Dan Gowar on a Friday...
Published 23 Jan 2012 10:45
WE are hardly into 2012, but fellow patrons of my local house of refreshment are getting somewhat agitated.
One reason is the London Olympic Games which will take place during the summer.
I regard the fact the UK won the right to stage the games in 2012 as a great honour - and most of my pals, who rarely
consume anything more lively than a raspberry milkshake, are of a similar opinion.
My friends come from a wide variety of backgrounds, ranging from manual labourers who received a private education to wealthy business types who started earning big money after leaving state schools at the first opportunity.
Incidentally, in case anyone thinks my group of pals are only of the male persuasion, we are regularly joined by the frisky young ladies who stand at the other end of the bar.
Having been married for more years than my dearly beloved General Manager says she would rather not to be reminded of, I have a healthy respect for the fairer sex.
Like the GM, the aforementioned young ladies are collectively as sharp as a tack and we gentlemen take a keen interest in their opinions, the ladies and my male friends are of the belief a lot of people are already scunnered by the number of news stories in the run-up to the Olympics, and some of them are planning to go into hibernation when the games finally get under way.
It's not anything against the games, just the fact that the national media will become obsessed to the point of ignoring matters of considerably more significance to the average man and woman in the street.
Our group discusses all manner of topics but politics, strangely enough, is not a regular issue.
However, earlier this week, most said they wished the Scottish independence referendum could take place as soon as possible.
They simply cannot face a summer when we will hear about little other than referendum wrangling and the London Olympics.
That said, I hope the Olympics will be a success and, whenever it takes place, the referendum result be good for Scotland.
This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 13 Jan 12
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