Look, we're not going down mines anymore
digging relentlessly for coal
to keep the wives and bairns warm at home
we're not building ships or producing steel
at Ravenscraig anymore;
The Koreans and Japanese,
The Norwegians, maybe, but not here.
Listen, we're not Upstairs Downstairs anymore
When was the last time you saw a scullery
or chambermaid, or stable boy, my pudding?
We're not doing a lot of things anymore -
dining at the Cafe Royal on ortolans
going to see Vladimir and Estragon
waiting for Godot
going to studios and galleries
on The Serpentine
But we are
watching Oscar Wilde plays,
The Importance of Being Earnest,
Lady Windermere's Fan,
An Ideal Husband
We are still cooking roast turkey in Aga ovens
in Knightsbridge and Chelsea
still hanging paintings on Hyde Park railings
still reading The Selfish Giant
and The Big Issue daily
dropping into old honey-coloured churches
for tea and toast, little chats about life
and where it's going ...
So, let's not bemoan the loss of industry
- many hands making light work -
and a pretty violinist is a thing of beauty
Let's remember, then, Oscar Wilde's words,
"The hardest thing in life is to do nothing."
Yours truly,
Retiree from Poole
Pottering about in the garden
and tinkering with words at present.
Thank you for the brief peek at the way Scotland was and the way it is today. With much more culture than the average American except in New York City.
Countries go through stages. We have the same losses of coal mining and ship building here. The British Isles accumulated great wealth through the colonial and early industrial period. That wealth carries on today.
When one can work a decent job without having to crawl through a coal seam only 24 inches tall, people are reluctant to take on those jobs even if they were available now that most of that work involves big machinery run by very few people.
The wealthy in the US and the UK live off the earnings from their wealth. They engage in cultural activities and require primarily wage slaves to carry out most of what they need to have done.
Arts and culture should be available to everyone, but they are not.
BEFORE DARKNESS FALLS Retails for 14.95 / but you can have it now for only 11.95 This is a book of poetry and prose that deals with real life issues that all of mankind comes to face. Some of the poems deal with the tenderness of love, while others s
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Countries go through stages. We have the same losses of coal mining and ship building here. The British Isles accumulated great wealth through the colonial and early industrial period. That wealth carries on today.
When one can work a decent job without having to crawl through a coal seam only 24 inches tall, people are reluctant to take on those jobs even if they were available now that most of that work involves big machinery run by very few people.
The wealthy in the US and the UK live off the earnings from their wealth. They engage in cultural activities and require primarily wage slaves to carry out most of what they need to have done.
Arts and culture should be available to everyone, but they are not.
Ron