There are many good people in this world. It is probably best to like or even love everyone you meet, for they will usually respond favourably. Charisma is an elusive phenomena. Some people seem to be attractive, and yet it is difficult to describe just what it is that appeals. That is particularly the case with older, gentler folk. Just one of those is George Forsdike, a quiet gentleman.
Recently he has been working on the publication of his biography. For about 50 years he ran a flower nursery, growing chrysanthemeums, petunias, sweet peas and other flowers for the commerical market. He worked with his wife, Clare, at Shrubland Park, now used as a health centre. Helping him has been a quiet pleasure.
Why does the world bear down on such gentle people. He retired and moved to an apartment that looks over the sea at Felixstowe. Within months his wife Clare had died.
Life is not always fair.
My bouts of hay fever started about 5-6 years ago. They make me feel like a wimp. If I don't take the cetirizine tablets then my nose runs like a tap, my eyes, ears and throat sting, and I feel miserable. If I take the tablets it feels as if I have influenza, probably because the anti-histamine allows my skin to feel every touch. The eyes still sting, my tinnitus rise by several orders of magnitude and I feel miserable. It's a lose - lose situation.
Why does this happen? I'm too old to suddenly acquire new afflictions. Little has really changed in my environment. Could I blame George Bush again? Please let it be so. He needs to take the blame for all the world's failings.
Michael Jackson possibly got the better verdict. I'm not sure. He is now on his own. If it's true that he owes $200 million then questions need to be asked. It is clear that he is not really of this world, but lives within his own juvenile paradise, so why did his advisors, accountants and bankers allow him to build up so much debt?
Many years ago Mohammed Ali arrived in London. His entourage numbered 130 people. What were all those people doing? Today they are like the fleas who are now leaping from Mike Tyson's dressing gown. It's probably the same with Jackson, who sems to be surrounded by sycophants, all of whom are looking for a handout. His whole life has been spent surrounded by those who allegedly took care of his every need. If they have let him face such debts then someone should whack their backsides.
Another American icon who faced trouble was the housemother Martha. She had more sense than Jackson, but made the huge mistake of challenging the folk who really control America, and so paid a price. Perhaps she will now continue to try to break the eggshell of complacency that allows corruption and crime that seems to lie beneath the smooth exterior that America presents to the world. Or will she continue to tell working-class folk that their world can become a better place with a few bits and bobs, that she can supply.
