Lockdown 2 - All Hallows' Eve and Visions of Atlantis

As we're going into second lockdown I thought I better record my thoughts. I feel much less foreboding than I did when we entered the first one. There was a slight quiver earlier, but I'm largely stoic. My main worry is for America. This year I've almost felt American. It's odd that you can feel so attached to a place you've never been to. That's far off across a wide ocean. However, these things in many ways are bigger than just geography..

Obviously we have the US election on Tuesday. Is it a coincidence that Europe is locking down on the eve of this incredibly important event? Probably not, but I'm sick of getting into politics and conspiracy, so I'll pretend I haven't noticed that. I just pray that it's peaceful whatever happens. I'll no doubt be watching it all unfold with eagle eyes over the coming week. Heart in mouth and helpless to intervene. Who knows what will happen.

Also, on a lighter note, I should mention my last post. A bit of an odd one that. It's kind of a well meant parody of those future predictions we often see about how we'll all be living our lives in ten or twenty years time. A Tomorrow's World type glimpse. When I was writing some of the orange economy posts I was thinking that it would probably be helpful to offer some kind of illustration for the future I was trying to put forward. Cringey though that is. So hopefully it'll at least be useful in that regard.

I couldn't help but think of Francis Bacon when I was finishing it up though. Penning his New Atlantis 400 odd years ago. Sadly I'm not quite in his league, but it's a recurring human endeavour. Trying to offer up some utopian vision of the future. A better world.

Of course, that work in many ways ties in with America. The supposed setting. The new world across the water. The Rosicrucian and Masonic visions and dreams.

I've discussed the name Atlantis elsewhere. Suggesting that it simply means the known world. Or the mapped world. In times gone by works of cartography would be titled names such as Atlantis Majoris - simply meaning the major atlas i.e. the great map collection. We also have Atlas holding up the known world, and likewise the Atlantic Ocean. Which to European explorers, heading out into the unknown seas for the first time, will have originally just been the world ocean.

So viewed through this lens New Atlantis would literally translate as New World. Perhaps a literal new world, or perhaps a revisioning of the old.

If we take Plato's Atlantis, another powerful visionary tale, to also mean "known world" then the flooding of Atlantis would be another variant of the world flood myth. Though Plato's version doesn't portray it as such. His Atlantis being just one separate kingdom, at war with another, the Athenians. Plunged beneath the waves for their sins. Still though, we have a similar theme. The destruction of a world. A Great Reset.

As we await on the precipice of this election I can't help but see things clouded by these spectres and visions.

I believe in America.

With Europe locked down it looks like freedom across the waves more than ever.

A Day in the Life of Jack

It's the year 2033. Jack has just moved into his nice new home. Like most other people Jack doesn't pay rent or mortgage, and owns his new home outright. He had considered staying at home with his parents for perhaps another year or two, but as he was now making enough money to comfortably support himself he had decided to take up his allocation of Universal Basic Space. Selecting a nice little apartment near the centre of town.

Jack earned his money in several different ways. One day a week he would work as a carer, helping to care for elderly people at a local care home. On Mondays he rented shop space in town, where he displayed and sold his artwork. Some of which he also sold online. Jack also occasionally rented shop space to sell some of the food produce that he and his friend grew on their vertical allotment.

Just five years earlier it had been announced that all citizens would be entitled to a basic amount of allotment space. To accompany the basic living space they were entitled to. Some plots being in tall vertical farms, others simply on the ground, out in nature. However, as Jack and his friend were so enthusiastic about growing food they also rented out extra space on top of this to expand their endeavours.

The centre of the town Jack lived in was like a beautiful sky-rising village green. The old architecture and buildings seamlessly intertwined with trees and flowers. The glass towers, once unused office space, now over-spilling with green green-housery, bee-keeping and hanging gardens. As he walked through the public orchards to catch the public transport he could hear the birds singing in the trees, along with the tweeps and bleeps of other people's mobile phones and devices.

Jack was heading to his brother's house on the outskirts of town. His brother lived with his wife and two children. He was ten years older than Jack and like his younger brother worked doing several different things and projects. His favourite being his current research into organic self-repairing housing and pluming systems. Work that had already borne fruit in several ways.

