Greetings, my fellow port swillers!

As the middle gel and I were driving to school this morning, she broke a pensive silence to say, “Dad, I’m really worried about what the world is going to be like when the kids grow up.”

“You mean when you become an adult?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said.  “People behave so awfully already – the way they talk, the way they dress, the music they listen to, how they treat other people.  I just can’t think how much worse it will be then.”

“Well,” I said, “There’s not much you and I can do about other people.  All we can really do is hold ourselves to higher standards and try to get on with it.”

“Oh,” she replied.  “In other words, ‘Keep Calm and Carry On.'”

Yes, that’s about it.  What else can one do?

Actually, for all her concern about the pending collapse of Civilisation, not that I don’t think it genuine, I knew what she was really fretting about.  It’s spirit week at her school and today is “Pajama Day”.  In the spirit of things, she had donned this morning a full-length fire-engine red one-piece rig with monkey-head feet.   It seemed like a very cute idea at the time, but as we got closer and closer to school I could sense exactly what was on her mind:  If I’ve made a mistake about the day, I’m going to feel one absolute hell of a fool. 

Fortunately, there was no mistake.  As her classmates got out of their cars, they were seen to be similarly p.j.-clad.  The gel’s relief was palpable as she beetled off.

With that worry out of the way, hopefully she’s also regained a little bit of optimism about the future, too.