I’m afraid to say that I’m really, really starting to dislike kids. By kids I mean teenagers, aged between about thirteen and seventeen. It might just be my perspective, but they all seem to have developed an arrogant, cocksure, undeserved worldliness that is completely misplaced: they are still essentially children, but they seem to think they’re adults. For instance, I was in Starbucks in Kidbrooke earlier enjoying a  cuppaccino, when three youngsters from the nearby school came and sat at the table next to me. At first I thought little of it, but when they began to talk about American history I began to become interested. They were discussing the origins of Thanksgiving, so I thought I would intercede by pointing out that it was just part of the American self-justifying, self-aggandising mythos.

As usual I tapped what I wanted to say into my Ipad and then tried to play it to them. However, to my horror and frustration, they ignored me completely, acting as if I didn’t exist. I tried again and got the same response. Now, I know I was a stranger and that perhaps I should have just let them be, but I find that introducing myself in this way is a good way of helping young people get to know people like myself, and showing them that, at the end of the day, we’re just like anyone else. The way they ignored me, however, struck me as downright rude: they seemed to have a sneering, contemptuous attitude, as if they thought themselves better than me and everyone else in the room. The least they could have done was note my presence and show me some respect.

Perhaps I’m just getting old; perhaps I’m just turning into a cranky old man who thinks young people should know how to behave. Yet the attitude those kids seemed to have this morning stunned me, and it seems to be becoming more and more widespread. I was just trying to introduce myself, but all I got in return was arrogance.