I looked around the web this morning, and in the UK at least, there is one overwhelming message: everyone has supposedly packed up for summer.
It is very apparent that some people want to walk away from the world's problems for a week or three. And the fact is that those who seek to set the news agenda can afford to do that, and so the impression is given that everyone else will be as well.
That, though, is not true.
Those creating that agenda ignore that there are still people being starved to death in Gaza.
Others are being bombed in Ukraine.
Or they are struggling to get by on inadequate wages and benefits in the UK, which means there is a perpetual struggle to make ends meet, and there is no chance of a break.
And few of those creating the news agenda are subject to discrimination.
What is more, they very often have a house they call their own, and quite often it is.
In other words, they are safe, they are secure, and they have income in excess of what they need, so a holiday can be taken.
I happen to be in that situation. Let me be honest about that. But I do not think a holiday is mine by right. Nor do I think I can ignore the rest of the world and turn off the news for a fortnight, as one old acquaintance once put it, as if the news was always in reality someone else's problems that could be ignored at will.
That, in my opinion, is not how the world is. In fact, I am sure that attitude is wrong, and it is very often only copious doses of whatever poison a person takes to get them through their period of total indifference, from alcohol onwards, that lets them do this.
If we take a break, it should, I think, be to reflect, to muse on our fortune, and to create the strength to renew our demand that it be shared. It is never the time to forget.
Neoliberalism pretends otherwise. Holidays are, it claims, moments to 'make memories', which always appear to me to be carefully fabricated falsehoods based on the way that advertising appears to project them.
I don't want to make memories.
I want to make the world a better place.
I don't want to hide from what is.
I want to make it better.
That doesn't stop me taking holiday, although without having children now I can afford the luxury of not doing so in July and August. But the pretence that this is a time when we ignore the world and its problems seems to me to be another of the pretences perpetrated by those in charge of a world where indifference to others is what most characterises their opinion. That's a luxury no one can afford, or should want.
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I’d give this piece 5 stars if that was available. People who “turn off” on holiday are quite likely to behave in an indifferent way the rest of the time. That said, I think not following news on social media 24/7 should be part of a holiday, and also part of daily life.
In a world of indifference it was a nice surprise to see a wonderful vet full of empathy who put down my dog this morning, sadly the practice has just been taken over by private equity and the fees will be hiked so she is leaving…
Sorry to hear that. Never an easy thing to do. As I know.
I’m sorry for your loss.
thank you for that reflection. Many years ago I went to India (the Golden Triangle) for the 1st time. It was a tourist group and we did not have previous acquaintance – when we arrived at the Taj Mahal, one member of the group said -“and about b***** time too – I only came so that I could tell them in the pub” – what a waste, as are the short-lived tans from over-exposure to strong sunlight, again IMO to show off and frequently quite ugly. I was lucky enough to spend some of my youth in such as Africa and Malta, but before we knew about sun damage – result was cancerous melanoma (but now clear). I had a serious illness 2 years ago and am now advised not to fly because of air pressure – I am fortunate that I can take an annual holiday, and there are wonderful UK destinations whether in or out of school holidays. I go to the Aldeburgh music festival (Britten Pears) which is not in school holidays then without travelling anywhere, currently I am enjoying the Buxton Festival which will shortly be followed (in Buxton) by the Gilbert & Sullivan Festival – these seem unaffected by school holidays – but I dearly wish to see more younger people at these events, and (G & S excepted for obvious reasons) frequently showcase ‘new music’. Peer pressure, social media and, as Richard comments ‘the wish to make memories’ encourages many to go to far-flung destinations, air travel and in reality destroying in those destinations, due to over tourism, the very heart and culture of those destinations, and causing further climate change.
I have flown for a holiday once this century and if I never do so again really will not mind
apologies for 2nd post – my Sunday of music and thought – I am not on holiday, but at home and, although not a regular church goer, I attended our Parish Church (of St John the Baptist, Buxton – built 1811) where the morning service was the Haydn Nelson Mass (Missa in augustiis – Mass for troubled times). This church has wonderful acoustic, and an equally wonderful (William Hill) organ from 1897. The church will hold around 400, and today, along with the congregation of around 300, also present were 50 plus members of the Buxton Musical Society Chorus, accompanied by the Buxton Musical Society Orchestra, and 4 soloists from the Buxton Festival Company. It was indeed ‘wonderful’. Of equal wonder was the sermon, preached by the Revd Canon Julian Hollywell, Vicar of Spondon, Derby – topical, to the point and even mentioned Trump – he also lead prayers including one praying for the ‘children’ of Palestine, Ukraine and Yemen – I joined in and there was such a positive vibe of prayer in such troubled times. The music was superb, and the thoughts and prayers so pertinent. Now off to a talk by a legal aid lawyer entitled ‘Sh*t Lawyer’ – I have heard this lady speak before, extremely amusing with true anecdotes, and someone has to be the duty solicitor to a drunk at the police station at 2-00am!. This evening I attend the Opera – Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s La descente d’Orphée aux enfers – Baroque – an excellent Sunday of contrasts – and of music and thoughts.
