Dr Pamela Cox does a fine job of introducing this history of people we see every day – those who have worked in shops, department stores, supermarkets, boutiques etc. I suppose most of us have done time as one of this ‘nation of shopkeepers’, with many a fond or not so fond memory.
As a customer, however, this account, with plenty of archive, reminds us all that those who serve us, with a minimum of fuss, preferably, and without pretending to be particular friends (unless, heaven help them, their customer wants them to be, or the management does) deserve our respect.
There is a twist in this tale, however, as Dr Cox concludes her otherwise faultless account by citing Margaret Thatcher as ‘the most famous shopgirl ever’.
Ah well, I shall continue to check my change and spurn unctuous displays of friendliness, quoting Biba’s founder’s principle, “Any assistant who addresses a customer with ‘Can I help you?’ gets the sack.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0485k0s
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I admire poets who puzzle me
But I don’t enjoy being puzzled
Why mystify your readers?
To impress them?
Because you have a frame of reference known and knowable only to you?
Because the words keep coming to you
Inexplicable but somehow irresistible?
Because you don’t care if your words mean anything?
Because your are happy not taking responsibility for what you say?
A lot of poets hope their work will help to make them understood,
To give give their version of their story.
Perhaps what’s clear to them is something they want to explain?
Not everything I say needs saying to the world
Though one likes to say something
Even if it’s nought but the current trivia
Which may yet meet some choice reader’s criteria
Though it fail to achieve the truly superior.
Yet a sensitive sounding brass
Can’t help picking up the vibrations in the wind.
The prevailing tone needs to be tested and contrasted
Quizzed, parodied, protested, exposed, argued, echoed, celebrated
And if we don’t create the poetry of our time
We are condemned to live inside a dreary rhyme
Told what to expect at the end of each line
Not piercing through the crusty surface
Nor soaring past the prescribed agenda
But ground down and programmed
When we should be representing
The poetry in our lives.
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Have a look at this extract, and see if you can identify the novel it comes from:
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Stop listening to the endless voice in your head
Let other people listen to it instead
Poetry for others
Poetry for myself
Poetry for art
Poetry for politics
Poetry for advertising building societies
Poetry for building society
Poetry for making sense
Common sense and nonsense
Poetry is for sharing what you notice
Poetry is for sharing what you feel
Poetry is the calm at the centre of the storm
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I wont say I’m a fan of this artist
Preferring to think of us as equals
Nevertheless,this work, though dashed off with her usual abandon
Shows a wit, a style and a charm, and tickles
A sweet memory of her that gives this bit of tat
Its true worth to me.
To me, not to you, though it’s probably just
Dropped on her ‘cutting room floor’
This sweet souvenir is all she’s left for me
So I shall keep it, though I should perhaps just throw it away
Not needing any picture, to see her every day.
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[Having been called out at work, not for the first time, for talking to myself, with the suggestion “Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness” I set about considering this phenomenon.]
Talking to myself has always been a great source of comfort and mild amusement to me; the wit, the charm, the guarantee of understanding, have all combined to make me accept what some may regard as a bad habit.
I ask myself, naturally, what is the nature of my self conversing and is it entirely healthy? The results of my researches follow:
I shall write down anything I say aloud though alone, starting at 7:37 pm Sunday 22nd April 2018.
(And will try not to pull any faces, ‘mug’ – no mugging!)
7.33- “This is not…”
7.34- ‘Mugged while looking for cushion behind sofa.
[Note: Ability to remain silent appears good for concentration; in teachers as well as pupils/students. See my PGCE long essay, ‘Why did I shout?’
8.59pm “Sell it!” (advice spoken to owner of Lalique belt buckle on Antiques Roadshow, on telly..
9.05pm “I’m a sensitive soul.”(remark addressed to a necessarily absent friend.
9.31pm “What a surprise!” (sarcy remark directed at an unexpectedly absent friend.
10.47pm”Way over my head” (Affectionate tribute to Amy Schumer’s sarcastic humour and assumption that I truly understand it.)
