It turns out I may have been premature in my assertion last night that World War Three was imminent and that if I woke up at all this morning, it would only be for a brief period to observe a country obliterated by a nuclear strike. Instead of smouldering ruins, our village was the same as it was yesterday, albeit with less rain.
I suppose it serves me right for having yet another half-empty glass. I figured straightaway that the missile attack on a Polish visit simply couldn’t be an accident and those ghastly Ruskies had been responsible. I mean, Ukraine would hardly attack Poland and the Poles wouldn’t attack themselves, would they? Bastard Putin: tomorrow will be Armageddon. Turns out it was just Wednesday.
Luckily, world leaders like Joe Biden are far more calm and measured than I am. if I had my finger on the button, Moscow would probably be rubble today. Instead, I went to bed and had stupid nightmares about two animals riding on a raft along the Niagara River before plunging to a terrible death from the Falls, but before I went on a sight-seeing trip where I could not find all of my luggage. I woke up exhausted, as I usually do after a typical night’s nightmares, but at least Sainsbury’s was still open and the world was still, just, in one piece.
That’s how easy it is to panic. See a scary news item, watch various ‘experts’ on TV news pointing out that the end is night and then wait for sirens before the missiles rain in. Which they never did. It’s just a wonder that I didn’t empty the Christmas whisky down my neck in order to avoid the end of the world. I’d have felt awful today for quite another reason.
So, we live to fight another day. There’s nothing I can do to stop any of this. Why do I worry about it? Because I can.
