It’s hot in England at the moment. The country is being hit by another heat wave with temperatures sitting at around 30 degrees. It’s not the hottest but the heat here is different to other places.
Looking at my weather app it tells me Cheltenham is going to have the same high as Jerusalem and Tel Aviv today and I find my wishing I was facing the heat there rather than here. Tel Aviv might be sticky but at least it’s by the sea, the beach a short walk away, paddling in the warm Mediterranean waters a nice way to cool off. Jerusalem is high up, its heat is drier, the evenings cooler. It’s a gentler and more relaxing heat, like a good holiday.
This morning isn’t so bad. I stood at my sliding door eating my breakfast, some Greek yogurt with blueberries and almonds, listening to the world go by. It was oddly clam and tranquil. I could hear birds twittering away to one another. The traffic noise was gone, maybe everyone went to the office early or has stayed home inside where it’s cooler.
There’s a man replacing a windscreen at the end of the road. I can’t hear his radio, perhaps he doesn’t have one on. He seems engrossed in his work. The new windscreen held up on a rack as he polishes it, paying attention to the finish making sure there are no streaks. The only sounds I hear now are my fan and the scrape of my spoon on my bowl as I finish my breakfast. It’s time for a coffee and to get back to work.
Back at my desk to do some work I’m drawn not to the messages on Teams or my design in Figma, but to Ulysses. I start a new sheet and begin typing this. I want to capture the feeling of this morning before the real madness begins. My first call is at 10:30 and then it’s back to back until 14:30.
The events of this weekend seem to weigh heavy on me. Glastonbury and the BBC have a lot to answer for. Our politics may not be similar, but how they can justify the hate speech that they gave a platform to makes me feel sick. What’s worse is the number of people who joined in. My country disappoints me more than it ever has at the moment. It feels like society is crumbling.
I’ll open my Bible for a few minutes and then get to work once I’ve published this. It’s the only thing I can think of to stave off the spiral of despair.
