Cold, For Summer

It's about this time that people start tutting and sighing and saying things like "Oh well, that's summer over for the year". This is not, strictly speaking, accurate.

Summer in this country is notoriously bad, but we do get some hot days later than this. I've known Septembers that were hotter than June or July. We do tend to get a few days of glorious sunshine followed by a few days of torrential rain, as seems to be the case right now, but the rain of the last few days has been broken by patches of sunshine. It's still quite warm out (not so much at home, though - my flat is freezing. I'm currently wearing a pullover and a fleece and still feeling the chill, but I'm determined to not put my heating on... my last gas bill was pretty astronomical), just tending to be wet.

The upshot of this, I guess, is that a repeat of the rioting and looting from earlier in the month is unlikely. The British, by and large, are up for civil unrest only if the weather's good. Why nick a brand new plasma screen TV or some expensive trainers if they're only going to get soaked on the way back?

That's what really bugged me about the riots: those interviewed were full of "blame the Government/Economy" rhetoric, without any understanding of the situations to which they referred. Their apologists were telling us about "the voice of the disaffected youth" and "people who feel they have no stake in society". People on the streets, shouting at reporters and politicians alike, carped on about listening to "the voice of Black Youth"... but it seems - so far - that the majority of looters arrested were middle class white kids who expect everything in life to be handed to them. What does the girl who has everything do when daddy won't buy her a new car? She goes out and trashes a few shops, it seems.

I can see part of the argument about kids who feel they have no stake in society but, let's face it, you forge your own stake in society by becoming part of it. Get involved in your community and you're not only building character, but you're building ties to the people around you. When I left school, after my A-Levels, and with big dreams, I tried to get the job I really wanted... failed... signed on at the job centre, and took the first job that sounded interesting. At no time did I contemplate property damage, stealing, or wanton violence. My wages weren't handed to me - I actually had to learn and work at a trade.

And to all these people who say "there's nothing for kids to do while the schools are out" I would point out that there has long been a tradition of kids finding things to do in their summer holidays. Sadly, some of these kids lack the brain power to consider taking a football to their local park for a kickabout with friends or - heavens forfend - picking up a fucking book and reading for pleasure.

Why do they need any (Government funded, inevitably) organisation to give them things to do? Sure, a youth club is a good thing... but, in the absence of any funding, the community could put something together themselves. Some do, you know.

But it's not even just kids that were involved. Some of the adults involved weren't even unemployed.

Depressing, really...

Yesterday, I popped over to Harrow to snap up the newly-released Wii game Xenoblade Chronicles. Roundly regarded by the press as "the best RPG to come out of Japan in the last 10 years", it's certainly easier to get into than some though, having got through some of the really easy fights, the slightly larger monsters are still proving quite deadly for me... that said, I'm never looking in the right place to see when my team need healing, and since the main player character is the only healer (so far), that's a bit of a problem...