Still here and it’s a bit muggier and a bit warmer. Might get some actual rain. We did get a light misty drizzle at various points yesterday, and the sun poked through for just long enough to get a glimpse of the eclipse if you were ready for it. I wasn’t.
I wasn’t particularly effective yesterday wrt working my lists… That’s a problem I’ve been having lately and I’m not sure of the cause. I just lack motivation some days. I did advance a couple of projects, and made some small progress on outstanding issues. I was feeling a bit sore from all the string trimmer use in the back yard, but that’s just an excuse. One of the things I did get fixed was the vacuum breaker/backflow preventer repair for the sprinkler system. I need the sprinklers working so I can have a garden, and so my yard doesn’t deteriorate further. We’re starting to be the shabbiest house on the block as more people move into the neighborhood and renovate. I’m convinced we’ll look like a time capsule if I don’t allow W1 to paint all the brick white or grey. Grey and black are very much the palette of the times.
WTF is it with the Simpsons show accurately predicting the future?? Remember the episode where the school took all the colors away? I drove past a line of parked vehicles the other day, and for three blocks of tightly packed vehicles there was not one car or truck that was brightly colored. Champagne and a dark blue were the closest things to different- white, grey, silver, black, and blue so dark it looks black dominated. Every parking lot is the same. Occasionally an older sports car will stand out, or a dark red vehicle will catch the eye. And it’s not just cars, all the new housing is mostly variations on black and white and grey. Color has gone out of peoples’ lives. That is a profound indicator of the times and mindset, I believe.
Hard times are here for a whole lot of folks, and they think they will be getting harder. No one is buying bright color, when they are feeling bad about the future. The local exception is all the low rise apartment complexes here. They are re-branding and painting themselves with muted versions of bright colors– “south of the border” colors. They are renting to illegals, and it must look like paradise to them. (New spanish names for the complexes, and signs about being “zero deposit communities” are the ‘tells’.) I’m adding the changes in product colors to my ‘indicator’ list, as a symptom of mood and zeitgeist.
Yep, we’re already on the downward slope. It can slow, or accelerate from here. My feeling is “accelerate”. Dramatically. Afterwards, people will say “who could have seen it coming” or “it happened so suddenly”. But people DO see it coming, and the seeds were planted years ago. I expect that people will adjust and tolerate for a while, as the lily pads slowly double and double, until the pond is half covered… and that last doubling, when the pond is suddenly completely covered will be the point most of them finally react. There will be hurt, and surprise, and anger. Feelings of betrayal. And violence as people lash out. Someone will harness that. Someone will direct that anger. It’s going to be ugly on a scale not seen in a LONG time.
Are you ready for that? Stack some more things. Have someplace to go if you have to leave. And pray that I’m wrong.
nick