The only thing nicer than a clear sunny day in London is a clear sunny day in London when everyone but me is holed up inside watching England vie for glory in the Football World Cup. There is a gloriously eerie, oddly reverent feeling as one wanders the peacefully deserted streets. Like Good Friday in sleepy 1980s Brisbane or Christmas morning in the middle of a snow storm. The traffic is minimal, pedestrians few and far between, the air is cleaner somehow; all that hope and anticipation somehow palpable and purifying.
An employee at Tesco today offered me three coloured foil wrapped packets for the Off-Spring - in tow for a mini-non-weekly shop (we have a teeny fridge so I shop every day). I said what is that - he said something about football match cards. Off-Spring 1 shook his head at me. Off-Spring 2 was oblivious - gazing at the ample rear of yet another scantily clad shopper blocking the aisle with her ample rear and trolley of alcoholic beverages, chips and dips - clearly a better social life than me. Off-Spring 3 was snoozing in the buggy. "No thanks," I said politely. "We don't do football." Well Mr Springgirl does and the Off-Spring follow it fleetingly when one of the nations of their parents is competing, but the idea of cards and what-not, well... just not their thing. I say all of that with no judgement or criticism of football, its followers or players. I think its like curry - you either get it or you don't, no harm done.
Anyway, while I relish the prospect of an outing to somewhere usually too popular and touristy to attract us on a weekend, I fear that the pollen count will be too high, as usual, to tempt me far from home. I have several new "fine lines" around my eyes after a vicious week or rubbing and attempted eyeball extraction due to the thick layer of tree and grass detritus accumulating in my facial orifices. I am now on not less than 4 medications, none of which seem to help. I did steer clear of the one with the stated side effect of "Agitation" feeling I had plenty of that already. Nevertheless, what might be a glorious Sunday in the city will no doubt be an itchy, sneezy, scratchy throated rush for indoors and air-conditioned comfort, sans TV coverage of sports.
I think the pool might be the trick. I would think even the Eastern European ladies (see previous post for insights on public pools) might be keen to see Germany defeated by England and stay home in honour. I would definitely will not want to be anywhere near a park or recreation centre tomorrow before the game as all those dads wanting a peaceful time come 3pm kick-off will be out in the morning earning their time off for good behaviour to watch the match and sink a few lagers.
I read somewhere about the lengths men will go to in order to secure football watching entitlements during the World Cup. I felt sorry for them, I have to say. Do they not know they can just watch it on line, or visit a friend or a pub or buy a second tv? Why so much drama? I am no fan of the beautiful game but I would hardly begrudge anyone else their 90 minutes pleasure. Also, have there WAGs not heard of credit?
I was, nevertheless, contemplating a world without football. How would that go? Can you imagine what men might do instead? It boggles the mind.
That got me thinking about imagination. I was at a meeting of parents at my sons' school discussing preparation for the school fair looming shortly. It was generally regarded as desirable that large raffle prizes or tombola (crikey) for kids prizes consist of something called a DS. I gather this is a hand held gaming device. I said - "Why not a scooter, a skateboard or a-?" I did not finish my question. The response was incredulity. No - they want DSs. It reminded me of the parents that say - how do you fly long haul without a portable DVD player? (If you are not acquainted with economy class travel on most large commercial jets you may not know that they now offer over 3000 forms of audio visual distraction per sector. I daresay a few less for the little ones...)
Has this generation truly lost all capacity to amuse their kids without a device? Could a child of under 11 not be expected to enjoy a board game, a trip to a country house full of treasure or the aquarium, an overnight stay in a museum for himself and some pals, a ticket to (God forbid) a football match or a even a voucher that he might redeem for lego, a bike, a present for a loved one, a train ticket on the TGV - or any other amazing and fantastic treat that only well-to do kids in a place like London can have access to?
Oh -no! For the pinnacle of all youthful ambition is the DS, of course. Just as the Gen Y hoards lining up outside the Apple Store and high street phone shops (Vodafone at High St Kensington, London sold its entire stock of 21 within 30 minutes of opening on Thursday) will attest, you ain't no one without the latest device (i-Phone).
We have attended parties for 8 year olds and had no one to talk to as all the children were busy seated next to each other on the sofa silently playing their DSs. Yes - this is a great time to be alive. I daresay what they lack in capacity to amuse themselves without technology they make up for in their concentration and hand eye coordination skills. Which, after all is all they will need going forward.
