“…funny as it may seem… some people get their kicks…stomping on a dream” Dean Kay and Kelly Gordon - Lyricists
New Year, new starts… and for some that means jumping on a plane to start life anew somewhere else. Yup three of my gal pals and one of my chap pals are immigrating in 2010; the English speaking countries seem to be the favourites so maybe they haven’t all completely given up on dreaming in English…just fulfilling dreams in
Between the four who are leaving us, a lot of reasons have come up as why they are leaving Blighty behind. Three of those seem to have been said a lot and by all concerned. Each of my four pals have said that they cannot fulfil their dreams here. Somehow there always seemed to be someone somewhere installing a lower ceiling – as if aiming high is some sort of crime. Somehow there always seems to be another career change because the path chosen just petered out. Somehow relationships are limited here and unless something huge changes even the couples will find themselves singles if they stay here much longer. They all say that they are constantly starting again living here… so they’d rather go the whole hog and start again somewhere else.
As a child of immigrants and knowing what it is to grow up in a country that you have little shared heritage with, I would no sooner move abroad than I would put out my own eyeballs – but I have to applaud my friends for the courage to up sticks and give themselves the clearest of blank pages to start a new chapter on.
Although I have never felt that people stomping on my dreams has been a cause to leave the country, I do get the point they all make about constantly starting over if you live in the UK…
Oh yes… starting again is something I can definitely identify with.
Despite the promises made rashly by Tomorrow’s World (BBC science and technology programme that ran 1965-2003) the average person in the
At school we were instructed (like the generations who came before us) to pick our options carefully as these would lead us to our careers. These careers were to see us through till retirement, which for the teenager could be as long as 50 years into the future. That was the way it had always been. People went into something and worked their way up. We only ever expected to have one career.
I figured that of course Tomorrow’s World were right, the machines would soon take over and I should prepare for moocho-leisure. So I chose something a machine couldn’t do… dance. Figured by the end of my dancing career, all the real jobs would be done by robots and the age of the leisured citizen would be upon us… and I’d be just the right age to enjoy it!
Of course, Tomorrow’s world got it right on so many amazing inventions that went on to become part of our day to day life... the breathalyser, the ATM machines, the pocket calculator, the digital watch, teletext screens, personal stereos, compact discs, camcorders, barcode readers, electronic music (remember the episode with Kraftwerk on it!). BUT they got it so wrong by making my generation believe that our futures were going to be free from the shackles of traditional employment.
So thanks to that messed up prediction… no silver jumpsuit, no hover-car… just a life-time of starting again, over and over on the career front. I’m not alone… even the most stable person these days has had at least 5 careers in a life time.
Over the years I’ve had that many careers it’d make your head spin…I’ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king. Well maybe not quite, BUT, I’ve been a waitress, retail manager, an estate agent, a building site manager, a receptionist/switchboard operator, a production manager, a travel agent, a staff trainer, a copy-editor, a tour operator and editor-in chief of a cookery mag. Not quite the one career to last you 50 years.
But to be fair to ol’ Blighty, our only remaining industry is the service industry… and we keep changing our mind on what exactly we’d like serviced! One year it’s all about travel, then it’s about food, then it’s about homes, then publishing… we are constantly on a career merry-go round just to stay employed. I can quite understand the appeal of those countries where one career for a lifetime is still possible. I should have moved to
But then of course when it comes to starting again, it’s not just our careers that have many more false starts than Bob Seger. (Yup… the beginning of Old Time Rock and Roll was an accidental false start!)
Time was that you just went out there, found someone you liked the look of and if they liked the look of you, you got to know each other and if that didn’t go too bad – you made a life with them. It’s a simple premise but a good one. It was like how your career used to be… the average marriage was about 50 years long.
Umm… FAIL! The longest I’ve lasted is 13 years, and believe me at the end it was either walk away or go to jail. Funny enough looking back over my chequered love life it is odd how often the seeds of future conflict are sewn without either party knowing somewhere between the first and second date.
Because of this when I meet someone they start getting on my nerves pretty early in the relationship. I fight hard to overcome what ever it is and say to myself we all have our little ticks. So what if he refers to himself in the third person, or checks himself out in every reflective surface, has moved back in with his parents, or critiques your food but never cooks! I can train them (did you not SEE my previous jobs)!!! But success is fitful. I’m riding high in April, shot down in May, back on top in June and saying if this don’t stay good in July I will be OFF! There’s been a quite a few ‘July’s’ over the years!
The older you get here in the
But would I consider the big move abroad? I can't deny it, I thought of quitting – I moved to mainland
Mind you today I got a letter from my solicitor asking if I’d like to update my will. How funny that I live in country where a hot babe like me is more likely to be asked what tunes she’d like at her funeral than what tunes she’d like at her wedding! (Suddenly
But it did give me chance to go through my fave songs. I reckon (in addition to holding up the traffic with a Cinderella carriage pulled by six purple plumed horses – just to remind the town how awkward I could be) that it would be fitting to go meet my maker with a backing track that kind of says everything I feel about my life here in Blighty. I had to update the choice of artiste though… I think when I did my will last time I had just been to see The Good Thief and Bono sung it on the soundtrack.
I knew other people had sung this song too, but what was amazing was the track I chose has been sung by just about everybody… it’s on so many artistes’ albums! Like Della Reece, Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, Shirley Bassey, James Brown, Michael Bolton, Michael Buble, Tony Clifton, David Lee Roth, Van Morrison, Georgie Fame, The U.S. Bombs, The Bluetones, The Whitlams even Westlife! I even heard it whilst giving Tony Hawks a go on the X box!
But I updated my choice of artiste to Frank Sinatra. Cause Frank’s a classic and I think his
So… with four dear pals leaving the country looking to start a new life, I will hand you over to Frank, a man who knew all about starting over…
That's life, that's what all the people say.
You're riding high in April
Shot down in May
But I know I'm gonna change that tune
When I'm back on top, back on top in June.
I said that's life, and as funny as it may seem
Some people get their kicks,
Stompin' on a dream
But I don't let it, let it get me down,
'Cause this fine ol' world it keeps spinning around
I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate,
A poet, a pawn and a king.
I've been up and down and over and out
And I know one thing:
Each time I find myself, flat on my face,
I pick myself up and get back in the race.
That's life
I tell ya, I can't deny it,
I thought of quitting baby,
But my heart just ain't gonna buy it.
And if I didn't think it was worth one single try,
I'd jump right on a big bird and then I'd fly
I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate,
A poet, a pawn and a king.
I've been up and down and over and out
And I know one thing:
Each time I find myself laying flat on my face,
I just pick myself up and get back in the race
That's life
That's life and I can't deny it
Many times I thought of cutting out
But my heart won't buy it
But if there's nothing shakin' come this here July
I'm gonna roll myself up in a big ball and die
My, My
Post script: BON VOYAGE to Swan-Neck, Rock-God, Zoom-Zoom Ferrari and Chuckles. Gonna miss you loads, shall take you up on the offers of holidays and will always be right here when ever you need me.
JAX
XXX
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