Thinking Out Loud

TV and working conditions, in that order

I have to say I watch only a little TV these days. I seem to have even gone off football, which at one time was a game I loved. I hear a lot about 'I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here'; I never did see it and didn't want to. Tony Blackburn, well I never could stand him. I thought he had gone away, Couldn't someone send him back again. And as for that woman Christine Hamilton, on no, not for me. I have also been seeing a number of photo's in the EDP under the heading, Down Memory Lane', showing a group of men years ago riddling potatoes. I just don't see the point of it all. I'm convinced the people who seem in favour of this type of thing never did go riddling potatoes in the middle of a field in the middle of winter. I did! I had more than my fair share of that and, thank you, but I don't want reminding of it. The memories are still too painful.

Am I being melancholy? No, I don't think so. Working conditions in my young days were pretty tough and I don't think we appreciate just how good we have things today. Maybe we should all be a little more thankful. The other day I was in conversation with a group of young people, aged about 12 to 16, and again it took me back to my own youth. I have always thought I have some sort of empathy with young people and I know why. Two in the group were young ladies and one had a lovely clear complexion, and the other didn't. You didn't have to ask her what her problem was; she had acne, and did that touch a nerve. As a teenager I knew all about acne. I went to the doctors about it and what a waste of time that was. It will clear up by the time you are 21, I was told. Well, I'm now 73 and I have still got it. Nowhere near as bad as years ago, but it is still there. Is that all you have got to worry about, a few spots, I was asked. You will have far worse than that before you die! That's what we were told as teenagers. Well, maybe they were right but when I left my teenage years behind I for one wasn't too upset; it wasn't all sunshine. Would you like to be a teenager again or would you like to be back at school? Well, you might but count me out.

Turning to another subject, did you ever hear of that great comedian, W C Fields? He once said, 'A woman drove me to drink but I never even had the courtesy to thank her'. Another one of his sayings was, 'I always carry a flask of whisky in case I see a snake, but then I always carry a snake'. I think it was also him who said, 'When I read about the evils of alcohol, I gave up reading'. My favourite saying about drink was the one attributed to the American singer, Dean Martin, who is reported to have said, 'I feel sorry for people who don't drink, when they get out of bed in the morning that's the best they will feel all day'. I go along with that, Cheers.

Les Lawrence