2003-02-14 11:11 pm
Muddy Knees
A new housemate. Diary etiquette unfortunately reduces his florid Italian name to a single letter: A.
He is from Milan.
"There is no street culture in Milan anymore," he says. "Nobody does drugs, but nobody plays football either. Nobody is out at the park. There is nothing for children to do."
"How do they spend their time?"
He shrugs. The answer is obvious.
"They watch TV."
I munch cake and remember the street culture I grew up with: white, suburban, middle class. Tree climbing, bike rides, being spat at by kids from the comprehensive - which just gave life a little spice, and a few episodes of fisticuffs outside our house that usually ended, happily, in victory. But I never really got hooked on TV, and even now - never watch the thing. Don't own one and wouldn't want to. Well brought up children should have bruised knees, I reflect. My folks did OK.
Today in The Sun the headline:
TERROR FLIES IN.
Dead right, I think. That paper does more to spread terror and fear and hatred than any fundamentalist.
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