Broken windows

So, it would seem that my gym is on the way down! I've had many issues with the LA Fitness Highgate over the years. The place has been mismanaged and physically falling apart since I first set foot in there just after it opened in 1999. The clientele, however, have always been polite. Quiet. Respectful of others. Until now that is. It seems the gym is being taken over by a different company. We're losing the pool, there will be no staff on reception and, as the little carrot to get us to stick around, we'll be charged less for the privilege of using the place. In the meantime, it seems that LA fitness have entirely lost interest in repairing the building. The floors are damp. The ceilings are covered in mould. No one has bothered to clean away the anti-Semitic graffiti from the changing rooms. This is proper broken window syndrome. The customers who use the gym have lost all respect for the environment, the decent personal trainers have all headed for pastures new, and a shadier, seedier, nastier type of person is making himself known. They shout crudely at one another in the changing room, talking about "nailing old women" (old being 30 apparently.). I don't know how much longer I'll be able to last with dick heads like that about.

The news continues to worsen to the extent that I actually feel like I might stop watching it. Today's headlines felt a little too close for comfort. Some poor presenter/cameraman duo have been shot and killed whilst broadcasting live in the States. It doesn't really bear thinking about. We're told the murderer was a disgruntled former employee of the TV station, who had accused the people he shot of being racist. As if the race relations situation wasn't bad enough in America. Frankly, after this, I don't think any side gets to claim the moral high ground. I actually worry that this will spark a modern day civil war. Time to ban guns in the States? No! Let them keep shooting one another, I say. See how far they can take this blessed footle...