January 2004

I was up in London for a few days in between Xmas and New Year, and as ever, I was astonished by how rude city dwellers are to each other. Maybe living in the country has made me soft and stupid, or maybe it really isn't necessary to ignore people who ask directions, or to refuse to say please and thank you, or to smile, or to make eye contact.

Do we all hate each other, or what?

I asked a railway official where I could find the platform to the Stanstead Express. He didn't answer. I asked him again. He said 'It's on your ticket.'

I said, 'I haven't got a ticket yet.'

He said, 'Well go and buy one and then you'll know where the platform is.'

It was not an uplifting exchange.

Suddenly I saw the train. I said to the gatekeeper - 'It would be great if I could get this train - can I buy a ticket from the guard?'

'You can't board the train without a ticket.'

'I understand, but look - there's the guard getting on, and he can sell me one.'

'Didn't you hear what I said?'

'Of course I did - I thought you might make an ordinary human decision and let me catch this train.'

'Go and buy a ticket.'

Off I went, missed the train, and waited for 45minutes because the next one was delayed.

I do wonder why human beings prefer to act like senseless machines. If you are in a low-grade job, you claim power by refusing to act like a machine. Now probably I would make a lousy traffic warden or ticket collector because I would make up my own mind about every situation. It seems crazy to me to side with authority, big business, the State. Our humanness depends on us making decisions at every level, at every minute of the day.

But it's true - I hate the barriers at railway stations - of course I just want to jump on the train, so do we all, and the reason we can't is not because too many people dodge fares, but because the companies won't pay to put a guard on every train to check tickets, answer questions and keep the peace.

We need people, not barriers, and we need people who can remember that they are still people, even in uniform.

Meanwhile, the sky-marshal debate rages on, at least in Britain, where we do not want armed guards on our planes. This is guarding of a very different kind to a ticket collector on a train. If the USA insists that the all airlines carry sky marshals, then the USA is making a big decision about how Europeans should travel. Europe is not a gun culture. Nobody in Britain wants guns as a routine method of control.
If terrorism imposes a climate of fear and repression, then terrorism has won the day.

If we are afraid to travel - then we had better not travel. The answer is not a gun.

I shall be travelling to Australia at the end of February for the Adelaide Festival. March Dates for other venues around Australia will be posted on the site next month, which will give anyone interested, a month to book up.

I am so relieved that LIGHTHOUSEKEEPING, my new book, is finished at last. It was finally delivered on December 14th, and I was working with the copy editor on the Boxing Day, the 26th. Adjustments and checks were made on January 5th, and now we print a special edition for Australia in February, with publication here in the UK in May.

I can't give any USA or foreign details yet, because my agent in New York hasn't begun to sell it.

Let's hope somebody buys it.

The trouble with books is that writing one is no guarantee that you can write another. You can write something, of course, but that is not the point. The thing has to be alive. LIGHTHOUSEKEEPING nearly killed me.

Thank you to everyone who sent cheering messages throughout the process.

Site housekeeping - the boring bit - sorry.
Please do not send us any attachments. We have to bin the mail without opening it.

And lastly - go well into this new year. None of us knows how long we've got on the planet, and nothing is more precious than this day.