Hear, hear

A cause of concern for most of the youth today is the mindless advice being handed around like a length of artificial lawn being rolled out. Normally, the counsel would come from professional advice givers and well meaning, but misguided relatives.

Advice is a little bit like the low impact aerobic skiing machine that you bought over the late night Home Shopping Network. You purchase the bulky piece of machinery, hide it under the bed without actually ever using it yourself and then hand it down to some relative who so happened to drop by the day you were spring cleaning the house. Advice gets punted around by one generation like a rusty soup can and eventually arrives at the doorstep of the next generation, only to be punted around in its turn.

For one thing, I have always wondered about those puzzling hand-me-down bits of wisdom. Why, do we insist that "Where there's a will there's a way" when in fact in recent years, it's been a Kate Middleton? Or that "A watched pot never boils"? That is one of the fastest ways to shatter the myth of parent infallability. All the little tyke needs is a pot, some water, a heat source and a pair of eyes and he will come to know that you are all busk and bunkum, just like your parents before you.

Another thing; the next time you are tempted to solemnly intone that "A rolling stone gathers no moss", I suggest that you take a gander at Keith Richard's teeth.

No wonder young people don't want to listen to advice anymore.