Original posting Sunday, March 25, 2007 on MySpace

I was sitting in Prezzo in Sudbury today enjoying my pasta and tomato and red onion side salad deep in my deep thoughts when the most irritating thing happened. The waitress came over and asked "Is everything alright, sir?".

I got rid of her as quickly as I could by saying "yes", then immediately regretted it.

I don't know why all restaurants insist that their staff irritate their customers in this way. They can be sure that if there was something wrong I would let them know pretty quickly. Perhaps it is an invitation to consider what you have in front of you. Perhaps you should offer a critical assessment of the food, service and state of the restaurant.

So now I know what I will say the next time I am asked this dumb question. "No", I will say, "Everything is not alright. We are in an illegal war in Iraq that has cost countless thousands of innocent lives for no purpose. Robert Mugabe has been allowed to slaughter and torture thousands of others with no intervention. Children are starving and dying around the world. Taxes are too high and getting higher. Our pensions are disappearing. The world is collapsing under the strain of our undisciplined, so-called civilised society.

Everything is not alright. What do you intend to do about it?"

That is what I will say.