On The Beach

I don't know about you but I have a heap of cassettes (old technology, kids) and CDs that have been with me for many years. Some of the cassettes are pre-recorded and some are blank cassettes upon which I recorded favourite vinyl (more old technology, kids, but still going strong amongst DJ culture). I did buy and own the vinyl records I recorded onto cassette so don't send the Copyright Police around to my house to bust me for historical crimes!

Imagine the scenario: door kicked in, Copyright Police enter, guns drawn, "Are you that slimy, lowlife, mother$#@% who taped Frank Zappa's Sheik Yerbouti in 1981?"

Shades of hunting Martin Bormann or Idi Amin!

Anyway, I digress, as I am wont to do.

I was listening to an old, pre-recorded cassette of On The Beach by Neil Young in the car. I hadn't listened to this album in years and I was struck how all the lyrics came gushing out of my subconscious so that I was able to sing along with Neil in the car as I drove along.

One lyric from the title track really struck me: "Though my problems are meaningless, that don't make them go away". Isn't that so true? You are late for some appointment or other and when you turn the key, the car won't start. Not up there with starving in sub-Saharan Africa, but nevertheless, crucially a bummer for you!

We are lucky to live in a democratic country (although the National Party are working to overcome this) where we can work, live and play in relative comfort and ease. I'm not turning a blind eye to our own people in poverty, but life here is better than in many countries of the world.

But problems are still problems, microscopic or gargantuan.

So, maybe next time I have a problem which seems overwhelming, I'll think of good old Neil Young, but I'll also think: "Hey, I'm not buried under a mud landslide or running from murderous thugs who have displaced me from my home because of my ethnicity."