It's enough to make you climb the walls.
And that's exactly what some of us did on Saturday.
Climbed the walls.
In our case it was a Birthday Celebration, and the walls that were climbed were 'climbing walls'.
I didn't participate, I spectated, but watching all these folk climbing the walls made me wonder.
What does it mean to climb the walls?
The Cambridge Advance Learners Dictionary defines it as 'to suffer unpleasant feelings, such as worry, in an unpleasant way'.
Looking around at the folk climbing the walls I wondered how many were suffering unpleasant feelings or worrying in an unpleasant way.
Of course 'climbing walls' are appearing everywhere, there are, apparently, more than thirty in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Many of them are in redundant churches, flour mills or sugar refineries or in other redundant commercial premises.
Height is the key requirement, 22 Metres we were advised, makes for a good climbing wall.
Most folk in the building seemed to be enjoying themselves, hauling themselves up and down, under and over, good exercise, a great way to get and keep fit, I was told.
But I still couldn't help wondering and worrying.
Worrying? In an unpleasant way.
The weather was very poor, heavy rain mixed with snow. Were people worrying about climate change I worried?
The economy continues to reward the rich at the expense of the poor. Were people worrying about the economy?
Despite austerity the budget deficit remains large. Were people worried about the deficit?
As a nation we still spend more on imports than we export. Were people worried about the balance of payments?
Everyday items, from eating to heating are rising. Were people worried about the cost of living?
Meanwhile wages are going down. Were people worried about the reducing buying power of the average wage packet?
Clearly they were climbing the walls.
It became an all consuming worry as I drove home.
After all if Labour re-introduce the 50% Tax Rate, we were advised, it won't raise as much as George Osborne's 45% because folk won't pay it and will use all sorts of creative accounting to avoid paying.
So that's a worry.
Still the folk at Davos were all listening to the world's richest man reassure them that it was all going to be OK.
In a Big Mac moment (As in Macmillan not Ronald McDonald) he reassured them that they'd never had it so good and soon Africa would be doing OK as well.
Well I guess they weren't climbing the walls.
The longer we are condemned to a diet of austerity porridge whilst being reassured that it is all in our best interests the greater the worry that what is actually happening is that the basic support structures that have made our society a reasonably fair and just society are being removed.
It's like being asked to climb that 22 Metre wall without a spotter, a rope, pitons, crampons or proper shoes.
It's enough to make you climb the walls, its such a worry.
And that's exactly what some of us did on Saturday.
Climbed the walls.
In our case it was a Birthday Celebration, and the walls that were climbed were 'climbing walls'.
I didn't participate, I spectated, but watching all these folk climbing the walls made me wonder.
What does it mean to climb the walls?
The Cambridge Advance Learners Dictionary defines it as 'to suffer unpleasant feelings, such as worry, in an unpleasant way'.
Looking around at the folk climbing the walls I wondered how many were suffering unpleasant feelings or worrying in an unpleasant way.
Of course 'climbing walls' are appearing everywhere, there are, apparently, more than thirty in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Many of them are in redundant churches, flour mills or sugar refineries or in other redundant commercial premises.
Height is the key requirement, 22 Metres we were advised, makes for a good climbing wall.
Most folk in the building seemed to be enjoying themselves, hauling themselves up and down, under and over, good exercise, a great way to get and keep fit, I was told.
But I still couldn't help wondering and worrying.
Worrying? In an unpleasant way.
The weather was very poor, heavy rain mixed with snow. Were people worrying about climate change I worried?
The economy continues to reward the rich at the expense of the poor. Were people worrying about the economy?
Despite austerity the budget deficit remains large. Were people worried about the deficit?
As a nation we still spend more on imports than we export. Were people worried about the balance of payments?
Everyday items, from eating to heating are rising. Were people worried about the cost of living?
Meanwhile wages are going down. Were people worried about the reducing buying power of the average wage packet?
Clearly they were climbing the walls.
It became an all consuming worry as I drove home.
After all if Labour re-introduce the 50% Tax Rate, we were advised, it won't raise as much as George Osborne's 45% because folk won't pay it and will use all sorts of creative accounting to avoid paying.
So that's a worry.
Still the folk at Davos were all listening to the world's richest man reassure them that it was all going to be OK.
In a Big Mac moment (As in Macmillan not Ronald McDonald) he reassured them that they'd never had it so good and soon Africa would be doing OK as well.
Well I guess they weren't climbing the walls.
The longer we are condemned to a diet of austerity porridge whilst being reassured that it is all in our best interests the greater the worry that what is actually happening is that the basic support structures that have made our society a reasonably fair and just society are being removed.
It's like being asked to climb that 22 Metre wall without a spotter, a rope, pitons, crampons or proper shoes.
It's enough to make you climb the walls, its such a worry.
No comments:
Post a Comment