Monday, 23 July 2007
... so I blog. look at me, everyone, look at my tight little buns. i can bend quite a long way backwards....
...so lucky, lucky middle englanders, thrown out of their homes by biblical floods - their routines smashed, days off work, rides in helicopters, hands cupped round civil defence regulation mugs of emergency tea, having conversations with people they have never met before, complaining about the rescue effort and the insurance companies with a gusto that could almost be mistaken for real passion - free, momentarily free. for a few days at least, their lives broken and occasional moments spent in the dangerous present... no floods here in london, there is an impenitrable barrier to prevent them. no conversations with strangers. no passion. we are safe.
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3 comments:
I, too, was vaguely excited by the idea that 46,000 homes, yesterday, were without water and electricity in Middle England, having not so long ago returned from Luanda, a city, where the majority live continuously without electricity and often - in the rainy season - under water. However, I think we both risk missing the point. Forget the exaggerated hysteria in the mainstream media, what matters here is the unavoidable thought that this is wrapped up with climate change, something which our government does not wish to confront or do anything substantial about (being so busy, as it is, with the pressing desire to stop people smoking...). There is a good piece on the floods (and other things) in lenin's tomb (leninology.blogspot.com) today. But as for the strangers... mmmm... the trouble with we Londoners is that we're always waiting for the other to instigate contact. Don't wait. People - strangers - will converse 'til you're exhausted and want to run. I truly believe it's simply about providing the catalyst. I hope that doesn't irritate you.
not at all, though I think our yearning for cataclysm is more interesting than the actual cataclysm itself - i am sort of free-floating in terms of values at the moment - floatin' away - wanting a deluge so that everyone - I - suddenly start caring again - i feel further from life in London than anywhere - but your cool rationality and dedicated political concern are like smelling salts... :0)
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