Short, but neither nasty nor brutish

Gotcha!

Just as much of the man's world we live in reverts more emphatically than ever to a Hobbesian, pre-law state of perpetual warring wherein life is nasty, brutish and short, Pikachu, the short, tubby, perpetually smiling and infinitely non-nasty and brutish king of the Pokemon, is back to lighten and brighten our load, or at least to take our minds off the mean madness of the wider warring world.

And although I can't take part directly in the Pokemon Go craze that has revived enthusiasm for this cutest of cute critters, because I don't have a phone compatible with the app, I don't need to run around looking for virtual Pokemon to enjoy the revival of a thing non nasty and brutish that has come out of the minds of men.

Indeed I have a fluffy, non-virtual Pokemon of my own (actually belongs to my younger son) to remind me of this softer side to the male nature, even if the revival is also, of course, a mega money-making venture which has already turned ugly, though the craze is little more than a month old.

I choose to ignore the ugliness and enjoy the nostalgia for what seems like a less mad mean time, a time when my older boy proudly took his giant fluffy Pokemon to the cinema with him and everyone was smiling. What a pity they have to grow up -- though do they? Pikachu says no, and so, in may ways, does Pokemon Go.