If you could erase one event from history, what would it be?
In 1502, a young man called Arthur died of the sweating sickness. He was the Prince of Wales and was due to be King on the death of his father, Henry VII. Sadly, his brother became heir to the throne, despite being as unworthy of kingship as you could imagine, as Henry VIII and proceeded to wreak havoc upon England.
I have never understood the appeal of this evil human being. Henry VIII was directly responsible for the deaths of two women, the looting of religious places and the murder of their inhabitants and the setting up of a church based wholly on the fact that he had gone off with another woman. That act led, indirectly, to another century or more of murder under Kings and Queens alike, fighting for their chosen religion. There was not a single redeeming feature about him as King and his reign was one of the most calamitous in history. When I go to Royal palaces I am baffled to see his likeness as a Christmas tree ornament. Who sees it and thinks, ‘You know what? I am going to celebrate the birth of Jesus by putting a representation of the most ungodly monarch in the history of the British Isles on display!’
I have detested the man since I first learned about him in Primary school. He was so cruel to his wives that I couldn’t understand why everyone else didn’t hate him. This, in a nutshell, is my problem with the British view of history. If you are a ‘character’ you can get away with pretty much anything. How much better would the country and our history have been if he had stayed as the spare and lived his unpleasant life in well merited obscurity? Well, it certainly couldn’t have been any worse. So, let’s go back to 1502 and erase the sad early death of Prince Arthur from history.
The most amazing concert experience I have ever had. A social phenomenon in 5 hours of music, the Taylor Swift concert had an atmosphere that I had never experienced before.
Reflections of an Ageing Gig Goer! 4
Two years ago I went to Taylor Swift at Wembley Stadium and produced my longest ever blog post! Take a read, even if you’re not a Swiftie. It’s a great post!
What’s a conspiracy theory you actually find believable?
According to Britannica.com ‘A conspiracy theory is an attempt to explain a harmful or tragic event as the result of secret activities by a small but powerful group, rejecting the official narrative.’
People who believe conspiracy theories ignore the evidence in front of them and instead look to attribute real events to shady groups. As they have no basis in fact the supporters of nonsense say that the evidence against is evidence of the conspiracy because the rich and powerful are conspiring to keep the real evidence away from the public 🙄
There have always been conspiracy theories but they have been supercharged by the Internet in the last 20 years or so. Old conspiracy theories such as the Kennedy Assassination and man not having walked on the moon have been joined by those surrounding the Covid pandemic and 15 minute cities.
So, by definition, none of the conspiracy theories can possibly hold any water and I have wasted enough time on the subject!!
How do you deal with uncertainty?
As The Beatles sang, ‘I’ve got to admit it’s getting better, it’s getting better everyday. (It couldn’t get much worse!)’
That’s a perfect summary of my journey through uncertainty. I have absolutely hated uncertainty throughout my life. This might have something to do with my position on the Autistic Spectrum but I don’t know if that is the full story. My childhood was peppered with moves to different houses and different schools and I never really felt settled or certain about what was ahead. Some people deal with it well while some people don’t and I was definitely in the latter group.
Given the above it makes no sense that I have had a life that has been as uncertain as you can imagine. We have moved to three different countries, and I have done a job that is part of the ‘gig economy’ at times. I have finished full time work far earlier than many others, despite not being rich, and am reliant on getting summer teaching work. Years ago I would not have entertained the idea, so what’s changed.
Well, I have the Calm App which has helped so much in retraining my brain and developing my resilience over the last few years. I, of course, have Janet to ensure that all the uncertainty has been bearable. The uncertainty has made my life more interesting, richer and much more fun. I am never going to be comfortable with uncertainty but I am much more accepting of it.
If you want to try the Calm App, which I really do recommend, here’s a free trial. Might be first come first served so if isn’t available when you click let me know and I’ll send another link to you.
Hey! Here’s a limited time guest pass to try Calm, free for 30 days. Calm is great for helping me manage stress and improve my sleep. https://www.calm.com/gp/YM3NYEHPWPXWE4JK86
What’s a moment when you realized you were officially an adult?
The prompt says ‘officially an adult’ rather than felt like an adult. For me, it was on taking up my first job that I was entering into the adult world. (I still felt like a kid for a number of years after that, something I share with just about everyone else.) That first job was a right of passage that a majority of the people I went to school with postponed by going on to higher education. After 7 years at the Maths School the idea of more education was not on my radar.
My first job was at Lloyd’s Insurance in their Gun Wharf building on Dock Road in Chatham. I was a Non Marine Policy Checker whose task was to ensure that there were no mistakes in the documents. It was a task I was wholly unsuited for at the time as I had no attention to detail whatsoever. That became abundantly clear over the next 10 months, 9 months of which I spent struggling before spending the last month working in the post room, which was probably seen by others as a final indignity because it was a job for unqualified people, but was actually a job I enjoyed and was actually pretty good at. The men I was working with were fun and they just treated me as one of the team.
By the time I left in July 1984, I had already secured my next job, as a Royal Air Force recruit, although I was not to start that until November due to the sheer number of people joining the service at the time. In the interim I worked on my fitness by running 5 miles a day every weekday morning and earning two pounds a game as the scorer for Frindsbury Cricket Club. It was like being a kid once again, with no responsibility and a focus only on myself. Even when I joined the Royal Air Force I didn’t feel like an adult because I had no say in anything that happened to me as the lowest of the low. It was almost as if the Lloyd’s job was simply a short incursion of adulthood into my extended adolescence, a state of affairs that lasted until I took my second full time permanent job in Civvy Street in February 1987, not long before my 22nd birthday, and was once again officially an adult.
