The very British problem that John Lennon mocked and Rod Stewart mended
Here in the UK, we have a lot of things that we’d frequently label as being ‘Very British Problems’, which is to say, we’ll complain about something trivial for kicks despite the fact that the rest of the world doesn’t care in the slightest about it.
From the pronunciation of the word ‘scone’, which is conveniently left written here rather than phonetically transcribed in order to keep the timeless debate raging on, to the concept of queuing single file at a bar that would comfortably have everyone lined up horizontally on it, there are many things that only Brits seem to care about, and that people of other nationalities will scoff at us for allowing them to completely demolish our sense of inner peace.
Frankly, both of the aforementioned issues are insignificant drivel that have been amplified by the noise of other countries laughing at our silly little islanders, but every once in a while, one of these things that might seem daft to someone outside of the UK is actually far more important than you might consider. For anyone who lives in Britain, you’ll know just how seriously we take the issue of the condition of our roads, and just how much we love to complain about the slightest damage to their surfaces.
That is, everyone except John Lennon, it would seem. The infamous line from The Beatles’ ‘A Day in the Life’ of “I read the news today, oh boy / 4,000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire” is a direct reference to Lennon having seen a line in the newspaper about there having been an issue with potholes in the roads of the northern town.
Given how he juxtaposes this with lines about a horrific car accident and the country’s involvement in overseas conflict, he’s essentially mimicking the fact that people think this is newsworthy and deserving of its own spread in the daily papers, which is further emphasised by him commenting on the size of said holes and how they’ve compared their scale to being what it “takes to fill the Albert Hall”.
For all we know, the reason for the car accident that Lennon seems to be more engrossed in reading about could have been caused by the emergence of these small divots in the road surface, and therefore, they shouldn’t be treated as a laughing matter. However, despite one rock icon not taking the condition of the roads seriously, it has become a major point of interest for another.
Much like how Queen guitarist Brian May has seemingly become the voice of opposition against the culling of badgers, Rod Stewart has used his celebrity status to speak passionately about the need to fill in potholes and has even gone so far as to get hands-on in seeing that the problem is fixed.
Donning a high-vis jacket and armed with a shovel, Stewart chose to take matters into his own hands and refilled the potholes on the road near his home in Harlow, Essex, largely because they were posing a threat to his sports cars’ being able to safely traverse the road. Many praised the singer for his proactive behaviour, with the local council even extending an invitation for him to join their road repair team around the town in filling in even more, although the RAC did provide backlash, stating that DIY pothole repair isn’t advised and should only be done by professionals.
If Lennon were still alive, you can imagine he’d be having a field day joking with Stewart about his obsession with potholes, but considering the council in Blackburn have chosen to invest millions into their own road repair schemes, it’s clear that this is the sort of matter that everyone but the former Beatle takes seriously.
