Nostalgia

1993 or there about, I can remember sitting in a pub with a friend of mine having the Oasis v Blur argument. The same one so many people were having at the time. It was the battle of the Brit Poppers. I was  taking a contrary view from my friend to wind him up as I would do a lot in those days. I didn't really care about either bands although I knew enough about them to make up an opinion.

The friend is gone. I don't know where he is or what he's doing although I could probably find out if I wanted to. Back then I lent him some money and misty eyed he promised he would repay me with interest. I'm still waiting. He came down in the Oasis camp. A socialist of the theoretical kind, the gravelly, druggy, I don't give a shit approach of Oasis as opposed to the more calculating persona that was Blur appealed to his own working man up against it angst and was the spearhead of his argument. I liked him, he was passionate and I believed he believed what he was telling me. He really liked Oasis and I can imagine him still playing the air guitar when Wonderwall comes on in the pub.

I am thinking about all this now because I just noticed that Blur have a new album out and my instinctive thought was "Aaah, Steve, looks like Blur have won the staying power argument", which of course is deadly childish but that is what music can do to you. 

Like Steve was, I imagine Blur's new album will be a big disappointment to me. While I was never that fond of them anyway, I was having a great time in the early 90s and they were part of the background noise but I am not fooled by nostalgia. In those days I listened with glee to the likes of Nirvana, Suede, The Jesus and Mary Chain etc.. I didn't seek these bands out, they found me and I was bopping around the living room on a Friday night with everyone else. But that was then and this is now. Bowie, Dylan, Cohen, all great in the day but you really had to be there. Come back artists are victims of their own past and will always let you down if you remember them the first time around. A bit like my old friend, Steve.

Jesus and Rudolf

It is Easter. My five year old son is stood in the kitchen, his arms stretched out, his fists clenched. 

"I'm Jesus on the cross", he says.

I try to squeeze past but he catches my eye. "I'm getting down by magic."

"I think you'll find it more complicated than that." I am muttering here.

"I'm magic", he says.

I can't help myself. "If you are on the cross you are in a lot of pain and you will die".

"Isn't Jesus magic?" He is very disappointed.

"You will die and then you will come back to life", I offer. "that's pretty magical."

Mercifully he wanders off. 

What are they telling him at school? If I ask him he says he can't remember. I don't know what to say, he's five. I spoke to a friend about it. He said he and his wife are telling their seven year old daughter that some people believe this and others believe that. But then he starts talking about Darwin and how he (Darwin) can't really be bunched together with religious beliefs and that science etc. etc...

This approach didn't really satisfy me. Not for a five year old. I'm just not going to worry about it at the moment.

At Christmas he jumped on my lap.

"Daddy, is Rudolf real? Is he in this world?"

I said, "A flying reindeer? What do you think?"

I think he's still thinking about it.

Humour that flies over his head is going to be my approach for now. What do you think?

Personal

This picture made me laugh but neither of these guys are me.

I'm a family man. I have been vegan for more that fifteen years.  My partner is vegan and we have two young children, a five year old and a two year old and for the time being they are vegan too. We don't think about it too much, or if we do we don't have much to argue about, we are of one mind on the subject. We want nothing to do with the farming of animals.

This is my first post and as I have 'vegan' in my title I wanted to make it clear from the off that I am not an animal rights terrorist. Nor am I a clown as these two in the photo appear to be. I have no idea who they are or what they're doing but I hope they had a good day. Being vegan the McDonald's 'M' is like the sign of the cross to a vampire so I would say their message is ambiguous.

I see a lot of vegan blogs out here and I am aware that a lot of people, who abstain from eating or wearing animals as I do, are very angry. I believe they are a force for good and I wish them well but personally, I am not that angry. So for calls to arms or slaughter porn, go elsewhere. I believe being vegan is the future and that we vegans should lead by example and that eventually common sense will prevail.

I don't do recipes either. And I'm not vegan to lose weight, although I wouldn't argue with anyone who was. And nor would the Daily Mail. Nor do I have an allergy.

I will probably blog about the benefits and pitfalls of being vegan but I don't want this to be exclusively about that. This blog will be me: my thoughts on anything that strikes me as I go about my day. I will be as honest as I can and I will try not to self-censor. Visit me from time to time. I might just blog about something that interests you and I will be pleased to receive your comments.