"Seaside Special"/"Such charming English whimsy"

This, chums, is the legendary 'Last Bus'. From talking to its owners, Mike and Jessica, the last time we were here, the plan is to drive this around the world, making tea for people. Today it made the less ambitious trip from just outside the carriage where we're staying up to the Last Bus Café. 

I guess you might wrinkle your nose at that, as a plan. You might think "What's the point?" or "Aren't there better things they could do with their time?" And I suppose, IF you were doing something totally admirable with your time, then yes, cast those stones, why don't you?

But when, at the last count, 52% of people are supporting Brexit, primarily (but not exclusively) as a shrouded vote for racism and when there are literally tens of millions voting for someone as asinine and evil as Trump in the U.S. (not to mention the Front Nationale in France and AfD in Germany), then frankly I'm up for anything, no matter how ostensibly trivial, that is all about sharing the love. 

And it's not just that. All my life I've loved songs that employ a 'cut up' approach to the lyrics, that don't tell a literal story. The ballad, I have to say, doesn't appeal to me*.  My favourite singers throw lines out that capture and seduce me in their isolation not their context. One such, from Carl Marsh's 'Here Comes The Crush', refers to "such charming English whimsy". Why, I wonder, did that single line appeal to me so much?

I'm not patriotic nor am I a nationalist but if there's one thing I love about the English (and, I'm less sure, the British) it's the love of whimsy. In some respects, I think that is probably at the root of my adoration for Bill Drummond. I wonder whether the reason I really long for a decent, progressive government that gives everyone the same right to health and education is simply so that we can get on with the business of doing those little things that appeal directly to us as individuals.

*Except, it happens, that my favourite song is 'She Moved Through The Fair', at least if you measure it by the number of versions I own.

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