Whatever the weather

I don’t claim to be much of an expert on Europe. After all, I'm British. So I tend to be European only when it suits me. I can't speak a word of the languages and have only ever been to France and Spain, and when I did I was usually segregated into one of those temporary refugee camps they keep open for us British folk - otherwise known as Haven holiday parks. Little Britain’s with a warmer climate, great places.

But yet I do have this strange feeling that Europe is a place full of weird and wonderful people that are somehow also our best hope for the future. We spent so long fighting each other over who controlled the earth, and it is only now – when the earth is deciding that it would actually much rather rule itself – that we are starting to come together in search of safety and comfort in an increasingly scary world.

To be honest, there isn’t a whole lot to this Blog entry, I merely saw the above poster and thought ‘yes’. That is exactly how it should be. The poster was trying to promote the Marshall Plan after World War II, yet it seems to apply today just as it did then. We have the EU today, and despite what all these reactionary newspapers keep on saying – I think it’s actually a pretty good thing. For all the bureaucracy and erosion of national democracy – I believe its pros greatly outweigh its cons and as such it deserves our increased love and support. Why should England, France and Germany bully the world for lucrative trade deals alone? We may as well get our other European chums in on the racket, and who knows – we may even end up liking each other.

And notice the American flag there in the picture, supporting the whole windmill. The American people – for all my bad words towards them, are probably the world’s best hope for prosperity and peace in the future. This is of course a terrifying prospect, entrusting the world to a group of people that 'believe in a man in the sky who makes things' is never going to be easy. Yet the bonds that unite Europe and America are so strong – we should never allow petty national interests to blind us from these realities.

In today’s world, both Europe and America need each other perhaps more than ever.

Whatever the weather.

p.s. Note the Turkish flag - Come on Turkey, you can do it.

Manchester

Manchester, Wigan and Liverpool. Six intrepid explorers from the South East venture up into the heartland of northern England. They face sinister bed and breakfasts, ferocious weather conditions but most frightening of all – themselves…

Strong personalities. Great huh? They are the life and soul of the party, the best of mates and some of the most energetic and inspiring people you know. Get them all together and what happens? They turn into humans.

Infighting and petty arguments tended to mar this northwards trek, yet fear not! For human nature, thankfully, proved once more that she is worthy of our continued faith. In the end everything worked out for the better and we took in as much as we could of two cities. I have gone from knowing next to nothing about them – to loving them with all my heart. Albeit a judgement based on only three days and two nights - I think both Manchester and Liverpool are, to borrow a word, ace.

These are most likely the words of an awe struck farm dweller taking his first few tentative steps away from his degenerate and self-destructive provincial port town – but what more can I say? Cities are cool.

It’s times like these that continue to make me regret my decision to study at Essex. It’s a great University with even greater people and I would never swap my experiences there for the world. But. It seems like a complete lack of imagination on my behalf to have swapped one backwards-looking hamlet for another only twenty minutes down the road. It is something of a paradox since it is only through the University of Essex that I have been able to get a small taster of the wider world and it is of course that which has allowed me to see the Essex decision in this context.

Perhaps one of Universities finer points is that it impregnates you with a realisation of just exactly how much more you have left to achieve if you ever want to escape your constricted origins. Even if it does not actually providing you with the skills to do so…

Since escape is not easy when you graduate with zero career prospects. Perhaps all those sneering bastards back home were right – perhaps it was all a waste of money - but I’d like to think they don’t all have this inescapable sense of inferiority that the University experience has thus far provided.

Suckers.

The root of all evil?

I’ve been to lectures, attended sermons, read pamphlets, worked my way through significant parts of the Bible, and its sequel, The Koran. I have even tried to discuss faith rationally with those who profess to have it. I have tried to find the light.

But. It has come down to the crunch, and I am far from convinced. I approach the subject in hope of finding spiritual comfort to fill that all too human desire that no amount of materials can satisfy. But I refuse to fill that space in my life with doctrines of suspicion and hatred. The only conditions under which I could accept organised religion is if I applied the blinkers and overlooked its past, present and future wrong doings. I will not become a criminal by association.

This closes the doors of mainstream religion but opens the doors for those other groups with a less doctrinal and centralised approach.

I'll keep looking for the light.

Spooky

It was inevitable. Deadlines were looming, I had 22,000 words to go. Research was building up at an abysmal rate. I asked myself why? Why cannot I not focus on my work? What was that nagging sensation at the back of my head? What’s missing?

And then one night in a dream (quite literally) it came to me. I awoke and new immediately what was wrong.

“Paul” I said to myself, “how do you ever expect to get any of this work done – when you haven’t watched the entirety of Season One of the X-Files?” Then everything was so simple. I’d only ever seen a couple of episodes before, and they were both years ago. I didn’t even know if I liked it. But I could feel it calling. So that’s what I did. I ordered the very first season of the X-files on DVD. I had no other choice.

And – it’s actually pretty cool. Moulder is brilliant (the character – not Duchovny’s acting) and Scully, well she’s every geeks fantasy. Intelligent, quick, sassy and unattainable. I am slowly turning into a believer. Not in too all the paranormal nonsense, but into mysteries.

Because you see, this is the sexy bit: Essentially all they do is what the average historian does. They piece together old documents; invent strange new theories that link them all together and then set out to prove them. The only difference between me and the ‘oh so seductive’ Moulder is that I sit in my room for 48 hours straight writing up my proof. Whereas he heads out with his sidekick and fights demons.

Still, the parallels are there…kinda. Perhaps it’s the Red bull talking.

In other news I am still reading through the Bible and these Islamic pamphlet’s I picked up and one thing is for sure – the truth certainly isn’t here.

So it’s got to be out there, right?