Bill Sykes' Newsletter
from America.
(August 2003)
An ex-Brit gives his views-(without fear
or favor)---of the American Scene
The old hometown she ain’t what she used
to be.
My wife and I generally manage to spend a couple
of weeks each year on vacation in the UK, (mainly to visit
the members of my wife’s family who reside in the
small market town of Marlborough in Wiltshire), and this
year as a side trip, amongst other side trips, we paid
a return visit to my hometown of Huddersfield and the
surrounding areas.
I must say that since I left the town of my birth in
1942 to go into His Majesty’s Services, when I was
sixteen years of age, the only thing that appears to have
improved is the environmental conditions, which have benefited
from the dismantling of most the woollen mills with the
reduction of the smoke emissions that used to belch from
their tall chimneys. (One must of course bear in mind
the detrimental loss of local jobs when the woollen mills
closed).
After having dinner at our hotel on the outskirts of
the town, as it was a warm Saturday evening in June around
nine thirty pm, we ventured into the pedestrian area of
Huddersfield’s town centre and found to our dismay
that it was not the clean thriving place that I remembered
it to be. Most of the stores fronts appeared to be in
a somewhat dilapidated condition, as were some of the
surrounding areas. The pubs in the area reminded me of
honky tonk disco bars, most of which emitted blinding
strobe type light and high decibel music. We were more
than a little dismayed at what we found - maybe I’ve
been away too long.
We observed a couple of wandering bands of teen to mid-twenty
year old males, who apparently having imbibed freely of
the local brew, appeared to be hell bent on causing as
much noise as possible. Their opposite numbers, somewhat
smaller groups of young ladies, promenaded the streets
and as it was a warm evening were wearing off the shoulder,
low cut tops, which came short of reaching the mid-rift.
Some wore "short" shorts starting well below
the waste line and finishing well above the high water
line, and to finish off the ensemble the bulky three inch
high, or higher, platform shoes.
My observations on the fashion scene currently being
practiced by some members of the world’s youth are
as follows.
The accoutrements worn with the uniform of the day appear
to include the fashionable rings and studs, located in
the most unlikely of places such as multiple piercing
of the ears, eyebrows, lips, tongues, belly buttons, and
tattoos located on the shoulders, breasts, and even at
the base of the spine just above the crevice formed by
their buttocks.
I know that the youths of today, (like the youths of the
past), like to follow the somewhat bizarre trends in order
to be fashionable, but what is done in the name of fashion
in today’s world is unbelievable---of course the
young ladies are not alone in their quest to be fashionable,
as some of the male counterparts have even more tattoos
than the so called wild men of the Borneo jungles or the
head hunting Indians of the Amazon. The vividly coloured
spiked hairstyles of latter years - if you will pardon
the pun - appear to be dying out.
Don’t get me wrong, these observations are not aimed
at the youth of Huddersfield, but are a reflection upon
the trends of many of the youths of the western world,
which would suggest that perhaps the youth of the current
generation are regressing back to the fashions of the
jungle.
Hometown dilemma.
One incident that interested us, occurred on
a street on the south side of the city where we were stopped
by an attractive young female police officer who requested
that we didn’t proceed any further along that particular
street as it was cordoned off.
I asked the reason and she pointed to a building a short
distance away where a young man sat crossed legged on
a flat roof. I asked her if this was a drug related case
and she said "no, it was just some attention seeker
who was throwing things at anyone who passed by."
I suggested that maybe it would be appropriate to get
the local fire brigade to bring an engine and with a strong
jet of ice cold water sweep the young man off the roof.
Her reply was "Sorry sir, can’t do that as
it may cause bodily harm to the individual for which we
could be sued". I said that I thought that only happened
in sue-happy America.
I then asked her what she considered to be the remedy,
and she said that the police cordoning the area would
have to stay there until he came down from his lofty perch
and then he could only be arrested for causing a public
mischief and would probably spent the might in the local
gaol.
She informed us that this was the third time in the last
few weeks that this individual had sought notoriety by
seeking attention.
On the happier side of the coin, the villages of England
still retain their charming unblemished character, which
always has been an intrinsic and valuable part of "This
green and pleasant land".
We welcome feedback about any of the contents
of these newsletters. Please send all correspondence to
bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
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