London Marathon

This time last week was the London Marathon.  What luck that it was a beautiful day with bright sun.  I haven't been able to post since because the format of the blog was changed by Those in Control, but now it's back again.  Thank you Those! and my grand-daughter, Sophie, who knew what to do. What I wanted to say was what a wonderful event the Marathon is and how lovely to have something that nobody wants to protest against.  35,000 amazing people participating, from serious athletes to those giving themselves extra difficulties by wearing animal costumes or carrying an Eiffel tower, all the essential observers who cheer them on, and all that £50 million raised for the various charities the runners run for.  It was very sad that Claire Squires died, but now pleased she would be that generous people gave so much money to the Samaritans in her honour.  When the press has done a good job of persuading us that we are a selfish, lazy lot, it was just wonderful to see this evidence that we are not.  Let's hope this fine spirit can still reign for the Queen's Jubilee and the Olympics and let London shine again.

St. George's Day

Good old Croydon!  I got to the (800-year-old) market yesterday and found St. George's Day was being celebrated.  Granted, it's tomorrow, but you can't celebrate properly on a Monday.  St David and St Patrick get celebrated with gusto every year, but recently St George has been left out of it.  There were Pearly Kings and Queens and lots of England flags around and a really festive atmosphere and the Morris Dancers were getting ready to perform and outside the church there was going to be entertainment all afternoon.  It really lifted my spirits - we don't celebrate England enough - grumbling's more our line, but I, for one, love England.  (Despite foreign-sounding name, born in Ipswich 85 years ago).  I hope the pubs will be celebrating St George as well as the other two from now on.

Sending patients home from hospital at night.

We expect our hospitals to be open for us 24 hours a day.  Sometimes it will happen that patients are ready for discharge in the hours of darkness.  If they are not fit to travel home alone, it doesn't really make much difference if it is day or night - they will feel abandoned even if deposited in their own home.  To what extent are we expecting the Health Service to care for people after they are discharged?  Those who have absolutely no family or friends are equipped with a call button so that they can summon help.  A hospital exists to treat illness or injury, not to take responsibility for what happens after this has been done.  Otherwise where does it all end?  I'm afraid that a non-existent family somehow often materialises when it is time to read the Will.

Whistling

Spring is here and the ice cream van is around and it is playing "Whistle while you work" to attract the childen.  It's surprising to hear it because that song was popular when I was only 6 or so and rushing out to catch my friend, the ice cream man, who went by every day about 3 o'clock.

It strikes me that nobody whistles nowadays, but they used to then, particularly builders as they slapped brick upon brick or window cleaners up their ladders or postmen or boys on bicycles or men cutting their garden hedges. (Women didn't whistle, and girls were encouraged not to.  "A whistling woman and a crowing hen is good for neither God nor men")   It is tempting to think people were happier then - and perhaps that isn't so far from the truth, because it's quite difficult to get your mouth into the right shape if you're unhappy.  It's not my imagination that whistling has just faded away.  After all, I don't think anybody would even think of writing a song with that name nowadays - it wouldn't click with anybody.

Up With Elites!

That silly man, and I can't bear to add to his reputation by even mentioning his name, who brought  the Boat Race to a halt, claims to be against elites.

All the wonderful inventions and discoveries that mankind benefits from have been made by members of an elite of people who are endowed with more brains, perseverance and dogged determination than the rest of us.  The young members of the Oxford and Cambridge teams have demonstrated those qualities. They are to be appreciated and encouraged. not despised and envied in that  mean-spirited way.  You don't automatically get them by being born a lord or educated at Eton.  Thomas Edison said "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration".  Being prepared to work devotedly and at personal cost  is the qualification for joining the elite.  He has the education, let him just go ahead and join them and put his energy into something productive rather than destructive.  

If you've got "Jesus" on your t-shirt, does it mean you are a Christian?

Yesterday a young woman with a baby asleep in a push-chair and another small child under her arm was trying to get off the bus.  There were several young women near her but none of them helped her.  I wondered why not - it seemed so obvious that somebody should.  When the door closed one very strong-looking, healthy girl turned around, and her t-shirt said "Worship Jesus".  Perhaps that's enough to get you into heaven?  No Christian actions required.

A piece of good news

Last Tuesday, 24/3/12, I went to a concert in the Festival Hall where 800 children from Lambeth Primary Schools sang to us.  When we found our places they were all on stage, sitting still and chatting, laughing and waving to us.  The conductor came in and asked for silence, which she got immediately.  There followed 10 songs, in various languages, sung with enthusiasm and skill and it was a beautiful experience for audience and children.  There had been only one rehearsal of the entire choir, that morning, because, of course they could not be all got together more than once, but all the work had been done in the individual schools.

Afterwards the children were kept on stage for 10 minutes while the parents followed the instructions they had received as to how to find their particular school.  We went to 3-GREEN for Rosendale and in no time Ava appeared and we went off to find ice creams on the South Bank.

I write this because we have an unfortunate tendency to stress our failures in this country, and never to rejoice at our achievements.  This was definitely a moment for rejoicing on two counts, music teaching and organisation.  Congratulations to Lambeth!

What seemed to me missing was a song at the end that everybody could sing together.  God Save the Queen isn't considered appropriate any more.  Could we not have something short and sweet that everybody can learn the words to and be generally uplifting to all?