I have started writing on Steem today because I have an increasingly worrying feeling that large numbers of the intelligent population of the planet are sinking into a kind of madness. Things going on around me - social, political, familial, economic and just plain everyday - seem to take on more and more ridiculous aspects that I gasp at and others seem to just accept as perfectly normal. Perhaps it is just me.
For example. This morning I arranged, by telephone, for a client to visit me at 12.30. He didn't arrive. Well I know that he is not in the best of health so I rang him and asked him whether he was going to come over. "No, I don't think so" he said. "My mother-in-law fell out of her car yesterday and we (meaning his family) are at sixes and sevens. I don't think I can make it." Fair enough, you might think. But why did he agree to come over? He knew when I first telephoned him this morning that his mother-in-law had fallen out of a car. I tried not to show my exasperation. He is a good man and so I just put it down to all the other problems that he has.
I've described myself as "Grumpy". That's because my sons tell me I am. I don't feel grumpy, more "marooned". All around me things happen and people say things that leave me feeling quite isolated in a way which makes me think that my own personal clock has been stopped for the last fifteen years. How did I get here? At some point I must have embarked on a journey that ends with me being completely out of step with everyone else! When did it start? I've thought quite a lot about that and it was probably when my hair started falling out. Not an event which particularly bothered me but the reaction from all those around me was alarming. We were having dinner with some family members and a couple of friends. My wife came in to the dining room carrying a bowl of peas. As she passed me she must have gazed lovingly at the top of my head and noticed that my hair was thinning. She remarked upon it, innocently and in passing (literally). That was not enough for assembled diners however. It was as if someone had lit a verbal firework. Immediately everyone had an opinion. From the two year old twins to the invited neighbour. Of course every family member present was able to explain just why I was now "going bald", invoking every grandfather, great-grandfather, uncle and long lost cousin as the most obvious genetical justification. Well, it just carried on. No contribution from me and I soon became aware that I had shut out the chatter and had begun to count the peas in the bowl. Yes, I'm sure that was when I began my heading to maroondom.
That's enough to begin with. I've begun a confidence crisis over whether I should publish this. So I'm going to press the button before I change my mind.