Hi Everyone
When I was young it usually was about once a year, then it became about once a month, then weekly and now it seems like every day that I think that I am living in an alien world. OK, I know that part of the reason is that I am approaching middle age, but just this week we have had the Donald/Stormy show, we have had a week of sunny warm weather, the Northern Lights have moved further south than for years and we have had the European Song Contest. I think that we became aware of it in about 1960 and I remember watching the whole thing eagerly waiting to find out which song was the winner and how many points the UK singer or group got. For many years since, we have made sure to do anything to avoid it. From those early beginnings, it has evolved or should that be descended into a silly farce. First of all five of the countries are not even in Europe including Australia and Russia. It is probably the one programme that Putin will allow his flock to watch as it no doubt helps him to persuade them that everyone in the West is bonkers. Now to avoid it you just had to hide for three hours on Saturday night. Now it is in your face for almost the whole week. In the old Western films, the hero had to be the fastest on the draw to survive. Now we have to be the fastest TV remote controller to make sure you miss it. After all that Rubbish I thought an alternative title might be The Eurovision Groteque Outfits Contest, or the Eurovision Weird People Contest, or the Eurovision Not Very Good Singers Contest. None of it relates in any way to my interpretation of the word song. The writers and lyricists of the Great American Songbook era must be wondering if, like me, they are in an alien world.
If you are a long time Rubbish reader you will know that the Living room in the Fruit, Vegetable, Flower, Lolly and Game shop was about 12 feet square with five doors off it making it a cold and draughty place to live especially in the winter with the Senior Partner in total control of the coal fire with its five carefully placed pieces of coal that had to last the whole day until I escaped to my even colder Bedroom. In the corner of the room by the door into the Kitchen was a radio, that was, for many, our window on the world. It was about three feet high in dark wood and, unlike many of the houses in the streets behind us, it was powered by electricity, something that the Senior Partner embraced until the quarterly bill came through the door. Many of the houses behind us relyed on gas for lighting and cooking with coal for heating. Now Marconi might have done a great job inventing the radio but he was a miserable failure when it came to inventing a gas powered radio. That was good news for Mr Hawkins who had his radio shop across the road as he sold them all battery radios, not the 3 AAA batteries of today but a car size battery called an accumulator. In fact, most radio owners had two accumulators. Each one would last a few days before being taken to Mr Hawkins to sit on his floor to ceiling wooden racking waiting to be recharged. Now we listen to the radio the size of a small trinket box or even with pods in our ears as the roam the world. Not sure whether the alien world was now or then.
This week I read a line that said "Grab a friend and have a hug". Apparently the longer the better. A ten second hug eases depression and boosts the immune system. A twenty second hug counteracts the effect of stress on high blood pressure and the heart. When I go to see my Practice Nurse at the surgery, she gives me statins for my heart and blood pressure tablets when all she needs to do is give me a 20 second hug to save the National Health Service millions. I presume however that for this to work, I would need to go for a daily hug which could lead to complications for both of us so, on reflection I think I will stick to my 'free' tablets.
Just a Thought:
I am thinking of changing my name to Billy so that I can get my own radio show. That way I will finally get to be a Billy-on-air. Boom Boom
I can use all the hugs I can get.
Nurses cannot fix stupid, but they can sedate it.
Brian
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