The end of summer, energy and the North-South divide

Last week, apart from being the usual hectic chasing-of-tail dance-e-tron at work, appears to be the last unofficial week of summer, with campsites being booked to capacity, parks full of evening picnickers, as was indeed the hardly beautiful Mile End Park on Thursday when we sat by bank of the Regents Canal eating kebabs. It seems that collectively society senses that if it is to indulge in summery things, this is the last opportunity we'll have this year.

I was cleaning up the living room earlier on, an onerous task, and my attempt at Spring cleaning, only 4 months too late this year. When I ventured out for some lunchtime rolls, the air contained a slight, but distinct winter chill. Between now and the time just before we return to Greenwich Mean Time and the need for the SAD light becomes a reality, is my favourite time of year weather-wise: the temperature is perfect for doing all those things you really ought to do in the summer, but for which activities its just too darn hot to accomplish. As summers go, its been a mixed bag in Britain this year. A promising start in March with clear days and reasonable temps, then one month of rain. The a heatwave lasting a fortnight, ending with hot, cloudy days. I think days like these, with temps at 15-17C, clear skies and no rain are about as good as they get. I'm not a heat freak, but the old current bun doing what it does best in the sky doesn't half elevate my mood.

Farewell summer. Hello autumn. And may winter be cold and crisp the way it should.

Only thing is - crisp and cold winter means a good excuse for the Russians to hike our gas bills and for the New Tories, the arrogant fools, to pretend to us that there is nothing they can do about it. And for us, John and Jane Q Public, to pay the expenses of these halfwit politicians who become less and less attached to the society we pay them to govern while they care less and less about our concerns, while spinning the bullshit that of course they do care, and they are listening like billy-o (Blair whittering on about this very same concern this morning made by blood boil - sorry pal, but your chance for listening was three years ago and you patently failed to do so). Our gas bill has doubled since we moved to Daggers six years ago. If anything, we use energy than we did then. I'm just so glad we're not into the fuel poverty zone. I don't think it can be long before the average earner, and not just the financially hard-up who will be struggling to pay for the lecky.

Earlier this week, a writer's comment in the Grauniad's Comment Is Free section shrieked out at me: presumably she was from the north, and she was complaining that Nu Labour were a London-centric conspiracy and had lost any support and any connection to the people of the north. England should be politically divided with a north-south barrier, she suggested. I'm going to have to correct her: I was born and raised in London and I reckon I have more in common with any brother and sister from the north than with the Notting Hillbillies in Government. Sorry love, but there are two, perhaps three Londons. Super-rich London and Rich London has as much contempt for those way out East where I am, as they they do for anyone from Yorkshire, Lancashire or Northumberland. And what about Cheshire, the Surrey of the North? - shouldn't the citizenry there be considered token Southerners? I understand her point though. Its just that just as some Londoners reckon that the M25 is the border at which it all ends, Northerners are just as guilty at assuming that because you're a southerner, you have a certain level of wealth and a fixed mindset. Can we get back to reality and substitute North/South with rich/average-to-poor? In which case, I'm a Yorkshireman through and through (actually, my surname appears to be most concentrated around East Lancs/Pennines so I may be a northerner by bloodline in reality anyway. Find out about your name at:

http://www.spatial-literacy.org/UCLnames/Surnames.aspx

Her point was she was pissed off at being governed from a mentally distant London-based bureacracy with little connection to where she lives and the kind of society in which she finds herself. Our house is 24 tube stops east of Westminster, but it might as well be 300 miles up the GNER for all the impact the kind of people who live here have on the ruling political class. These idiots seemed generally surprised that 11 BNP counsellors were elected in my borough last may. I'm not. I can put my hand on my heart and say that I don't believe this has anything to do with racism. The opposition where I live was non-existent. When all the bosses look and smell the same and you want a change, then anyone offering an alternative wins. There wasn't a Green or freak party candidate in sight to register a protest vote. So guess what....?

From this day forward, and just to make things straight, I declare that Dagenham is now a suburb of Manchester, in fact, the whole of southern Essex is coming your way, oh land of pigeon fancier and betrousered ferret. Its a reluctant move we make, for the simple reason that pie and mash doesn't sit easily on the northern stomach and so, as a kindness, we'll keep the consumption of such regional food to an absolute min and only after the 'bab shop closes. In order to show solidarity to real people, the removal men have been phoned and are coming soon.

Ee up lad.