A week in the life of....

We drive through a small village in South Derbyshire. An openreach van is parked opposite a parked car. With great difficulty, and only by pulling in both mirrors I squeeze through. My concern that an ambulance or fire engine would not have got through at all is met with abuse from the householder standing nearby, (elderly and female, she ought to have known better) and no concern is shown by the workman. Seemingly mending household telephones is of more importance than the safe passage of emergency vehicles.

We contact three estate agents and are astounded and dismayed as to how little our house we have to sell is worth. Meanwhile banks around the world continue to collapse and the media talks only of recession.

We call at the local fish and chip shop. My vehicle (a motorhome) is larger than average so I park away from other vehicles whilst my wife attends to our order. Two young men prowl, (strut might be a better word) the area and glare menacingly in my direction; one spits consistently. They buy tins of beer in the off licence and are gone. By now I am surrounded by cars. A large car parks almost in the doorway of the newsagents, its occupant unwilling to walk more than a few feet. It is now difficult for him to drive off easily. He scowls and gesticulates in my direction and drives off.

We attend the Derby County versus Sheffield United football match. It is a fraught affair and tempers become heated at the referees decisions. Again abuse takes over, furious, personal abuse a lack of self control in adults who are old enough to know better.

We wait until most vehicles have left; it is busy on the roads normally, never mind numbers drastically increased by football traffic. It is by now dusk (A late afternoon kick off , television tends to rule British league football kick off times). I am astounded to have to negotiate round an elderly man on a cycle, no lights, no sense, no regard for other road users or his own safety. The end of an uneasy, incident filled week, we all feel somewhat drained. But I do not feel deflated and I'll tell you why.

My youngest daughter is expecting her third child and never has an easy time during pregnancies. In the week she was rushed into hospital and things looked ominous. We waited with baited breath. And, hey presto, a scan revealed no problems. I don't consider myself a religious person (in many ways I wish I was) but this traumatic event, not for the first time reminded me of our frailty, our vulnerability. So to hell with abusive people, incompetent banks, selfish fools and downright stupid twerps. There is so much more to life. And by the way, It didn't rain all day and Derby County won a league match for the first time in 361 or was it 362 days!