The road ahead. It’s not this one…

No obstacles, no potholes, no mangled wreckage. Here’s to wishing it could be so.

First person: “I’m giving up drinking, I’m eating healthier, more exercise , more social interaction, I’ll be more charitable.”

Second person: “Why?”

First person: “Oh, alright then. You’ve talked me out of it.”

As we climb into another year we’d rather not be reminded of the ghosts of things past… the first cartoon was drawn nearly 100 years ago, the second appeared last week.

There is no artificial remedy whose lasting side-effect is happiness. You can’t drown your sorrows because sorrows have learnt how to swim. But simple pleasures, beauty, humour, irony and good stories are always at hand. No more hand-wringing, perhaps, over the plight of the planet and the unreachable, unchangeable follies of those who have caused it.

A story from official British statistics shows how 36,000 Zimbabweans moved there in the past year, mostly on work related visas. It was the fifth largest influx after immigrants from India, Nigeria, Pakistan and China  (it doesn’t count those who arrive on small rubber boats.)  Of course the Office of National Statistics makes no mention of all the Zimbabweans who have got in and disappeared into the hinterland over recent decades. Unofficial estimates start at 250,000.

Illegal migration remains a hot topic. Back in 1985 fund raising for famine in Ethiopia filled Wembley stadium in London with white folk waving white arms for Freddie Mercury and Queen.

Not many fans of colour were rocking along with the music, waving arms in the air, despite the Windrush generation of half a million West Indians shipped to Britain for their labour after World War ll. Times have changed since then.

Hazard on the road. Watch out …