"WAY OUT AND WEIRD"

 S A T U R D A Y,  2 2  A P R I L

There's a very interesting article in The Times about youth today. I've underlined what I particularly agree with. 

"Young people today, if they leave school at 15 or 16, do not have to queue for a job; and when they get one, do not have to take home nearly the whole of their pay to eke out what their parents earn. In consequence the elders complain that British youth is godless, lawless and devoid of social responsibility. Yet polls, surveys and the opinions of many professional observers suggest that young people are searching for values, and for sincere human relationships, as never before, and their destructiveness is directed only at the falsities and hypocrisies of an older generation."

 

"It is the way young people dress which annoys, indeed, alarms the older generations. The long, straight hair of the girls, their white or sallow faces, pale lips and blue-shadowed eyes; the young men's thick, long, curling hair and beards - well tended openly by careful combings - the artificial waves and locks, the sideburns and the quiffs. Young men looking like girls. Girls looking like young men. All this to the British parent is not so much odd and outlandish but disturbingly wrong and alarmingly pathological. They see four things above all: waste of money, casualness, a living for pleasure, and the emphasis on sex."

But they should have mentioned the huge influence of pop stars. Pop stars often air their views on things and have a great effect. 

“Pa has put me off about going to Africa - he thinks the route’s not very good”

He says it would have been miles better to go along the northern Mediterranean coast. And I can think of one problem already - my hair. I'd have to wash it about four times on the trip and without a dryer it'd take three to four hours to do each time - what a bore!

The 'Country Life' arrived today, with the advertisement for selling next door in it. It looks nicer than it really is, thanks to Daddy's marvellous photography!

"Rare opportunity (!) ELEGANT (!) COUNTRY HOUSE WITH COMPACT MODERN ACCOMMODATION - perhaps (!) one of the finest properties in the village. 6 bedrooms, dressing room, 3 bathrooms, magnificent oak panelled drawing room, family lounge, dining room, study, excellent domestic offices and staff flat. FULL CENTRAL HEATING. London 17 miles."