The Queen's Park Chronicles
Diary Days 25.12.2020-21.02.2021
59- Out To Sea- 21.02.2021
Having lived within a ten-minute walk of the sea front for most of my life I have a terrible contempt for it. It just doesn’t inspire me. There was a two-year period where I would walk home from work in the Portslade harbour along the beach path and home. The walk was between three and four miles and I would get lost in the music on my headphones. I did this because of my loathing of the rat race, those shoeboxes of conformity known as buses, and the desire for solitude.
I can’t ever remember spending much time on the beach itself, maybe an hour after the odd club night out. I think I once spent an afternoon there at the age of about 7. Not that the stones of Brighton beach are overly inviting anyway. I’m more of a countryside person, but off the main pathways. There is a permanent irritation in well-worn paths.
Of course, such a view would be anathema to those who regularly sit in traffic or crowded trains on the sunny summer afternoons. Familiarity breeds contempt. On a summer Sunday I find myself driving out of Brighton to a local village green for the sound of leather and willow. There will be queues on the other side of the road. Coming back, the opposite.
It may perhaps be the commercial dominance of Brighton’s seaside features that drive me away. Its appeal lost in a sea of kiss-me-quick ka-ching. I’m sure there are plenty who would gladly swap places.
The front line of Brighton is a demonstration of its urban density. The busy town (city if you wish), the feeling of being lost in a million voices. That said, I will always love this town even if, at heart, I’ve never felt like I belonged- even though its culture is very me.
Still, the seafront, at the right time, can produce some beautiful scenes.
Ian
58- Watch That Weight…. 20.02.2021
I’ve suddenly noticed how my weight has slowly began to rise again. This after having boasted in a previous entry about how the whole thing is kept under control by a magical Excel spreadsheet. Only the thing is that I’ve not been using it in recent times.
For me, weight control is important for a variety of reasons and, when I put my mind to it, I have managed to keep it in my ‘ideal’ margins for long periods. It still is at the moment but I’ve realised that things need to be kept in check.
So another spreadsheet is formed. This time the target, however wishful, is to finally reach my most perfect weight for the first time in over 20 years. By ‘most perfect’ I mean slim, not simply ‘not overweight’. This is always the hardest challenge because my brain will often question as to why I am indeed bothering if there isn’t a problem. But, hey, I need something to do. And the opportunity to study trends and put figures in a sheet is about as exciting as it gets at the moment.
I’ll report back for no-one to read. And if I don’t report back then obviously the final push has faltered as usual…
Ian
57- 50 Years A Home- Brighton Buses- 19.02.2021
I’ve loved buses since forever. I don’t think I’ve been on one for almost as long as I can remember now…
Ian
56- 50 Years A Home- Brighton In The Snow- 18.02.2021
Looks like the snow has left for this year. Not as if it ever amounted to much. But it has popped by from time to time.
Ian
53- How To Bin Trends And Influence People- 15.02.2021
I notice the newspaper stands nowadays aren’t the racks they once were; they seem to be grey boxes that we open upon seeing which headline we prefer. The act of actually opening a box and skimming through the newspaper before we decide we want to buy it is made a bit harder, as it is more conspicuous, and may involve more embarrassment. Perhaps there was an intention behind that.
The headlines these days are often the usual tabloid trash, people I know little of, and concern myself even less with, are either walking out of a reality show or having extra marital flings. Middle England has been told of the cure for everything and I’m sure the immigrants have been causing every possible grief.
We often jolly about such headlines and stories. Many of my acquaintances both bemoan and laugh at those who regurgitate them. But there is a very serious consideration here, and one which, when realised, is very empowering and full of awareness about our own responsibilities and ability to influence others.
The ability of the media to set the agenda and headlines of the day is well documented. Behind those headlines are just a few people though, perhaps a single writer and a single editor passing the article. Such power! I’ve often read those awful headlines and felt helpless at my inability to react to them, to get people to see things from a more rational perspective.
So are we sub-servant then? Does the media, in its many forms, permanently shackle us with considerations that must form our thought pattern, which then forms the script of a play entitled ‘My Life’, with encouragements, attitudes and exhortations to material gain forming its script?
James Allen, that great Victorian philosopher, spoke of the ability of a person to control his or her own destiny through the power of thought. What made him so appealing to me was his desire to present this pursuit in an unselfish way, with his focus on edification through personal growth and not material gain. Whilst I don’t necessarily side with the emotionless approach to some of his writing, ‘As a man thinketh’ is something quite special, and its ability to teach us to transform our outlook on life through the control of our thought process helps me understand just how much influence we can truly have over others as well as ourselves.
If exposure to a simple headline can set the agenda of our conversation, if not totally our thoughts, If the re-call of such thoughts and alignment of them with certain values and standards can set us on a new path in life, then surely can’t we ourselves equally influence the life of others by every action those thoughts provoke ?
Yes. And this helps us understand how powerful we are. It also liberates us at the deepest level.
