Fancy custom funerals - Have you planned your own funeral yet? Either to leave one final unique imprint on the world or just save your family the fuss and bother. CBC had an interesting article (link) on some of the variations people are designing, such as giving mourners Sharpie pens so they can leave a final message on the coffin, or setting up as a casual drop-in with card tables and bowls of chips and shared remembering. Maybe you have a favourite bit of music or poem. Or you were a Rocky Horror fan. You could even get cremated and have the carbon pressed into diamonds - $50k for 3 carats. If you suspect not many people will show up to mourn you, just arrange for some Moirologists ahead of time. In the UK, they’re only £45 an hour (link). How about a parade, a New Orleans-style event, with a jazz band and a horse-drawn hearse? There’s lots of flexibility and choices now, and the old school imposing downtown funeral homes, classical style with tall columns, are being replaced by smaller places in an industrial park - tasteful, but very a la carte to tailor-make as much or little as is wanted.
It’s up to you, go wild! Although, you won’t be around to check the details unless you’ve planned a haunting.
Green shipping - A NY Times article talks about (link) Green Ships as a solution to the pollution of container shipping. Cargo shipping produces nearly 3 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions - not huge, but it’s there. By green they mean powering those ships with methanol, rather than the usual heavy and very dirty bunker oil. Supposedly this will produce 100 fewer tons of greenhouse gas a day. Methanol is produced from a variety of sources, such as natural gas or corn, but all have their own carbon footprint (link). Or we could go old school and sail. Not the 19th-century clipper ships, which were pretty to look at but did not have a lot of room for freight. I found a number of large-scale prototypes online, basically large container ships fitted with high-tech sails, or even a giant kite in front. But there are problems with being dependent on the vagaries of the winds. Avoiding storms, or even surviving them will be harder, but shipment timing is even more critical - we’ve seen how dependent our just-in-time economy is on scheduled deliveries.
Or we could ship less. We could produce more things locally - be it food or widgets. We could reduce our consumption - just look at the growing storage unit industry, for all that ‘stuff’ we just had to have. We could repair and reuse some of what we have, although cheap fast production often means things that can’t be disassembled and fixed easily. Or they are just too complicated - try lifting the hood of your car, does that even look like an engine? I have a 2008 Mazda, with low ‘mileage’, and in great condition, and leave it up to my good local garage to change the tires or adjust the carburetor.
Shrinkflation in the candy bowl - According to an article by CBC (link) those ‘fun-sized’ candies, aside from being more expensive, are just a little bit smaller than last year. Not that any of us are likely to still have any left over from last year, I’m sure those treats got packed in school lunches or munched on the drive to work. Aside from the normal shrinkflation in all foods, there are a few specific culprits. Not only are cocoa prices at record highs, due partially to heavy rains, but El Nino is forecast to bring warmer temperatures. Poor for cocoa growers, and pushing cocoa futures prices up. Sugar prices are high too, with the current Vancouver Rogers Refinery strike - plus the ‘normal’ supply chain delays.
Do you still give out candy? Back in my day, long long ago, people just made up their own little bags of candies or were one of those special places that made their own treats, like candy apples. We knew - and trusted - all our neighbours. Then that changed, so packaged candies were safer and more convenient. But the streets, and lawns, were still filled with kids in their homemade costumes, screaming from a sugar high. Mind you, up north, with Halloween usually a little bit darker and a little bit colder, many of our costumes involved a warm snowsuit. Except for downtown, in the many bars - all the adults dressed up and the skimpier the better.
Even when I had kids of my own, out in the ‘burbs, door-to-door was common. I enjoyed seeing the neighbour’s kids all dressed up, and of course praised whatever they were. And held out the bowl, saying ‘Help yourself’. It was interesting to see their reaction, most were quote cautious - especially with any parents in earshot warning them. “Don’t be greedy, now”. Kids would often make a quick stop at home to empty their bags, then head out for more. Then in the quick breaks between clumps of costumes at the door, I would check the haul for treats for me.
Then more parents just had Halloween parties for their kids - safer but not as much fun. And then we had a lockdown. I’m in an apartment in a high rise now, so it’s quiet in here but I’m sure the side streets will see some action.
BONUS - Here’s a spooky story I did back in 2002, called Southern Hospitality (link). I may tweak it later, and some others, for publication, but enjoy it here as is.
Happy Halloween.
Mother evicts kids - From a New York Post article (link) - Italian mom wins court battle to evict her ‘parasite’ grown sons from home. Their 74-year-old single mother refers to them mockingly as “bamboccioni,” or “big babies”.
I was surprised she would need a court order, rather than just change the locks and/or call the cops. Nope, apparently, in Italy it’s not uncommon for adult children to still live with their parents. In fact, in 2022, this was 70 percent of adults 18-34 years old, with officials blaming economic conditions and a poor job market. So it’s the norm there, with the assumption parents must support their children. Both these boys, in their 40s now, were employed, but not helping with chores or finances. They refused to leave and hired a lawyer. The judge ruled enough was enough and they’re out.
