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.
