“I've Got a Brand New Pair of Roller Skates...”
Well,
no I haven't, in fact I've never had a pair of roller skates
furthermore my one attempt at roller skating was about as successful
as my one attempt at ice skating. No, this was just the line of a
song by Melanie that I couldn't get off my mind last week.
Melanie
was, as it happens, one of my favourite singers from the 1960's and
70's but this column
is not about her.
So, if it's not about roller skates or Melanie what
is it about?
I've
been writing these columns, or blogs if you prefer, since 2008. With
no editor and no restrictions it's sometimes hard to resist the
temptation to just let off steam and write an angry piece about
something that particularly annoys or upsets me. Okay I did manage to write about Brexit, which made me at times very angry indeed,
without using any bad language but it wasn't easy. Corona seems to
have provided me with more humour, especially in the form of
cartoons, than maybe it should. Nonetheless there are still plenty of
things in the world to get angry about! The plight of millions of
refugees. The rise of nationalism and populism. The polarisation of
opinions. Racial and other inequalities in our societies,
anti-Semitism, modern slavery, the needless destructions of natural
habitats causing the extinction, or near extinction, of many wild
animals and more. I have often, in my head, formulated quite lengthy, angry but
well argued articles on most of the above. So why haven't
I published them? Well firstly because the articles in my head often
turn out to be rambling, disjointed, too long and not well agrgued at all when transferred to
print.
If
my outrage has been caused by a particular event, by the time I get
around to writing about it the the news will have moved on and my
anger may well have subsided.
Also I really don't want to add to the stream of negativity that
tends to result from 24/7 news coverage. There is always some natural
or man made disaster taking place somewhere. Worldwide there are always demonstrations, war, crime waves, cruelty and injustices happening somewhere. That doesn't mean they are happening all the time
everywhere!
Yes
I had planned a column on racial discrimination and anti-Semitism. On how I've never really been able to understand either. There are
enough people I dislike but judging an individual by the race,
colour, nationality or religion they belong to is for me both
unthinkable and unacceptable and has been since I was really very
young.
But
there is another compelling reason for not delivering a
bad tempered lecture on these or other topics. I think that
most who choose to read these columns are like most of my
friends: we can and will disagree on details, sometimes heatedly, but
on the whole we have much the same opinions on most serious subjects.
I
would, in effect, be shouting at the wrong people – preaching to
the converted!
So
what I've decided to tell you today is simply that I have a brand new
bicycle.
Despite
being a cyclist for years I haven't had many really new bikes.
I've
had it for a week and I'm as happy as a child with a pair of roller
skates!
Melanie
