There are just too many ways for people to become discouraged in this God-forsaken world.

It's a parent's duty, I think, not to fuck off, if for nothing else but to stick around and tell their kids how bloody great they are; to give them confidence and convince them they *can* play this game.

I think it was Auden who claimed you could divide most of the world into people who accept the imperfect & scruffy business of attempting to rebuild an earthly Eden, and the technocrats who stride on relentlessly towards a vision of the New Jerusalem.

My search for Oldton rather obviously puts me in the former camp. We bumble on. We make do. We shuffle the pack. I'm not giving up on my kids.