Culture Of Silence...

The only way to get round the one hundred and forty character rule, is to put it in your blog..So in a temporary deviation from my usual  'ramblings '....
In any working class community you'll find unwritten rules..if you've broken the law or done something wrong you don't readily admit your guilt..you let those in authority prove you did it and protest your innocence until the very last..this way you'll retain your supporters..and in some cases your hero status..however misguided it may look..
Should you be the victim of a crime or wrongdoing, a section of the community will treat you with disdain for reporting or disclosing it and the perpetrators identity...
Equally if you witness a crime or wrongdoing, these unwritten rules discourage you from reporting or disclosing the identity of the perpetrators..you should  ' mind your own business..keep your mouth shut ' and  'let the authorities prove it...
Opening your mouth and admitting your guilt is seen by some as a weakness..as is reporting or disclosing to the authorities that you have been the victim of a crime or wrongdoing...
Giving information about a crime or wrongdoing you have witnessed..is seen by many as worse than the crime itself and the perpetrator...
This is wholly immoral, negative and destructive to the fabric of communities who often live in fear of reprisals and bullies..many crimes and wrongdoings go unreported and unpunished because of this deep rooted Culture Of Silence

  

A Breath Of Fresh Air !! Please?

A smoking ban!! Just what we wanted..no more smoking in public places, no burn holes in the seats and carpets..Still flatulation goes unpunished..what do they put in those curries on a Saturday night and why do they insist on keeping the bloody windows closed ugh!!
' Will you take a small dog in your car? ' you're asked and you agree as long as it  doesn't sit on your seat..dog hair and other unmentionables not good. Would you take a skunk in your car??? A skunk..a stripey longtailed squirrel like creature, famed for it's obnoxious, breathtaking smell? Certainly not, but there's an even worse  twenty first century hazard that creeps up on you.. Worse than a bag of sweaty socks or a fresh kipper..only rivalled by a stink bomb and that's the casual user of Skunk..slumped in your back seat, grinning and simmering in a repugnant waft...Chilling Out??

Not On My CV !!

Alcohol!..Drugs!..Illicit Sex!..Crime!..Schrreeech! Bad Drivers!...Racism! Sexuality!...Welcome to the back of my cab...No no..you'll be quite safe, they are topics of conversation entwined in my near twenty year tenure as a Private Hire driver, in a city shrunken by the miles and miles of ...' have you had a good night? 'and sometimes ' where can I get a bit of relief?' from the customer of course..and not famine relief!!

When I set out on this wonderous, educational merry go round...you could hear the sound of  ' Last Orders! .followed by a bell.....in every drinking establishment at ten thirty..then an often impatient  ' Come on haven't you got homes to go to?? ' Now night and day is one and the same to many, the lines are forever smudged..and the drinking establishments are filling up at ten thirty onwards..six in the morning the stragglers make their way home..or work....while polishing off the last of the kebab meat and chips..

Who remembers the pay packet?..The little brown envelope containing the fruit of your weeks labour, stuffed into a back pocket of a ragged pair of jeans..then lying on the kitchen table in the morning..shy of a tenner..perhaps...and a skin full had been had..with change..

Now a cash machine, lies in wait on every corner, brightly lit offering the chance to spend spend spend..more than you earn or can afford,,,and the mobile phone a must for telling your mates how much you've drunk..how incapable you are!!.. to be continued ..