What's wrong?

[haplesshacker]

God, the news is depressing tonight.

Communism - dead
Capitalism - as good as dead
Facism - dead
Democracy - don't make me laugh

All other living creatures on this planet don't seem to cock things up quite in the same way that we do. We can't find a system that works for all of us.

Another country has my money (council tax) and won't give it back. My pensions screwed. My house will soon be worth less than my car, (it won't, but you get the drift), the business I work for, it's costs are going up, materials are going up, retail prices are having to come down, redundencies all over the country, teachers off for 3 days for teacher training during term time and parents having to take time off from work to care for their kids or pay someone to (WTF are they doing for the 13 weeks off they have a year?), taxed to bloody death, government quangos and millions wasted on admin and useless 'integration' staff, GP's that try killing you (I got prescribed penicillin, and I'm allergic to it!), Police that are too scared to deal with the real individuals that cause hell for everyone else, teenagers thinking it's cool trying to be 'black' and from the mixed area of 'da Bronx and the East End of London, guns, knifes, people that think that their own existence is so much more important than yours (alot of drivers!), people that not only think they're more important than you, but are willing to put yours and their lives at risk, the media that over hypes everything, so called celebs, and wannabe so called celebs, soaps, reality shows, crappy american 'dramas' (desperate housewives, ugly betty etc), ........................

God, I have some issues

 

[Imurg]

Hapless me ole mucker, In my opinion the sooner Global Warming gets its act together and finishes off the Human race the better. We've made a right pigs ear of it and its someone elses go.

And another thing - I hate it when people go on about saving the planet. No! The planet will be fine for another 4 billion years give or take. Its the Human race that they mean to save. The planets seen it all before and will again before it dives into the sun. A small point but it does press my buttons!!

 

[haplesshacker]

I really do wonder why I have a 2 year old and have another on the way. I'm starting to think that it's really not fair on them, and what the future holds for them.

I'm sure that every parent goes through this at some stage.

 

[Imurg]

Agree.

Mine's 7 and you really don't want to think what its all going to be like in 10-20 years time.

Life? Don't talk to me about Life.
I think you ought to know I'm feeling very depressed......................................

 

[viscount17]

I'm sure that every parent goes through this at some stage.

They do. My youngest is 23, just started uni and I still do!

Still, come the global warming and the floods, the whole of this area was recovered from marsh and flood plain. What the hell, I live on a hill

 

[Imurg]

Like your style Viscount.

Aylesbury Vale is so huge that if it floods the whole of Europe's in trouble. Whatever - I'll buy a boat and give lessons on those instead of driving cars.

 

[USER1999]

You lot are going to be fun to play with on Wednesday.

Cheer up.

The beer is still cold and wet.

 

[GB72]

Like your style Viscount.

Aylesbury Vale is so huge that if it floods the whole of Europe's in trouble. Whatever - I'll buy a boat and give lessons on those instead of driving cars.

I live on the top of a hill with a small stream at the bottom but the insurance companies say I am in a flood plain. If my house floods then Rutland has suddenly become coastal and we will have far bigger problems than replacing my carpet. The logic of insurance companies never ceases to amaze me.

 

[haplesshacker]

My take on all of this has changed so much since the nipper arrived. The state of the world was to a certain extent meaningless before then. Now I wonder what it's all about.

On a more positive note, my son is incredible, so full of life, and picks up on everything so quickly. He's now walking around the lounge with an old phone wedged between his shoulder and ear. I have another one on the way, just had the 12 week scan and everything is really good at the moment.

Don't worry about Wednesday, it's a different planet when I'm on the golf course. Nothing else matters when I'm trying to find my shiny new (expensive) balls in the thick stuff.

I've got a game tomorrow, and looking forward to breaking the 100 after coming so close last week (101).

I guess the rant was due to having to keep the owners and staff buoyant all the time in this doom and gloom. Eventually I guess I needed to let off a bit of steam.

As for the floods. I to live on top of a hill, and if the area floods to 43m above sea level, I can get a boat direct from my house to the golf course. now that does sound appealing.

 

[viscount17]

that's the one drawback, come the flood my course will no longer exist but a pleasant boat trip will get me to gog magog.

 

[USER1999]

My house is on top of a hill, and the Grove is on the hill opposite. I too could row accross come the flood, and hopefully their green fees would be a bit cheaper too.

