Phil Johnson: Where did it all go wrong?

I sit here sometimes wondering where it all went wrong. I mean, when I was a lad a bit of illicit scrumping was fun, a dare, a challenge - 2 apples...

I sit here sometimes wondering where it all went wrong. I mean, when I was a lad a bit of illicit scrumping was fun, a dare, a challenge - 2 apples and you were the champ.

If the local 'bobby' collared you a clip round the ear was inevitable. And how was it that when you got home your dad clipped the other one? No mobile phones, no internet communication so just how did he know?

Such unexplainable events were oft to happen during those formative years. Dad used to march to the pub at 7pm precisely on Saturdays. Special times included me, for crisps and a lemonade and a lonely walk home at 8.30pm, but it was safe then!

I always thought he had important business to conduct, thus I couldn't be present!

So where did it all go wrong?

That gowned master and his trusty, swishing cane were to be feared as he bellowed "come here boy", homework had to be completed before football (28 a side as I remember!) could be contemplated, on the 'reccy' over the road. Tea was at 6pm; miss it at your peril! Yet they were such happy times.

Suddenly, the cane, the slipper, the clip round the ear all disappeared - and so did respect for fellow human beings. Youth began to run riot, the atmosphere changed as the years rolled by and the people were engulfed by the greed factor - must keep up with the Joneses became the unwritten law of the people.

Newgate Prison (for unpaying debtors) had been shut many many years ago but with the dawning of this new age debtors could fill ten Newgate Prisons! Banks and organisations extended credit far beyond that which the normal man can ever repay so that the nice easy relaxed lifestyle we once had disappeared for ever.

Instead, we have an avaricious and somewhat desperate style of living where it is 'dog eat dog' for the next few quid available.

Now, I wander down to my local hostelry once a week. The once vibrant hub of society that whiffed luxuriously of smoke and perfumed bodies is a shell of what was! The 'off-sales' has disappeared, that all knowing pub odour has been replaced by staleness that only humans exude and the place is friendless!

That once thriving bastion of social society now houses two war veterans with their half pint and brandy chaser.

The barmaid welcomes me with a fervour never once known-she has cleaned the bar fourtenn times already but now has someone to talk to!

My dad knew everyone in his day, his nights out were a social pleasure-mine are drab! People, when they do come through the door are not so friendly, they all look around suspiciously.

Respect and trust for fellow man has all but disappeared as we struggle to survive in this new monetary world.

So just where did it all go wrong?