Sunday, 30 October 2011

Americans, Desirable and Undesirable.

I heard on a TV programme tonight that the Pilgrim Fathers weren’t all they’re cracked up to be. The common notion that they went to America to escape religious persecution isn’t true, apparently. Rather they went there because they objected to the religious tolerance being observed in England at the time, and wanted to found a state in which they could ban all sects but their own. They even executed a woman in the early days for no other ‘crime’ than that she was a Quaker. How very Christian of them.

If this is true, it seems they belong with Columbus at the head of a list of Undesirable Early Americans. Maybe Americans know that already. I didn’t.

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I’ve been like a 90-year-old with dementia today. Too many difficult e-mails. Too many distressing prospects. Helloes hurt; goodbyes hurt; being in touch hurts; you can’t f*****g win! Back and forth between the sublime and the sordid. The American Way, maybe. Or maybe not. Maybe I’m just losing track of reason.

But the Red Renault got cleaned, as promised. He’s now a bright, shiny red again. All over.

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