
I found this invitation in an old book of Kipling’s Songs. 97 years old and looks brand new. My Dad used to say “are you waiting for an engraved invitation or what?”. Well, now I know what he meant. This is from a world that is long gone, and I miss it. Especially the carriages at 11.45 pm. The good news is that the Masonic Hall and the old Grammar School are still there in Uddingston, a small Scottish town near Glasgow, by the River Clyde. There is a new Grammar School however, so no idea what the old one is now used for. The Masons are still meeting in their hall, from what I discovered.

Meanwhile, here in Victoria BC, we are busy tearing down everything in sight in order to build more apartments, like the Soviet Union. Nobody can stop the government mandate for housing quotas. This is how governments react in knee jerk fashion to the fact that housing prices have gone through the roof and no one can afford to buy or rent, unless they are rich or have a very high paid job. Not like the days when I bought a house for 2 years salary, with a few thousand down. Today, we are facing reno-viction by a public housing corporation, no less. Townhouses, the “missing middle” are suddenly not good enough, so they too will fall to the wrecker’s ball and be replaced with a large apartment block. Welcome to the Orwellian future.

Well, all this peeves me greatly, but all I can do is gripe and write songs about it. Here’s the latest one, called Modern Day Blues. Every word is true.


