There But For The Grace of Cool People...

In a world where countries are shuddering to bits and huge waves are destroying lives by the thousands, and half the world is rising up against its leaders and the other half is sending armies to support them in the chaos...ohhhh yeah and the biggest recession in recent decades hasn't actually gone anywhere, meaning hundreds of thousands of people are newly poor and State-dependent...it's fantastically easy and straightforward to do the 'There But For The Grace..." thing, and hold everything we have that little bit more precious.

And then there are fuckwits. People who make living each day more miserable and full of hassles than it needs to be. Friend of mine has some disabilities, and is also trying to lose some weight, gained during a year of medical palaver. She's trying to pick herself up and not only live her life as normally as possible, but she's doing extra to try and lose the weight that will make her life that little bit easier. She went swimming today for the first time in a while, only to be shouted at by the lifeguards, humiliated, made to feel more disabled than she is and generally like some sort of burden on society, which she isn't...and all because she went swimming to try and lose some weight.

See? Fuckwits.
So, apart from trying to support my pal, it's really made me focus on exactly how lucky I am. If I wanna go swimming, I can go. No hassle. Granted, I wouldn't go without wearing a T-shirt, cos the whole 'Great White Whale' thing is a never-ending font of fun for teenagers with fists, but I could go without being hassled by the staff. I have loads of friends, all of whom are supportive of my attempts to not die quite yet, and to whom I'm extremely grateful, both for practical help and for kind words. So even in small, generally insignificant things like trying to lose this weight, I have so many advantages. So - no punchlines or funnies today, just a genuine thank-you to all you lot - you know who you are - and a call to not let the fuckwits win. We have the power to make sure that everyone in this country has access to what they need, and access to the full range of pleasures of life - all we need to do is educate out the fuckwittery, and the architecture will follow...Who's up for a cool new world of fuckwit-freedom?