However, being something of a Luddite and having withstood the DS pressure - the Off-Spring are throwbacks - and fearful of the retardation of developing interpersonal skills in young people I established a coaching business aimed at nurturing a love of the spoken word and the great art and pleasure of verbal communication. It is great fun, replete with learning and challenge and the kids who participate seem to like it too.
However, a number of the attendees have what might be termed (by my "old-school" Dad, at least) ASS (Attention Seeker's Syndrome). I am not a strict old fuddy duddy in these classes, despite what I may appear from this blog. Rather, I am all about the fun, creativity, thinking and speaking skills and imagination play. But even with that latitude for some it is a struggle to come up with an idea of their own. (If any parents are reading this don't take me amiss). But it is very interesting. Is this a symptom of modern life and the pace or style of family interaction? Is it common, or typical? Is it me? I love those children and I am privileged to be part of their learning journey but I wonder if there is something happening to our kids.
So I say, we levy a surcharge or tax on the sales of all kid oriented electronic devices (and food) and direct the takings to the Department of Education to fund research and interventions to manage the longer term impact of being amused all the time by a machine and thus deprived of human interaction at levels regarded as necessary for sustainable human development.
Might draft a letter to that nice new Prime Minister tomorrow while that match is on and the kids are busy building forts with the play-dough.
Showing posts with label football. Show all posts
Showing posts with label football. Show all posts
Saturday, 26 June 2010
Saturday, 19 June 2010
Port out, starboard home (via Waitrose, dahling!)
A recent opinion poll conducted by Opinium Research asked participants to comment on what makes a person "posh". I chanced upon this in an article in Waitrose Weekend.
The poll was commented on by MSN UK:
Employing a cleaner, saying "supper" instead of "dinner" and owning an Aga are among the current indicators that one is posh, according to a study. A quarter of those questioned consider spending more than £10 on a bottle of wine to be posh... Other markers include telling others what school you went to while in your 30s, doing the weekly shop at Waitrose and drinking Earl Grey tea... Almost two in three people (63%) would not want to be considered posh but just 11% said they would not marry a posh person.
Quite apart from finding this alarmingly twentieth century, it was disappointingly self-congratulatory that Waitrose - a nice supermarket - featured an article by one of its contributors on this very topic. We should all be terribly pleased that by shopping there we are by definition posh (weekly shops only, note!). I am, as ever, struck, by the on-going fascination that British people have for their class system.
First, who did Opinium ask these questions of? Second, why "posh"? Is posh not a terribly antiquated concept? Third, does the Earl Grey have to be Twinings or Waitrose brand or can any wannabe-pretender shop for tea at Lidl and qualify? Fourth, many of the cleaners flourish due to the long hours their employers spend at work. Fifth, have you met anyone who does not mention their school? Schools seem to be the one topic one can safely rely on as an icebreaker these days. Do I only know posh people?
It seems almost Victorian to know (let alone care) whether the tea one drinks makes one a better class of person. What does lapsang souchong or orange pekoe say for one? For the uninitiated - like the unwary Australian who may have gone to the best schools and had opera season tickets - there are many pitfalls involved in this national preoccupation. How terrible to meet the admission criteria for Oxbridge but come unstuck when accidentally and unwittingly referring to the Ladies as anything other than the Loo.
I grew up thinking loo a rather horrid word, you see. Indeed, toilet is not great, but finding out that loo is the only acceptable middle class nomenclature took me somewhat by surprise. That was before I discovered that the room in which one sits and entertains friends, watches tv (if one is not so nouveau riche as to have a "media" room) listens to radio plays and "Just a Minute" on Radio 4 and sips one's prosecco also has a particular name.
Choose the unacceptable working class names from the following:
drawing room
sitting room
living room
parlour
lounge
reception room
I was initiated into the vagaries of the class system when fresh off the boat from the colonies. It was all explained to me by my posh Cambridge (!) chums (this was 1995, not 1925, mind you). Naturally, the underlying assumption was that one wants to be perceived as posh or at least middle class (and not lower MC or recently joined the MC). Reading the correct newspapers and magazines will help create an image. As does allegiance to sporting teams and codes. The music acts or writers one follows can also be important. As can one's neighbourhood, pub, referred food and drink, holiday destinations, shops and ways of dressing.
Over the past 15 years I can point to several rules that have been broken, flouted or abandoned by the MC. Discretion, being one that springs to mind. Hence, I dare say, this new poll and its futile attempt to reclassify the criteria for admission to the ranks of the posh. The ground has shifted and people need to know where they fit in.
