by Rev'd Martin Seymour
In the UK, drivers pay tax on petrol, through the road fund licence and on a new car. When we come into London, we pay to park, we pay fines for moving too fast, or if we are stationary in the wrong place.
We pay if our wheels are not precisely parked in boxes, are too far from kerb, on the kerb, in a prohibited lane or a box junction. How do we avoid this open wallet surgery? Public transport is privatised, expensive, unreliable, often cold and dirty and can be dangerous. Your own car is private, comfortable, and reliable. Which should you choose? On the one hand we have privatised public transport with profits going into the private sector; on the other we have our car which creates funds which go directly into government coffers.
Most of us prefer the comfort of our cars - a decision that is tolerated by authorities who do not really want us out of our cars because we are worth too much to them. Do you see a 'Catch 22' situation? The private car is the enemy of this current London Mayoral administration, but they cannot afford for us all to walk away from them. In the midst of this confusion the London Cabbie has to drive at a leisurely pace. We are constantly busy, as the tubes cannot take the volume of passengers, and the buses are too big, too long and too slow. The default position of traffic lights is red, so we read a lot of books in peace. Passengers no longer disturb that peace; laptops, cell phones or a conference convert the back of the cab to 'office in transit'.
This is the changing face of London. It may change even more with the next Mayor. We will all adapt and get on the best way we can to make London work, as changing administrations deal their cards and play their hands to make their mark on history.
There is another hand dealt out that is a constant. This hand says you are born, you will live an undisclosed amount of time and then you will die. No one has ever been able to play that hand differently. It is, as they say, 'a given'. Before any politician was born they had never been heard of. Even the most knowledgeable people had not heard of Ken Livingstone before he was born. So it is with all of us. But as soon as we are born, we cannot cease to exist.
So while we can be distracted and concerned about the problems of the moment, we must never forget that they will pass but we are here to stay. Mayors and other politicians have no control over that. What is the destination for your soul once this life is used up? Where do you want to spend eternity?
Jesus came to offer us the free gift of salvation and eternal life. He said 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.' It does not get any better than that. It is good news that everyone needs to hear.
Just be careful how you tell the people who administer London's traffic. They will want to change it, divert it, or place a fine on it!< Contents
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