Dreadnowt – the Northern Battleship



As you can see, I got the bike fixed. I also finished listening to Cider With Rosie which ends so sadly but with so much promise. On to As I walked Out One Midsummer Morning. PJ Harvey has just sworn in my ear which is a nice contrast to this. I don’t believe in pathetic fallacy but maybe it has changed the mood of the day. I am feeling a bit empty at the moment despite the spring weather and comfortable surroundings. Everything seems to be just a long line of experience with no divisions. Sleep used to divide the days but sat at this desk just seems a continuation of the previous day with no separation. Several times over the weekend I wanted to write an entry here but things happened and I didn’t which probably helps keep the division between work and home which seems to be lacking in so many people’s lives.

I missed all the April Fools though I read about one which must have wound a few people up. Years ago I used to wake up at the same time as Radio 4 played their UK theme, a mixture of folk songs and sea shanties designed to represent Britain. It was a nice diversion but now the BBC have decided to drop it much to the annoyance of the Radio 4 types – strange people who believe in Ostriches in the rafters. The today programme on Saturday addressed this with the news that the replacement tune would be a collection of Euro-ditties. I imagine some overturned bowls of muesli and choking on orange juice. I suppose I would have to include myself in the description of Radio 4 Type; I would actually like the UK theme to stay not that I am awake at that time any more but that always reminds me of the company-wide email we once received which prompted a few reply-alls creating a snowball effect so that people started replying to all saying stop replying to all not realising that they had become part of the problem. Even though I knew this, it was very difficult not to click that button when the inbox got full. A colleague here was ranting about ‘breeders’ and how they got Tax benefits at the expense of young singles likes him. Much of the reply was along the lines of those kids supporting him in his dotage with their own taxes. He of course wouldn’t have that and had an attitude that bordered on no one should have kids. This of course is like a reply-all in that if no one has kids, the result will be a wasteland.

The talking point on the BBC very often has discussions of this after budgets. You’d think that we could run this country without any taxes at all. The individual comments are of course limited by being short replies and cannot hope to cover the whole subject but often they are made out of self-interest without any thought that there are people with different needs or views. I once saw someone describe Single Mothers as ‘garbage’ which is a generalisation too far. It didn’t last long. Of course the people who write to these things are often the people who can be bothered. I have so many views that I can express in single sentences but after I have I will always find myself thinking of a riposte to my own argument, a process which can echo down through all the possible components of the situation. It is best to stay out of these things because not only would I be bound to annoy someone, I would annoy myself when I realise that my own shallow comments are just as stupid as all the others. I can only wonder how tax havens work – I suppose it is a matter of scale. Anyway, taxes will always annoy someone. People just always want more than they have got. Got a thousand, you want ten thousand. Got ten thousand you want a hundred thousand. We are happy enough.