Me me me

   Recently one received an email from the most famous furniture maker in England and in it he said he had counted only seven instances of 'I' in an email to him 'which must be a record for you Jeremy' he added. One thought that a little bit rich as the purpose of one's email to him was to promote his current work in a craft documentary one is making called 'Furniture Today' (a self funded single handed project) as if he is not the supreme master of self promotion!  In one's reply one jovially retorted by saying he was beginning to sound like one's late Aunt Whilhemina (who he had met).
   Okay, my feelings were actually somewhat mixed and confused - on the one hand I was grateful he had been blunt and was giving me a little 'fatherly' advice and I am sure without any malice and on the other hand I had feelings of rage thinking 'it's all right for you - you had a father who actually encouraged you and gave you your first commission at the age of ten or whatever, whilst my father beat the shit out of me and banned me from his workshop.  And I then felt a sense of pride that I had been chosen in 1978 to exhibit alongside him and four others at 'Flavour of the Seventies' at Southampton Civic Centre even though today I am not acknowledged and have to confront my ego in this respect.
  I write this for anyone reading to explain why I have created this blog. It is a kind of journey of self expression, a response to the world one was thrown into, a pursuit of truth and justice in a society defined by status and  consumerism and fast changing values.  A diary of thoughts and feelings with flashbacks of my past. Feelings I wasn't allowed to express or even have. So yes, I put hands up clearly in the air and agree it is me, me, me although there is more to me that I hope these blogs reveal which might help human understanding. Whereas I once believed in altruism, a word hardly used today but there are some really good people around with a true generosity of spirit, I also observe a lot of greedy and blinkered people in Britain who are far more 'me me me' than me!