He's back

He’s back, yes he’s back, guess who’s back, well if you’re on this blog then you know it’s me. And Jesus it’s been a long time, (sorry do we still have a blasphemy law?).

What has occurred in my long absence, or what occurred that enforced such a long absence, well let’s be honest just life, it wasn’t the ‘man’ locking me up for the few deranged ramblings that I put to virtual paper, but perhaps that’s what they told me to say!

The more important question is what has been going on, a shit load would be the easy answer, and take a lot less time to type. There’s been wars, ethnic cleansing, many a murder and the queen visiting, but enough about Dublin for the moment.

There’s been terrorist attacks, a global depression, a black president (in Uganda), alien abductions and natural disasters (no I’m not talking about the last general election). But hey, that stuff goes on all the time, we have the water charge looming! I’m glad I came back in time.

I am of course a poll tax baby and was an integral part in bringing down the rule of Satan (of course you knew her as Margaret Thatcher). When I say integral, what I mean is I stood in a few crowds and shouted, which for a Glaswegian was unusual out of a football stadium, and occasionally sat on somebody’s sofa to stop the sheriff officers taking it away, you could say I was an armchair rebel.

Am I getting old? Well older perhaps. Am I getting softer, well round about the waist maybe. Have I lost the fight after my countrymen sold out to commerce again, not at all, and let’s face it, just in case the blog title confused you, I don’t live there anymore and the commercial problems weren’t going to affect me.

So why am I not out there reliving my youth, putting a poster up in my window, (since nobody can see my windows a bit of a waste of paper, just my bit to save the rainforest), out marching and shouting or chaining myself to my water stopcock. Well to be honest it’s not a protest I find valid. The rest of Europe pays for it, and I’m sure most of Africa would pay for it if they could. Do I relish more money coming out of my pocket, hell no, I am Scottish, but I also know things have to be paid for somehow.

Yes there’s squillions of gallons of water wasted due to our antiquated and ill kept water infrastructure (on average around 40%), there’s squillions also wasted by the sorts of people who give their dog a bath instead of getting out and throwing a stick into the river for them, let’s face it, dogs smell, get over it or have a scented candle as a pet.

  So if I pay for the water I use none of that’s my problem anymore, but it might shake up the doggy dunkers, fifteen minute teeth brushes, the green and pleasant lawn brigade (we never quite have a drought fit to destroy your perfect green carpet), and perhaps it will get the water company off its soggy ass and fix some of the problems that are now going to cost them money.

At this stage I can hear the cries of ‘but we already pay for it in our taxes’. Very true but let’ take a look at that. We have mothers dying before, during and after childbirth, is it 1898, no, it’s partially due to the baby Jesus, but mostly due to our inadequate health service. Where are the hordes of marchers for that? We have homeless people freezing to death on our streets, who’s foot stamping for them? We have special needs children having support withdrawn due to an inadequate education system, I know I’ve been constantly tripping over protest camps about that. We have more than our fair share of crime, let’s not blame the criminals, there undereducated, of poor health and probably homeless, and we can’t afford enough police to catch them. Bandits please take to the streets and change this injustice.

Yes we all do pay our taxes for all of this, (except perhaps the criminals and shame on you, have a bit of civic duty), and do I mind paying for my water if I believe that the money saved from my taxes would go to save pregnant mothers and homeless people, give resources to the disabled, the disadvantaged, those soles in need, and putting some criminals behind bars, then no I don’t.

I hope it works out that way, but I am a realist, and I guess that the money my water charge will save is likely to go into a fund to make sure our politicians can earn money far over their weight and standing, and we continue to have an overstuffed public service, but I may be getting old (and obviously less Scottish), but I would rather march against something that touched my heart and not just my pocket.