That’s some day!
Youy are truly living.
I went to Greece last year, it was depressing. I love Greece, but it’s been shredded by neoliberalism.
A financial and ecological disaster.
Fires burning day and night, unbearable heat, desertification, undrinkable water, water shipped in plastic bottles, piles of uncollected rubbish, virtually no public transport on tiny congested islands. Empty crumbling buildings. Meanwhile planes flood in with shoals of tourists, who come to burn by swimming pools and ‘switch off from it all’.
It felt grotesque.
I admit I have only ever been for work.
Greece is Paradise Lost
Or put another way
Neoliberalism is reversed Midas touch.
Everything it touches turns to shit.
We finally made it to Llyn almost 2 weeks ago. Horrible 1st week as I was sent to casualty in Ysbytty Gwynedd, Bangor after being sick then vomiting up blood. Kept in overnight (no sleep in hospitals!) and released the next morning. Great treat on way home was a meal in the cafe at Tyddyn Sachae – a garden shop a little way outside Pwllheli. I had a toasted sandwich with bacon, brie and cranberry. After the previous day it tasted like manna from heaven!
I was hallucinating for a while before I was sick. It sounds scary, but was mostly fun! I saw a lot of little animated figures, knitted ones (I really liked the knitted rabbit), drawn one, and some more “live action” ones. The only one that was a bit scary was a blast from my past… For a few years here I was adopted over the summers by a ginger cat, who went by the name of Ginger Biscuit. He just disappeared the year we were really late getting here, and our neighbours told us that he’d been here looking for me every day. Anyway, he appeared in one of my hallucinations, and told me “I’ve come to take you to the Rainbow Bridge”. Which was quite worrying!
https://www.rainbowsbridge.com/Poem.htm
Since then husband has had a heavy week racing (2 races a day) in our Seabird Half Rater, Ruddy Duck, with our elder daughter and one of her friends – they stayed in the farmhouse up the hill from us. Duck will be 100 next year! So we’re thinking of having a party here in Bwlchtocyn to celebrate. There’s a couple of pics of Duck (and John too) here:
https://scyc.co.uk/honorary-membership-of-the-seabird-association-awarded/
Now I’m resting up after all the visits from daughter and friend before we set off on Tuesday for a real treat – a trip on the Ffestiniog Railway with a steam engine (hopefully – they can’t guarantee that), in the Pullman carriage, and with a cream tea to collect from Blaenau Ffestiniog for the journey back!
Then on Saturday we’re off to an Open Gardens place – Ty Mawr. We went there last year, and it’s a fantastic garden. Well worth a visit if you’re in the area when it’s open. The lady who owns the land has planted a woodland and a number of themed gardens more or less single handed! It was just a few fields when she bought the land.
After all of that I’ll probably collapse in a heap until both daughters arrive with the grandkids in two weeks time for the second bout of sailing! Mostly I shall just be sitting here and watching the birds, either in bed, in the living room, or on the deck. So far my favourite siting has been a wren, seen from my bed in the hedge by bedroom window. They’re such shy little birds it’s always a joy to see them.
Sorry for wittering on for so long! I’m just so happy to be here, watch the sun on the sea and the mountains, and watch the birds.
Sure we shouldn’t switch off the news as if it were someone else’s problem. But as Great Apes have we evolved to process so much information about so many things? And if we haven’t what is the deluge of forced awareness about the world doing to us? I’m not disagreeing with your ethical position just trying to untangle what we are capable of as a species before going into meltdown. (Nb: I had a discussion with an Italian nun who took great offence at this same question. Her point being that our ability to be aware about the past and future etc is what distinguishes humans from animals).
I tend to agree with her
More ‘holy days’ and less ‘holidays’, perhaps?
Times of stepping aside from the relentless pressure to perform and consume material things and manufactured ‘experiences’.
Time to reflect on who I am, what I’m really here for and to re-ignite the passion…
I do that, through a pair of binoculars.
Maybe I’m in post-op delirium but there seems some kind of link between the way the way neoliberalism encourages us to ‘make memories’ and the growing market for intense ‘fragrance’.
In a world where countless people have too little water to drink, let alone wash, we are besieged with products to reassure us that all is well in our world because our homes are constantly fragrant, our sheets don’t just smell fresh but are intoxicatingly fresh and – most recently – that our ‘lower bodies’ are fragrant to the point that they may be sniffed with appreciation by fellow sports players or cinema goers.
The world is going mad, quite quickly.
https://www.allianz-partners.com/en_UK/in-the-news/press-releases/brits-planning-to-holiday-in-the-uk-falls-by-21-percent-reveals-the-allianz-partners-survey.html
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