Subtext and flying blackboard rubbers

Remember when songs had a message?

Sorry being the hardest word.
Bridges over troubled water.
Giving peace a chance?

It seems like powerful messages died when Rihanna eventually stopped reminding us that carrying an umbrella was quite a neat idea.

Nowadays it seems all that songs are trying regularly to motivate us to do is one thing: put your hands up!
Why, I am not clear. It's no substitute for an umbrella.

I don't think that that action alone will enhance civilisation.
I don't think it will prolong life.
Unless you find yourself at the OK corral.

Or unless they are talking about volunteering.
Or school discipline.

In which case, I'm all over it.

Moving Stationery

I am throwing away a small old stapler today.
Big wow.

Only, I have had this stapler as long as I have had anything.
I used it at school and it takes pleasingly small staples.
It started to decay a few years ago. A bit broke off and the stapling became less reliable. But I stuck with it. I always enjoyed its brief repertoire whenever it worked.
And it wasn't easy to replace. Every ministapler uses different slightly less 'mini' sizes nowadays.

Then 6 months ago I resolved one final time to really find an identical replacement.
I had to research staple sizes - they are incredibly confusing in case you want to visit Wikipedia on the subject. I bought 2 wrong replacements.
Perfectly satisfactory.
But I knew they were wrong.

Eventually I tracked down the updated model of the same make and waited 6 months while Amazon said it wasn't available.
I cancelled it eventually and found a new supplier.
It arrived today.
I peeled off the mini-printer name tape from the old one labelled in my school days (when I labelled everything). It had survived impressively well. And beneath was my childhood handwritten capitular scrawl written long, long before I changed my J.And possibly predating my school handwriting prize. Though I rarely dine out on that anymore.

I have had the same box of 2000 ministaples from WHSmith costing 20p for as long as I can remember.
I have 17 of these copper staples left.
They have gone in the new stapler.
And it works fine. Of course.
I think in time we too will form firm bonds together. (I don't have a dog).

The box is in the bin.
Now the stapler has had its obituary and it feels apt.
It's in the bin too.
So, don't mess with me. I'm ruthless!


Time.
It rather passes, doesn't it?

Well hi there

Spam email is a curse but they can be clever folks.
They make it sound so personal that it looks as though it could be written only for you.
There's been a lot in the news recently about elderly folk tricked by snail mail scammers into firmly believing they are big prize winners.
But email can be just as compelling.

It feels so personal.
It seems to be addressed directly to you by someone with personal knowledge of you.
I got one today.
It created the illusion of being tailor made for me yet undoubtedly was a message they thought might somehow have a wider appeal.
I later realised it was from someone with far more numbers in their email address than letters (not the sort of calibre of person I usually mix with).
It hit home so hard, I can remember the whole message.
Hello sexy, it said.

**it.

Passion.
Not the overly seeded fruit.
Grit.
Not the stuff you find at the bottom of a parrot's cage.
Rather the stuff you put under your shoes in winter.
Heart and solidarity.
Soul, sweat, meaning.

England against the mogul and the insiduous corruption that an Australian brought back to our shores.
I think this may be the greatest week for British politicians since the second world war.
And long overdue.

Imagine this in Spain.
You can't.

Here's a joke for you. Integrity in Italy?

Or France? Politically chic? Don't make me laugh. You have to be a rich rapist to apply. And the public will still support you. You great lad.

But this is what it is to be British.
This is why it's different.
It can't be a sin to re-identify with this difference.
God knows we need a reminder from time to time.
(Even an atheist can capitalise god when he is at the beginning of a sentence).

We're not quite all the same.
We are not some entry level, lowest common denominator human.

At times, we can be better.

Once in a while..

... something makes you tingle..