I Can’t Tell Which Way Is Down

The clocks go back an hour and suddenly it’s dark at 5pm, this can mean only one thing…I now feel the need to wear sweaters, cardigans and long sleeved shirts.  This is particularly traumatic as it involves ironing, something I try and do very little of. On Sunday I actually ironed 2 shirts; quite possibly the first time I’d used the iron in 3 or 4 months.

It’s also problematic as I gave most of my shirts to charity, I figured the ironing pile would be vastly reduced if I just got rid of three quarters of it, it worked! I say I gave them to charity, that  didn’t quite happen on the last occasion. Every so often I get a charity bag through the door asking for it to be filled and left out on a particular day. As you can imagine, the range of charities is wide from the legit to the con artists masquerading as charities. It seems no matter what, someone is out to profit from someone else. The delights of a capitalistic free market approach.

A few weeks ago I duly filled my bag and popped it out one morning when I brought in the milk.  After showering and getting dressed I opened the door to leave for work and noticed the bag had gone. So, the really do come at 7am? I thought to myself until I looked down the street and saw 2 people from a few doors down pulling everything out of the bag, keeping some stuff for themselves and throwing the rest on the road.

I have to admit I was furious and so started shouting at them as I walked up to see what their game was. Communication stalled when they claimed not to understand English or what I was saying, which was basically That stuff is not for you! As I headed off to work I had a philosophical debate to keep me company.  Why should I mind them taking the stuff? I was giving it away anyway so what did it matter that it was only going a few doors down?  Doesn’t charity begin at home after all? Wasn’t it as well to help a neighbour than a stranger? Against that I reasoned that they were hardly needy and they could have at least put the stuff they didn’t want back in the bag and leave it for the collection.

That night when I returned home I noticed that all along the street clothes and bric-a-brac were strewn on the pavement. The contents of my neighbours charity bags. It looked like the 2 from the morning had figured charity donation bags were a great way to kit themselves out; I went back to being pissed off at them.  I was really annoyed that the charity collection van would have passed down the street thinking it was merely a ghetto where nobody cared about charities. Now I’m reluctant to leave another bag outside and I’m too lazy to take what I have to a charity shop.

On a brighter note, I received my Apple TV today. Wow! It’s so small, the outer packaging is only 11cm x 11cm x 10.5cm so who knows what size the actual device is! I haven’t opened it as I’m not sure what to do with it. It looks like I’ll have to buy a TV to really make use of it and after 7 years without one I’m loathe to buy one now just to watch videos from my computer, I guess if I had a TV I’d be jumping for joy…c’est la vie!  I may whack it on eBay or I may donate it to one of the many people I know who are raising money for charity.  Selfishly I’m thinking of selling it as I could use the money towards getting a Sax Partner for my sax…That’s not being really selfish is it?

The Afro Celt Sound System, if you aren’t aware of them, do a style of music that fuses Irish Celtic, Western African and Dance. I’ve heard tell that listening to some of their stuff while under the influence of mind altering stimulants can result in a very enjoyable listening experience but that’s only what I’ve heard from other people.  They have a record deal with Peter Gabriel’s record label and on their third album, which appropriately enough is entitled Volume 3: Further In Time, the lead singer on track 3 is none other than Peter Gabriel.

The song is called When You’re Falling and it’s a line from the chorus of that song that gifts this entry with its title. If you like the track you should seek them out, very uplifting stuff that will brighten up these dark nights with audible bursts of neon light, or so I’ve been told by other people!