Sunday, 9 June 2013

Day #33 - The Things You See


Hello all. I will commence with a further explanation of why I have been a bit more absent than I might have liked just recently. The weather. The last time we had a really decent summer in Ireland was 1995. There were a few in the 1980's that were pretty good but '95 was really hot and for about three months too. The only time previous to that, in my lifetime, that came close was 1976. Today and for the past few days it has been really sunny and very hot. It is more than a just a nice day - it feels like summer should be. Of course it is unlikely to last as it never does these times. I hope though like so many other years when it has been rough, that it will NOT be the only spell of decent weather for the year. The weather today made me realise that there are plenty of young people out there that have never experienced a really good summer. I hope that it does continue to get better as it will  definitely be cold again this winter and that sort of makes me miserable. It would be good to have something pleasant to look back upon.

I have complained in previous posts about "directionless" people. The kinds of folks that seem to walk along with absolutely no awareness of their surroundings or mindfulness of others that occupy the same space. I find it quite difficult to move through a crowd of people that are constantly changing direction but it is something that everyone that moves  with intention has to deal with. I remember one time I was returning from U2 playing at Wembley Stadium and was desperately trying to get away from some people that decided they were going to rob me. In my haste I bumped into a chap who immediately tried to engage me in some violent exchange. He and his friends were really drunk and determined to "teach me a lesson". There I was with two seperate parties of people with violence on their minds. It is amazing how it actually happens. A perceived sleight and the next thing the violence comes - that is IF you are going to be easy to defeat. That factor is not so relevant when there are a number of people with the "fighty" person. In fact in a situation like that people are more likely to become violent because their chances of defeat are lower owing to the presence of their friends, combined with the fact that their intended target is alone.

About a month ago maybe two I was looking for a group of individuals that I knew and I did not have my phone with me. I went into a pub that they were likely to have been in and had a look around. While I was establishing who was where a character that I vaguely know made some remarks about my being there so late and that I'd have to "get out". I wasn't especially enamoured with that sort of rhetoric and especially from someone who was just a regular punter in the pub. I told him where to get off and within a second he was on his feet "shouting the odds" - and preparing to engage me in something physical. I became a bit loud and unruly myself at that point and within a few seconds I was being wrestled out the door by staff. It was while this was happening - my arms were being held - that this person threw a few punches. I didn't like that very much and told him as much. I realised the next day that I shouldn't have bothered with the guy. It is a shame that he had to be a bit "fronty" but then I suppose he thought that it might impress some people. I knew the guy when he was a young man and he seemed ok back then. Looks like something has cultivated a sense of disappointment in the lad. I'd say that some charity work would be more effective in impressing people. I will try to avoid such situations in the future. I think that you can unwittingly "assist" such people if you rise to the taunts. The crazy thing is that some folks love that kind of shite.

A few years back I decided to return to my teenage hobby of amateur radio. I really loved it when I was younger but by the time the government department of the day finally got around to granting me a licence I was more interested in girls, motorcycles and rock n'roll. It was the illness of a good friend that got me back into it. My friend, like me, is bipolar. His condition is quite a bit more severe than my own and he has had to deal with all manner of unpleasantness in his life. Having said that he has soldiered through it all with grace and dignity and is one of the strongest people it has ever been my pleasure to have met. During one period in hospital I figured that it might be an idea for him to check out the radio thing and see if he would be interested in getting a licence. This chap is a VERY intelligent man and he took just a matter of weeks for him to gather all of the requisite knowledge and sit the state examination to get his licence. I was amazed at how quickly and with such enthusiasm he applied himself to the whole radio thing. He sat his exam and passed with flying colours. He applied for and was granted his licence in quick succession. He accepted my invitation to join the radio group that I was a founder member of. THAT was when the trouble began.

My friend lives on a farm in a rural area. The house is quite big and it is sited on substantial grounds at considerable elevation. It would be difficult to find a better location from which to operate radio. He quickly bought a fine radio at a bargain price and some other gear for his station and was just getting his feet wet in the hobby. After a few weeks being a member of the club the chairman elected to "help" my friend set up a decent antenna. This chairman can be a bit inept when it comes to the feelings of others. He possesses an innate ability to tread rough shod over others in order to accomplish the things that he sees as being "right". He was obviously very impressed with my friends location and decided EXACTLY how and where and what the antenna set-up was going to be. This is where the problems began. My friend is a very nice chap. He is obliging and self effacing, almost to a fault.  This is unfortunate as the aforementioned chairman is quite a self righteous sort of a chap and very insensitive to the feelings of others. I used to be fairly tolerant of it but basically he used my friend to build his own dream radio station in the countryside. It is since that happened that my friend gave up radio and now will not  even entertain the thought of it much less even speak about it. Not unsurprisingly my friend is not the first to have been put off the hobby by this person. I know another person who has a few experiences of his own of a not dissimilar nature. The worst of it is that through the lens of his self righteousness the chairman just cannot begin to see that he might be at fault, and he's NEVER going to change.

A couple of years back I suggested that we, as a club, invited schools to permit us to give practical radio demonstrations to some of the pupils that might be interested. This suggestion was firmly countered with the statement "We don't do 'creche radio'!" That sort of sums the guy up - if it isn't his idea then it is a non starter. Sadly he is stopping folks get into the hobby before they even know about it. It is a shame because, as a friend of mine used to say; "knowledge doesn't weigh anything - it is the lack of it that can be burdensome" or something similar. I have another good friend who has a tag on his emails that goes something like "knowledge isn't like money - by sharing it you won't have any less!" - I sometimes wish that the chairman had embraced those maxims. He never will though, he's too busy making plans for others. Perhaps it is a sign of his own insecurity. I don't know but what I do know is - he'll have to figure it out by himself, that is if he ever gets enough perspective to realise that it might be a worthwhile idea.