Hello and how are you?
Saturday the 22nd of February sees the Mighty Cannon back in action against our east London chums, West Ham, for the second and last time this season. Kick off is at 3.00pm western European time at Ashburton Grove.
Well time flies even if you’re not having fun or speeding out of Trumpton with a cargo of contraband? Time doesn’t fly at all, in fact what is time? It took me years to work it out, but I would be interested in any thoughts you had. What is interesting is that Einstein was correct when he said that time would go quicker the more we interact with technology. The days seem to slip through your fingers like small granules of sand. 5,4,3,2,1.
Is interacting with technology your life now, it is mine. I lament the days when I was closer to nature, even in my local park, nature has now been hacked and slashed and turned into anything but the tiny haven for animals and birds that it was and populated humans looking at their phones rather than any interesting flora, fungi or weather patterns. Humans seem to often think (for various reasons) that they aren’t part of nature, which seems very odd. If we aren’t then what are we?
Last time I wrote I found myself standing at the cemetery gates and asking myself was this where I wanted to be? During the ManUre game I had a certain media outlet’s commentary which was utterly biased against Arsenal, I only know this as I’m mostly biased towards Arsenal. This coupled with the live action, the more my blood pressure became intense, the more it became obvious the Guns weren’t going to win and the more it didn’t become a game any more, as I started thinking about a person I knew (who supported ManUre) who used to come up to my face and go on about “the Arsenal darkies”, at the time I was a snowflake about racism (now I’m just a snowflake about life) and had been actively involved the anti-apartheid movement. I hated the job I was in and at that moment and all my life, I almost couldn’t swallow that shit. But what to do, they said it, it was nasty, undignified, cowardly and antagonistic, I expected better behaviour, but why? Later such words didn’t affect me. But I ask myself wtf am I holding on to this, or any of the other horrible behaviours I experienced? Even worse why am I projected them onto other situations and ironically causing new prejudice myself?
I don’t think its just a football ‘problem’, but attaching things to phenomena and its creates all sorts of problems that aren’t really a problem and makes complex situation out of very little? Must have been terrible for Kai and Sophie, anyone whose very had life threatening forces coming for them knows that its traumatic, but the trouble is trauma gets worse the more you think about it, even more so the more the years fly by. By the time the inevitable penalties were coming around I knew what with the pain in my arm and jaw and tight chest and blurry vison it was switch that shite off or pop yer nat wats. Switch it off I did. I love Arsenal but not that much. I’m sure she has other lovers much more loyal though and perhaps already some pushing up the days eyes?
By way of therapy ( as well as trying to get some exercise, and failing to get rid of anxiety) I ended up watching all three series of Loudermilk on Netflix in the evenings, which I can recommend is much more interesting than having a heart attack or stroke over Arsenal fc FA Cup failure. Ed, I appreciated the words you wrote that day, thank you!
I found Loudermilk a really interesting series, about an asshole/good bloke who was a music critic and a head who sobered up and runs a group of other various ex-heads and we participate in the absurd, strange, funny and sometimes profoundly moving scenes with them. Anyone whose struggled with any kind of addiction, the episode involving Mugsy Bennigan in series three, I’m sure you would find quite moving, I did to tears.
I’m not much of an ideologist more interested in how it is and how it was, but I love that different voices and creations are coming forward in out time, oddball series like Shorsey and Letterkenny. Yet the over whelming nature of all streaming systems can leave you greedy and perhaps less cherishing than in days of yore when you got on the bus or train to buy a record or book etc or had to get your arsenal to the Kino for a film? Same in Arsenal world, how strange in my lifetime to go from starved to overwhelmed for all things Gunner?
What to do, all things change. If we try to conserve we end up trying to freeze things but this itself comes about because progress doesn’t always seem like progress? How anything plays out we don’t know, even the destruction of the earth doesn’t mean the end of on-going effects.But being stuck in the world of not knowing isn’t much fun either, and that’s where I swim these days, in fact probably all my days.Anyone got any armbands or rubber rings? This was something else that struck me while away from PA, how often loud voices pose as knowing voices, seems quite audacious and I can only say I envy their confidence!
Each game I suppose will now be about adapting to our injury problems in some ways its pretty interesting, who knows if any new youngster will make their way onto the stage and blow us away as they try and hope to grab our attention and later a big cheque.And for the shit they’ll pick up on the way, grab that cheque son, grab it. West Ham have had a kack season but still are a threat, but on our home turf I expect a decent result.Come on you Gunners give us five again!
The Arsenal have been given a 73.7% chance of winning and the Irons only 9.8%. In my true style I will be going into the game with my usual jellyfish emotions, hoping for a win but expecting anything could arise. But the more players like Merino that rise up and bang in a few goals the more of a smile we can expect on Gooner faces? But private faces are wiser and nicer than public faces in private places said Auden but the Small Faces reminded us to keep it all together, when half he moon is taken away.
Look after yourselves, till the next time. COYG!
Mills
Positively Arsenal 