What is wrong with the world, and what is right

Go on, ask me what I did at the weekend. Go on, you know you want to.

Well, the answer is that we spent a lovely day and night at our friends' house up north, in Newbury. Then on Sunday we went to a caravan show. Now I have talked before about caravans, and feel the need to do so again.

After my last article, Mori conducted an exit poll from the blog in question, and of 17 people interviewed:

- 0.1% were very very satisfied
- 0.2% were very satisfied
- 1% were satisfied
- 98.7% were don't know.

As Vic Reeves said, 84.6% of statistics are made up on the spot. It may have been someone else.

We managed to buy not a lot really, but the kids had great fun running in and out of a hundred caravans and motor homes (oh yes, motor homes too) and we did have a fantastic picnic made by our friends which included tortilla (Spanish omlette, not triangle crisps) rolls, which were absolutely delicious and up there with the now extinct Worcester egg salad baguette with extra black pepper.

Whilst up north, I was discussing with Thoughtful about the use of "so", since I have noticed since starting this blog that I want to start a lot of sentences with the word. Check yourself today, I bet you will want to say "so" a lot of times to start a sentence.

So, anyway, we were also discussing life, and the things wrong with it, and in summary our three things wrong with the world are:

1. infinite lives on video games.
2. people don't play enough cards.
3. people don't darn socks anymore.

Infinite lives give a false sense of security, and stop people taking responsibility for their actions, and therein lies the problem. Dropping litter is about many things, but not least that the person dropping their fag packet, empty Tennant's Extra or crisp packet knows that they won't have to pick it up. If they dropped it in their own home, sooner or later they would.

Cards is about odds, what others are thinking, and strategies. It makes you think about cause and effect (if I throw the king, will they want it), odds (based on what they have thrown out, and what has already been laid down, the seven is the safest card to discard) and strategies (if we let them win, we might get some tonight). Everyone needs these skills to be an effective member of society, able to contribute positively and to work effectively with their friends, colleagues and family.

Darning socks is about mend and make do, repairing rather than replacing, having a sense of maintaining and looking after your possessions. These skills have been rather lost in our "throw away society" and while the obvious parallel are material things like plastic bags and old TVs, it does go deeper in to a mental attitude that pervades through society that sometimes blinds us to the real value in things.
For those with a keen eye, I am happy to acknowledge that this sock darning sentiment is actually one of Walander's views on life, with meaning expanded by me. Don't want any accusations of plagiarism. Especially if they are true.

Have a good Monday and see you again tomorrow.