Correct me if I am wrong, dear Aussie reader, but where we come from we seem to be less concerned with such ideas. Is ours a virtually classless society? Certainly, there are "haves" and "have-lesses" and the "right" schools, shops and brands have always been around, but we tend to prefer to view one another as mates, do we not? Success, energy and a smile for our neighbour carry more weight than the tea we favour. That is not to say that old school ties and clubbishness does not abound. But would we call such prejudices middle class? Perhaps we have more colourful terms for people that don't drink Earl Grey, than "working class". Or perhaps these sorts of distinctions have become blurred so much that the criteria applied in the UK would not really sort the toffs from the louts at all, down under.
I accept that people love to know where they sit in the pecking order. But do one's proclivities towards eating crisps, rather than hummus, or camembert over beer nuts tells one very much?
Indeed, many of the best bred young fellows follow "working class" sports, anyone can find someone to sponsor their membership of the Turf Club, sit on a board or two or buy a boat.
So I wonder if the selection criteria ought not to be challenged and changed. Assuming of course, that it mattered an iota.
It seems that being of a "class" is itself rather outdated. Very old world - old tech - if you like.
In a time when we have at our fingertips the means to discover not only what prosecco is, but God forbid, buy it from the comfort of our Reception Room, while watching football highlights or catching up on what Posh said to Becks in Hello, book a flight in "Upper Class", sip imported lager and special blends of tea flown in from Latin America via India and gain a university degree remotely, concepts such as class seem to have no currency at all.
The classrooms in the better public schools are a melange of second generation Brits whose parents have toiled night and day in off-licences, children of civil servants, surgeons and media dahlings and the cherubs of lingerie models and pizza franchise owners and made-it-big before the GFC city traders.
Are we not all "middle class"? Do we not all aspire to holiday anywhere that makes a "Hottest" or "best" list? Don't we all want to give our children the best of everything? While it may not be a completely level playing field, all the privilege that the middle classes of yesteryear enjoyed are now easily attained. Indeed, with a limited supply of talent or good looks, plenty of luck and a rich pinch of connections, not even a parlous lack of education, intelligence or conversation can get in the way of the enviable celebrities of this generation. The privileges that the lower classes once aspired to? Mulitple tvs, annual holidays abroad, private school, straight (white) teeth? Hardly a big deal these days.
How can foie gras or Rigoletto rate a mention these days?
It is time for a new poll. Class questionnaires are truly a thing of the past.
The issues today are more substantial and heavy hitting. Try these for example:
Are you cool?
Are you tech-savvy?
Are you green?
Are you organic, aruvedic, yogic or charmic?
Do you smoke?
Do you have a purpose?
Have you adopted a child from the developing world?
Have you posted a DVD on You Tube?
Do you know the lyrics of all the Lady Ga-ga songs?
Are you obese?
Do you drive a small or a large car?
Are you a domestic god/goddess?
Are you conservative?
Do you pay taxes?
Have you ever suffered from depression?
Are you extrinsically motivated?
Do you work?
Do you believe in (a) God?
Do you care who wins the World Cup?
Are you a Coke Zero or Diet Coke person?
Apple or PC?
Can you think for yourself?
Twitter?
The poll was commented on by MSN UK:
Employing a cleaner, saying "supper" instead of "dinner" and owning an Aga are among the current indicators that one is posh, according to a study. A quarter of those questioned consider spending more than £10 on a bottle of wine to be posh... Other markers include telling others what school you went to while in your 30s, doing the weekly shop at Waitrose and drinking Earl Grey tea... Almost two in three people (63%) would not want to be considered posh but just 11% said they would not marry a posh person.
Quite apart from finding this alarmingly twentieth century, it was disappointingly self-congratulatory that Waitrose - a nice supermarket - featured an article by one of its contributors on this very topic. We should all be terribly pleased that by shopping there we are by definition posh (weekly shops only, note!). I am, as ever, struck, by the on-going fascination that British people have for their class system.
First, who did Opinium ask these questions of? Second, why "posh"? Is posh not a terribly antiquated concept? Third, does the Earl Grey have to be Twinings or Waitrose brand or can any wannabe-pretender shop for tea at Lidl and qualify? Fourth, many of the cleaners flourish due to the long hours their employers spend at work. Fifth, have you met anyone who does not mention their school? Schools seem to be the one topic one can safely rely on as an icebreaker these days. Do I only know posh people?
It seems almost Victorian to know (let alone care) whether the tea one drinks makes one a better class of person. What does lapsang souchong or orange pekoe say for one? For the uninitiated - like the unwary Australian who may have gone to the best schools and had opera season tickets - there are many pitfalls involved in this national preoccupation. How terrible to meet the admission criteria for Oxbridge but come unstuck when accidentally and unwittingly referring to the Ladies as anything other than the Loo.
