Tis the Season

It's been a while since I've written a post on here, mainly because I turned my writing focus for a while onto a new novel I'm working on. I'm about 9,600 words into it and determined to keep going at a fast rate while the idea is still buzzing in my head.

The weather has been a hot topic of conversation, news and general griping of late. The snow is pretty when you are inside viewing from afar (and before the brown grit and slush hits the pavements) but it's been a tiring few weeks. Cold train stations, late and cancelled trains, buses which fail to turn up and puddles the size of small lakes (when a brief thaw hit) has made me yearn for Spring. Spring is really the only season I like anymore and it always seems the shortest.
I find it pointless and annoying when everyone blamed the transport minister for lack of preparation and shock, horror, the weather forecast failed to predict accurate weather (really, I think we all know this by now). The snow fell in the middle of rush hour...would everyone have stayed off the roads even if the 20 inches of snow had been predicted? I doubt it.

I've heard some nice stories of people coming together to help each other out during the particularly bad days and it makes me wonder if neighbours don't talk to each other so much nowadays because there's no need to anymore. Everything is so convenient and laid out on a plate; everybody always has somewhere they need to be- fast. It's like we've advanced ourselves into little independent bubbles.
I think the universe is shaking us up a bit to remind us that no matter how sophisticated we think we are, we are still at the mercy of the basics and shouldn't forget the little things. I was reading that if the sun has some kind of meltdown (I'm not good at remembering scientific technical terms) then it will change the magnetic field of the earth which essentially means goodbye electricity...a scary prospect.

I love this section from Douglas Coupland's Postcard Number Two: Power Failure (taken from his book Polaroids from the Dead) "...During power failures we sing songs, but the moment the electricity returns, we atomize. I am choosing to live my life in a permanent power failure. I look at the screens and glossy pages and I don't let them become memories. When I meet people, I imagine them in a world of darkness. The only lights that count are the sun, candles, the fireplace and the light inside of you, and if I seem strange to you at times, it's only because I'm switching off the power, trying to help us both, trying to see you and me as the people we really are."

Merry Christmas everyone.