The home he lived in was bigger than Jack's, with a large circular garden surrounding it. The tall trees blending harmoniously into the distant, crisply-coloured countryside. Like Jack he had originally been given a basic apartment too. However, having saved up for several years he and his partner could now afford this more homely place, and had sold their basic apartments back to the public purse to help fund their dream. Their old apartments now being the new nests and first steps on the ladder for other younger people.

Jack was always impressed by his brother's place, but for now he was more than happy with his own little bit of private space. Like his brother he too had been saving up. However, his main concern was simply making sure he had enough money in the bank for a rainy day, just in case his sources of income started taking a downturn. Fortunately though, as he had no rent or mortgage to pay, and just had his basic bills, it was quite easy to do this, and he took great joy in being self-sufficient. Both currently and going forward into the future. Squirrelling away money, along with some of the food he grew, like acorns. In preparation for times of less abundance. Or for far-off old age and infirmity.

As he waited briefly for his transport a light rain began to fall upon his face. Though the weather remained calm and summery. As he gazed round at his surroundings he noticed a red fox skip through a far off hedgerow. His phone rang warmly just as his transport arrived. He checked the screen then stepped on board. White clouds rolling past the sky-scraping gardens as he looked back towards the town centre he was leaving..

[...]

micro-capitalism and organic market places

I'm going into business. Well, not really, but sort of, in an imaginary sort of way. I've been thinking about the future - both my own, and the world's. At least in a very vague, general sense. So the two are entwined in my mind at the moment. For a start I need to get my arse in gear and get a job of some description, so that's one thing pushing me. At the same time though it is looking a bit grim out there, so the options for me and most other people that are lost in this wider economic landscape aren't especially appetising. So some fresh thinking is definitely needed.

Anyway, I'm always eager to set the world to rights on here and elsewhere, but I'm clearly not so quick off the mark in my own personal life (it's much easier to be a backseat driver). So I'm now wondering if perhaps I need to stop chirping and start doing something productive. (My annoying chirps got me blocked by Piers Morgan on Twitter last night lmao ..I shared the picture of him in St. Tropez again. The one with Raheem Sterling. Y'know ..this one..

The mid-corona pandemic one. That one. That one where he has no mask on.)

My amusement aside though I think I'm probably spending far too much time on Twitter and other platforms niggling people like this. Perhaps it might help get us all out of lock down a teeny bit quicker, but it's hardly a plan for the future. So I'm trying to think a bit more long term.

I was pondering my living space / creative space ideas again. Which I've mentioned many times on here before. It struck me that instead of just writing about them perhaps I should try to somehow put them into practice. Difficult though that would be. Can they be actualised in a business sense? And by someone like me?

The obvious and simple answer to that is no. lol. I'm very comfortable making myself busy typing up blogs and making music and such like, but proper business. Meeting people, wearing a suit, actually doing stuff out in the real world, that type of business. That's not something I could ever really be good at. Not by a long way. I just don't have it in me.

Perhaps it's because I'm too shy and awkward. Maybe I'm just too much of a layabout. Either way it's highly unlikely I'll ever actually step forward and do anything truly entrepreneurial. Plus I'm far too poor. If I had a £1million war chest that would be one thing, but with barely £100 in my current account I think I'm going to struggle becoming the UK's next business mogul.

Still, it is something to think about though. Even if it only ever remains an exercise in thought.

It also reminded me of another idea I was thinking about which in some ways relates to this creative space notion.

The Hat Shop Lady.

I was thinking about shops. Particularly with regard to our empty highstreets. Just as an observer you see so many little shops and businesses open up, only to drop out of business six months later (and that's before the whole corona-postponer). It always occurs to me that many of these businesses simply aren't profitable enough to justify an entire shop to themselves.

I remember seeing a hat store opening up and thinking; "Yeah, there's no way they're selling enough hats in a small town like this to make a profit". It was a beautiful little store, and the lady running it had obviously put a huge amount of effort in, no doubt with the help of loans and grants. But it was doomed to fail. How many hats are you going to sell in such a small catchment area? Especially when you're competing with major retailers.

