Down Memory Lane

Entry posted by caldrail October 20, 2010

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Some of you might have forgotten something. Can you remember what that was? No? Not to worry, I forgot too. Yes, it was Bad Memory Day. Now that the point is made, I can confirm I made two significant contributions to that important event in our calendar.

The first memory lapse occured while I was at the library, quietly typing the previous blog entry and trawling through the various job websites for something to apply for. About an hour late, I suddenly realised I was supposed to have presented myself to the bank for a review of my finances. Something tells me the bank manager isn't going to be impressed.

In fairness, the bank forgot which branch I bank at and got that wrong, so they also took part in Bad Memory Day by making it impossible for me to turn up at the right place on time.

The second memory lapse was concerning the inspection of my home by the letting agent. I had thought it was the day before, so totally unaware the lady and her clipboard was approaching the front door, I was entirely esconsed in a guitar playing session, wrapped in black cables and headphones, utterly focused on my clumsy fingering and imginative attempts to create the perfect guitar solo.

The doorbell? Who's that? Now as any experienced musician will tell you, a hasty withdrawal from a recording studio is an impossible task without falling flat on your face or dragging expensive instruments in your wake. However, that sort of calamity is for lesser mortals. As a musician with decades of experience, I was able to perform the houdini-esque task of escaping the clutches of those malignant cables without harm.

There was of course an embarrasing confusion as the letting agent expected to be expected, and I was totally unexpecting. She pulled a copy of the letter and pointed at it. "There you are, it said so in the letter." She told me, rapidly coming to the conclusion I was trying some dodge to prevent access.

Of course I wasn't. I let her in and despite the musical chaos upstairs, she seemed happy enough. Apparently letting agents aren't concerned with how tidy tenants are, but that we aren't demolishing the premises in the process of being untidy. Phew.

Cold Memories

At the moment the BBC news is entirely given over to Ministers of Parliament baiting each other as more budget cuts are announced and explained. It's all very well watching Ed Milliband make such a clumsy attempt to embarrass the prime Minister, but the real emphasis was on George Osborne explaining whp gets their money stopped, but then we all knew that already.

Instead, lets pop over to Russia Today, and get some world news. Even they discuss Wayne Rooney's desire to escapoe the clutches of Manchester United. Is that really an item of world interest? It seems so. Time and again I come across people from all over the world following our football teams. I was hoping for something better though. Something more real than the fantasy world premiere league players inhabit.

Ahh, now what's this? An interview? I found it fascinating watching a Russian politician whose name I can neither remember nor pronounce properly. He was discussing the relations with Europe, and he made the point that Russia is a new country with new policies, and he found it frustrating that they couldn't shake off the Cold War legacy.

That is the problem, isn't it? And it isn't just the suspicious West continuing as it alsways has. Public attitudes persist regardless of policy statements by politicians. In fariness, the Russians have been pushing for a new European defence policy. That does make sense. If we accept the Cold War is over, then the NATO Vs Warsaw Pact mindset really doesn't belong there.

But has the Cold War ended? Yes, sure, the Berlin Wall has come down. The ideological brush wars have wound down, though I do note that islamic fundamentalism has risen to fill that void, something that Russia herself has suffered from and which might help east and west come to terms after fifty years of sabre-rattling.. Nonetheless, Russia is still a powerful nation. It is still capable of striking out, as inhabitants of Chechnya and Georgia will tell you.

As someone who lived through the Cold War, thankfully untouched by it, it pleases me no end that Russia wants a new start. The problem is, I know the old Russia. The country at the wrong end of countless spy thrillers in television, film, and pulp fiction. Also, there's a part of me that remains wary of accepting the Russian initiatives at face value. I still remember the Cold War.