 

[RGuk]

hapless....I know exactly where you are coming from.
Certainly for us "parents" things are scary; I have no idea if I'll be able to help my children out with buying a car or house (!?) or even if there will be a decent world out there for our children's children. But, on the whole I am optimistic.
Why? I guess because under the cream and above the scum of society, people (especially young people) are more clued up than ever and actually have an amazing grasp on what realities of the world are. I believe this.
Young folk are selfish, many have little or no respect for authority or laws, they behave stupidly in relation to drink/drugs/sex, we give them the information and then let them make up their own minds. They are free(er) and yet not so free, because the pathetic celebrity/money culture we live in distorts their ego....for some this makes them worse than we were (the "invincible" teen generation) but for others the costs are higher than ever, with many feeling they come up short of all the things that makes them feel "validated" by society.
BUT, eventually, the pigeons come home to roost and most settle down to normal life, carving a living, finding ways to enjoy the world they inhabit in productive ways.
If we stop and think of all the crappy things that go on, there is lots we ought to be able to change but in so many respects we are all powerless. I can't turn back the clock and make scapegoats of all the guilty cogs in the financial system, nor can I hope to do anything about crime from stabbings to selfish road users. If anything is being learned at this very time (thinking about the finance crises again) it is that without strong government and the political and social will to make small but important improvements, the "freedom" we have sought for centuries is actually detrimental to society because total freedom eventually becomes anarchy.
The solution WILL come when the young of today make it through the other side and say "hold on a minute, we actually got a lot of things wrong" and start to rebuild the whole structure of a democratic/capitalist country.
They have the brains and the education; it's just a question of IF enough of the decent folk and decent folk-to-be decide enough is enough.

Probably sounds muddled up, but I am confident. The last few hundred years (a v.v.short time) have seen nearly all of the great questions/issues of humanity being resolved, it was inevitable that one day things would "implode".....modern society has given people an inch and they/we have taken a mile. One day I feel we will realise that freedom carries responsibility and to not take that responsibility can lead to disaster.

 

[haplesshacker]

Dave. I would normally be capable of such 'rounded' thinking, and I can often argue, sorry, debate, a topic from either angle, regardless of personal beliefs. Mind you it aways seems to be polarized to the views of whoever I'm talking to.

But before the young family I was very much in the why worry camp. Now it's all changed.

I just hope that I can bring my kids up with a sense of adventure, self reliance, knowing the difference between right and wrong, and knowing what's really important and what's not. If I can do that, they will make me a very proud dad.

 

[time_vans]

I was discussing with my eldest (22) about the cost of houses today and made comparisons with the situation when I was 22. Me and hid bought our first house(two bed terraced) in 1984 for £16,000 and our combined wage at the time was £8,000 so the house cost twice our annual salaries. That very house is currently up for sale for £135,000 so for my lad to be in the same position as us in 1984 he and his partner would need a combined wage of £67,500 .....his current job earns him approx £13,000 hence three of our four offspring(22,21,and 18 and all working)still live at home.........with all the associated problems.
I thought life was financially tough back then but today it is nye on impossible for youngsters to get started in life.......my take is that I bought my house as a home nothing more but now it has become an 'investment'......and to realise that investment I have to sell my home perhaps downsize but my 'investment' then becomes a target for the government to pay for my care when I get old....a system I have propped up all my life through taxes....yet if I have just turned up on these shores I can get free access to the same system.
Apparently my local council and police force has lost all 'my' money by investing it in an icelandic bank ...wonder how they intend to recoup their losses? and if I refuse to pay I will be sent to prison where I can sit warm and comfy with all the latest mod cons that I cant afford by going straight.
It's a mad world thats for sure........and then we play golf to relax!

 

[shanker]

I was discussing with my eldest (22) about the cost of houses today and made comparisons with the situation when I was 22. Me and hid bought our first house(two bed terraced) in 1984 for £16,000 and our combined wage at the time was £8,000 so the house cost twice our annual salaries. That very house is currently up for sale for £135,000 so for my lad to be in the same position as us in 1984 he and his partner would need a combined wage of £67,500 .....his current job earns him approx £13,000 hence three of our four offspring(22,21,and 18 and all working)still live at home.........with all the associated problems.

Interesting comments, Tim. It won't be of much consolation to you but here in Spain, it's worse. I have clients who are 10 years older than your eldest and are in the same boat. I know single people in their 50s who still live with Mum and Dad.

 

[Leftie]

Life? Don't talk to me about Life.
I think you ought to know I'm feeling very depressed......................................

Marvin. Is that really you?

 

[Imurg]

The first few years were the worst

The next few were the worst too...

Didn't like the next few at all....

After that it went into a bit of a decline....

Here I am - brain the size of a planet and even I can't solve the financial and social cock-ups that have been made over the last *** years....

And the pain in the diodes all down my left side just gets worse........

Douglas where are you when we need you................

 

[Leftie]

Apparently, Red Gold and Brown is considering installing speed cameras on the hyperspace by-pass to pay for his unilateral profligate decision to nationalising a few banks.

Did anyone even ask any of us taxpayers if we wanted to own shares of few banks that we would never be able to sell on?