Witnessing many of these stores pop up and then disappear made me wonder if there was perhaps a more flexible way of doing things. The lady had some nice hats, but she didn't need an entire store.

So the idea hit upon me. We need a place where people can hire shop space, but for much shorter and neater periods. Literally just hours at a time. Much like hiring a rehearsal room at a music studio for a morning or a few hours.

So our lady selling hats could perhaps hire a stall or section of space for brief periods of time. Say a Monday morning. Or a Thursday afternoon. She could book this for a one off time, or perhaps for an extended period. Every Monday morning for three months let's say.

Of course, what I'm describing here is essentially a market stall. Though in this case one that would be indoors, in a nice modern space. With all the benefits of current digital technology.

We tend to look down our noses at market places, but in times gone by they would've been incredibly organic things. Flexibly moving (and expanding and contracting) to meet the demands of the local economy. This flexibility is all but gone in our modern over-regulated world though ..at least offline anyway. In fact, this lack of flexibility is in part why highstreets and city centres can't compete with online retailers.

If you want to sell something on the high street your only option is to open an entire store. How many new businesses or fledgling entrepreneurs need an entire shop 24/7? Surely it's much more natural to start selling a few things at first, then to build up over time.

So, if we return to the hat lady...

If she had the option of simply booking some space she wouldn't have had to go the whole hog and set up an entire doomed-to-fail shop. She could have simply booked a Monday morning and tried selling her hats. If that went well and her business started growing she could perhaps then book a Tuesday too in the weeks following. Or maybe book double the space she booked last time to stock and showcase more of her hats.

And of course, the flexibility doesn't end there. If similar places were available in other towns and cities she could even expand. Booking a Monday morning in one town, then a Tuesday morning in the next. Reaching a wider customer base than she could in just the one location.

Again, this is little different to market stall holders, who move to different towns and areas each day. It just takes it into the modern era somewhat. The real problem market places have these days is that they're rickety, outside in the cold, and take a lot of trouble to set up.

I would provide a nice indoor place for them :)

They could simply turn up with their car or van (or even bag) full of stock and get going. (You could even potentially provide storage places on site for regular users at a fee).

Another benefit is that it would also allow small traders to deal with both the online and offline world.

The hat lady could sell in Middlesbrough on a Monday morning. In Newcastle on a Tuesday. Then spend all Wednesday dealing with her online Amazon orders. And so on and so forth.

Unlike when she had the entire store in one place, and she couldn't even take a day off because she couldn't afford to hire another staff member.

To sum up..

Obviously it's unlikely I could ever set something like this up, but nevertheless the organic and flexible nature of the idea seems very attractive to me. Certainly in comparison to our dead, cumbersome and abandoned highstreets.

It would also no doubt be nigh on impossible due to all the various regulations and business hoops. So there's that too. Along with the problem of communicating such an idea to the people you'd need to get it all past.

In theory though we should be trying to make it as easy to sell something on the high street as it is to sell something on Amazon. That's if we want to get things blossoming again. (That reminds me, I must remember to start including some smiley flowers in these annoying little doodles).

(There's no real purpose for these things, and they're getting a little creepy and bizarre lol, but I do like having a bit of colour on the page to break things up. It's also handy to have a little thumbnail to display. So I'll keep 'em coming. Mildly disturbing though they look.)

Also, before I finish I should note that there are many further strands to this idea. I'll no doubt do further posts in the future. For example, you could charge different fees for different times. Slots on a busy Saturday would be more expensive than a dead Tuesday morning say. Likewise for different times of the year. The run up to Christmas being extra busy and so forth.

This flexibility would be great for the sellers. Someone selling school uniforms may want more time and space before the start of the school year to meet the high demand; time and space they wouldn't necessarily require at other periods. Likewise at really dead times of the year, when demand is really, really low, the extra space could be hired out super cheap to entice new people. Or for local or student projects to use, and other such things.

Again, super-flexible.

Why are we trying to fill all these empty high street premises with a single business, in the unlikely hope that they'll be there 24/7 for the next 20 years?

