standing here tonight
I’m afraid that I don’t hear
a thing just silence

Readers of this blog, bless their hearts, will be familiar with the fact that throughout my day I listen to an online radio station from London, ClassicFM.

There was a time when American college radio stations fulfilled the role of sources of classical music on American airwaves but then somewhere in the 1990’s (why does that seem so long ago) someone made the decision that college radio stations should move in the direction of AM talk radio.

So I discovered ClassicFM.

There are many things on the plus side to listening to a radio station for London, not the least of which is that those folks are 5 hours ahead of us (or 4 depending on whether or not we are saving daylight).

I like to say that this 5 hours difference gives me confidence to go on, as somewhere in this world someone has already made it through the next 5 hours.

Of late I keep thinking about how they, the Brits, are ahead of us.

Are just 5 hours ahead of us.

The point being, what happens there, is on its way here.

For me, I have to say, that the Brits Prime Minister lasted but 45 days on the job, is a bit chilling.

The Brit Conservative Party was started in 1834 and their latest leader lasted less than 2 months.

Avoiding comment on the reasons and everything but the fact that the leader lasted less than 2 months, it got me to thinking.

It got me to thinking dark thoughts.

Understand this moment by itself would have been grim but lets just look at the headlines.

This country is facing one of its most divisive elections since the Civil War when half the then country said SEE YOU LATER. (Then Abraham Lincoln said, NO SO FAST)

What might have been a border war in the long history of this sad world is threatening to expand its borders in ways too unimaginable to not be imagined.

The ability to house the citizens of this country is disappearing in the rush to build vacation homes for some of the citizens.

The ability to feed, clothe, employ and educate the citizens of this country is drying up as the Government of this country shows, less and less, the desire to feed, clothe, employ and educate the citizens of this country.

Mother Nature, after centuries of neglect, looks to be warming up to show everyone that, boy howdy, payback’s a bitch.

It all got me to thinking of a movie.

A movie called Margin Call.

A movie about how in 2009, the bill came due.

Almost by accident, one of the minor characters in the movie runs some simulations and learns, to his dismay, that if current trends continue to decline, the company he works for will be worthless in about 2 months.

This feller alerts his boss, who tell his boss, who tells his boss, who calls the big guy at the top.

The big guy shows up and the feller who discovered it all explains his fears of continued decline in the market, that the music of making money is slowing.

The big guy looks at the assembly of bosses and under bosses and looks out the window and delivers this short hamletonian soliloquy.

Do you care to know why I’m in this chair with you all?
I mean, why I earn the big bucks?
I’m here for one reason and one reason alone.
I’m here to guess what the music might do a week, a month, a year from now.
That’s it.
Nothing more.
And standing here tonight,
I’m afraid that I don’t hear a thing.
Just silence.

I feel like I am looking at the top of a snow mountain peak and I can see that an avalanche of snow and ice and rocks has started away up at the top and it is only a matter of time before it all comes down on me here in the valley.

The thing about avalanches, once they start …

I think of this movie.

I think of this country.

And I think of Verses in the Bible.

I think of Psalm 137 verse 1.

I think that By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.

And standing here tonight, I’m afraid that I don’t hear a thing.

Just silence.

change minds – delicate
work- dutch people don’t like to
be told what to do

Fascinating read in the article by Raymond Zhong in the New York Times (10 10 2022), They’re ‘World Champions’ of Banishing Water. Now, the Dutch Need to Keep It.

The sub heading is ‘As climate change dries out Europe, the Netherlands, a country long shaped by its overabundance of water, is suddenly confronting drought.’

According the article, and who am I to question the NYTs, “The Netherlands’ success at getting rid of excess water helped it become an agricultural powerhouse — the world’s No. 2 exporter of farm products after the United States. This year, though, drought and energy concerns caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine have prompted anguished debate about whether it is sustainable for the Netherlands to produce so many of its famous tulips, plus so much cheese, meat, fruits and vegetables.”

Growing up with a Dutch Heritage in West Michigan, I could verify several things in the article.

The story of the Netherlands’ centuries of struggle against water is written all over its boggy, low-lying landscape. Windmills pumped water out of sodden farmland and canals whisked it away. Dikes stopped more from flooding in.

Boy Howdy!

Working in all that boggy land, why do think we wore those wooden shoes!

Mr. Zhong interviewed a Dutch Farmer names Peter van Dijk, who grew, what else. blueberries!

Mr. Zhong also interviewed Gertjan Zwolsman, a policy adviser and researcher at Dunea, a drinking-water company who, in a comment about the bog land now garden spot of Europe as saying, “There is nothing natural about the Netherlands.”

Lastly, Mr. Zhong quotes Mr. van Dijk again, saying “Changing farmers’ minds can be delicate work, “Dutch people don’t like to be told what to do.”

NO KDDING!