The small things in life that make us human.

 There is increasing anxiety about our obsession with the smartphone. There act as an impenetrable barrier between us and the real world of human interaction. Writing in the Spectator magazine last week Mary Wakefield complained about the - common respect that seems to be disappearing from the high streets of the country. For example she says she is - ‘fanatical enforcer of that little wave of gratitude a pedestrian gives a car which stops for them at a zebra crossing. This gesture is the bedrock of civilisation’. I agree with her absolutely. Another thing that makes me particularly angry is when a - car driver fails to acknowledge - if you allow the space to pass. A dipped head light or wave is sufficient. But a failure makes me exceptionally angry. What is happening to ordinary common decency and mutual respect? We all share this little planet, but simple good manners appear to be dying out. Like the slow retreating and melting of a glacier - it’s gone before you happen to be bothered to notice.