Author: davidjohntooth

I phoned a friend from the days when we played five-a-side football together back in the early sixties, he lives quite close but we only seem to meet at funerals now.

At seventy-nine he still works as a painter and decorator; not through choice but because he still needs extra money.

The conversation went like this.

Hi Mick, how are you?

Suicidal.

Why?

I have just realized that I don’t have any pension, not even a state pension. I will lose my house.

That can’t be right, your self-employed so the money should have been taken out of your tax returns.

I thought and told him I knew someone in the tax office and would get some advice and phone the next day, which I did.

Hi Mick, I have spoken to an adviser and she said you need to phone the tax office yourself but you should have a state pension.

No, I haven’t, and I owe half a million pounds.

Mick that’s impossible, you have worked all your life and your lifestyle is minimal, you don’t drink, smoke, or gamble and rarely go on holidays so how can you owe that kind of money. Sit down and do a proper check, I will phone back tomorrow.

I phoned the next morning, did you come up with any proper figures?

Yes, I owe a million pounds and even worse I have got rats up the loft.

Mick, you don’t owe that sort of money, the banks wouldn’t let you, your not well are you.

No, my son is coming to pick me up in a bit, I have been sectioned and have to go to hospital.

I had started to suspect that Mick had some type of mental problem at the end of my first conversation with him but it seemed so implausible, he was always so sensible and sounded exactly the same as when we first met in the sixties.

I will be going to see him this week.

I watched the first episode of the BBC series which covered the lives of the Stones and their musical journey. This one concentrated on the lead singer Mick Jagger from the early days to the present time.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had seen the Stones in the early sixties at a small club in Handsworth Birmingham; this was the start of their incredible musical journey and I immediately realized that they looked and sounded different from all the other local groups.

In his interview Jager admits that his voice isn’t the greatest but added to his backing group which played a sound that mixed blues with rock the combination of sounds is quite is unique which proves life isn’t always about having a special gift but more about getting the most from what you have.

And the night I saw the Stones the combination of music and alcohol blurred the the present into a prequel of expectancy that the bleak war years might change into something far more inspiring. This was only the second time that I remember the young girls stop dancing and press as close to the stage as possible, screaming in the hope that they would be noticed.

Its difficult for most of the younger generation to understand why the older generation describe that period of time as such an inspiring period in history but its like most things in life you have to experience them personally. When the second World War ended the osterity didn’t; poverty in many families remained for many years. It was a black and white period, their was little colour in life. Clothes were drab, music was predominantly aimed at the older generation but the seeds of change started to sprout as gospel and blues groups edged through America.

Then their was Elvis, chuck Berry, Eddy Cochran, and Buddy Holly which instigated the inspiration for all the Brittish groups that seemed to spring up overnight.

And the Rolling Stones, well they are still there at the age of eighty, musicions will die but their music will last forever.

This is my first oil painting and depicts part of the Birmingham city centre from the early nineteen hundreds a time when the peaky blinders strutted around thinking they were invincible.

From the age of thirteen my father would have stood on one of these corners selling newspapers in all kinds of weather. He was born in Balsal Heath one of the many slum areas that existed back then before starting work full time aged fourteen as an off hand grinder.

The grinding dust he sucked into his lungs from the castings and grinding wheels would force him to stop work at the age of about forty but only later in life did it take away his sense of humour as he struggled to breath.

And he often told me stories about the peaky blinders (Razor Gangs) and of course many other tales from his childhood.

But what I remember most about him was that he was a very special person.

Well as has been said many times ‘you couldn’t make it up, but you don’t have to.

So you live in a great big house and there are parties night after night with unlimited booze bought by the British taxpayers, there is loud music, fights between some of the officials, and sometimes purely by accident you walk into the rooms where it’s happening and although you protest someone places a pint glass in your hand, you only have three or four pints and then leave immediately.

Then you have no recollection of any parties on the premises, bet the burglars are casing the joint at this very moment.

Look my only gripe is that I wasn’t invited, it’s my eightieth birthday next month I wonder if it’s too late to become a conservative for one day only.

Once again there has been a mass shooting in one of the schools in the USA and once again there are calls for the sale of guns to be restricted.

We all know that will never happen as it’s part of the culture of America and unless you have been brought up in that environment it is difficult to understand why.

But if it’s one of your children that has been murdered then your views may change.

My condolences go to the parents.

As well as being great songwriters the group Abba have a great awareness of how to maintain the image they exuded when in their prime.

Their latest tour contains all the great songs from the early days but without them being there in person; instead, they will be represented by four holograms with the same youthful profiles they once had.

Looks are such a great asset to most humans and unfortunately as they disappear so doe’s the mystec and charisma associated with them but holograms never get old perhaps even the Rolling Stones will use them one day.

It’s funny how we have arrived at what constitutes good looks and why.

Tyson Fury wins his latest fight with ease and talks about retiring from boxing if he does he will find out that the most important thing in his life will have disappeared, retirement sounds great until it happens, then it ain’t.

You may assume that Borris Jonson is not one of my favorite politicians and you would be correct but I am impressed by the way he is sending arms, money, and helping to train the soldiers in Ukraine.

I hope that other countries show the same resolve because the war won’t stop at the borders of Ukraine.

World organizations are starting to investigate whether war crimes have been committed in Ukraine and this will probably take years to prove. Or the officials could walk through the streets of some of the cities vacated by the Russians and count the bodies of dead children and reach a conclusion in minutes.

It seems that the inevitable will happen and Russia will take complete control of Ukraine. Putin will then look at other countries that he can invade and if the West tries to intervene there is always the big red button that he can press.

And quietly waiting in the wings is China because if Putin succeeds in Ukraine they will have the green light to take over other countries they consider to be part of China.

So is there any way to prevent this from happening, well unfortunately at the moment only sanctions but they need to be dramatically increased. Remember what happened in Afghanistan normally the easy part is to take over a country but to retain it is a different matter, especially when what you are doing to the Ukrainians will make them hate you forever.

Remember when the pandemic started and the whole infrastructure of every country came together to find a vaccine well we need to work together to help our friends and we need to become independent of certain countries for our energy supplies, and we should aim for this to happen not in ten years but only two.

And the next thing we should look at before it becomes another crisis is to make our own products again because if we fall out with China (and it will happen) most countries rely on them for nearly everything.