I took this photo whilst walking Amy to school this morning. Well, I say walking her to school – what I actually mean is escorting her from the car to the gate. Her school may only be a ten minute walk from our house, but it’s a two minute drive and those two minutes are spent in relative warmth and comfort.
So anyway, I took the photo whilst taking Amy to school. I wish I was a better landscape photographer as it really doesn’t do the scene justice.
I’m the first to admit that I live in a beautiful part of the world. And it’s even more beautiful in weather like this. I’ve got the day to myself tomorrow so might take a walk up on the tops to see if I get any better pictures. Then again I might just fritter the day away on donkey porn on the net like I usually do. I’ll see what whim takes me in the morning.
It could just be my current state of mind at the moment, but I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the apocalypse.
Did you know that it would only take one major solar flare to completely take out every computer in the world? Every single computer. A giant electromagnetic wave frying every microchip on the planet. That’s banks, governments, hospitals, police stations, even my macBook damnit. And if all the computers went, the rest of the world would follow in a matter of days. Hours even. Just think how badly we handle something as piddly as a couple of inches of snow. As MI5 say: civilisation is only four meals away from anarchy.
Actually, I don’t know if a solar flare would do that. But it sounds about right doesn’t it. And even if not – there are plenty of other ways civilisation could come crashing down around our ears. For all our illusions of stability, both society and the environment are fragile beasts.
Ever since we had kids I’ve been unable to watch post-apocalyptic films or TV shows. It’s a genre I used to love, but these days all it does is fill me with unease. What would happen to Evan and Amy should everything break down? Would I be able to protect them? What would we eat? Would it be best if we all died in the initial onslaught?
Last year Kerry and her parents took the kids to Spain to visit relatives. All the time they were away I had a niggling dread in the pit of my stomach. What if something happened to them? What if something happened to the whole world? I wouldn’t be able to get to them.
Is it just me who worries about this stuff? Did I read Day of the Triffids and Brother in the Land too many times when I was a kid? I don’t know. But this stuff really does worry me.
Yet I’ve done nothing about it. I keep thinking that it would be sensible to put together a small store of canned food and water. Plus candles, matches, a can of petrol and all that sort of stuff. I know it’s paranoid – but it wouldn’t cost that much for a couple of dozen cans of beans and a few tins of spam.
But then again, what good would that actually do? Would it just prolong the inevitable?
You know what, I really should try and stop thinking about stuff like this.
Due to me working over Christmas and a few other reasons, my family have decided to exchange gifts on New Year’s Day this year. So later today Kerry, the kids and I are going over to my Mum’s to meet up with my brother, sister and their respective partners.
I’m hoping that someone has been considerate enough to buy me a new Xbox – but seeing as though we’d set a maximum cap of £15 I think it’s unlikely. If they really loved me enough they’d have made the effort to find one that cheaply though, so I’m going in with expectations deliriously raised. I can’t see how that could possibly go wrong.
But even if my family do hate me so much that they won’t even spend measly £15 on a new Xbox 360, at least I know that someone cares about me.
No, not my wife. She’s only with me for my money and my raw pulsating sexuality.
Yesterday morning a couple of eagerly anticipated parcels arrived from Australia. Lee, my antipodean pop-culture guru and fellow Midnight Movie Club member had sent me a present. Hurrah!
And a damn fine present it was too. In fact it was the best kind: thoughtful, cool, and something I’m really glad to have but never knew I wanted.
For those of you without the necessary geeky genetic makeup, it’s a Blue Beetle action figure. You may scoff, but it’s an incredibly well thought out gift.
And so to show Lee my thanks I recorded the following video for him. It serves a duel purpose: Not only does it express my gratitude for his very generous gift, but it also serves as a warning to him that it’s probably best we don’t attempt a podcast when I’ve got my kids in the room. Behold, total anarchy (the breaks in the film are where I turned the camera off to beat my children round the head):
And speaking of podcasts: our second Midnight Movie Club supplemental podcast is available to download now. To quote Lee over on our blog:
Honestly this week’s podcast reaches what I consider to be a new low.
Which is hard considering this is only its second week.
We’re unprofessional, we giggle at rude words that mean different things in other countries, I marginalise the Star Wars fandom, we stay completely off topic for at least 98% of the time.
It’s a shambles and I beg you not to be sucked in to listen.
With salesmanship like that how could you resist.
To be fair to Lee though it is rather rambling and overlong, but I had a real laugh making it and enjoyed listening back to it so I’d still argue it’s worth a go. We’ve both made a pledge that future podcasts that will be tighter and no longer than 20 minutes, so even if you find the latest episode a little too wandersome you should still subscribe to us on iTunes.
I’m going to back off a little on promoting the Club here from now on, although I’ll still mention it when I think there is something you should see over there. I’m sorry if it’s grated on you, but it’s something that I’m currently very enthusiastic about – and what’s a blog for if not to enthuse about your passions?
