Generation gap?

A stock photo that kinda sums it up

Increasingly I find there is a distance between the younger generation and the likes of myself. I don't have any problem seeing them as fellow citizens, even down to Jacob's age (18 months) but it seems that they see me as old and fuddy-duddy.

And it seems like there is a different value system now-a-days to what I was used to growing up.

As a general rule it seems to me right to eat all that's on your plate, bones excepted. And the menu was conservative when I was a boy. It was, after all, not long after war rationing and food was not taken for granted. Now-a-days it seems like folk habitually leave stuff on their plate.

I have always regarded a decent film, play or concert to be sacrosanct. How can They eat popcorn or pick sweets out of a crunchy plastic bag? How can They check their cell-phones in the row in front of me, bright light in my eyes, or talk to their neighbours? To me this is utterly unforgivable, and yet the practice is common now-a-days. It is almost as if the cinema is the place you go to eat popcorn and slurp Coke never mind the film in the background. Whereas I want the very best audio and visual experience, I want to immerse myself to the full. The same with a good book, or listening to recorded music. Which is why I generally do not listen to music - the conditions here are seldom favourable.

When I was young it was commonplace to have the national anthem at the end of a performance. Imagine that happening now! Not that I am wanting that back, it was always a little awkward not knowing whether to stand or stay seated.

Or in a church meeting. Our meetings are typically an hour and a half, shorter than the average movie. Of course there will be exceptions but is it really necessary for youngsters (I do not mean parents with young children) to go out of the meeting for a reasonably long time I suppose to go to the loo, or make themselves coffee (they sometimes return coffee in hand)? My bladder is not so strong now-a-days and yet I can usually make it through without recourse. Isn't a Christian meeting kind of sacrosanct? How can They follow what the preacher is saying if they are absent for 5 or 10 minutes?  I find it hard enough whilst listening all the time.

And screen time. Of course when I was young there were no iPads and the like, but there was TV and there was the cinema. But in my family these were strictly rationed. No TV at all until I was in my teens, and then just a few TV shows a week. Maybe a couple of trips to the cinema a year. But now-a-days the kids are watching movies or playing computer games every day.

Maybe this generation gap I detest is on my side as well as their's, after all.

Willand in February

Another trip to visit Ali's mum, this time with family C&O, T&P, J&M and S&K. You'll find family pictures in Facebook leaving this blog to just record some other events.

On the way down there was a bad crash on the M5 closing both carriageways for most of the day, so we diverted (with most of the rest of the UK it would seem) through Taunton and past this amazing church building.

St Mary's church Taunton

fantastic detail of tower stonework

I managed three runs, the third very short fitted in between a marathon shop at Morrisons and picking up the rest of my party in downtown Tiverton. During which I took the following photos ending with a shot of the formerly ellusive river Exe.

Bradfield House in early morning light

Bradfield chapel

Culm water meadows

The river Exe at Tiverton

The marathon shopping list might not seem that long but the items were disparate and it was a bit like playing hide and seek. One membefr of staff, noticing my perplexed look, asked if I needed help. I declined and managed to haul in all the items in a mere 40 minutes. I'm thinking of a new TV show in which a team of husbands are given identical shopping lists (like the one below) and sent off to separate supermarkets in towns they have never before visited. The first to complete is the winner. Numerous variations come to mind.

twin pack Morrisons' own brand tiramisu, no other brand will do
Morrisons' breaded ham slices
Morrisons' shepherd pie fresh microwavable
box of paracetemol capsules
box of Melba toast
two bananas
dark chocolate butter biscuits with no palm oil
300ml single cream
300ml double cream
frozen petis pois
one carrot
tin of pears NOT in grape juice
Great-Grandma-afternoon-tea sort of cake

Busy busy

All work and no play makes me not write blog posts.

I'm teaching three mornings a week now, plus the necessary marking and preparation time, doing less but still some electronic design, working on various building projects in the house here, and various other calls on my time including my regular barefoot runs. And things like eating and sleeping. And thus the week fills up. Not that I'm complaining - I prefer being busy than idle. Or maybe the reason for no posts is lack of muse. Or is it just this cold and wet time of the year? Or is it due to recovering from a combined cold and flu thing that has lasted almost four weeks?

But I'm off to Africa on 1st March - to visit my daughter and son-in-law who are there for an extended period setting up a church-sponsored pre-school.  That should provide some blogging material if nothing else does! Although barefoot running is not recommended in rural Africa due to nasty worms that burrow into and live beneath the skin. On the whole then, cold and wet as it might be just now, Ireland has a lot to offer. No snakes, no dangerous animals, no malaria, and plenty of mountains, lakes, rivers and beaches where you'll meet only the occasional and like-minded person, if anyone.