I'd do Anything for Love and Saving the Planet, But Not That

I’d do Anything for Love and Saving the Planet, But Not That ©

By
Michael Casey

Well I’ve finished my Taiwanese Kdrama about the store, so I thought I’d try and write a new piece for you all. Though one last thing, the hair with the tiny crown attached for the Wedding Finale, was TERRIBLE, it was made 11 years ago, so perhaps they did not know better, but the bride looked bad. No doubt my friend in Taiwan may disagree if she ever saw it, I’ll have to email her and ask.

Half of Taiwan wants to invade Birmingham now, and give me a slap. But if you know my Taiwanese friend she’ll tell you the beauties I live with, so I do know what I’m talking about. I am a Gay Dad after all, this means I know about women’s fashion, I may look like a sack of potatoes myself, but I do know how a woman should look. And by the way I’m not Gay, just to avoid any Internet Confusion. I’m very fertile, so don’t even shake hands with me, and no that’s not a metaphor. Or those 4 Kpop kids will soon start appearing.

So, I’ll ask you, how long have you been recycling? Did you applaud when the visual litter appeared in every front garden, colour coded dustbins, for, waste, recycling and for grass, and even a food waste bin. Did you throw a street party for them? Greta may be your hero, or should I say heroine, and no it’s not true, she’s not dating Barron Trump and taken up modelling, and attends his basket-ball matches. And no she has not taken up smoking either.

Well I’ll have you know, all you trendy people, recycling was what we did automatically in the 1960s, because we were poor and did not waste anything. If we could burn it, it went on the old coal fire. My big sister used to sit on top of the fire with a book on the fire guard reading. Then afterwards the criss-cross pattern was all over her legs. Next to the outside toilet, shared for 8, we had a coal shed and the coal man used to walk up the entry and toss his load, a hundred weight into the coal shed. I nearly was killed stone dead in that coal shed in 1966 maybe but that’s another story. So, in times like these, we, everybody did not waste anything. You only had 2 dustbins then and they were made of galvanised steel. The dustmen used to come and get your rubbish too. They had slide down shutters on the dustcart too. And before I forget the coal man’s cart was a flat loader with a horse pulling it, I seem to remember. And there was a breadman too, with big basket bring in the bread. So, your back passage was always busy too.

This was the climate, and the Space Race was on as well, early 1960s, so 1969 really was a big big deal. We were too poor to be the consumer society, I got puke coloured cord long trousers in the Summer of 69 or was it 70. I used to wear shorts and long socks with garters on. So I danced up and down the garden when my mother  had finished sewing them to make them shorter. I can picture her in the back yard sitting on an old broken barn chair, with the setting sun, and yes I had that chair for 30 years afterwards when I moved house, so maybe 50 years use altogether. And I was so happy to get 2nd or 3rd hand trousers from my 3 elder brothers. Fast Fashion did not even exist, not a picture of poverty, but of a large Irish family in the shadow of Cape Hill Brewery Smethwick, but we were in Birmingham.

People had things and made them last. Money, makes you wasteful, and being  bored too. If you have the Blitz mentality, There’s a War On, then you won’t waste stuff. Or I only had three holidays last year, and these clothes are six months old, so I’ll throw them out. This fruit comes from South Africa and the others were delayed because of bad weather over the Atlantic. Everybody likes fancy stuff. We were forced to have central heating in 1973, because of Smokeless Zones, but at least my big sister no longer hogged the coal fire. Even though over the border in Smethwick they continued. Things change, attitudes change.

Would you choose to have less? In the end accepting a lower standard of living may be the only way to stop global warming. Or do you want to continue travelling the world buying plastic tat souvenirs, taking selfies, filling cyberspace with your taste. And continue killing the human race. Or even do less breeding so we can feed the world as it is. Or is Covid 19 an unintended way of Saving the Planet. Think about everything you do, you don’t need heroes to tell you. Or do you?

everybody should have a bear friend,