I have become increasingly aware that every word, every movement, in fact any action I take has a deep influence over others. Sometimes this influence is limited, other times powerful. Either way it is a direct influence that no form of media can counteract-because it is far more personal.
I’ve noticed how people mirror others in what is a clearly sub-conscious yet very visible way. A complement brings a blush but an encouraged face. A warm tone of voice brings a considered response. I can give many examples of how an action of whatever sort, in a seemingly minor way, can alter the outcome of someone’s life.
What this means, and in truth we all know this but perhaps don’t appreciate its magnitude, is that all of us are amazing tools of influence.
Just walking past a person in the street, whether making full eye contact or not, I am affecting their life. So if I smile at them on some level I am registering. Every word exchanged, every facial expression, in fact every action in the presence of others has an influence on their existence. That’s powerful.. and it’s liberating.
So many of us will wonder at times how we can have an impact on this world, but it is particularly those who want to spread goodwill for whom this knowledge is the most relevant. After all, there aren’t so many people who want to spread malice.
I’d love to hear how many people could truly say they hold this knowledge on a conscious level. I think if people did they would pay more attention to the adaptation of their characters in daily life. Or at least they might, motivated by altruism, be more attentive in their approach to others.
I feel that the biggest power of influence is within us all individually, and I feel it is most strongly manifested in the goodwill and humanity of people.
No one is insignificant. Every act, of everyone, has great significance.
Ian
04.09.2014
15.02.2021
52- Valentine’s Day- A Day For Card Shops- 14.02.2021
Anyone studying for a degree in insincerity should look no further for a suitable thesis really. This is not the comment of a bitter single either. I’ve spent years in relationships, the longest of which lasted eleven.
My point always was that if it takes a single, commercially produced, day to tell someone you love them then what are you doing for the other 364 days of the year ?
Perhaps I’m overly sentimental, but I always like to make a fuss of loved ones in such a way as to render the 14th February redundant. I always found it quite annoying. Seemingly duty bound to buy a card and/or present to prove something that I may, or may not, have shown already. And if I hadn’t shown it in recent times there was clearly an issue at hand (which sometimes there was).
Another day to get over and done with, although when you are single it is so much easier. Valentine’s Day for me was one joy of singlehood.
Ian
51- A Question Of Sport- 13.02.2021
It is an odd by-product of Covid that there is so much sport on television. One has to feel sorry for those who may not be great fans.
Being a lover of cricket, rugby and football (although I’m never sure in quite what order that comes) I had a veritable feast on offer today. Cricket from India in the morning, rugby in the afternoon and football in the evening. Some people have questioned the proliferation of such activity during the lockdown but for those who enjoy it I see a lifeline.
Of course, once we emerge from our hibernation it should be close to the summer and the possibility of actual outdoor activity. For me this takes the form of cricket. I play for, or rather watch these days, a local friendly team. Thus Sunday afternoons are spent in the local countryside and evenings in the pub. I just hope the restrictions are able to be eased in time for this again to become a thing.
The downside, and thus the longing for competitive normality, is the absence of crowds in stadia. The fake crowd noise played through the television is both a comfort and a comedy- especially when a situation is called wrong. Folk are drawn on whether it is good or bad but I quite enjoy it when measured against alpha voices yelling in a cavernous ground. I also enjoy having seen my own team, Brighton & Hove Albion, play all the time as opposed to now and then. My match seat being only a two yard walk each week.
It won’t continue for much longer, but I’m enjoying it while it lasts. I wish we could have our freedom AND this much sport on the box.
Ian
50- Owning A Car in Brighton- 12.02.2021
I decided to do the weekly shop this evening. Being so cold, the impetus was to create a smash and grab effect. I don’t think I was in the supermarket for more than 15 minutes. The wind was biting although for some reason the expected frozen windscreen was absent upon starting. The sea air can have a warming effect although the by-product is the dirt and muck it carries.
Once again, it was the car’s first and last use of the week. Thus, at present, it’s looking like an annual mileage 0f 300 this year. Come the summer and the hoped for easing of restrictions that may well change.
I’ve often heard it mentioned that you don’t need a car in Brighton. Indeed, car ownership in the town is much lower than the national average. This shouldn’t be a surprise. The town isn’t at all car friendly. Residents parking charges having been introduced a number of years back and limited, and expensive, in town spaces.
Some of this will be down to the demography of the population, some, perhaps, due to a very efficient public transport system. I always loved buses since a young age, as previously mentioned, but it would be very difficult to let my little Citroen go.
The most commonly used words concerning car ownership would be the same that crop up in my defence. ‘It’s the convenience’ folk would say. That is true of me. But I think it’s just the, slightly exaggerated, concept of ‘freedom’ that ultimately wins the day. There is an irony concerning this where the lockdown is concerned. We have little freedom. So perhaps this is the time where we would seek to dwell on the dreams. A bit like holding a poor stock on the basis that at some stage soon it is sure to increase in value.
Still, as unfriendly as the car may seem to the preservation of the environment, I know that I am playing my part. By default, of course, because I have no reason to use it…
Ian
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