A different kind of post......

My post today is going to be a little different to usual as it will be an ‘en route,’ come along for the ride style.  I hope you enjoy it.

Three and a half hours into our drive and we have just stopped to stretch and flex!  Lengthy car journeys are great for just nattering, don’t you think?  We have been kept company so far with the smooth voices of ‘The Overtones’ singing of Good Ol’ Fashioned Love; the unmistakable gravelled tone that is Tina Turner and blasts from the past from Michael Jackson.  Quite a mixture you say, well Gracie asked for The Overtones, I requested Tina and Michael kind of happened and lead us into some serious discussion about the power of the media.  We were dissecting one of the tracks ‘They don’t care about us’ and Sam said he didn’t think that such a perhaps politically infused song would be ‘pc’ today and would be serious bait for the media moguls or perhaps not, given the recent focus on the antics of a major UK media group.  MJ’s career and life at times were certainly putty in the hands of the media, see-sawing in and out of favour.  Ayo brought into the debate his recollection of how the late queen of disco, Donna Summer’s career took a nose dive after she made a statement based on personal opinion………..  He went further to say it is disgraceful that the highest political office too could be determined by the most powerful media giants.  The source of this power, money or apparent wealth / worth!

The media is certainly a powerful secular force; paparazzi with their long-lens cameras have certainly captured many a shot that those whose privacy has been invaded would rather the world had not seen.  We know more recently that private conversations have been listened to, perhaps most disturbing, those of victims of crime / tragedy. 

What about us mere mortals………. are we  victims of a more discrete media circus which means we too can fall in and out of favour, at work, in our social circles, at church, in fact anywhere.

On a completely different note, does anyone else read magazines back to front or is it just me?  I don’t know why but I somehow enjoy the read more.  Now that I have interjected such media worthy (lol) information about myself back to serious stuff.

Having discovered that our route to Calais would take us through Paris we are moving at a more leisurely pace now due to expected city traffic, but looking forward to glimpsing the Eiffel Tower……………………… and what are we discussing now, tie-dye tops  and bell-bottoms and all things fashion.  Aaron, having woken up from a short snooze is making serious contributions and Sam is again at the helm of what is the Aina conversation vessel.  Last night he was quizzing us on the differences between the meanings and uses of certain words, e.g. ‘because’ and ‘since’, ‘envy’ and ‘jealousy’ etc.  It kept us busy for a while!

Now (nearly 7pm) we are only 200 miles or so from Calais and have stopped again, this time for a more substantial bite to eat - so onwards and forwards to catch that ferry back to England!

It’s not often you are overtaken by a coach or caravan (OK two caravans) and an articulated lorry, but today due to the leisurely pace of our drive we were …………ha ha.  I think even the drivers of said vehicles were surprised!

10.00pm we are here, duly checked in by both French and English border control (I blame the four dodgy Nigerians I’m travelling with!) and now we are waiting to board The Pride of Kent.  We gave three cheers to our wonderful, careful driver, yours truly, for his hard work today and Gracie gave him an additional vote in the form of a sincere prayer of thanks.  Today (day 229) I am just full of thanks.

 
I hope you enjoyed following our journey today ………………