Updates, updates, updates..

I haven't posted on here in a while, so I may as well do a little bridging post.

Firstly, I'll belatedly comment on the New Zealand election. Jacinda Ardern pretty much dominated it. Storming to victory with unbridled ease.

My personal view was that Judith Collins looked more impressive. Having watched the few debates I found myself really liking her. To be fair I also found Jacinda Ardern much more likeable than I'd originally anticipated, but still I felt what she offered was mainly soundbites and platitudes. With little core substance.

So it went contrary to how I would've preferred. However, I'm sure the New Zealand people know their country much better than I do, so no doubt they know what they're doing. Also, the New Zealand First leader Winston Peters had a bad election. That was the guy who was being helped out by the Arron Banks team. So in a way it goes against the grain of what's been happening over the last few years. Perhaps 2020 is the year the establishment pushes back. The big one is November though, so we'll see what happens there.

..lockdowns?

Now a little update about where we are with the lockdowns.

I think we've reached a point where the narrative has completely broken down. The public are largely fed up, and an increasing number are now outright questioning the whole thing. Governments the world over seem to be pushing ahead with the second wave of lockdowns regardless though. So it'll be interesting to see what happens.

Obviously I've been against the lockdowns since day one. However, back in March I understood only too well that over ninety percent of the public were onboard. So unlawful though I thought the rules were the reality was that they had public support. So I accepted the defeat and went along with things.

If you live in a fundamentally religious country it doesn't matter how barmy you think the religion is, you're gonna have to outwardly conform. Otherwise you face the wrath of the mob.

So it was no point pleading technicalities.

Now though we're in quite a different situation. When a significant proportion of the population don't agree with a law then it becomes difficult to enforce. So authorities risk surrendering legitimacy, and things begin to break down.

Personally, in my private life I've returned to normal. When I interact with other people in a personal capacity I do it by mutual consent. As would normally be the case. If someone wants to meet up, or wants me to visit their home I do so. If they don't I respect that. I have no idea what the actual rules are on visiting other people at the moment where I live (they change so often), but either way I doubt they're enforceable in any realistic sense. So in that regard normality is returning, and it's returning with or without government sanction.

In more formal settings, such as supermarkets and whatnot, I'm still outwardly respecting the faith. As are most others, but I wonder how sustainable this is too. Although in business settings it is much easier for governments and local authorities to enforce the rules, so any restrictions in these places may be hard to shake off. I wonder if we'll see some odd dichotomy where this all continues in business settings, but in residential areas, outside of the glare, things just return to normal.

There's also the prospect that we might begin to see the black market grow as legitimate businesses are impinged upon. After all, jail isn't much of a threat when you're essentially under house arrest anyway.

So I fear we're getting to a point where things could get ugly as public opinion and government intention desynchronise. I guess it's a question of how far governments are prepared to go to enforce these things.

Cheap, cheap housing.

Finally, and this returns us a little to the first section, I have a few little notes to make about housing. When I was watching the New Zealand election debates I noticed that both leaders were incredibly reluctant to admit that house prices would fall if more houses were built.

Apparently New Zealand has similar problems to those we have here and elsewhere. With people unable to afford their first home, or stuck on waiting lists for government housing. The obvious solution, which all the leaders seemed to agree upon, was to build more houses. However, when asked if the consequence of this would be falling house prices, the politicians hesitated and squirmed to openly admit it.

Politically it's understandable. Voters that own property will obviously be reluctant to vote for a candidate that will reduce the value of their assets. So it probably doesn't poll great. It's a huge problem for politics though, as we need politicians arguing for lower house prices. If this isn't openly on the table we'll get nowhere.

I've argued on here before that we should be aiming as a society to make basic housing as affordable as someone's first car (i.e. so cheap that someone can save for a single year and buy one outright). This may sound incredibly unrealistic when viewed from inside our current paradigm. However, it only seems radical because it's so unfamiliar. We think it's normal (one normal I don't want to get back to 😎) to spend your entire life paying rent or mortgage ..but tell that to the birds. Or tell that to people living nomadic or tribal lifestyles outside of our civilisation.

