Grumpy Old Men

A friend of mine recently gave me the liberty to be a 'grumpy old man' [Thanks Sandra]-on the basis that my complaining about the world, is a form of 'appreciative communication' As I stand on the cusp of my 45th birthday, and stare into the abyss of undeniable middle age--I find that actually I'm quite looking forward to it.

It is I believe, a truism, that young people, don't too often use the term 'young people'. It is usually people like me, who use it, in I hope, a non-condescending way. Those of us who are in the grip of middle age, use that term even less. As though the cult of youth will wrap itself around our ankles, and drag us into a Hades of 150 BPM dance music and text slang, if we pop our heads over the parapet and the phrase issues forth, even in a whisper.

I think it is time that the middle aged cadre, that large and increasingly hidden mass, caught between an ever expanding youth, which seems to have planted its flag amongst the thirty something trenches, and the so called 'senior generation', stands loud and proud and declares itself. This way- we can revel in our grumpiness, and complain in an 'appreciative' way, about every slight, each irritation ,and the vast array of life's little obstacles, which appear to conspire against us.

And so to today's gripe, and minor irritation, which comes about as I peruse the listings of the UK's most popular, [as in purchased] book titles. Of the 'top ten' non-fiction titles, all ten of them are 'spin offs' from television shows.

I love TV, I am watching it now, as I write this - yes I can multitask- but is this not a worrying indication of the laziness of some of our reading habits.. No it's not..it's a frightening sign of how so many of us are conspiring, in a time of unbelievable choice, to limit our own channels of cultural and educational information.

So What? Says who? Who cares? I do. I'm off to read the classics.


Mike Waldron

www.inter-pares.co.uk