The BBC series runs on the premise. You are allowed to banish, the things from the world. That annoy you the most. The things you hate. That what gets your gander up. Things that make your blood boil. Your Bette noires and blood feuds.
I was explaining this program to someone. I thought I would put down the things that annoy me the most,
1, Air Travel.
I guess it simply can't be helped. I dread going through airport security. As I have mentioned. Untying shoelaces, is not the easiest thing for me, less for my brother. Neither, is filling out a customs or immigration form after a few hours jetlag. I have learned that there is nothing you can do, except stay quiet. Keep your answers brief and too the point. I had a moment of sheer terror once. They kept my brother behind for a few minutes.
Then there is the fun, of an Airplane toilet. The fact that they write the numbers on the sides, of the seats. Rather then upon them.
The delays. I once waited three hours, to reach immigration.
That's not even mentioning the horrors of the budget end of the market.
2
Intrusive Music.
I am slightly deaf. I don't like too much background noise. If you play Music over a certain level. So I am kept out of the conversation. Its not just music. At work, there is a machine, that moves the books between floors. If I am standing to close to it. I cannot here you. So, I basically look at people and nod, and smile or frown. Depending on how they look.
So I feel excluded. Which is no fun.
3 The Carcogenic properties of Tobacco
Why, God Why. Why did you make something so perfect, and then so deadly. It was so much fun smoking. It was soooo cool. It was an excuse to meet girls. I was part of a secret society. I loved the ritual of smoking. Is there anything finer, the a soft pack, from the Carolinas. I miss using my Lighter that I got from Hawaii.
Why did I stop
Because I went to the hospital, and would not stop vomiting. Because I was told, that you could get away with smoking, if you quit when you were thirty. Those were some of the reasons.
I haven't smoked in over a year and a half. I guess I never will.
I would feel if I was letting people down. I like the extra money.
Yet to quote Steven Fry, ``oh the whole in my heart''
4
Estrangement.
I live in exile. I am in exile in my mind. I have friends from arround the world. But they are somewhere else. I am here. If they are somewhere else I cannot be with them.
Sometimes, I wish there was someone, who was there. someone who was carried out of a bar, in Franklin. Who was barred from the G.U.U. Who crawled out the Star. Sometimes, I think it was all a dream. Sometimes, I want to know, we were there. I am a student of history. Whose personal history, is in some sense always a myth.
I write names, and places here. I know they are true, but who else does.
I was there.
5
My teenage years. If I could redo anything. I would undo my years from 11-16. High school. I loathed it. I was reasonably happy in primary school. I was odd, but I was part of the furniture. I had my niche. I then had to spend the rest of my life. Getting up early. To ride in a bus, to travel into the presence of my enemies. I was the only person, from my school, to go to my high school.
I didn't like it. They were obessed with clothing. The neatness of your blazer, and the price of your trainers. I had no interest in such things. I would go to the shops, to buy a comic. In whatever shoes came to hand. My parents sensibly didn't throw money at me, just to buy nike shoes. My time in High school coincided I realise now, with a recession in the building trade. My parents had 5 other children.
Oh and it was an all boys school. So I didn't learn how to talk to girls. There were no girls, aside from in the later years. I coped by learning to live for the breaks, then for lunch time. Then for the evening. Then for the weekend. Then for the holidays. I retreated into my shell. It was a long boring time. Punctuated by acts of cruelty. I was glad it was over.
(*) One final thing. My mother and father, had to pay for me and my brother to take public transportation to school. It was a lot of money.
It was wasted money. The council would have paid the money. Someone lied to my mother, and told them, the Council would not pay. Another parent.
So my parents forked out, a real percentage of their income. My, my sisters and brothers on fares they didn't have to pay
That's what the people were like
Depressing isn't it.
To cheer us all up, I have included a picture of Paris Hitlon as a Goth. To show us that there are things worth living for.
:)
