I
found myself in a rather reflective mood this morning as I watched “Downton
Abbey”. Lady Edith had been left standing at the altar after her
prospective husband thought better of tying the knot. Understandably she was a
tad miffed. I know the thing is just a made-up TV drama, but the ridiculously
rich can be miserable too. Was it wrong of me to think that her being miserable
was in some way payback for being rich?
I
sparked up the lap-top and had a look at the Internet. It was still there. I sent
out birthday wishes… and thought of someone whose birthday it was today;
someone I’ve only seen once in the last forty-eight years. When I was at Red
Lake primary school, Vivienne Barr was in the same class as me every year for
the seven years that we were both there. Her birthday was exactly one week
after mine, and every year the teachers would remark on it as though it was of
major significance, and so it has stuck in my mind. I’ve seen her once since we
both left primary school, but every year I think of February 28th as
“Vivienne Barr’s Birthday”. I wonder whatever happened to her? I think
her father was something big in Sussex Police?
I
was also presented with an advert for wellington boots. You can get them for
less than a tenner on Amazon, but the ones in the advert were branded with a
particular manufacturer of fishing gear,
and the going rate for those was twenty-five quid – and that was second-hand.
Fishing gear is a serious rip off. The stuff itself costs far too much, and
whoever makes fishing gear then sticks their logo onto clothing and mugs and
tents and all sorts of stuff, triples the price… and can’t keep up with the
demand.
With
very little else of note happening on-line I got ready for work. I’d rather not
have got ready for work. I know that no one is overly keen on the idea, but
when I started working full-time all those years ago it was on the firm
understanding that I would get a full pension on September 14th
2021. That’s eighteen months ago and what with the vagaries of politician’s
lies, a full pension is (sadly) years into the future.
The
radio’s “Thought for the Day” was interesting… in a strange sort of way.
Some vicar or other was banging on about ex-US President Jimmy Carter who this
vicar claimed was the last actively Christian president. He also banged on
about Tim Farron who packed in being leader of the Liberal Democraps because he
felt his religious views were an obstacle to his political career. This vicar
seemed to think that religious people made better national leaders as (so he
claimed) a religious outlook was synonymous with a moral perspective.
This
attitude from the righteous winds me up. Can’t people lead moral lives without
the imposed fear of eternal damnation? And as for the success of religious
leaders, just look at what’s going on in the middle east.
To
think that forty years ago I was seriously thinking of taking holy orders myself…
Today
was one of the dull days…
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