10.54pm”Too late!” (ibid 9.31 pm)
Day 2
(A visiting friend noticed the change in me that has already occurred since this experiment began)
10.20am “Oh good” (Spontaneous exclamation when, having made a fresh cup of tea, I found I had a still drinkable cup of coffee)
11.50am”Advertising!” (Involuntary exclamation at something on the television).
[Talking aloud now confined to involuntary exclamations, which are accepted as ‘correct English’ if not too protracted.]
Success of this Experiment.
I discover that not talking aloud when alone is less lonely. It’s been an effort to not try dominating the immediate environment, take up all the available oxygen with spoken verbiage and failure to listen, to pay proper attention.
Next Problem Talking to strangers.
Talking to yourself aloud is acceptable English…
As an exclamation
As an aide mémoire, following or remembering instructions, recipes etc.
When composing a poem, speech, prose etc.
When singing? (Beware of allowing this to become another form of self conversing.)
When praying, if sure that it’s God you’re talking to, not just yourself again.
When “giving yourself a good talking to” (ref. Bob Dylan)
Keeping yourself awake/resisting sleep.
Wearing out excessive mental energy?
When having laughed in recognition of some truth illustrated by an insightful moment or line included in the passing stream. Acknowledge the insight, learn the wisdom, to be recalled at appropriate moments, if you continue to believe that your ‘lesson learnt’ needs to be shared!
Talking to yourself may be a healthy way of continuing the conversation contributed to by such inciteful moments?
Talking aloud takes less time than writing your thoughts down, and sometimes provides a first opportunity for your inner editor to exercise their right of refusal.
Reasons for not talking to yourself aloud:
Someone will be listening, recording and stealing your best ideas, even just for marketing. (cf. paranoia)
If you are lying to yourself (esp. when voicing others eg: “If I say this to so and so, she/he will say such and such so I will say that and he/she will be lost for words or otherwise respond satisfactorily”. (Note: This prepared dishonesty can create unreal expectations.) Imagining you’re addressing ‘your’ audience or auditor is a false trail because your lack of empathy is damaging your ability to engage a real person or audience. NB: not everyone you meet is your audience. Pick your moments!
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New Scotland Yard
Yeah, I’m always hanging around there
Sometimes by special invitation
With all the bells and whistles, you know,
Or, more usually, just because I like it round there
That splendid piece of modern architecture
On that particularly windy corner of London
To watch who’s coming or going in,
Sometimes it’s fun to play at being reporter,
To set up a protest there, big or small, loud or quiet
But I like it best when I slip into the background
In the corridors, the offices, the interview rooms
The labs and, of course, the Black Museum.
Love Tainted
Captain Cregan in SVU
A lonely old geezer who loves poor little girls
Would do anything to preserve them
Even take them into his bed.
Recognise another cruel example
Of how the tenderest feelings of love
Are twisted by this cruel world,
Turned into a sad old joke, and then a scandal
Until their little world turns and this true love story
Ends in some minor, not unexpected tragedy
Or the world turns sunny again, in all love’s glory.
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Talking to yourself is a politically incorrect phrase
People not talking to themselves is much scarier
People alone not saying anything as if switched off.
Or does the brain function better when released
From the shackles of vocalised speech?
Or perhaps hearing one’s thoughts aloud
Enables correction and careful self analysis
A talking cure without a therapist?
Or is it better to keep silent and just dream?
A fool’s choice, in my opinion!
I talk to reach agreement, with myself if no one else.
Or is my rambling, relentless monologue so banal
So in need of further calculation
That even I alone should give it no further attention?
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Perhaps it’s not surprising
That travelling to the future
Seems harder as one gets older;
Trips to the past, painful enough but comfortingly familiar,
While tomorrow’s business seems set by others
Tomorrow’s fashions designed to prove
That you, if you ever were in it, are out of style.
Yes, marvellous things will happen
New stuff, new amusements, solutions,
Wonderful ways to explore and travel
The steady motion that will always deny
The claim that things don’t change.
Life’s struggles will never end but I know I shall
And it gets harder to pretend.
