Friday 7 May 2010

Grandma in Cyprus




I would like to declare here, publicly that I have bought Grandma in Cyprus a birthday card. It is written. It is signed. It has the right postage on it (£1.14). It is posted. It is her birthday on Wednesday.

I say this because earlier this year I had to write this post.

So I wouldn't want everyone to think that I'm a bad son. I have learnt my lesson.

Unfortunately, she won't be whooping it up, as she'll be flat on her back in a Cypriot hospital as she's got to have an operation on Monday. I'm sure it'll all go well as I hear good things about the Cyprus Health Service. But do wish her well on Monday. And Happy Birthday on Wednesday.

Thursday 6 May 2010

The politics of racism

It's good to see that on the day of the election, Nigel Farage of UKIP is involved in a plane crash, presumably in the hope of garnering some sympathy votes. For me, it's shame that it didn't hit the ground a bit harder. It's also been reported that the BNP candidate Bob Bailey was involved in a fracas whilst canvassing in an area with a large Asian population. I have a friend called Bob Bailey. They're not related.

I won't be voting for a variety of reasons. I'm not on the electoral register having failed to fill in the form. I might have done, but they have a habit of selling your details off to any old junk mail company. I'm not really a fan of democracy in a world which is so complicated that generally we don't have the foggiest about the real issues of the day. But I'm not suggesting I know of a better alternative. And finally, I'm loathe to vote for a party, any party, where I might support some of their policies but not all of them...so in effect I'd be voting for something I don't believe in. Call it a cop out if you like, but I don't think so. Where we live, is a very very very deep shade of blue. Last time round we lived in Bermondsey and I voted for the very nice Simon Hughes.

I will be staying up 'til the crack of sparrow watching Election night coverage in the hope of there being another Portillo moment...although this time I gather the most likely thing is for Gordon to lose his Balls...one or both I'm not sure. I may need to rethink my approach as I am a student of politics (2.1 Hons) and should be encouraging the boy to get involved.

On the subject of politics,I'd just like to raise the issue of political correctness. We're all used to behaving properly these days and avoiding is 'isms'...for me it often goes too far, and we have to be so PC it takes out much of the colour and joy of living. BUT,I am completely confused by what's OK amongst our youth and what isn't. At school,any thing that is bad is 'Jewish'. As in "That's so Jewish". I recoil in horror, but evidently its common parlance amongst the lads and lasses of every creed. And no malice is meant by it so evidently it's OK. I don't understand. By comparison, a friend (yes honestly it wasn't me) whilst waiting for someone who was late described them as being on 'African time' and that was derided with accusations of casual racism.

And tomorrow is the annual Whites vs Asians football match. Again I recoil. It gets doubly confusing because you have non-Asians playing in the Asians team. It's all good fun evidently. I'm totally confused. Any help here would be much appreciated.

Wednesday 5 May 2010

The Gallery...graveyard shift



I rather like Tara's Gallery - it's fun to see what everyone does for the weekly theme. This week, it's Paint a Picture of the World we live in...and I see there are lots of exotic places people have chosen. For me though, I've chosen the local graveyard near my office in Bermondsey. Very few people know Bermondsey, and it's a delightful place, off the beaten track - amazing considering we are just spitting distance from the big bad City. Anyway, the graveyard is used as a park now, and people come here for their lunch when it's sunny. I love it - peace and quiet, away from the roar of the traffic. The boy managed to find a fig tree, and scrumped a few last year...