Not Subliminal

Fifty years ago, to the month, I first read the Philip K Dick novel “Flow My Tears the Policeman said.” In fact I stood up and read a couple of pages at our morning School Assembly. It was my comment about the potential scariness of a Police-State. Back then, in our final year we were expected to take turns in reading from something we felt was interesting and thought-provoking during this daily ritual. When my turn came, I read from the book. The strange thing is I’ve just re-read the story for the first time since then and can’t find the section I read that day. It’s pretty clear in my mind what the section involved and why I chose it. But it’s not there now and I have the same copy of the book. Adding to my befuddlement I also discovered that the expected redemption of the leading character, after all he goes through, never happens. Jason Tavener doesn’t change his spoiled, very unpleasant view of his fellow humans once his world is back to normal. I hadn’t remembered it this way. I...

Well it’s some three-years since my last post here, and you will be forgiven for thinking this blog has morphed into one about the strange and inexplicable around us, rather than just the ludicrous. Today I was driving through our housing estate to get to the main road when, as I approached a necessary right-turn, I found myself driving into what looked like a huge swarm of very black bees or large insects in a vaguely ball-shaped formation about six-feet in diameter, smack-bang in front of me, windscreen height. There was no noise either, not from the insects themselves, not from them hitting the car. I was too busy trying to navigate safely and avoid parked cars to be able to examine the objects in the swarm more carefully, but when I checked my rear-view mirror there was nothing there. Not left or right either. I duly arrived at my destination and got out of the car to check for insects stuck in the radiator-grill or under the window-wipers, squashed perhaps on the wing-mirrors. Not...