That Wretched Red Bus!

My two-penny worth in this week's print Herald Express. When I was young, I used to love sliding down the fairground helter-skelter. At the time, it seemed a scary and intimidating thing to do. The very young Sobey clutched his ragged scrap of rough bristly door carpet and rocketed, wide-eyed, down the slide.

This past year has been, it seems to me, a sort of helter-skelter ride with too many of us holding on with white knuckles. Sadly, for me, there is a growing sense of hopelessness and an acceptance that I cannot control the speed of descent. ?

That fairground attraction has become a metaphor for daily life in 2022. As a child, I knew that the helter-skelter would eventually dump me, unceremoniously, at the feet of waiting adults. That metaphor has me now sprawling once again.

Have we all unwittingly joined some sort of fairground attraction masquerading as the new social fabric of our society? Watching the battered and beleaguered National Health Service attempting to keep us all running certainly worries me.

News reports of ambulance queues and listening to people talking about the difficulty of getting to see a doctor is so distressing. I weep also for those medical staff and support workers who are attempting to do the impossible.

How did we get to this? Do you remember that wretched big red bus with the words “We send the EU ￡350 million a week, let’s fund our NHS instead. Vote Leave.”

Vote Leave won the day, by a small margin, and here we are wondering where many of our medical staff and support workers have gone.

Well here we are, staggering toward 2023 with eyes like organ stops! We all, well not all of us, battled through Covid and hoped for a more balanced future. Was that just wishful thinking?

My little strap line suggesting that we all keep the smile really is increasingly important, as we navigate this curious landscape. I guess what saddens me is the number of people who take more than their fair share by tweaking the system for personal benefit.

The Covid pandemic was (and perhaps still is) a scary thing. I have to say that the speed of government action did impress me and I will be eternally grateful for those frontline workers who gave it their all.

I would like to think that things will improve in 2023; but that can only happen if we all pull together. The rocketing cost of living is hitting us hard and being told by wealthy elite leaders to expect less isn’t helpful.

The thing about this day and age is that it is harder to hide naughtiness. To hear that a leading politician has made a small fortune from Covid is unsettling and a very poor example to those queuing at a food bank in freezing conditions. It’s very depressing and sinful, in my opinion.

The New Year is a celebration and my spirit is warmed by the knowledge that the sun is once again creeping north. I look forward to the days when the sun rises over Hope’s Nose rather than Berry Head; for I am a summer child!

Why not start the New Year by nipping up to Occombe Farm and enjoy a freshly cooked pizza in the new Deli Café? I can certainly recommend the stone baked pizzas and mine certainly helped me to keep the smile!?