All that itching is making me scratch
DO you ever wish you had never heard a particular tune?
You know the sort of thing, it’s a simple melody which keeps buzzing round your brain!
Over, and over, and over...
Well no need to worry. Because scientists have given those type of songs a name.
And one of the beautiful things about boffins is their ability to make problems acceptable. Even if you didn’t know it was a problem.
So next time the strains of a Britney ditty pops into your brain, don’t worry. It’s just an ohrwurm, according to scientists. A song which causes a brain itch.
And the fact that you are repeating it over and again is your noggin giving your brain a good scratch.
Worst offenders for me are ice cream chimes.
They are just a couple of bars long and are repeated on a loop. And you can hear them from streets away.
These tunes really do get under my skin.
But there was a close call for them in Sheffield this week when councillors were urged to ban ice cream vans from outside schools as a way of stopping kids eating unhealthy food.
It was a load of rubbish, of course. And councillors saw it as such and booted out the idea.
Thank goodness. For if the Nanny Statetroopers who are to be found around the corridors of our town hall got their way with this one there would be no stopping them.
There is an issue of freedom of choice here. We can’t all be shoe-horned into the same state of perfection, as much as people would like.
But for me the reason I am pleased this loopy plan was ditched is because I quite like those ice cream chimes.
Annoying as it may be for an ohrwurm to bury itself into our brains, don’t you think there should be a place for ice cream chimes on the streets of Great Britain?
They are the soundtrack to all of our childhoods.
They are little pieces of Little Britain which make us special.
And I am sure I am not the only one who thinks that way. Take the Townswomen’s Guild for instance.
Once considered to be meek and mild ladies who swapped recipes and knitting patterns, they have taken on a politically patriotic tone of late.
For a survey was recently conducted among guild members to ask them their views on immigration. Well, to be more accurate it was to ask them what they thought immigration was doing to our country.
Despite their staid and tweedy reputation that guild members enjoy, they spoke almost as one to say that immigration should be slashed because it was damaging our national identity.
According to a Townswomen’s Guild spokeswoman, the survey resulted in one of the biggest responses in the organisation’s history.
They are concerned about the country’s population growth, the pressure placed on our public services and the strain on community relations.
There was a time when such sentiments would have been met with a howl of derision and condemned as racist.
But surely the time has come when such views should be embraced by our mainstream parties, particularly when they are championed by such a fundamental pillar of the Great British establishment as the Townswomen’s Guild.
After all, the organisation is as familiar a part of the nation’s cultural landscape as a set of ice cream chimes itching away at the back of our minds.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Sheffield
Friday 10 February 2012
Today
Fog
Temperature: -6 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -2 C to -1 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South west
