Collins Brilliant as Always

smallritual. some pieces:<blockquote>I’ve been having flashbacks - waking dreams in effect - of the early 1970s. What distinguishes these flashbacks is their total immersion in the atmosphere of the times….normally one sees these things from outside, as it were, in relation to other things that preceded and came after. Whereas when one is living in a period, there is no way out, no detached place or escape from the all-pervading feel of the times, no knowledge of the future. Each time imagines its own future, always wrong, which fills its horizons with dread or anticipation.

…the unique underlying near-despair of this period - unlike any other time I’ve lived through - was caused by the fact that we had had the 60s and affluence, and it was falling around our ears, and no-one knew if it would come again. Maybe that was all we’d ever have - 15 years of prosperity and pop culture, all gone for good. You missed it. Now the oil is running out and Western society is crumbling. We won’t all be going to the moon after all.

…now we look back and say it was only a phase - a bad phase, but we’ve had two economic cycles since then and Western society and culture are still booming. But in my half-dreams I find myself back in the period as it was then, without that hindsight. Back in that futuristic No Future. I wish there was a way to capture that atmosphere for you. Watch A Clockwork Orange. Surround yourself with Brutalist concrete and dark brown brick. Shut out the light with smoked glass and mirrors. Make everything slightly shabby, a little less than new. Tell yourself that Bush has only just begun, and that the markets will not rise again in your lifetime. Listen to Pink Floyd….</blockquote>

Previous: Notes on a Weekend Trip to Slovakia for Grandfathers Funeral

Archives | RSS