It’s amazing how quickly things can become completely taboo.  Two things have recently crossed from utterly normal behaviour to completely unacceptable and disgusting, and I didn’t even notice the transition.

Firstly, I find myself getting physically angry now when I see people driving and using a mobile phone.  Really, bubbling with rage, whereas a couple of years ago I think I might have even been doing myself.  In that time what has changed?  Not much, really.  Apart from the fact that we have discovered that is more dangerous to use the phone and drive than it is to drink and drive, and consequently it has become illegal.  Fair enough.  And suddenly something which was a bit irritating has become something enraging.

Smoking is the other thing.  I remember being vaguely against smoking being banned in pubs, not because I have ever been a smoker, but because it seemed to be part of the deal.  People going on about passive smoking always seemed to be missing the point, to me.  I’d always imagined that damage to your body and threat to life and general irritation was far more likely to come from other people drinking too much and behaving like arseholes, frankly.

Then the ban came in, and I barely noticed it at all, to be honest.  There was more of a smell of piss and stale beer in most pubs, but that was about it, until we went down to England for a weekend.  They didn’t have the ban back then, and walking into a smokey bar was a disgusting experience.  I didn’t think I’d noticed the ban at all, but after only a couple of months it was repellent to be in a pub without it all of a sudden.

Three years ago none of this would have caused me to so much as bat an eyelid, now they are both utterly unthinkable.  Using a phone whilst driving?  You fucking twat, how dare you?  Smoking in a bar?  Myeuch, that’s disgusting, get away from me!  Funny how quickly we acclimatise to these things, isn’t it.

Seeing as that was about as random a ramble as I’ve managed around here in some time, how about two utterly random songs to go with it.  Here are a couple of natty little pop songs I am quite enjoying at the moment:

Lykke Li – Dance Dance Dance
Islands – The Arm