reverse liberalism

An odd thing happened today while driving round Ballymena looking for a parking spot. I was on an errand - should have been an in-out job, should have been on my way home in two minutes flat. However, I hadn't reckoned on the Ballymena traffic; nor had I reckoned on inconsiderate disabled drivers.

I cannot believe my reaction to the fact that, after eventually parking and having to walk half a mile, I spotted that the car parked in the space directly outside where I was going had a disabled parking permit. It was taking up that space despite the fact that all around were much better placed, wider, and (most importantly) vacant disabled parking bays.

I cannot excuse my thoughts at that point, but for a moment - just a moment - I was overcome with the injustice of it all. I was late, I was out of breath from having to run in my work shoes and suit, and I felt an anger similar to that which i feel when I see able-bodied drivers parking in disabled driver bays. I cannot understand it, I cannot justify it, I cannot explain it. To all my fellow bleeding heart, sandal-wearing, Guardian reading liberals, I apologise, I've let you all down.

A neo-liberal version of the good samaritan

I was sitting in my classroom pondering which of my selection of hot beverages to choose when a colleague came in wanting to fill his kettle at the sink in my room. We passed the time of day and he helped me choose. As we chose he noticed the fair trade logo on the three types of coffee, and all the teas and hot chocolates. I was a little worried what he thought. This guy is what I would describe as straight talking, no nonsense, say it as you see it kind of a man. And in my little world of stereotypes he would be the kind of man who would sneer at the whole concept of fair trade.

How wrong can you be? He was, it turns out, a great advocate of fair trade - in fact he went far beyond the little I do. His wife is a Amnesty Internation rep, he bans non-fair trade chocolate from his house (pity the poor kid who brings a mars bar in) he is officially the most liberal non-liberal I have ever met.

Now I have never been able to have a decent conversation about coffee bean taxation with the badly-knitted-woolen-jumper-wearing-arty-types that hang round the university, never been able to discuss moral premium with the local religious leaders and yet here was a leather coat wearing, mountain of a man with slicked back hair chatting with me about how coffee growing doesn't have to involve chopping down rainforests in Peru as it can be grown in the shade. The man's a computer teacher - not even a biologist or geographer. Once I picked my eyebrows off the ceiling we went on to discuss how famers here have a nasty time making ends meet and how that pressure is multiplied when you, and your family, are surviving on the edge as they are in many third world countries. We talked about how during this harvest thanksgiving season we should be looking for positive ways to level the playing field and praying for those less well off - the man's a non-practising atheist! We finished up with a fascinating discussion about Sri Lankan spices. I'm still in shock - he's knows everything there is to know.

Who is your neighbouring environmentalist? Look around, you could be surprised.