I went to hear Roger McGough at the Landmark Arts Centre last night. It was the first night of his new tour Alive and Gigging and what a joy it was to soak up his poetry. I even managed to have a quick catch-up chat with him afterwards. Sat next to a couple called Charlie and Charlie and enjoyed their company too - so much so that we all went for a drink in the Kings Head after the show.
Funny how it only takes one thing to burst your bubble though. Youngest son, when asking about whether I enjoyed myself, offered his views on the venue - which he dislikes. The reason he gave was that it "only attracts white, middle-class, middle aged people ". Unfortunately for him, it's the category I fit into and I wondered if he expected me to apologise for the fact that I had white parents, live in a middle-class suburb of London having crawled my way up the career ladder ( whilst banging my head repeatedly against the glass ceiling of my profession ) and had reached the middle years of my life. This must be why youngsters appropriate a Jamaican patois and aspire to be broke members of the working class. Funny though that they don't spurn the trappings of our tawdry middle class though like, funding through University, a roof over their heads , free meals and permanent rent-free lodgings well into their twenties.
I have to keep reminding myself that they love us really.
