The Gricer

"A Life Well Lived" Woke up this morning, like you do, and heard an advert for a credit card which contained the  line 'a life well lived'. What, I thought, would that be? A decade or more of being taught what was required of you to fit in for several more decades of productive output. How to read, write, do as you're told, wear your uniform uniformity.  Do not question, do not walk on the grass, do not rock the boat, obey the rules no matter how absurd, obey your teachers, your bosses, your rulers. Get out there and buy, consume the product, the planet, each other. Own a house, a car, a big screen television, drink alcohol, eat chocolate, wear a white shirt, shine your shoes. Be punctual, follow the mores, tenets and shibboleth. Go for promotion, climb the greasy pole, take your responsibility seriously, pull your weight, play for the team, pray to your god.  Save; the whales, for your pension, for a rainy day, your reward points, time, effort, but not your sanit...

  Not HS2 Not HS2 This is low speed 1, the antidote to HS2 a world away from not in my back yard, from extravagant vanity scheme, from the wrong line, in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and all at way to too expensive in time of Austerity. Oddly, the ‘other man’s grass’ really does look greener, in this photograph it does, but, in what we usually refer to as ‘real life’, we all know that the other man’s grass is turf. Some years ago, when No.35005 Canadian Pacific was at the Great Central Railway, I was a guest at the ‘re-naming ceremony’, when she first steamed again and enjoyed lunch, and a couple of hours of chat, with a chap by the name of Alistair Vartan. The conversation was about the Great Central Railway and the manner in which Canadian Pacific shipped goods from Europe to Canada. Goods from Europe were landed at Felixstowe and taken from there to Liverpool – bottlenecks on the WCML were an issue, ...