At Any Street Corner

Does the world need yet another blog? I am not sure of the answer. But I hope some of you might hang around my street corner from time to time and reflect back on life's mocking gaze. The street corner is, of course, a place of lengthy sojourn or a brief encounter, of a full conversation or a meeting of the eyes. It is, as the song reminds us, a place of life:

I play the street life
Because there’s no place I can go
Street life
And it’s the only life I know
Street life
And there’s a thousand parts to play
Street life
Until you play your life away

On this particular street corner you will find politics, music, film, books, cricket, and much more besides. And the hope? Perhaps to keep the politicians honest:

"The best time to listen to a politician is when he's on a stump on a street corner in the rain late at night when he's exhausted. Then he doesn't lie” (Theodore H. White)

Or at least to at least to stop us from succumbing to mutual indifference:

"A man who sees another man on the street corner with only a stump for an arm will be so shocked the first time he'll give him sixpence. But the second time it'll only be a three penny bit. And if he sees him a third time, he'll have him cold-bloodedly handed over to the police" (Bertolt Brecht)