Daily Archives: 24 March, 2011

Does the future exist?

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Well, it’s not like I didn’t warn you.

OK it’s typically sensationalist, as one would expect from the Daily Hate Mail but, if their facts are anything like correct, be assured, this is just the start.

After the Second World War, when the state pension age was set at 65 for men, their life expectancy was 66.4 years and women’s was 72.5 years. These figures have risen to 77 years for a man and 82 years for a woman.

Now, unless there is a huge increase in the number of people working (and, therefore, paying) to enable the ‘system’ to support many more pensioners, something has got to change. Either we start dying off earlier or we must work later. Obviously, the ‘working later’ bit is preferable.

The comments by the Daily Hate Mail readers make me laugh though. It seems that it’s all the previous (Labour) government’s fault. Of course it is! How stupid of me?

Apart from the fact that their spelling is really atrocious, their ideas seemed so warped as to be really quite scary (the readers/commentators – about the Labour government I couldn’t possibly comment). Sometimes it makes you think that there should be a rule only allowing people of a certain intelligence to be permitted to vote or have children, etc.

However, in reality, it was not any government’s ‘fault’. Well, they could have seen this coming and done something about it earlier, of course. But it’s hardly a ‘vote winner’ now, is it?

I mean to say, ‘Vote for us and we’ll make you work longer’. Not really catchy.

But, if you think about it, what else is to be done? Either work longer or get paid much, much less. I know which I’d prefer.

People on the newspaper site are complaining that the government are ‘making you work ’till you drop’. Well ….. erm ….. yes – but then, they are also the government that, should you live a long time in retirement, will be paying you something. These same people would complain if the government said ‘OK, you don’t have to pay so much tax but, after you retire, you’re on your own’.

It’s the stupidity that gets to me. It’s the lack of an overall awareness. It’s a lack of the basic understanding of how such a system as this is supposed to work.

I despair.

But, as I’ve said for years, I expect that I will never retire – dropping dead prior to retirement almost certainly. But I’m not blaming anyone except myself and, if I had really wanted to retire with lots of money, I should have saved more. Much, much more. But it’s OK since life should be about living now not living sometime in the future. We know about now. The future is uncertain and may not even exist.

Signs and remembering

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There are things. Things that remind me of the past or a person. Very occasionally a smell or some music. In this case there is no smell nor music but just a sight.

Sometimes it is unexpected. I catch my breath. Like this morning.

The sight was something like this:

OK so not quite as nice as this one pictured – but you get the idea.

My maternal grandmother loved Magnolia. I think it was her favourite and they had one in front of their bungalow, right outside the lounge windows. And it is still there, outside the bungalow. We passed by the bungalow when I was boring F to death with the ‘….and this was where…..’ stuff last year when we went to the UK for the wedding. I didn’t really understand, all that time ago, because it had no smell (and I liked flowers with smell). However, my last house in the UK had one because I put one in. You don’t see them so often and they only seem to flower for a few weeks but they are glorious. And they are, of course, a reminder that spring is here. The only problem in the UK was that you were as likely as not to have a frost which would kill the blooms immediately. Here it is much less likely.

And, so, I was reminded of both her and, by association, my maternal grandfather whom regular readers will know, I loved very much.

And it was a nice thought on this fine, slightly-not-cold, spring morning and I thought I would tell you.