Quote Originally Posted by DrPatrickBarry View Post
The day of Diana's funeral, I went out on a very long bike ride in the West Pennine Moors. I dropped into a shop to get some grub and the bloke there had the TV on and told me, "you should be at home watching this". My reply "That is why I am out".
As that day was pre-CROW (right to roam) I used it to bag a trig on a very private local grouse moor - on the basis that most well-heeled land owners and their staff would be engrossed in the royal funeral shennanigans. I approached via a public footpath and as I reached my 'attack point' to head up for the trig, I spotted a figure in a green cag, sat down in the heather. I thought that it might be one of the gamekeepers. On approaching closer I saw that it was a male, well past retirement age, sat eating a sandwich. "Aye up, lad." he greeted me. "I think we are in the same boat? My lot are sat in front of that telly acting like it is one of our own family that's died."
Basically, I think most people lead such hollow, empty lives that they feel the need to latch on to the "celebrity status" of others .... not that I in any way subscribe to the modern obsession of celebrity culture, it's just people who are famous for being famous and have not really achieved that much.