Friday, 27 April 2007

I wrote recently about young English girls adopting Jamaican and American accents. We’ve had a telephone call from one of our son’s friends. His natural accent is North London / Hertfordshire, but he too has decided to adopt this fashionable American Caribbean accent, but sadly, for him he has got it terribly wrong. While he has succeeded in disguising his Hertfordshire accent, his new accent sounds like it comes from nowhere on earth. Except possibly Johannesburg.

An aspect of globalisation is that the internet has eradicated distance (at least as far a communication and information are concerned). Perhaps young people also want to exist independently of “place” and to achieve this they need to be able to change “cultures” as easily as they change clothes. Or perhaps universal English has eradicated the need for Esperanto, and the need now is for an international standard dialect?

This morning proper began with a visit from Katie of the Guideposts Trust. She was delivering some wonderful works of art prepared by users of the Trust. We set about working out how best to display these at Watford CVS. We were joined by Maria and by Simon (one of the artists). Hopefully we will soon have a wonderful display and perhaps a proper open evening.

Pam Handley arrived at 10:00, prompt as ever for my monthly supervision meeting. We discussed the recruitment process for a Finance and Administration Officer. Very properly, Pam pointed out that our advert failed to carry both the Watford Borough Council logo and our own Charity Registration number. Schoolboy errors on my part. We also talked through the agenda for the forthcoming trustees’ meeting.

Having such an engaged (and sharp) Chair of trustees is very reassuring: it reduces my isolation and helps me keep one eye always on the horizon – and it keeps me on my toes which is no bad thing at all.

In the afternoon, I took off home to Welwyn Garden City to get the car tyres changed. I also had an appointment at the gym to see if I can maybe start taking exercise a bit more seriously. A lovely lady called Karol tried to introduce me to the various machines and it all looks very daunting. There is something just so unnatural about the whole gym thing: but I have promised to give it a go.

In the evening, there was a family gathering for Mum’s 76th birthday - her first for more than fifty years without Dad alongside her.