Ferry advisor to Chris Grayling.what do you do?
Ferry advisor to Chris Grayling.what do you do?
When I was a kid there used to be a little footbridge over the railway line between Tarring Road and Pavilion Road, I used to go over the bridge with my mum to get some shopping and we would often stop on top and wave at the train drivers as they drove their trains under us.
The bridge now has not been repainted in about 30 years, the lights that lit your way over it have been smashed and broken countless times, different types of lighting were tried and all broken but left in place as a sad legacy of failure. A higher vertical fence was fitted to the bridge in order to stop people jumping off or throwing and dropping things on passing trains..... this proved ineffectual so they then rigged an upside down U shaped fence to completely enclose anyone who goes over the bridge, as you look through the steps you can see the accumulation of years of empty wine and spirit bottles and small bags of rubbish dumped through the gaps in the steps, the approaches now have CCTV warning signs up on both sides but it does not deter the hoodied youths and drug dealers that meet up there.
The other day as I walked over that bridge a young mum was holding her toddler up and waving at a train, I went back 50 years in a flash but all I felt was deep sadness of loss and decay.
I suppose it's both.
On the one hand it's a beautiful day, I've got a lovely family, Brighton are in the Prem, we don't live in the third world or the stone age etc etc.
On the other hand, you have to be incredibly ignorant of current affairs not to worry that .....
We're ruining our planet
There are more people with extreme views and this is impacting world politics
Global financial inequality and global warming are likely to create disruption on a level not seen since WWII
The UK is becoming a worse place to live, (on probably every metric)
I could list probably 100s of things which are going south if I had the time. Sorry, can't be happy clappy about life in 2019
That's really cool. My son was like that with buses when he was about 3. He'd memorised all the numbers and destinations so would point at every one saying "76, Meadowhead!" and so on.This just brought a massive smile to my face.
My 4yo daughter loves getting on trains. So every Friday when I pick her up from school I jump on the train from BUG to HSK just so I can take her on the train home again.
She loves it. She makes us go the the station right away to just watch them go past before ours is due just to watch them...
We always wave at the drivers and the majority always give a toot as they pass. Her face when they do is just EPIC.
Perhaps we just need to all be 4 years old again. When everything is exciting and an adventure.
As adults I think we begin to lose sight of good things as responsibilities grow to burden us.
I used to try and stop my girl jumping in muddy puddles because I didn't want her to get wet feet. Or get my car seats dirty. Now I see one and it's a shout of "PUDDLE!" The last one in loses. Who cares?! Cars can be cleaned and feet warmed up. (As long as we're on our way home. Getting wet on the way out is actually ****).
I don't know how old you are. Trust me, nothing is any worse now that it has ever been. The 60s had openly racist MPs ('if you want a n***** for a neighbour, vote labour'), rampant sexism and corruption...by the late 70s the racism had dipped a bit but we had rampant homophobia, that liberal tosser (now 'out') smearing Peter Tatchell to get elected in Bermondsey, violent corrupt police framing the nearest mug for whatever, three day week....by the 80s we had the first wave of 'no compromise with the electorate' trotskyite tosswombles infiltrating labour, Derek Hatton, rioting, the Poll tax, the Miners' strike....in the 90s we had 'back to basics' (shagging your secretary), mortgage defaulting due to insane interest rates (Lawsonomics) and Bill Archer. By the noughties everything slowly settled down. This allowed a lot of grumpy self-entitled old etonians to agaitate about Europe, and here we are, after the moronic Cameron let the dogs out, facing Brexit. But in the great scheme of things, life has improved. People smell better. Racism is regarded as a bit weird. Even NSC is relatively pleasant. Cheer up, FFS.
Come away from the news for a couple of weeks, you will feel a lot happier. Nothing you can do about those things you list either, so why waste your energy.
That's really cool. My son was like that with buses when he was about 3. He'd memorised all the numbers and destinations so would point at every one saying "76, Meadowhead!" and so on.
The best thing was when he saw a "Sorry Not In Service" bus as he'd celebrate as if Brighton had scored a goal.
A friend of ours lived near one of the main bus depots and took him there one day. She managed to charm a driver to let the nipper sit in the driver's seat of a "Sorry Not In Service" bus...... You can imagine his little face.
Can't buy that shit.
Surely these problems exist because everyone takes that attitude. Maybe we should all spend a bit less time trying to forget these things are happening and a bit more trying to so something about them?
No idea. We don't go to the shit areas of the city.Is the Hillsborough bus the one with glum faces peering out and carrying a drum?
If life seems jolly rotten,Football aside, I struggle to see anything remotely positive that's happening in the UK at the moment; education, transport, crime, the list goes on and on on...
And I've not even mentioned the 'B' word...
I'm going to head out into the natural world and just stay there. Like John Rambo.
Probably Stanmer woods...
This just brought a massive smile to my face.
My 4yo daughter loves getting on trains. So every Friday when I pick her up from school I jump on the train from BUG to HSK just so I can take her on the train home again.
She loves it. She makes us go the the station right away to just watch them go past before ours is due just to watch them...
We always wave at the drivers and the majority always give a toot as they pass. Her face when they do is just EPIC.
Perhaps we just need to all be 4 years old again. When everything is exciting and an adventure.
As adults I think we begin to lose sight of good things as responsibilities grow to burden us.
I used to try and stop my girl jumping in muddy puddles because I didn't want her to get wet feet. Or get my car seats dirty. Now I see one and it's a shout of "PUDDLE!" The last one in loses. Who cares?! Cars can be cleaned and feet warmed up. (As long as we're on our way home. Getting wet on the way out is actually ****).
If life seems jolly rotten,
There's something you've forgotten,
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps,
Don't be silly chumps.
Just purse your lips and whistle.
That's the thing.
Perhaps we just need to all be 4 years old again. When everything is exciting and an adventure.
what do you do?
In a word, engineering. Plenty of choice from the Midlands up.
I keep trying to inject some humour into NSC, but that seems to get overruled by arguing, tribalism and school playground pettiness.
Some posters like [MENTION=259]Jack Straw[/MENTION] seem to be comedyphobic as he clearly in incapable of laughter.
My daughter spoke to me for the first time in eight years last week, life is better. It might be another eight years before she speaks to me again but it's a step in the right direction.