The day after independence day

My American buddy decided over the weekend that is was definitely time for him to leave the UK.

Cody’s been here a while – raising his kids and doing business – and really become a bit of an Anglophile.

He’d had a row with his baseball coach on Saturday, and that triggered a row with a taxi driver, who raised the fare when he’d had to detour via a cash machine.

The upshot was that my friend underpaid the driver slightly…and I think a few choice words were exchanged. And before you know it the police were arresting him, after receiving the taxi driver’s complaint, without allowing him to contact the US Embassy.

He was finger-printed, a DNA swab was taken from his mouth, he spent a few hours in jail and was then released when the police realised the whole silly incident was less than a storm in teacup. But now his data is on the dreaded database.

So it became an Independence Day issue – now Cody could clearly see why so many people emigrated… to the US… and he was now returning to his homeland, and somewhat ironically leaving what for him had become the land of opportunity!

At the time of the call, I empathised with him - and felt almost violated on his behalf at the actions of the boys in blue.

As my indignation waned, it became more of a kettle calling the pot black issue. My experience with the US police literally outgunned my friend's. I had a gun shoved in my face. Admittedly the circumstances were a little challenging for the police – a psychedelic rent-raising party in 1969 California.

I saw Cody on Monday night, and we had a good laugh…. about it....

What does all this mean? What does it have to do with my breath blog?

Well, its just the timing and that very strong word: independence. My reflection was that independence is about an inner freedom. No matter where you live the forces of law and order are not always going to get it right... And in many cases downright wrong.

So, my blog is driven by the contrariness of the world; the sense of injustice that is not recoverable. And all this negative stuff is offset by the magic of resting back and relying on a power greater than me - inflating and deflating my lungs with awesome precision and precious care...

No matter what goes on I feel that I literally have to hang on to my breath, especially when the going gets tough....