Everything is relative!

On Friday, feeling virtuous, I went and did some major cleaning at my daughter's house. These are the kind of things retired mother's do when their daughters are in their first term as newly qualified primary teachers and seem to be working their socks off every hour in the day. 

Some hours later I stood at a bus stop. She was still finishing off at school so there was no chance of a lift. According to the timetable there was a suitable bus at 24 minutes past the hour. At around 10 minutes past the hour a bus arrived. This was the one that should have been at 4 minutes past. It only went as far as the estate just up the road. No good to me. At around 20 minutes past the hour, another one showed up. Also going to the estate up the road. It should have arrived at 14 minutes past. Also no good to me. An unkind thought struck me: why is that estate so well provided for? 

Eventually, at almost 30 minutes past the hour yet another bus hove into view. This was going beyond the estate up the road. According to the timetable, assuming that it was in fact the 24 minutes pas bus, it should have gone all the way to Oldham, passing through Delph village. Just what I needed. However, it was only going as far as Uppermill, a place I could walk from, although I was not inclined to do so as it was going dark and cold. 

Mumbling and muttering and grumbling about unannounced changes to the bus service, I got on anyway. The change of timetable led me to a change of plan: a stop off at the local Tesco store to run round and pick up this and that in time to catch the next bus. My bus after the supermarket, you will be relieved to hear, arrived on time and was going where I expected it to go! 

Later in the evening, I saw the news about all that was going on in Paris and realised that my moans and complaints were extremely minor. How does a bit of a transport problem compare with those events? 

Since then, I have watched the news coverage and read the comments on social media. The usual suspects have told us that this is what Islam is all about and that we should stop all the migrants coming into Europe. What kind of world do these tweeters and twitterers live in? The arguments about bombing or not bombing rage on and on. What kind of world do the pro-major-retaliation politicians want us to live in? And poor old Jeremy Corbyn, having been criticised already for not bowing deeply enough on Remembrance Sunday, has now been accused of not having sad enough eyes when talking about the Paris atrocities. The world is mad! 

So, finally, here is a link to a short article about a leaflet being put out to small French children to help them understand what went on last Friday!