for a split second i considered shaking his hand and was going to tell him he was a legend and i really liked the smiths, but then i decided against it. he must get stuff like that all the time and is probably sick of it, and i thought i would just leave him be. it did make my day though.
booked my hotel in LA and also booked a ticket to see the gaslight anthem play in hollywood. its all coming together.
in other more serious news, i am not sure if i mentioned it before, but one of the guys that i play football with is someone who associates with some not nice people, and has previously done a stint in prison. thats a side of him we don't see because we all knew him from when he was at school and we see him at football and he doesn't act like a gangster when is around us.
anyways, he is in trouble again and this time it looks quite serious. i saw a friend of mine on the train last week and asked him what was happening and he said he didn't know the details but that when he went to visit him in prison he said was told it was, and i quote "gangster shit", and that it looks like he might be looking at at least 7 years and possibly up to 10 years. christ alive, 10 years, a whole decade of your life just gone and spent in a cell surrounded by other criminals.
last weekend there was the story of the girl jaycee, who was kidnapped and spent 19 years away from her parents living in a type of prison with the people that abducted her. she must have had incredible strength to have just gotten through the ordeal. some peoples have years taken away from them through no fault of their, and then there are some people like my friend who seem to engage in activities that can and probably will result in years taken from him. what a terrible waste of life and time for both of them, but in different circumstances.
anyways, enough of that. good luck to jaycee and her children in her difficult quest to regain some kind of normality in her life, and here is hoping that my friend learns his lesson and doesn't waste any more of his life in jail.
i am incredibly lucky. i doubt there are many people in the world luckier than i. i had geography on my side and was born in western europe and not in povery in africa, south asia or south america.
i had education provided for me by the state and i had a family that provided a home and an environment for me to grow and i never did without anything. there are billions of people worse off than me and have seen abject poverty with my own eyes. chidren whose parents can't even buy them shoes or food. that is real poverty. 10 year olds working in truck stops changing tyres on trucks that are bigger than they are so they can earn some money to support their families. i have not forgotten them and i never forget how lucky i am.
right then, enough of that heavy stuff
today i have mostly been listening to the smiths - there is a light that never goes out. one of the greatest songs ever written. happy birthday V. nxx
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