Patriot Realm

Can you believe it? Another weekend has rolled around. I was speaking with Redhead this morning and we got to talking about Niggles. No, not the current Premier of Queensland known as Giggles because of the supercilious grin he constantly has. Not the WW II flying Ace Biggles James Bigglesworth, wartime air ace and peacetime Sergeant in the Special Air Police, known to his friends and some of his enemies as 'Biggles'. Not the Wiggles either. 

No, not them I am talking about Niggles.

So, what exactly is a niggle? Picture a tiny stone in your shoe. It’s not big enough to really hurt, but it’s definitely annoying. Now imagine the stone is made of worry, or doubt, or maybe a creeping feeling of irritation. That’s what a niggle is.....a minor but persistent source of discomfort. It doesn’t exactly ruin your day, but it sure does like to hang around and poke you in the ribs now and then.

And we talked about who would we swap places with?  Is there anyone who does not have a niggle or two these days? And, in truth, are our niggles that bad anyway? 

The origins of the word niggle take us back to the early 16th century. It likely stems from the Middle English nig or niggardly, meaning stingy or miserly. That root, in turn, may have Scandinavian influences. In other words, it started life as a word about being overly cautious with your resources. 

That pretty much sums it up. I get niggling pain and Redhead gets niggling old age.  Not enough to cripple us, but enough to make us wonder if life will ever be niggle free again. 

Over time, the word evolved to describe the act of fussing over details, like a miser counting his pennies. By the 19th century, it had transformed into what we know today: the action of fretting over something or being persistently bothered by some irritation.

Australia famously created the Wiggles. I took my video of the Wiggles to South Korea when I went there to teach English and my students loved the Wiggles. 

Boy, I think it is time for us to wake up, don't you? 

 But let me do what the politicians and media do so frequently these days and "  circle back. "  

You know that tiny, scratchy tag at the back of your shirt? The one that feels like it's made from the rough hide of a sandpaper lizard? It’s a classic niggle. It’s not quite bad enough to make you strip in the middle of the lounge, but it’s all you can think about until you grab the scissors and chop the sucker off. You picked the shortest line at the supermarket. Things are going great, and then—bam!—the person in front of you forgets their PIN number and they have to rummage through every bloody credit card to find one that works.  . There’s that familiar niggle: “Why didn’t I pick the other line? Now I’m stuck here for hours with a half-melted ice cream tub and I desperately need to go to the toilet..”

But these days, niggles have taken on a new level of meaning. It is no longer the annoying old codger in front of us in the supermarket or the scratchy shirt tag. It is the ever present niggle that things aren't right. 

We get niggles from thinking about power bills. Food prices. Petrol and things like vet bills.  Niggles about protests in our streets, rising immigration, the high cost of health care, lack of housing, government incompetence, corruption, rising crime, laws that seek to stop us talking about niggles.... hell, if we can't talk about niggles, maybe we need Biggles to come back to sort things out? 

We have both tried laughing but Giggles don't work, do they? At 69 I have found that giggling can be frought with danger if one is not close to a loo and Biggles seems to have been banned from serving for not being gay enough or ready to convert to a faith that rather likes goats, bombs and camels. 

We tried to think about who these days was niggle free. Just one person, famous or family, friend or foe who is niggle free. And you know what? We could not think of one. Not one. 

Donald Trump, for all his wealth is not niggle free. People are trying to kill him. So no, he does not pass the niggle test. Neither does any other rich person I come up with. 

We have family who are embroiled in marriage breakups, repercussions from the clot shots, problems with moving house or dealing with pets who are passing. 

Yet, we have a member of parliament, here in Australia, who is off on paid leave because she was bullied in Parliament House. On $25,000 a month to stay at home and feel niggled by mean co workers and nasty bosses. Apparently, a niggle is now a trauma and I can smell a multi million dollar law suit coming on. 

Hell, in my day, we just dealt with it by standing up for our rights or walking out. But fronting up with a lawyer and a film crew from the media never entered our minds. 

I once had a bloke I worked with who used to grab my bum from behind and I asked him to stop.One day, I had enough. I just walked up behind him and grabbed him between his legs and said " How are you doing today? "  Our co-workers laughed. He never touched me again. Problem sorted. 

So when does a niggle pass on to the realms of a full blown crisis? And how has it gotten to this stage? 

When we allow it to. 

Yes, we have health issues. Yes, we have family and friends who are dealing with major niggles in their lives. But I can tell you one thing: I wouldn't mind getting paid $25,000 a month to stay home and feel outraged at being called names. Hell, I have written a blog for coming up 6 years and I have been called some pretty colourful names - all for ( I have calculated  ) about $3 a day on average. 

Strangely enough, I am still typing and haven't taken a day off. Maybe I am more Biggles than Niggles than I realised. And I wouldn't wiggle out of a problem and I am not about to giggle out of one either... 

Redhead just rang as I was trying to get this ready to publish. She told me she feels better than she has in ages. At 92, she has stopped thinking she is Biggles and 10 foot tall and bullet proof and has remembered that having a niggle is less dangerous than having a wiggle. 

Mind you..... 

Shaydee