The whole economy seems geared towards paying money so that people can have some space to sleep at night. Even though space is the one resource that we always have and that isn't going anywhere. We're housing 99.9% of the population right now, so it's not like we can't house people - we just do it in an incredibly whacky way that impoverishes people and bankrupts the nation. Even home owners are largely losing out (in spite of their rising asset prices) as it's their taxes that are funding the vast sums of money governments pay in housing benefit and such like.

Rent/mortgage is pretty much the biggest bill people have. So big it makes it impossible for much of the population to live without state aid. Often even if they're in steady work. Imagine how much more balanced our economy would be if we could radically slash this bill down.

I've even argued that in a more utopian society people would essentially be given a basic amount of space to live in on reaching maturity. Completely gratis. I've been labelling this concept Universal Basic Space, as it's not dissimilar to the Universal Basic Income idea. (See the orange economy articles on this site for more information).

I think I'll probably struggle to sell the idea of Universal Basic Space just yet, but getting the notion that lower house prices are a good thing onto the political agenda would be a huge step in the right direction.

So I thought that was worth making note of.

I've also knocked up another little graphic for this orange economy blog series.

(I've moved from oranges, to carrots,

and now to apples it seems ..though that apple on

the right looks a bit too yellow perhaps ! 🍎)

Religious Education remembered..

Quite a different tone with this one. There was something that I was reminded of a week or so ago that I felt was perhaps worth noting down. In fact, it's one of those things that I'm reminded of every now and then. I guess it's a moment that has stuck with me.

At secondary school I had a Religious Education teacher. At the time, this is when I was about 14 or 15, I was pretty much a total atheist. My outlook was basically a materialistic, scientific one. Like a teenage Richard Dawkins. I just deemed all religion completely backwards and devoid of any reason. Consequently, though I was a good, well-behaved kid, I didn't have the slightest bit of respect for the lesson. Or for the teacher really.

Again, I was a fairly good child, so I was never rude or outwardly disrespectful, but deep down I had zero regard for it all. My maths and science teachers I thought were very smart indeed (which they were), but the RE teacher. Though she was a nice woman I never really held her in high esteem. To put it blunt I didn't respect her intelligence.

She was openly known to be a Christian too. I remember kids would mention it to each other - "Mrs So-and-so, she's a Christian y'know". Like it was something odd enough to be worthy of note.

So I kind of dismissed her. I paid lip service to the lessons and did the work, but always viewed them as a skive. I could relax and not worry too much about not getting good marks. I even enjoyed the days when I had RE on my timetable, as I almost viewed it as an extra break I cared so little for the subject.

Anyway, getting to the point of note - the moment that stuck with me. It occurred in a lesson where we were discussing abortion.

Looking back the curriculum must have been quite progressive. We were generally learning about other cultures and discussing social issues and such. 90's level woke I guess. Though at the time, in my ignorance, I just felt like I was having 'religion' pushed on me.

"It's called 'Religious Education' - they're making me learn about religion!!"

Though the teacher was a practicing Christian she taught it all very much to the curriculum, doing her job diligently, without pushing her own values in lessons. I only really knew she was a Christian because other kids would mention it. As noted above.

Actually, I remember sometimes cheekier kids would ask her; "Do you believe in God, Miss?" and she'd answer and say she did, then try to give some kind of answer as to why. Always on the back foot in a classroom full of little unbelievers, who regarded her as slightly mad because of it. Like they had a teacher who believed in fairies or Sasquatch. Which was precisely how I viewed her.

Returning to the abortion debate though. For our project we were split into groups and had to discuss the issue. The pros and cons, the arguments for and against. As I was a little micro-Dawkins back then I was obviously very much pro-abortion. I also grew up in a left-leaning, Labour household so my views were informed by that as well. My mam, who was pro-abortion too at that time, had given me all the usual arguments in favour of it. Backstreet abortions, mothers not being able to feed their children, the notion that foetuses are 'just cells'. The feminist-framed line. Likewise I was fully on board with the whole environmental catastrophism stuff, and the fears of over-population.

A micro-Dawkins or mini-Malthus I guess.

