So.....?

What do you want to be when you grow up?

When i was a kid i hated this question - although it was probably asked with deep sincerety it scared the shit out of me.

Nowadays i can more or less handle it.

Not knowing was part of the problem, not realising i was meant to be thinking about it was another.

My mind was pretty much full up with whether the coal bunker would actually fly some day if i continued to pull enough of the grape vine that grew over it, if it WOULD be possible to build a tunnel to the next world and what WAS on the other sde of the fence we walked past on the way to the library.

Growing up, as far as i could see, got in the way.

Today the Guardian Newspaper has a series of drawings young children have produced to illustrate their responses to the question.

It looks like a fun future, with great spelling!

I did eventually decide what i wanted to be , it was a secret that i carried and nutured for a number of years, even scouting possible locations during family car trips.

I wanted to be the man who lived in the little house at the side of the railway line and came out occasionaly to shut the gates of the level crossing, to stop the cars and allow the train to pass.

And then to open the gates again and go back inside the house.

Ok it wasn't super ambitious but it was fairly harmless and certainly wouldn't destroy the planet.

However, when i was old enough to fulfil my dream, the world had turned around and destroyed IT.

So..........what do you want to be when you grow up?