Introducing BOF

Let me introduce myself.

I am 61 years old, and have led a varied life. No doubt in subsequent pages, as time rolls by I will reveal even more about me than I will in these opening paragraphs. Suffice to say at this time I was brought up in a middle-class home, with a fairly typical 1950’s middle-class education.

My mother, who before she married had been a dancer, had theatrical pretensions consequently I was given an impossible moniker. Unfortunately I was not “man enough” to bear the cross of teasing and carry the name with aplomb. In my late teens I changed my name, now in this age where I.D. has become a big issue this sometimes poses a problem.

My early years of schooling were spent in poorly equipped private day schools, my contemporaries were the sons of G.Ps, dentists, bank managers, and farmers. My father suffered a stroke, and could not return to his job. In a short space of time the comfortable lifestyle disappeared. No more private education and worse still, from my point of view, we moved house from Cornwall to Devon. 31 years later I returned to live in Cornwall.


What is a B.O.F?

The acronym B.O.F. stands for “Boring Old Fart”.

Old in my mind has always been a moving feast. I recall when I was a teenager old was over 25 and over 30s were walking dead. I used to justify my drug fuelled lifestyle by saying I did not want to live beyond 30 then as I reached the end of my teens this age became 35.

This movement of the definition of old continued until one day I was 60; I now had a bus pass.
Worse still I found myself prefacing statements about current events, with the phrase, “when I was young …”

I knew I had become a B.O.F.

The contradiction is I am still as Angry as I was when I was in my 20s. I listen to the news on the radio or read the news on line and rage impotently.

In the last 15 years I and many others have been effectively disenfranchised. The Labour Party which spent years guarding against Left Wing infiltration, were looking to the left and did not notice the takeover by a right-wing faction. A faction who had more in common with Ted Heath’s “One Nation Tories” than with the rank and file of the Labour Party. In my opinion, after 18 years of Thatcherite Tories, most members of the Labour Party would have elected Old Nick himself, if they thought he could defeat the Tories.

My use of the word “Ranting”, should be self explanatory
– I see in the preceeding paragraph I have begun to rant. Although in my opinion I have been restrained and measured.

Finally Insignificant.

I have no illusions. This Blog will change nothing. My opinions will not influence any decision makers. I, as an individual are no more importance than a single grain of sand on a beach. If the grain of sand is washed away by the waves no one will notice. If ten grains of sand are washed away by the waves no one will notice. If ten times ten grains of sand are washed away by the waves still no one will notice. Even when ten times ten times ten grains of sand are washed away by a single wave no one will notice. Only when the beach has washed away will it be noticed the grain of sand has been washed away.

My rant is no more than a grain of sand – insignificant in the greater scheme of things.
If I am an optimist I may aspire to be the grain of sand that gets into a machine and becomes a major irritant.