I grew up thinking loo a rather horrid word, you see. Indeed, toilet is not great, but finding out that loo is the only acceptable middle class nomenclature took me somewhat by surprise. That was before I discovered that the room in which one sits and entertains friends, watches tv (if one is not so nouveau riche as to have a "media" room) listens to radio plays and "Just a Minute" on Radio 4 and sips one's prosecco also has a particular name.
Choose the unacceptable working class names from the following:
drawing room
sitting room
living room
parlour
lounge
reception room
I was initiated into the vagaries of the class system when fresh off the boat from the colonies. It was all explained to me by my posh Cambridge (!) chums (this was 1995, not 1925, mind you). Naturally, the underlying assumption was that one wants to be perceived as posh or at least middle class (and not lower MC or recently joined the MC). Reading the correct newspapers and magazines will help create an image. As does allegiance to sporting teams and codes. The music acts or writers one follows can also be important. As can one's neighbourhood, pub, referred food and drink, holiday destinations, shops and ways of dressing.
Over the past 15 years I can point to several rules that have been broken, flouted or abandoned by the MC. Discretion, being one that springs to mind. Hence, I dare say, this new poll and its futile attempt to reclassify the criteria for admission to the ranks of the posh. The ground has shifted and people need to know where they fit in.
Correct me if I am wrong, dear Aussie reader, but where we come from we seem to be less concerned with such ideas. Is ours a virtually classless society? Certainly, there are "haves" and "have-lesses" and the "right" schools, shops and brands have always been around, but we tend to prefer to view one another as mates, do we not? Success, energy and a smile for our neighbour carry more weight than the tea we favour. That is not to say that old school ties and clubbishness does not abound. But would we call such prejudices middle class? Perhaps we have more colourful terms for people that don't drink Earl Grey, than "working class". Or perhaps these sorts of distinctions have become blurred so much that the criteria applied in the UK would not really sort the toffs from the louts at all, down under.
I accept that people love to know where they sit in the pecking order. But do one's proclivities towards eating crisps, rather than hummus, or camembert over beer nuts tells one very much?
Indeed, many of the best bred young fellows follow "working class" sports, anyone can find someone to sponsor their membership of the Turf Club, sit on a board or two or buy a boat.
So I wonder if the selection criteria ought not to be challenged and changed. Assuming of course, that it mattered an iota.
It seems that being of a "class" is itself rather outdated. Very old world - old tech - if you like.
In a time when we have at our fingertips the means to discover not only what prosecco is, but God forbid, buy it from the comfort of our Reception Room, while watching football highlights or catching up on what Posh said to Becks in Hello, book a flight in "Upper Class", sip imported lager and special blends of tea flown in from Latin America via India and gain a university degree remotely, concepts such as class seem to have no currency at all.
The classrooms in the better public schools are a melange of second generation Brits whose parents have toiled night and day in off-licences, children of civil servants, surgeons and media dahlings and the cherubs of lingerie models and pizza franchise owners and made-it-big before the GFC city traders.
Are we not all "middle class"? Do we not all aspire to holiday anywhere that makes a "Hottest" or "best" list? Don't we all want to give our children the best of everything? While it may not be a completely level playing field, all the privilege that the middle classes of yesteryear enjoyed are now easily attained. Indeed, with a limited supply of talent or good looks, plenty of luck and a rich pinch of connections, not even a parlous lack of education, intelligence or conversation can get in the way of the enviable celebrities of this generation. The privileges that the lower classes once aspired to? Mulitple tvs, annual holidays abroad, private school, straight (white) teeth? Hardly a big deal these days.
How can foie gras or Rigoletto rate a mention these days?
It is time for a new poll. Class questionnaires are truly a thing of the past.
The issues today are more substantial and heavy hitting. Try these for example:
Are you cool?
Are you tech-savvy?
Are you green?
Are you organic, aruvedic, yogic or charmic?
Do you smoke?
Do you have a purpose?
Have you adopted a child from the developing world?
Have you posted a DVD on You Tube?
Do you know the lyrics of all the Lady Ga-ga songs?
Are you obese?
Do you drive a small or a large car?
Are you a domestic god/goddess?
Are you conservative?
Do you pay taxes?
Have you ever suffered from depression?
Are you extrinsically motivated?
Do you work?
Do you believe in (a) God?
Do you care who wins the World Cup?
Are you a Coke Zero or Diet Coke person?
Apple or PC?
Can you think for yourself?
Twitter?
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