Saturday, February 10, 2007

new old news

Jesus Fucking Christ.

Once again, our politcal news has been taken over by the school reports of one of the party leaders regarding something that happend 20+ years ago and an age before they were even in the political world.

Why?
Because over the years, instead of politicians telling us what a good job they will do and what lovely new policies and ideas they will implement to aid our ever burdening lives; they have gone the American way and are now more eager to point out flaws in their opposition, often by digging deep into near history in the vain hope of finding something that might be incriminating.
Good job.
Now what are you going to do for me instead?
Does the fact that the current Conservative leader smoked a bit of pot when he was in at Eton (shock horror! drugs in an extortionately expensive boarding school? Never....) have any bearing on whether or not he will be a good leader for the party or even the country? Does that little drug incident that happened 25 years ago in a different instittution mean that his policies and work ethics today are going to be in some way lacking or even erroneous?
Is it perhaps a good sign that the best (or is it worst) that they can come up with is a bit of hash 25 years ago?

What makes it more laughable to me is that it isn't anything more than marijuana (perhaps my response is an indication of the change in times) at the centre of this. Considering that alcohol is arguably the more destructive drug of the two, the only difference is that one had been made illegal and the other is a massive source of tax revenue for the government.

0 degrees C

....that was what I was driving home to the other day.
For some random reason (well, not entirely random as it was dependent on pressure systems and all that....) it decided to snow this week. I woke up at around 5 in the morning to get myself a drink and I noticed that the light coming from outside had turned into that lovely red glow that it turns into whenever it snows and so I flicked open the blinds and lo and behold, snow.
For the few moments that i stood there drinking my cranberry and looking outside, I was thinking that it was strangely pretty but alas, this thought quickly turned as I remembered that I was supposed to be driving the next day.

If you've never driven around when it's snowed, I suggest you do it the next time it happens.
Strange things happen when it snows.
Firstly, there are those who refuse to drive in the snow having had bad experiences previously or are just afraid of having a bad experience. These people sensibly stay out of cars and choose ti instead sit in the nice and safe comfort of their homes.
There there are those who refuse to be defeated by snow and charge on in their cars regardless. Of these, there are the inner circle of people who seem to forget everything they know about driving safely when snow is about as if to say to the driver in front "My God!, You don't have to drive like a granny just because there is snow" (no offence to grannies).

Me?
I drive the same no matter what the weather is; that is to say that I drive as faast as I think I can go according to the conditions. On the same drive I can go from crusing at 50mph to flying at 90 depending. Logic says to me that considering that things are iffier when it's wet, when it's icy and slushy out there. I better be that little bit more cautious. This isn't rocket science. I'm pretty sure that everyone, when sat down away from the steering wheel and merely talking about it would agree with this so why the change when we are behind the wheel of a car and driving?

Who knows?
I certainly don't.
But I digress.
What I had wanted to talk about was how people in general seem to change when it snows.
That usual bunch of kids who spend 95% of the time trying their hardest to look cool and macho and gangsta suddenly revert back to being children. Grannies (sorry again) who are usually grumpy and miserable suddenly turn into nice old ladies. People who usually stay indoors no matter what happens go into their front yards with their little kids and build snowmen.
For some reason, snow makes it kinda OK to be cold despite it actually being one of the worst weather conditions to have.
Ahhh... such is life.
We all love the things we should hate.