23.9.12

it's the end of the world as we know it


Joe: this one's for you.

Turn on the soundtrack, if you please.














So Joe and I were sitting on the deck of my parents' beach place, last summer, and he couldn't believe I didn't know about December 21st. Where have you been, Jill? he was asking. Hello? The Mayan Calender? The End of Days?

I remembered talking about it with my Egyptian (via Geneva) friend, Natalya, in Cafe Nero, about how all the religions are saying the same thing, and we were wondering if it wasn't going to one of those self fulfilling prophecies, where someone's gonna go and do something stupid, and I was asking Joe, 'So what are you saying, we're all going to die?' NOT NECESSARILY! he kept saying, and was telling me about how everyone's been existing on these opposing frequencies, which I get, but it's starting to get more intense - I get that, too. And then the next day, while we were swimming, I had an idea for a film - or another novel. December 21st comes along, and the world doesn't end. No one gets hurt. It just turns out there's this glitch in the system, and - the thing that no one could ever see coming - the internet goes down.

And stays down.

Everyone, at first, thinks it's just them. And they do what they usually do - reboot, restart, whatever, and then they get really pissed off.. and then they try to call someone. And they're on hold for hours, because everyone's calling someone.. and no one can help, because, uh, the internet is down.

I started imagining life without the internet. We wouldn't be having this conversation, for starts. I could only play the music on my collection of CD's, or sing the songs in my head. No one would know how much money they had, so we wouldn't be able to take cash from the machines. We'd still have food, and homes, but we'd have to either start some kind of barter system, or a few fights might break out. I was telling a friend that I wanted to write a book and he said 'well you'd better write fast.'

There was a great show on it, last night, on More4 - The Mayan Apocalypse 2012 - which, alas, I can't get On Demand. Which I might as well get used to. Because come December - if my prophecy is correct - we're not gonna get anything On Demand, now matter how much we demand it.

If the end of the world as we know it is coming in ten and a half weeks, we might as well shop.

Westfield East just celebrated their one year birthday. And the nice people who asked me to take part in the campaign last time, have asked again. And because I had such a great time there during the Olympics - and went again last week, to meet a friend, and I still love it there, the architecture, all my favourite shops and cafes - the good feeling still remains, just less hoards of huddled masses - I figured, why not. If you click here, you can do something to change the world. You can hand me 50p. That's 75 American copper pennies. That would buy me.. let's see.. wow, a fifth of a flat white at Cafe Nero. Which they have - a lovely branch - at Westfield. So please, please, click here: it won't cost you a think, you needn't sign up for anything and besides, I want them to know how popular I am.

All photos shot by me at Westfield East, during the Olympics. Apart from the top shot, which is by my friend Joseph Keller, who's been on both sides of the camera, as model (he's worked with Scavullo, among others) and now, photographer. Oh and the last shots of me, by my darling husband, who doesn't remotely claim to be a photographer - he's more like a human tripod.

6 comments:

LeahB said...

Oh my goodness, if the internet were to go down in the next few weeks I would be absolutely fubared in terms of my thesis! So much of my paper is intertwined on the internet at the moment (refworks, my list of checked out library books [which I can recheck out online], other scanned books I'm able to read through my library website, and the Godsend of JSTOR, which allows me to access articles in bed whilst in my pjs).

I do have to say though that the internet is such a double-edged sword. For every two fantastic things it provides our dancing fingertips, there seems to be one very evil offering or potential misuse of a "good" webspace (ie Facebook). Sometimes I do have a fantasy of it crashing, and all of us going back to a Little House Walnut Grove type of lifestyle in which we interact in person, know all of our neighbors, and spend more time outdoors.

But of course, I write this on your blog while I sit a sea away from you, as my ADORABLE tubby cat relaxes on her back at my feet... that is, my cat who I found on Petfinder.com six years ago. So who am I to bite the technological hand that contributes so much to my lifestyle?!

As for the end of the world, I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy a few months ago, so I REALLY try not to think about it!

jill said...

LeahB! You said it so well. That Little House Walnut Grove life (except I don't know the Walnut Grover reference: I'm probably older than you - but I grew up reading Little House on the Prairie - my mom read it to me before I could read - does that count?)

I have that fantasy, too.

And if the internet went down, I wouldn't have to ask if you were younger than me, because I'd know. Because I'd see you in real life.

btw: I wrote that blog with OUR lovely cat sitting on my lap - actually under my knees, under the covers, sleeping and purring.

and my husband read The Road, too, and said it was the most depressing book he ever read.

Thanks for visiting, L. Might as well while we all still can!

Fashionistable said...

Hello lovely, I am back and resting for now. Would you like to meet next week? No computer would mean I would have to pull out my old film cameras again. Eeek. Xxxx

Odyssey Home said...

Oh, I love REM. Really takes me back...
I was more than a little concerned about this Mayan calendar thing for a while and they I got over it. Sort of. I mean, what can you do - you know? :)
End of the world, may as well shop. Yeah!
xo S.

mtg said...

What a great shot of you, Jill! You look so happy, light and carefree. Love it!
xx
Maya

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