When you don’t know how to start a conversation, you can always fall back on the weather as an ice-breaker. Speaking of which, the ice ran out in supermarkets over the weekend as powerless residents scurried to preserve their thawing foodstuffs. [Why does “foodstuffs” sound more erudite than its component words “stuff” and “food”?]
The hot weather has gotten top local billing, even above the Middle East war. But the heat wave subsided a little on Wednesday, and many office workers took in some sun during the lunch hour.
As expected, the Chron is running the global warming stories that it’s been saving up for the year’s first extended heat spell. The polar ice caps will melt, sea levels will rise by three feet and coastal residents will lose their beachfront property. This will all happen around 2100, so we’d better stop driving, flying, and barbecuing today so that my great-grandchildren can go to Malibu. I wish the Chron would concern itself about something that could affect me, like the collapse of Social Security around 2030, but I guess that’s too far off to worry about.
Walking in the heat for a couple of blocks made me bypass the burger and burrito stands, so I picked up a salad. Unintended beneficial consequence of global warming: a yearning for more nutritious foodstuffs. © 2006 Stephen Yuen
No comments:
Post a Comment