6. Plenty of books.
7. Plenty of red wine.


In this weather, my life is truly complete!