I walked up my hill today under leaden skies. I was wrapped in my scarf and gloves. There was a cold wind. I shuffled through fallen leaves and looked out over a landscape that looked drab in the twilight of midday. I stood and thought back through the preceding months, of the scorching sun and cool breeze, the gaily dressed fields with nodding poppies. The scudding cotton clouds. Life is change.
Already the land was shutting down.
My long walks are give me time to think. My walking is mechanical, my mind introspectively trawling through thoughts, memories and feelings. I often return with ideas, poems and new understanding. I’ve soaked in the beauty of nature and been refreshed. It is good.
Looking ahead to the future – things will improve.
Trump is on his way out. We will no longer have the division, the bolstering of hate, the empowering of the Neo-Nazis, or the war on nature. With Biden the UN and WHO will be funded, allies will be given precedence over tyrants, global warming and pollution will be addressed and science will be properly recognised. The world will not be guided by superstition and conspiracy propaganda, it will be a better place.
Johnson and Bolsonaro will follow. The Amazon will not be burnt down for profit. Britain might get a half decent leader. The clown will be gone.
We will start putting the world back together, going to green energy, putting a halt to the destruction of forests and healing the damage. We can and will restore nature. The animals need a chance!!
Brexit will be over. It will cost us a fortune and many will lose their jobs, life will be harder, but we can put it behind us and start healing that media and politician driven division.
Given a little longer we can ditch this incompetent callous bunch of Tories and get a government that cares about the people.
By next summer there should be a vaccine and life can begin to get back to some kind of normality. We will pick ourselves up, rebuild, and start to live again. Music will return. We will meet up with friends and family and we will hug, eat, drink, watch films, go to gigs, go to the theatre and laugh a lot.
Looking ahead – it is all going to be better!
Just stay safe until then!
The way I look at it, the USA will not survive this “election.” If Trump “wins,” there will be riots in most major US cities. If he loses, the “red states” will set in motion plans to secede. Either way, the losers will seek to take revenge on the winners. Perhaps initially through “legal” means, but there will be violence before long.
But in my view, Trump isn’t the (only) villain. What attracted lots of people, who were fed up with politics, to him four years ago was that he (seemingly) wasn’t one of them – the political establishment. Of course, he was; but the bulk of the US establishment has since moved so far to the crazy “left” that he has, I think, a half decent chance of getting away with the same ruse again.
The problem, Opher, is the political system; the state. And in my view, your green views, far from opposing the state, actually strengthen it.
I wish I could get walking again. The weather down here seems to be locked into a pattern where it pisses down from about 11am till dusk.
In other news, my brass band had its first rehearsal in 7 months on Thursday, in a “COVID-safe” venue. It felt like we had paid an “indulgence” to violate the “rule of six.” 17 of us in a hall that, in normal times, could fit 200. At least, the acoustics weren’t too bad.
I certainly feel that there will be great trouble. The right-wing Neo-Nazis and white supremacists are complete nutters – armed militia. That’s what happens when you allow any idiot to buy an assault rifle.
Where on earth do you think the establishment is crazy left. America is so right-wing they consider the middle to be extreme left. They don’t have unions, they think socialists are communists – and they pay the price for it – low wages, exploitation, long hours, no pensions, maternity leave, short holidays. It’s appalling how exploited they are.
My understanding of nature and desire to protect it is the only sane thing. We are utterly dependent on nature and yet are completely trashing the planet. If we don’t wake up soon we will wipe ourselves out.
It’s a bit cold here Neil, and it rained this afternoon but it hasn’t been affecting my walks. Looks like a nice day forecast tomorrow.
How did you get away with 17 of you meeting up? How did your pieces sound?
Oh but the Doomrats are crazy, Opher. Anyone that wants to force millions of people out of their productive jobs has no concern at all for human beings. As to “left” or “right,” maybe that divide doesn’t have much meaning any more. They all behave like fascists. and they all want to destroy our human civilization.
And if you want to protect nature, then protect nature! But don’t expect other people to fall in with your ideas. You won’t persuade me that I am “trashing the planet,” for example, without providing specific evidence of what damage I have caused, and proof that I caused it.
The place we met specifically has “COVID secure rooms,” that’s why people are allowed to meet there and do activities that can’t be done with a mask on. I don’t know why they allow it, either… but they do. Probably some money-making scheme for local government. We only got as far as playing one of my two pieces on Thursday, and it went very well. We have another rehearsal tomorrow night, so hopefully we’ll get to the second one then.
Don’t be silly Neil. The Democrats will sign up to the Paris accord and move to green technology – they will create millions of jobs in a new, sustainable field instead of propping up old outdated and highly polluting industry. You’re a bit of a Luddite on this Neil.
As for the environment you only have to open your eyes (and your mind) to see the immense damage we are doing. Look at the overwhelming evidence for global warming. Look at the evidence on the greenhouse gases. Just by existing and using energy and consuming you are adding to it. I can’t believe that somebody with your intelligence can be blind to this. Do you not see the immense decline in insects there has been in your lifetime? The loss of hedgehogs? The reduction in butterflies and birds? Have you not travelled and seen the poverty, pollution and enormous deforestation?? I think you have your mind shut. We are sleepwalking into a disaster for us and the rest of life on this planet. It’s bad enough when that happens through natural means, but when we are doing it to ourselves through sheer greed – that is the height of stupidity.
You be careful with that rehearsal business. As a biologist I don’t think they can make anything indoors really safe. They can only reduce the risk a little.