On Cares, Click Bait, and Creepy Stuff.

So there I was, thinking that the storm clouds from which my mind has been trying to shelter over the past few weeks were beginning to lift, when I had a dream. Two people, a man and wife of unknown provenance, had chosen to come and lodge with me. This made me uneasy because not only were they invading my world – which, by default, and given my general dislike of close company, meant that they were polluting it – but they were also interfering with my routines and causing all manner of distressing inconvenience. Eventually I became very angry and told them to leave. And then I woke up.

I woke not to a sunny sky and the prospect of a pleasant day engaged in pleasurable activity, but to a sense that my days on earth were now drastically numbered and pleasant days had been consigned to the historical record. I had breakfast as usual anyway, just in case I made it to lunchtime.

And then this afternoon I did the first of the spring garden jobs – trimming the two evergreen bushes and the big sage plant at the bottom of the garden. The whole business took no more than an hour, but it took more out of me physically than can reasonably be attributed to advancing age. I’m not old enough yet to be brought so low by such a relatively innocuous task. There must be something else involved. I have several theories.

But let’s move on.

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I’m becoming increasingly aware that the means of communication in the modern world are growing ever more tainted by the need to exaggerate in order to gain our attention. Headlines in the news are falling prey to greater and sillier sensationalism. Advertising, which has always employed overly inflated claims to ensnare the gullible, is soiling its own pitch with claims which even the gullible should be able to see through in an instant. And now I’m finding that YouTube channels which I’ve long since come to regard as reliable and relatively trustworthy are marketed with titles and thumbnail pictures which are some way removed from their actual content. Time after time I’m downloading videos and then switching them off prematurely because what I’m seeing isn’t what it said on the can.

This is becoming irritating, and I’m tempted to trace the phenomenon back to a time when young Americans introduced the world to the habit of referring to facts which were merely laudable as ‘awesome.’ But I might be wrong. I might be recklessly presuming a causal relationship based on the fact that America appears to judge worth more on size than quality. Shame on me. I know nothing.

(Did you know that there was a sitcom on British TV in the 1960s centred around a Jewish tailor in the East End of London? It was called Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width. I wonder where that came from. Curioser and curioser.)

*  *  *

And here’s an interesting fact. When I go into my bedroom at night it’s obviously dark, but there’s enough spill light coming from the open door to the landing to have a reasonable view of the contents. I’ve started to imagine that one night I will see something large and black sitting on the bed, something so far unidentifiable in the low light. I wonder whether I’d have the courage to switch the light on to see what it is. I think I should prefer not to find out.

*  *  *

Given the current lamentable state of my mind and body, writing this post took some effort. I’m awash with self-congratulation.