Pretty much non-stop broadcasting fun today. Andrew and I reconvened for our 6Music show (off again next week thanks to his unusual on/off holiday in which he has no holiday, but then back until Adam and Joe decide to return - which might be soonish). It was a lively and banter filled show and I enjoyed it very much and the podcast went up with almost unseemly haste, so you can either download that or listen again if you missed it all. I managed to force Collings to go into a record, because he was laughing so much at the idea of a woman getting an OBE for teaching a feral Northampton child to swim. I launched an unwarranted attack on dentists, mainly because some dentists texted in to complain about a throwaway comment from earlier in the show, but it was a tooth obsessed show, with Andrew also bringing in a plaster of Paris mould of the stoat-like teeth he had had as a 9 year old for our new "History of Collins and Herring in 100 objects feature" (which Andrew is hoping guarantees us another 49 shows at least). I told my story of moral discomfort and hypocrisy from the shower room of my gym, which predictably led one listener to text in to call me a wanker for laughing at motor neurone disease, which I obviously was not doing. If I was laughing at anyone (and I don't think I really was - I was more upset by the whole experience) I was laughing at myself for being put in this situation. Or at someone who might pretend to have an illness for their own perverted reasons. Or at myself for being paranoid to think that someone might behave in that way. It is also, of course, possible to both be a pervert AND have motor neurone disease. But I have found through my dealings with SCOPE that most disabled people prefer that these situations and confusions and embarrassments get discussed. Because too many people bottle up their shame or their fear, but by talking about it we hopefully all learn something. If I wasn't a writer perhaps I would have just never mentioned the dilemma I found myself in, but by writing and talking about it, hopefully in an honest and humorous way, I have certainly been able to see where I personally went wrong, but also maybe given other people time to consider the issues. All in all I think it was too much of an ask for a complete stranger to want me to undress and dress him (though there is no harm in asking and others might feel comfortable enough to do that for him, so he was not wrong to ask), but if it were to happen again I think, for me, the correct course of action would be to say that I would go and find a member of staff to help him.
After the show we had a quick lunch, before heading back to 6Music to record our non-BBC podcast (which will be up at some point on Sunday), which didn't go too badly given we'd already been talking at each other for three hours that morning. And then I headed down to Light Entertainment so that I could spend the rest of the afternoon out on the streets of London, interviewing people about hoodies. I was very impressed by the young people we spoke to who were only chosen because they happened to have hooded tops on and were all very polite, thoughtful and eloquent on the subjects in hand. And also mainly just very sweet (only one pair of tough looking young men refused to engage with us and even they did that without being particularly rude). I realised the extent to which I myself still stereotype young people, deciding they must be a certain way because of the way they look or the attitude I imagine they are projecting. But the fairly random sample that I spoke to all had something interesting to add to the debate and even when cross about being stereotyped were reasonable and dignified. It made me realise how little we all communicate with each other over issues like this, because I think most people would be disarmed if they just spoke to the young people that they fear. But it would also be good if people listened to each other too. Because I am sure many of the problems come from boredom and a sense of disconnection. I am not saying that all young people are saints - just in the same way that none of us are saints - but that even someone like me who already thinks that young people have a bad deal still has some way to shake off all prejudice. And the majority are not trouble makers.
And why should I have been surprised that 15 year olds had great stuff to say on this (or any) subject. We do get very patronising towards young people once we're old (even though we were all young at some point) but the truth is that when you're 15 in many ways you're cleverer than you will ever be. You're learning stuff at school and keeping it in your head and engaging with topics on a daily basis and your brain hasn't started to degrade and fuck up like that of at 43 year old.
I had my iPhone stolen by a young person just opposite where I was talking to these young people and that incident had made me suspicious and fearful for a while. But today was a much more positive experience and made me feel a lot safer than I had. It's funny how we will take a one off experience and allow it to have a much greater effect on our thinking than it proportionately deserves. That was one minute of my seven years in Shepherd's Bush. Look at all the hooded and hatted youths who have't stolen my mobile phone. When you think of it like that it's a bit more honest and revealing.
