What You Know, Not Who You Know?

As a member of the rewired retired age group, I am showered with unwelcome knowledge and information on too many topics by a wealth of organisations.

Daily, I receive invitations to seminars on health issues. I am told ways to whiten my teeth, to deal with dementia and how to cope with cancer should I be afflicted with those illnesses. There are companies hell-bent on disposing of me after my death for a modest donation starting at £10 month until that happy occasion comes along.

I have learned about the steps to take to avoid being gassed while asleep, how to surf interviews for top jobs and the most effective way to fight off intruders who break into my home because my security is so useless. I can spin all the reasons why I should have my groceries, nuts, fresh fish and properly reared and prepared meat delivered on a weekly basis. I know what five simple steps will repel e-coli, MRSA, campylobacter and mould in my bathroom.

I know where to buy the tastiest pizzas in the area, how the local church organises services and buries the dead – even though there no clerics around and only Mrs Tumbuldowny to see to the building. I can tell you who benefits from the taxes officially robbed from me and when it will be the turn of our area to have superfast fibre optic communications links installed.

Do you want a suit, shirt and matching tie? I can tell you where to find them. Do you want to factor into your choice a specific manufacturer, price, parking availability, danger of mugging, attacks by paedophiles and how many CCTVs operate in the front, sides or back of the shop? All this information is at my fingertips, courtesy of those kind companies who send me information every day.

Unfortunately, I can’t find out what I really want to know. For instance, what are nurses doing when they sit around staring at computers at the nurses’ station at the end of the ward while patients wet the bed or fall on the floor attempting to stagger to the loo? Why does it take two weeks to book an appointment with a doctor and even longer to see the dentist? Why do politicians like messing up schools? Why would the Secretary of State for Education consider choosing as the successor to Sir Michael Wilshaw as head of Ofsted a sycophantic, subservient, never-talk-out-of-turn, failed leader of an American Education Trust? How come there is never an easy way to find a phone number for utility providers or internet companies? Why do so many online companies send emails that say ‘do not reply to this email because it is not supervised’? How will we turn back the hordes of rampaging politicians who will find themselves on the losing side in the referendum in June?

Fortunately, as an active rewired retired person, I am long in the tooth and understand the ways of the world. I have sat in enough traffic queues, listened to my share of dire news, bullshit politicians, experts and soothsayers to give me a heads up when someone says, ‘I will take this to the High Court if necessary to prove my innocence’ or even worse, ‘We have drawn the lesson from this sad tragedy and moved on’. I have learned to put up with my quota of liars, cheats and conmen masquerading as leaders, guides, clerics and counsellors so that I recognise hot air when I hear it being spouted. Being blasé about the vagaries and weaknesses of humanity might be a consequence of my upbringing, or it might be that I have seen it all before.

This leads me to my last question. How am I so blessed, in spite of my life experiences, to have come this far and kept a thirst for life, a high degree of happiness and satisfaction and in close contact with people I admire, respect and love, many of whom make me laugh? As well as being thankful for those blessings, how else can I make the most of each day?

When I figure the answers to those last questions I will tell the world.