Meanwhile,
It's all going to shits, but look, a new Iphone!
Laretta dear,
It's hard getting back on track after a whole week of being totally out of it. I was in a whirlwind of external factors. I feel more like a sponge for news now than a sentient being capable of creating art.
We drove to the seaside town of Sète, where my brother was briefly anchored. He works as a band leader on a high luxury cruise ship, seemingly oblivious of the fact that his sister is practically a climate activist as he spends his days on a petrol-derivative-guzzling depression-on-sea. Oh, the irony. 1
Meanwhile, the French president warned us that the "age of abundance" is over, cause there's no mo gas. And that my mom should settle on a heating reference of around 19C.
Anyway.
We where sitting the other day, looking at the clouds and having coffee and talking nonsense, when a helicopter started making what seemed to be rounds of some sort. It kept landing somewhere behind the hill in front of us, then taking off again, disappearing into the distance for a couple of minutes, then reemerging on the exact same path. Medical emergency? It didn't have the signage. A hot-shot visiting property in the South of France? Why go in circles? Military exercises? I really hope that's not what this is.
The next day we met our neighbor in the market and asked him if he knew what the fuss had been about. You will never guess.
They had taken the elderly from the retirement home... on an emergency ambulance because they all had gastro? ...out of a building on fire?
No. They had taken the elderly from the retirement home on a stroll around the area.
Meanwhile, my mom tells me, the Italians are arguing about whether to cook pasta off the heat to save on gas and be more eco-friendly.
Also, meanwhile, Alex tells me, the Swiss military are training their units by making them helicopter-lift sacks of sand up the mountain. The same mountain where the Swiss farmers are seeing their cattle suffer from thirst because of drought. People sensibly proposed the military bring water up the mountain instead of sand. The military argued back that we shouldn't mix civilian and military, even though the entire Swiss military consists of civilians.
Also meanwhile, Pakistan is flooding like never before, Chile voted against the Eco-constitution that could have been, 1 in 4 Brits will not be turning the heat on this winter, forests are burning, wheat crops have failed, oceans are getting weird and Corsica had 200km/h wind. But the Finish PM goes to parties, which is so much more important. Also, a new Iphone's out. (You want sources? Here you go2)
I try to not read the news anymore, it's making me icky. Yet the news seem to make their way to me. All of these insanities, and more, are happening at the same time as me. We live in mad times Laretta. And I'm tired of having to constantly battle crazy to keep myself sane.
And I bet you do too. It’s like a constant anxiety creeping behind your back, waiting for a moment of weakness to strike. So maybe I should keep away. Is the world crumbling less if I don’t watch? If I just ignore all of this madness, maybe it will just go away. But then again, isn’t everyone doing the same? Turning a blind eye on the crucial and focusing instead on who is dating whom and what new TikTok challenge is in fashion or whatever. And getting inflamed about pronouns and skin color and sex, when hardship is knocking at our front door.
As always,
Jo
P.S. The Earworm triggered by this week’s events was Fortunate Sons by Creedance Clearwater Revival, which sort of gave way to the image of choppers shooting at elderly French people and elderly French people shooting back in a frantic smoke-filled setting. What you gonna do?
More letters from Jo you might enjoy:
Earworms much?
See above:)
Yep. You heard me. I spend my days going on about climate change and how we should modify our systems in a way that makes sense not only for us but for the rest of the planet as well. I meet other people, like-minded individuals, with whom I discuss the ways in which we could convince other people to get their heads out of their buts and realize that there is something deeply wrong with the way we have been organizing ourselves. Yet the closest person to me, the person I grew up with, spends their days on a petrol guzzling status parade.
Yes, the payment seems to be pretty good. But it's right there, that’s exactly the issue. We tend to close our eyes to stuff that it obviously questionable, when it suits us. It suits him to avoid the conversation about how cruise-ships are a sad excuse for a vacation. It suits him to close his eyes to the fact that none of the people we saw that day on the ship - clients, not visiting geezers like me - none of them had even an ounce of happiness on their faces. That, through the fake ceiling you could hear the chairs of the above restaurant screeching and that the cleaning ladies on the hallway are all fake smiling to us because they are instructed to. And that all of this depression-on-water is emitting as much carbon dioxide as 12000 cars a day and dumping gallons of untreated shit in the ocean.
I also vacillate on how much news I consume ...when I’m not reading it, I feel guilty and irresponsible. Like a kid who’s put off her homework to read novels instead. Yet when I do read the news, I generally feel even worse. Like the assignment is borderline impossible now and I’m going to flunk it because I really, really should have started sooner.
I've now read this twice... I love how you gently guided the reader through seemingly innocuous stories into a much more serious message about our ongoing blindness to climate crisis...
Also cool idea with the donate button...