Interesting Times
Our friend asked if we preferred “Interesting Times” or “Boring Times”, in the sense of the supposed Chinese malediction. No doubt we each tried to guess what he was getting at; was it the ousting of our prime minister in a back-bench revolt, or the surging number of COVID cases two years after our first lock-down, or the hottest summer on record with spontaneous fires breaking out in British suburbs, or the ghastly truth of Brexit lining up on the Dover road?
Or was it the combination of all of these? Each challenge, on its own, produces a sense of mild unease, a wobbly feeling, as of a distant earthquake. Each is just beyond the reach of our personal experience, though not beyond imagining. But the combined effect, is distinctly unsettling.
It called to mind a film I saw recently about the subduction of tectonic plates. And I could imagine jumping ashore from a floating sheet of ice, only to find that I was jumping onto another, equally flimsy, piece of ice. It reminded me of Einstein’s questions as to which frame of reference to use as “our frame” when none is preferred, and each is as “relative” as the other. Who is moving, me or the platform?
The full effect only comes from calling to mind all these wobbles at the same time, for then there springs up the idea of a bigger problem not yet fully visible. Like a ship-wrecked mariner who gradually concludes that he is sitting on the back of a sleeping whale.
The answer to that first question surely depends on your humor; whether you are phlegmatic, choleric, sanguine or melancholic. Though mildly uneasy, I do not fear tomorrow. The new prime minister might be more honest, and might pay more heed to norms and the civil service. We might opt for improving our voting system and strengthening parliament. Perhaps we could use large sheets of reflectant foil to cool the planet down. COVID has become much milder, less scary. Why go to France anyway, when fuel costs are so high?
