Are you feeling hot? This is 2022. Aren’t you wondering what it might feel like in five years time, in ten years time? On my Twitter feed at the moment are two abiding symbols – the sun and clown icons. Simultaneously soaring temperatures seem everywhere and politics has entered the twilight zone. I confess that I’ve lost confidence in being able to watch mainstream media because I may as well be at the theatre watching a performance with the curtains still in place.

My only respite is escaping into Netflix and the 1980s world of Stranger Things. Well, it’s preferable to reality. But even there lurks the most pertinent quote for our times:

“People don’t spend their lives trying to get a look at what’s behind the curtain. They like the curtain. It provides them stability, comfort, definition.” – Murray Bauman.

Just pretend it will go away and allow yourself to be distracted by some trivia instead.

You know the classic movie plotline – things start off happy, then things go badly wrong, then the characters claw their way back from despair and the goodies prevail over the baddies? I’m clinging onto the idea that in our real world we are in the middle of our movie and things are at their darkest but are surely set to get better. I mean, these despicable characters on the world stage surely can’t last much longer, can they?

But just as I’m clinging on, I have a nagging doubt that it’s not one of those movies after all, but a dark horror film with no happy ending. You know, sort of like ‘Don’t Look Up’.

Anyway, it’s time I distracted myself from reality and got on with my day’s work. Thanks for listening.

#clowns#hotweather#ignorance#power#curtains#climatechange