Not leaving home, or moving back in, is becoming more common everywhere, probably due to a combination of COVID lockdown, high rents, and fewer jobs. It could work and be a win-win for parents and kids. Or not. Maybe it’s helicopter parents trapped in a scenario of their own making. Maybe it’s kids seeing an easy free lunch. Feel free to speculate.
I know I couldn’t wait to leave home as soon as I could, in fact, the feeling was mutual. I came home after one all-nighter hanging out at a friend‘s place, to find a suitcase packed out on the back porch and the door locked. We’d only been up chatting over coffee, but I hadn’t mentioned (again) that I was staying out. I needed that nudge, and moved to an apartment downtown, only a few blocks away. It was better all around, I think, as there were four of us in a two-bedroom apartment and we managed to get on each other’s nerves at times.
There’s a fungus among us - According to Phys.org (link), it’s been discovered that mushrooms can now infiltrate right into living trees and plants. As opposed to just dead logs on the forest floor. Are we next, as we walk through a local park down a forest trail or slumber in the woods on a camping trip? The article says, “Fungal spores float through the air. Thin strands of their mycelia creep along surfaces. They seek out defenceless hosts to wrap themselves around in webs of fungal growth. Their victims can then be used to satisfy their own need to devour and disperse.” Sounds spooky to me, and in fact was a plot element in a recent series, The Last of Us (link). Plus other movies, books, and a song from the 50’s, There Was a Fungus Among Us (link). Check it out, do a little dance . . .
More roommates - Is the above sink typical of your roomie experience? The Globe and Mail (link) wonders if in 10 years we will be a country of roommates. Not a huge total now, but it is the fastest-growing household type. Driven by higher living expenses, especially food, and an obsession to save enough to live the dream of buying that cute little hone for only $1 Million.
Many of us suffered through roomies as college students, but now it’s adults in their 20s and 30s. Even some single seniors. When my kids moved out and I was finding it expensive/annoying to maintain a house in S’Norleans, my advisor said I could get a roommate or sell and move. I’m now downtown in a nice apartment - on my own!
We might have been more tolerant in college of the trials and tribulations of roommates, as sharing is not always like an episode of Friends. Unlike in the hierarchy of a family, chores, rules and boundaries can’t be easily enforced. It seems that with more than 4 sharing there’s always one jerk that just doesn’t care and needs to just move back into momma’s basement.
BTW - no, that’s not a pic of my messy counter. My kitchen is smaller.
Are you sober curious? - Meaning you’ve not cut out alcohol completely, you’re just cutting back, either with fewer drinks or with non-alcoholic ones. Not just something like a Cuba Libre without the rum either, as there are alcohol-free versions of Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum and Tanqueray Gin. I’m not sure a martini without that bite of alcohol would be even close, though. There are a lot of good alcohol-free beers, many with a rich hoppy taste - I’m sipping one from Sober Carpenter as I write this. According to a Globe and Mail article, one reason for this shift may have been the recent pandemic, for health reasons. Perhaps the habit of hanging out in a crowded bar was broken. They quote that one in five Canadians are drinking less, especially younger ones.
I know I’m drinking less alcohol, because of the calories and the cost. Have your patterns changed? Have the choices in your local expanded? I haven’t seen a lot of these choices in mine, but maybe there’s just not the demand yet. Maybe it’s not in the bar’s best interest either. Even if prices/profits are the same, when people drink alcohol they soon want another and another. Then some sides of nachos. Rounds of shooters. Not so much if they’re sober.
Do you volunteer at the grocers? - Meaning fumble through the self-checkout? We were promised it would be faster than waiting in line, and a cost savings measure. It’s faster as long as others, or you don’t mess up. And we were naive to think that the 50% staff reduction would somehow pass on to us as lower prices. Unless you count the ability for people to now shoplift more - either by skipping items or swapping bar codes. A London Pree Press article points out that self-checkout is not living up to its hype for the owners. Two-thirds of shoppers experience problems with the systems, be it broken machines, long waits for assistance from that one harried supervisor, or mis-scanned items. Some stores have added the annoyance/embarrassment of stopping shoppers on the way out and demanding the ‘right’ to check their receipts against the cart’s contents.
Speaking of groceries - According to a recent New Scientist article, food waste in the US in one year produces methane equal to 12 million cars. More than a third of the food produced there goes to waste, whether on the farm, in transit, in the store, or hiding in the back of the fridge. Ditto for here in Canada, I’m sure.
I try to buy just what I know I’ll use but shopping for one can be a challenge. I don’t have a composting worm bin in my apartment kitchen but I do make a lot of soups with leftovers. Our local food bank gets produce donated to them from some local grocers, and this trend is growing but it’s on a voluntary basis and I’m not sure what percentage that is of all the waste for the stores. In France, since 2016, it’s been against the law for grocers to send any food to a landfill. Besides donations, they can use discounts for not-so-perfect produce, send it for animal feed, or use composting. Should we have a similar law in Canada? Will that just send another protest convoy to Ottawa?