All God’s children need travelling shoes

Well we know where were going
But we don’t know where we’ve been
And we know what were knowing
But we cant say what we’ve seen
And were not little children
And we know what we want
And the future is certain
Give us time to work it out

Reading is a good thing. It really is. And some of my favourite novels would be the Modesty Blaise ones. I love both the comic strip and the novels. A series of great, tight, taut, well-written escapist romps. And, me being of that age, I used to knock about a few Usenet groups, and one low-volume but great mailing list. While I don’t quite do the whole Usenet stuff anymore (oh, now and again, but not as often as I used to) I do mailing lists. Even at that, not as many as I used to. Getting choosy in my old age. But, on said Modesty list, every so often someone mentions, in the same breath, the James Bond books. Now, I don’t think I have ever seen a whole of those flicks in one go, but I am aware of them on a meta cultural level. But the high regard the books are held always somewhat confused me. So I ignored them. Until two weeks ago.

Theres a city in my mind
Come along and take that ride
And its all right, baby, its all right

Why I bought them, I don’t know. Ground down? Giving them a chance? Two for one in Borders? Whatever, I did. I bought ‘Casino Royale’, being the first, and ‘Dr No’, as I thought that might be the second (It isn’t.) And now, a few weeks later, I have finished those, got two more for my birthday, and have an eye on buying more. Or all of them. They are, without a doubt, superb. I love such suprises, as I really wasn’t expecting to like them, being a contrary bugger and all. They are so much more than the films. Some much more cruel, so much more nasty, so much more interesting. So now I need to watch the films again for reevaluation. Yes, I know, I am late to this party. Well worth it. A different sort of escapist novel. I can sort-of see why they appeal to the Modesty demographic, but they aren’t the same sort of book at all. (Trivia note: It seems that 007 doesn’t mean licence to kill. The double-zero does, the seven was the Commander’s number. So there. Maybe everyone knew that except me. Ah well.)

And its very far away
But its growing day by day
And its all right, baby, its all right

Speaking of being contrary, there is a big hoo-hah round our way, where everybody and their sticker-wielding mother wants you to Stop Hanley Grange. Now, I don’t want it there, but when the groundswell of opinion is so dead set against Hanely Grange, I tend to veer away from the herd. And worse, when the emotional nonsense starts to appear (TESCO WANT TO KILL YOUR BABIES! RAW SEWAGE WILL RUN THROUGH OUR VILLAGE! THE DEAD WILL WALK AGAIN! Note: one of those has been used) my teeth start to get more on edge. The chances of Hanley (nee Hinxton) Grange being built are slim. So it is fine for me to be on the side of the developers here. And if it annoys the screeching brigade, then I am all for it. I have a natural instinct to not believe what the great unwashed does. (No irony has been lost during the typing of this post.) Why is that? My mother always said the same, Cassandra (probably) knows it (by now), I will argue with you, whether I believe the stated position or not. Youse all know that, though, don’t you? It is all for my education. Me! It is all about me! I need to learn. I need to know why you have such a reprehensibly wrong opinion. Why do you then? Well?

They can tell you what to do
But they’ll make a fool of you
And its all right, baby, its all right

…and she was