Climate Emergency. Black Lives Matter. Brexit (yes, it's STILL happening!). We seem to be at a juncture of history where multiple inflection points are converging, spanning local to global issues, sometimes spreading the world like the COVID-19 pandemic societies are currently struggling with. Individuals and communities are declaring that enough is enough! on a wide range of issues. There is a sense that by pushing the right levers now, a new, more just, more equitable, more sustainable world might arise as we emerge from lock-down. Or we might miss the chance altogether.
I've been thinking about doing this for awhile and today seemed like the right time. Cutting through the noise of the world, which can sometimes seem overwhelming, to the heart of what matters to me now. Check out https://nownownow.com for more on the concept and a whole range of examples. It might work for you, it might not! It does for me – well for now anyway!
This is my /now page. For me, it is a place to return to when the world gets noisy and complicated and I need to remember what's important. What I should be doing now. You can find out more about /now pages at nownownow.com with links to many other examples.
Updated Monday 22nd February 2021, unpinned/retired Thursday 6th January 2022
I've not been sleeping well recently. Some combination of lockdown cabin fever, racing thoughts about the excitement and challenges of impending fatherhood, random middle-aged worries and musings (not a crisis yet!), and the inevitable mental and physical clutter that always seems to come with the process of de-cluttering.
Reading other people's blogs on “Read Write.as” and “100 Days to Offload” feels like a mix of voyeurism, a search for inspiration, and through time, an emergent sense of being part of a virtual community. Right now I'm particularly enjoying seeing linkages pop up between blogs. Here are a few examples:
Towards the end of last year I started thinking about getting a new smartphone. My Samsung A3 (2016) was nearly 3 years old, the battery was struggling to get through a day, and apps were becoming too slow. However, I felt an innate rejection of many principles the smartphone industry held dear. Its business model clashed with my desire for sustainability and privacy.
Every morning The Canadian wafts aromatic steam in front of my nose from a coffee mug as she stands besides the bed. I blurringly try to focus my eyes and murmur my semi-coherent thanks.
I'm fighting a multi-front war against cardboard boxes and the boxes are winning. Beer boxes. Baby boxes. Lockdown boxes full of home-office IT kit, toilet rolls, tissues and bulk eco-friendly toiletries. A Friday night pizza box in the kitchen. Boxes in the living room. Boxes in the bedroom. Boxes in the office. Boxes multiplying every time I turn around in the downstairs bathroom.
How much information do I need on a daily basis about this global pandemic? At the start of it all, I was following stats from John Hopkins several times a day. Checking news websites. Debating pros and cons of the different response options from different countries. Railing against the apparent sheer stupidity and ignorance of certain politicians and swathes of the public. Not everyone has the same level of education but distrust of experts, buying into conspiracy theories, and wilfully harmful spinning of facts to fit political and other world-views and narratives in the name of “freedom of expression” seems, to me, just plain wrong.
I miss the pub. An impromptu drink after work before home. Meeting up down the Albany on a Friday night. Pub quiz at the Pear Tree Inn with my regular team on a Sunday night. The background noise of other social drinkers, raising a glass, chewing the fat and putting the world to rights. The casual relationships built up through time with landlords and bar staff at local haunts. Cask beer!