A bit of a joke to start with: one of the English words for underpants is “drawers”; like “bloomers” it’s not much used these days. “Winter draws on” is said when winter is getting a bit tedious: grey and chill and seeming to go on forever. Hence something must be said to lighten the mood, and the English language provides a suitable play on words to produce a chuckle amidst the gloom.
This winter has been a frustrating mixture of gloom with a few bright days teasing us in between, when a sudden blanket of overnight snow has sparkled in the sun in the way we expect in winter and, then, one night the thaw has come and wiped it all away. It leaves us wondering how long this will go on; when will the spring come and what will it be like?
The plants are confused by the mild temperatures and start to come out, only to be knocked on the head by sudden frost. How many times they will do it before their life-force is exhausted? I’m no gardener but I feel sympathetic towards those who are, and even more so towards farmers who’re trying to grow food for us this year and the years to come.
Brexit has finally become fact, giving us a brief respite to draw breath while the separation negotiations are carried out, but a worry about the final outcome is still there. The Brexiteers are gleefully rubbing in their general election success and have dubbed those who wanted to remain the EU “remoaners”; a clever bit of British wit.
I just wish I wasn’t one of its objects! There are so many big, important agreements to be put together in the next few months that I’m wondering when the issues concerning individuals will come to the top of the list. As with this peculiar winter, we can only wait, see and hope for the best!
I’m all for democracy and do love my country but I sometimes wonder which country it is. The country I grew up in was already multicultural but still quite racist. This sometimes hit a child in unexpected places and situations and it hurt, but some of us didn’t meet with that kind of treatment very often and many others had family and community around them, from which to draw support.
Underlying feeling of alienation burst out in periodic riots but gradually the attitudes began to change in education and employment, with laws prohibiting discrimination. All this was good but the fact is that people of colour were not always given a fair treatment when applying for jobs. This discrimination is still prevalent in Britain, Finland and no doubt most other countries. Indeed, it does seem that the positive development is being reversed and the consciousness of “the other” in people’s minds is becoming stronger and even encouraged in some countries.
It is distressing that the President of the United States, previously called the leader of the free world, now seems to want to lead his country back to the days of segregation, distrust and fear between communities.
I can see the same attitude developing in the British Government and it worries me because, following the Brexit, society is already divided and if the race/foreigner aspect is added to the mixture, possibilities for unrest will multiply. The Prime Minister seems to want to block all views but his own within the Government. Maybe he thinks that, as dictatorial leadership works elsewhere, it’s worth joining the trend.
I hope he won’t embarrass his Queen by behaving as arrogantly as the British ambassadors and potentates in the imperial times used to do when meeting their peers in other lands.
Following the world political events from Finland gives a slightly altered point of view. I felt more in the centre of everything in London but I realise that, in other ways, being at the centre gave me a narrower aspect of the big picture.
The news here gives a wider view of the world as a whole. It should make me more philosophical but, I’m afraid, I sit at my computer and get all steamed-up watching “the big powers” getting more and more parochial and uncivilised. I hope the EU won’t let go of its central values – the world will need an example to copy when it gets enough of the discord and division.
PAUL DOCKREE
Kolumnin kirjoittaja muutti Lontoosta Ylöjärvelle vuonna 2012.
Author is British, moved from London to Ylöjärvi 2012.
