Everyone is marching up a Mountain

Hi Everyone

If you are a long time Rubbish reader, you will know two things about me. Firstly, that I am approaching middle age, and secondly, that I am a long time enthusiastic, frustrated, and suicidal supporter of my local football team. Back in my early days, the club was usually owned by a group of businessmen with a manager, a coach, and a trainer who ran onto the pitch with a bucket of coal water and a sponge to treat an injured player. The manager was the manager and was very often there through good times and bad times until he retired. It was not unusual for a manager to be at one club for ten years or more. There were no substitutes allowed, so players would carry after a dose of the sponge. Most of the players were born within a few miles of the club where they played whereas now over 50% of the players come from countries across the world. In this just finished season, twenty two of the twenty four clubs have seen a change of manager or coach, as they are sometimes called, during the season. Only two have survived, and one of them is our manager, who would also be out of a job if some fans had their way. In the last ten years, we have had six managers. Now I know some of you are not interested in football, but hang in there, all this Rubbish is leading to politics. In the last ten years, we have had six Prime Ministers. In the previous fifty years, we had six Prime Ministers. There is clearly a connection between the two, probably because we have become less tolerant and more demanding and also, in my opinion, the fact that too many people read and are influenced by much of the rubbish posted on social media and in the newspapers. Now our latest Prime Minister has gone from hero to zero in two years, with his so-called colleagues and ‘friends’ queuing up to boot him through the door. Now, the great and the good have decided that the next Prime Minister should be a man who is not yet even a member of parliament, resulting in weeks of dither and uncertainty. Can anyone convince me, with all the world and national problems, that this is in the national interest? I think that the bucket of water with a cold sponge could be appropriate at this time to calm things down. The other comparison between the football manager and the Prime Minister is that they all walk away with a healthy compensation payment to emerge a few months later after “a period of reflection”  to secure an even better job than the one they were sacked from. 

This weekend tens of thousands of protesters have descended on London to take part in rival marches. Over 4000 police officers, together with drones, police horses and dogs, armoured vehicles and helicopters are being deployed to keep the rival protesters apart  I know that we have to preserve the right to free speech and to able to gather together and march but with the millions of pounds being spent in taxpayers money, calculated to be nearly £5m. Surely we can have some restrictions to ensure that the rival protests are not held on the same day.

This week, our son, with four of his friends, have flown in from their homes in the Netherlands to compete with 2000 others in an endurance event in the Snowdonia National Park in Wales. Three, including our son, are doing the 50K (31 Miles) challenge while one is tackling the 100K challenge, an eye watering 62miles. It includes climbing the highest mountain in Wales and two other nearby mountains. As I write this Rubbish, he has completed just over 40K and is predicted to complete the challenge in just under twelve hours. Apart from perhaps a medal, there will no open top bus celebration or monetary award. No, it is all about comradeship, endeavour to achieve and, in our son’s case, a love of the outdoors. Congratulations to all 2000 of them, and surely more rewarding than marching through London with a placard.  

Just a Thought:

At a local football game, the manager picked a centipede to play. Unfortunately, he missed the first half as he was still putting his boots on.

My friend got the sack from a knife making factory. It’s a really cut throat business.

Running long distances isn’t easy, but it really keeps you on the right track.

Brian