In the classroom debate I expressed all these views to the other kids on my table. With all the confidence of someone who knew with absolute certainty he was right. I didn't for a moment consider I might be wrong. Surely only uneducated people and horrible right-wingers could think overwise.

As I expressed all this though I remember looking up and seeing this teacher looking over at me, and she looked really, really sad. Not angry, she didn't tell me off. She didn't even say anything, or even express her own opinion in the lesson. In fact, I ended up with an 'A' in my GCSE RE, so she certainly didn't mark me down or hold it against me. She just looked very, very sad. Like I'd said something truly heart-breaking.

The look in her eyes really struck me at the time, and I didn't quite understand it. Of course, I had absolute certainty in the rightness of my own views, so I didn't even consider changing my opinion. It was only many, many years later when my views began shifting on the issue, but still, it made a deep impression on me.

That feeling when you know you've said something that's truly saddened someone. It really caught me off guard.

Now I'm older though I actually find myself in her position quite often. Listening to some of the words coming out of the mouths of younger people who've been brainwashed into believing quite horrific things. I remember when I first had that experience and I suddenly realised; "Aah, that's how she must have felt". Watching a well-behaved, swotty kid like myself casually talking about culling unborn children to save the planet. With no emotional depth or real concern or knowledge for what I was advocating.

So now I totally get why she was so sad, and I can empathise with how hard it must have been for her to helplessly teach that curriculum to children, whilst having to hold her own views back.

Falling stars..

Finally, one other thing I remember that stuck with me was one of the reasons she gave for why she believed in God. Having been asked, as she often was, by a curious pupil.

She told a story of how a family member had died, and as she was sat in the back of a car travelling home following the death she started to doubt her faith in God because of it. She prayed inwardly to herself and asked; "God, if you're real show me sign, I want to see a shooting star". She looked from the window, but saw nothing, and travelled back distraught.

Then later however when she arrived home her sister asked, "Did you see that shooting star as we were driving home?".

Again, at the time I was naturally dismissive. "Even if she did see a shooting star it will have just been a coincidence" I thought. "That's even if the story is actually true."

Still though, seeing an adult sincerely tell this story was odd enough that it must have impressed itself upon me. So much so that I can still recall it now.

It's strange how these small things can leave such a lasting impression. I wonder if these two moments have influenced my owns views in some way. Or if they're just things I can now empathise with as I've grown older.

Either way that teacher, that I had so little time for and so few interactions with, left a deep imprint on me. Perhaps much more so than all the other teachers that I had more time for.

A good Christian woman.

Election debates...

It's probably a good time for me to do a little post about the New Zealand election. Today I've listened to the Mulitparty Debate featuring the leaders of the lesser parties (from 8th October), and I'm also currently near the end of the Ardern v Collins debate (from 30th September).

Again, as per last time out, I know so little about this election that it's probably best I just sit back and watch. It'd be a miracle if someone from the UK reads this blog in the next few days, so I don't think there's a cat in hells chance that a New Zealander will come across it before they vote 😅. Still though, it seems a bit wrong mouthing off about something I know so little about. So I'll try to keep my opinions to a minimum.

Listening to both debates I'm left with the feeling that their debates have been of a higher calibre than ours. It might just be the novelty of watching unfamiliar faces, but I actually liked all the politicians much more than would've been the case were I watching a UK based political debate.

I was impressed by Judith Collins again, but even my disdain for Jacinda Ardern has softened somewhat.

So I'm just impressed in general. I now just need to make sure I pencil in the election date and don't miss any of the drama.

Chinese

On a side note I've also been trying to learn some Chinese in the last few weeks, both the language and the lettering. I think I'll struggle with the spoken word (I'm basically just watching the odd YouTube video). However, strangely I'm getting the hang of the symbols a bit.

I'm systemically going through them. Drawing, or rather copying out, six at a time on Paint, then kind of playing a little guessing game where I cover up the top row and try to remember what they all mean.

Each time then going back through the previous sets of six I've scribbled out and trying to remember them too. So the first few dozen or so are now rammed into my memory.

Hopefully I'll actually keep it up now.