Expanding language

It's only after a bit of contemplation about then and now that our minds take note of changes that accrue over a period of time. The extreme cases are easy to spot but others require more time.

The motivator for this line of thought was the picture that flashed into my mind of buses in service with London Transport in the middle thirties, so prior to the War, which returns me to my youth when public transport was at a fairly early stage in its development. The doubledecker buses had open winding stairs to the top deck, which I always clambered with excitement, especially if the bus was in motion and swaying through traffic, with me hanging on and my mother in some agitation!

The safety implications do not bear much thought, for one slip could end tragically. But youngsters thrive on danger. In some ways this edge to daily living had its slightly roughshod way of making youngsters aware of those encounters that carried risks that today are minimised by safety regulations.

As our thinking, thank God, is not yet regulated by a sinister outside source, there remains the joy of uninhibited dallying with both memory and supposition. It is, I find, both an excitement and an invigorating spur in music to shedding inhibition and facing whatever we avoid because the language is alien to our present experience. Go ahead and make it a part of your expanding language. You may never regret it!