Dealing with citizenship

In a couple of weeks unlike a good 99% of the time I will be engaging in adult activities for a few minutes having spent a hour thinking things through just a bit first so you may well be wondering "and how do you of all people do that?"

The first thing to say is I had an interest in current affairs - what is happening and why - in childhood because when we joined the Common Market that was something that was talked about in class cos whatever you thoughts now, it was a change in our lives we would be living with.

We had a good number of visitors to school who were people like visitors like the late Baroness Shirley Williams ministers and educationalists and indeed I did have afternoon tea with then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at No. 10 Downing Street no less.

We did debate things, often very spiritedly because really we we learning to listen to different points of view and reply to them rather than 'cancelling' them.

I could at twelve and even a little early get to grips with key issues and the things in common and the things that differ between different peoples views being less concerned with the frankly childish bear pit that is Party Politics and rather more at trying to solve problems and make things run better for the ordinary person.

Like a number of areas we have Police and Crime Commissioner elections and what I am more interested in are things like ensuring people who report a crime do feel that crime is important and will be looked into, that no one section of community are able to feel they are above the law and that people are able to go about their lawful activities without fear and intimidation.

I also feel much needs to be spent on providing youth services to both provide a path away from anti social activity and to offer opportunities to learn life skills like resolving differences in ways that don't include the use of knives. 

There were swinging cuts to the youth budget before the pandemic kicked in and that saw youth clubs shut with increases in crime and anti social behaviour in some areas that didn't just cause problems fro residents but also resulted in actions against the police whose job it was to see and respond to incidents.

I think a refocusing on youth prevision would be a good idea as we come out of lockdown.

Purely personally I don't feel these positions actually do that much for ordinary people when you bear in mind many councils have Police Committees with a chairman who do meet with the public.

I don't feel one commissioner and a deputy plus admin is the best use of very scarce resources given they achieve little more than the committees themselves did before for rather less money.

I'll be looking at the candidates manifestoes and deciding which I feel is the best given we can't opt out of having one

Moving on

 

It could be easily me any day of the week reading Commando magazines or the Beano if you were to drop by and actually see me, face little different from my early teens ditto much of my frame.

It would of been and whenever I got the chance when I was in my mid teens with my folks away just how I looked even by that era's stands still more of a boy than a 'young man' or an teen aping young men wanting that status.

That was a bit of that battle I talked about on That Uniformed School Boy last week was really about at the time because it was a status I didn't want nor need because frankly I couldn't actually use it and in any event I never saw myself as a teen never mind a young man in the making.

I've utterly dropped any pretence of being other than just a little boy of ten openly referring to "going out to play", talking of "The grown ups are talking about..." clearly disassociating myself from them and instead just being happy to be a boy of little consequence, who has things done and bought for him, showing his gratitude accepting lesser status.

Just tearing up my adult side publicly looking like and acting from my ten year old self was the best thing I did. Blow away dandelion.

I just feel so much more at ease with myself.

The value of being there

As this week gone two irreplaceable public figures who I knew personally have died, it's time to talk about what matters.

It always seemed to me the best moments were the unplanned, unscripted ones where you just gave something a shot for the heck of it, seeing how it might come out not that I'd suggest going out for overnight hiking trip without planning it and making a checklist.

No just things like taking a piece of paper and just getting down an idea in your head whither or not it's a drawing or words or making something using techniques you'd not previously used.

The other thing really is having done it, that feeling of satisfaction and the need we have to share it with people who care about us which might be making that phone call to say you won something or like the boy here, showing Mum his latest and greatest drawing.

I feel that being prepared to take time out of what you were doing and engage with people especially children when they've just achieved something really matters in encouraging them to work on their potential.

Does it matter if the washing up is a smidgen delayed for looking at and talking to him about that drawing, encouraging him in his exploration of art? 

Many have remarked the best way to learn about what's on a boys mind is through talking with him as he does things with you, not formal conversations in the front room.

Time spend with him like that is invaluable and the time these people made for me is time that made differences for the good.

Rest at Easter edition

 After the last few posts this week I thought I'd write something a little different.

It was the case for part of this last week I was ill with a migraine, periodic complication that goes back well into childhood where I can vividly remember  having to stay in my bedroom at the age of seven in our second family home in bed with the proverbial sick bucket by me for a few days.

That was what it was like month after month, missing events, spending time out of class playing catch up later on when you struggled with lessons anyway with undiagnosed at the time dyslexia so a part of this life remains unchanged too.

You learn to hold on to the possibilities of tomorrow, the life after such spells of ill health  looking forward to better days.

In some ways those days this last week were the same for this eternal boy, just about making it to Easter spending time outdoors recovering before watching some sport on tv and the Easter service with the boy choristers from Canterbury and having my easter eggs in smallish chunks to reduce the likelihood of at least getting a headache but able to enjoy such boys treats anew.