Today I’ve been to Manchester on a shopping trip with Granddaughter Number Two. She and my daughter picked me up at some ungodly hour this morning (before eight o’clock).My daughter dropped us off at Shaw Metrolink station on her way to work and Granddaughter Number Two and I caught the tram (which I had to pay for - too early for my bus pass!) into Manchester city centre where we had breakfast before going and spending money. We usually do this just before Christmas, a last-minute dash for Christmas presents we haven’t managed to find. Today she needed some materials for an embroidery project she has in mind. So we headed for a craft shop and took in various other places en route.
We were misled by the weather forecasts: cloudy with a chance of rain. So we equipped ourselves with lightweight coats and umbrellas … which we did not need. Manchester turned out to be sunny and quite hot and humid and we had to shed layers! Now in the early evening it feels as though we could have a storm. We shall see.
As we chatted about everything under the sun, Granddaughter Number Two told me that her generation is a pessimistic generation, probe to depression and suicidal thoughts. This is because they have been told that it is up to them to put the world to rights - climate crisis, racialism, violence and intolerance. It is apparently up to them to sort out the mess that previous generations have made of the world. It’s not just my generation, although we are the fortunate ones who grew up with optimism and the feeling that the world could only get better. Her parents’ generation also need to take the blame.
Quite why her generation should feel especially responsible escapes me, but there it is. And quite a lot of them, I suppose, are doing their bit as activists for one cause or another.
My generation has been blamed for Brexit, however, and some statistics we saw the other day suggests that it is older people who are more likely to vote for Farage and Reform UK, not the younger people. Not me! I will not be tarred with that brush!
Putting the world to rights, here’s a link to an article about scientists trying to refreeze the Arctic.
Here’s a sample:
“Five months earlier, the team had braved temperatures of -40C on the sea ice to drill holes and pump 50,000 tonnes of ocean water up on to its surface. It froze almost immediately, thickening the 1.5-metre-deep ice by about 50cm, according to the new measurements.
That has protected the ice, at the start of the melt season at least, and is an early sign that one day, perhaps, it may be possible to refreeze a significant part of the Arctic.”
As I read it, not fully understanding the science of it all, I was reminded of Kurt Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle”. A scientist invents a substance that will cause everything to freeze and so the world may well come to a frozen end.
We need to be careful what we tinker with!
Here’s a more cheerful story from Italy. Antonio Smiglio bought himself a Garelli moped when he was 16, paying for it by instalments with money he earned from part-time jobs. In 1984 it was stolen. This year police stopped someone riding a moped without registration plates (not needed on mopeds back in 1984) and it turned out to be the missing Garelli. The rider wasn’t the thief; he had bought it second or third hand.the vintage bike has been returned to its original owner. It’s been well maintained. Well pleased, Signor Smiglio intends to ride it again!
Everything comes to him who waits - even if he’s given up on it!
Getting back to young people, it seems that as well as “influencers” of a variety of kinds, there are also ‘loneliness influencers”, who broadcast tales of their friendless young lives to attract a following online. They make vlogs detailing their cosy Friday nights spent alone, at home, in vibrant aspirational cities like New York – the kind of place one chooses to live mostly for the social life on offer.
Wow, what a strange way to seek those five minutes of fame! Here’s a link to an article about it.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment