Sides of Life.

I saw a report on the BBC News website today which was as transparent a piece of western propaganda in relation to the Ukraine situation as you’d ever be likely to see. It will have become obvious by now that I’m strongly anti-Putin and anti the war, but I’m also anti-propaganda whichever side is using it. I thought of making a detailed post about it, but I’m tired of writing about Putin and Ukraine so I’ll give this one a miss for once.

Next up was the sight of newspapers in one of the shops in Uttoxeter. Every headline was about the Queen’s funeral, and every one was risible in the extreme. They would have made a post of sorts, but I’m also tired of writing about the media’s treatment of the Queen’s death and funeral, so I’ll give that one a miss too.

And then I saw a man sitting outside a shop near the top of a busy thoroughfare. He looked elderly and weather-beaten, and was sitting in a wheelchair. I say ‘sitting’, but not quite conventionally so because he had no legs below the knee. He was holding a cheap plastic pot in the hope of receiving some donation to his personal cause and I desperately wanted to give him something, before realising that I’d forgotten to put any cash in my pocket when I’d left the house hurriedly. I apologised and said I’d catch him next time, which I certainly will if he happens to be there again.

My flippant side jumped in, as it often does in emotionally-charged situations, and I wanted to say ‘don’t suppose you take cards, do you?’ I realised in time that it wasn’t funny, so I walked on by.