SMART CITY FANATIC

Cars are BACK on roads. Well, they have been, for quite some time, in fact.  But: did you notice, when the pandemics and lockdowns were on? That it just felt a tad easier to simply walk down a street? There was quiet. You could actually hear the birdsong. And yes, above all? One could BREATHE, unfettered. Now, I do not wish to be some gloom merchant, stressing an end of the world forecast here. One gets enough of that, c/o imminent war predictions, worldwide financial meltdown prophecies and so on.  But what is, unavoidable,  alas, is that there is no escaping the fact, that it is indeed, harder to simply BREATHE, on roads. Why is that? Some of it might be psychosomatic. You are back in a crowded traffic jam. Stuck in an enclosed space, in a car? There are endless cyclists and now SCOOTERS using paths, instead of ROADS.  JOGGERS brush past with you, exuding a whiff of sanctimonious entitlement as they sniff their brand of bespoke, healthier air. And so on. I get it....

Ok. Yes. Deliberately gloomy, click bait friendly headline there. But I make NO apologies for that. Because in effect, THE GOVERNOR OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND just did the same thing.  He used the term 'apocalyptic'. That is: 1: DEEPLY irresponsible. His job is to ensure calm, clinical, creative management of an independent financial system in the UK. He just did the very opposite; stoking the very panic he is entrusted to curtail and prevent.  2:  AND HE IS WRONG! Because 'apocalypse' is NOT the same as 'Armageddon'. For whatever reason? Those terms have become conflated and confused in recent linguistic idiom. Apocalypse = revelation. Now, that COULD, in theory, spell some world ending chaotic catastrophe. But it need not do so.   Revelations can be good, healthy, helpful. They can even enable GROWTH and PROGRESS, albeit, painfully so? So, in a way.. 3: Governor is also..RIGHT?!  As in, though he does not intend to be that, he is the bringer of necessary, tough bu...

 Their Subscriptions are decreasing. Stock/share prices to follow, surely? So WHY and HOW does the streaming phenomenon go from Hero to ZERO? Here's a few points to consider:  They INCREASED their price. At a time whereby the cost of living has gone UP. BIG MISTAKE! Would YOU have spent $16/almost £20 per month on VIDEO rentals? No. Ergo, one is less likely to renew a streaming counterpart which costs same. CONTENT! Yes, Netflix makes films and shows. Great! But you can get through that fairly quickly. And you possibly have most of it either on DVD/Blu Ray or can access key clips via YouTube. Speaking of which: YOUTUBE: It is now entirely feasible to derive daily entertainment from a FREE platform. Every review video etc arguably combs over the content you might otherwise watch, in half the time. Why invest in watching a Netflix product, when one can digest a summary and thereby, the entertainment value, via free counterpart platform? AMAZON! Pay for Prime and you get guaran...