My son’s camcorder sold on eBay today – he didn’t get quite as much as I would have liked, but it sold and considering it’s been languishing in a cupboard for such a long time we can hardly complain!
So we were also invited to a barbecue today. It was someone’s birthday and since she works with my brother we got invited. I didn’t know anyone there apart from my brother, sister, brother-in-law and niece and now I’ve been I have to say I’m rather glad that I don’t know anyone there. To say it was a collection of – libel laws prevent me from saying what I think – would be a serious understatement.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not a prude, judgemental or a snob. But I give thanks to God above that although I was born scum I have risen sufficiently from my station of birth to be considered ‘not scum’. To be surrounded by uber-scum was, therefore, something of a shock, to say the least. What was even more shocking was that this took place not in a ghetto somewhere, but in a genteel, suburban area where one might expect to find a degree of refinement.
One would have been disappointed.
This one was very disappointed.
Enough said.
I then read something on BBC news that put things into perspective. Here’s the headline.
A 21-year-old man has been charged with the murder of a student on a train in Cumbria.
This is in broad daylight, in a train full of passengers, on a quiet Sunday. It sends a shiver down the spine to think what kind of world we are living in now. Here’s another headline from today, although the incident took place yesterday.
A 23-year-old man who was attacked near a nightclub in Glasgow city centre on Saturday morning has died.
How about this, relating to a 19 year old?
North Wales Police have named a teenager who died when the stolen car he was driving was in collision with a taxi minibus in Denbighshire.
Or this?
A man was stabbed when he asked a group of up to 20 youths to stop smoking on a bus, police said.
This is about an attack on a 14 year old.
Police have released two teenagers on bail and arrested a further person over the stabbing of a 14-year-old boy outside a high school in Birmingham.
This one relates to a man who pulled a gun on a shop assistant.
A 34-year-old man is in a serious condition in hospital after being shot by police in the south of Glasgow.
This I found most disturbing as it’s a local story and involves the death of a little child – always tragic.
A two-year-old boy died and his father was left seriously ill after a fire at their flat in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
I suppose the newspapers and news agencies generally will give us the most dramatic stories – it sells papers, after all – but there’s something unsavoury about just how many tragedies occur everyday. I’ve noticed that they all seem to occur in clusters, too. It’s a bit like air-crashes, since they never seem to occur on their own, but generally if you hear about one you’ll hear about others within a short timescale. Like the old joke about three busses turning up together, but with far more serious consequences and no punchline.
Having said all that I’ve just lowered my mood for the evening so no story writing tonight.
Maybe tomorrow.