art

I'm not very impressed by artists that sneer at their predecessors/contemporaries whilst presenting their own work as cutting edge and unique. There is plenty of crap art around and some of it is from the avante garde.

false gods

I'm watching a programme about the ancient egyptian pharaohs and how their lives were determined by their devotion to their gods. They created phenomenal buildings and their entire economy became devoted to these aims. In essence they were creating vain-glorious memorabilia.

I am struck that modern leaders, like Blair and Bush, are doing the same thing; mobilising society in fulfilment of their ambitions - and, more importantly, sacrificing everything, as they can, to their gods of globalisation. Rameses had his god; Amun. Blair has his - Globalisation.

blair is mad

It is frightening to see the headlines of a Guardian newspaper saying that Blair claims that MPs are out of touch with popular opinion. This! ....from the man most out of touch with popular opinion. The man that took no notice of the biggest demonstration in Britain. The anti-war demonstration.

I dread the next announcement. "Blair claims the public are mad."

retirement

This issue, the definition of retirement and what is it you do when you retire has been a problem for me ever since my retirement. Largely, because I found sliding into retirement mode after a stressful, yet enjoyable "working" life, to be no problem. But I have difficulties explaining to puzzled people what it is that I now do. Their expressions suggest concern and worry that I may no longer have a purpose in life.

When I start to say that I read, go to the cinema, travel, explore, write, paint, attend classes, go to the gym, improve the home, etc., it sounds somewhat feeble compared to saying, when I worked, "I am the headteacher of a school for seriously disturbed children." Yet what I do now is no less important to me, and is, in fact, actually more important because I am now catching up on all the things I had no time for during the last 25 years. So my response to people who ask what I do in retirement, is simply, "I am catching up on all the things I had no time for during the last 25 years." And that's a big enough task for anybody. And I'm enjoying it. Especially the painting, and, surprisingly, home decorating and upholstery.

What I'm saying is that my life has not become meaningless since retirement, but, on the contrary has become very meaningful. By contrast, the last five to seven years at work were becoming increasingly pointless (although heavily demanding and stressful) and therefore, with hindsight, quite meaningless.