So, farewell for now

Dear readers, I watched the excellent documentary For Land by my friends at Prolekult a couple of months ago and it knocked me for six. It explains how modern industrial capitalism's use of fossil fuels made it possible to draw together the people who became the modern working class, and make it harder for them to unite and fight back against their exploitation. It also covers how the Amazon is no longer a carbon sink, but a carbon source, and we're in deep trouble if we carry on with capitalism. I'd been doing a lot of background reading on eco socialism and the environment and its message really struck home.

After this I found myself unable to work on any of my political stuff at all. It just seemed so pointless. The short term greed is going to choke us and is completely in control. Also, given that the cry to get rid of the tories has resulted in them being replaced by even more tory venal clowns, who are slightly more competent but just as addicted to the status quo that's gonna kill us all, I had to mentally take a break before it broke me. Things can only get better, sure, pal, but for whom? I started to come back mentally and was beginning to think of article titles and so on.

Then, a close family member died suddenly at what is these days a very young age and we've been sorting out the complicated mess of a sudden death, and the grieving. They died abroad and it took a long time to repatriate their remains. After the repatriation I went to the place of rest where the undertakers are going to do what they do, and discovered that before they start moving the body they will bow to the coffin, as a mark of respect to the deceased. It's acknowledging that the coffin contains what was once a human being, and isn't just a box. This simple courtesy completely undid me and I had to sit down.

I'm spending my energies re-learning how to play chess and doing some work for an old client whose web site needs redoing. Those articles may well get written but I am unable to put myself under any pressure at the moment, work is hard, I'm on my third job in a year, and turned 65 last month. The chess thing is me making sure my brain still works, rather than become a television addled vegetable.

So, friends, do what you can and look after yourselves. It may be a while before I resurface, but I will.