Catmachine

Note : I am trying to forge ahead with my novel at the moment so even though I will still attempt to post a blog at least weekly, today's entry is a slight rewrite of something I first wrote in the early 2000s; hopefully still relevant today. Everybody complains about their job. It's part of the human condition. We all wish that there was some miraculous magic answer whereby we could be given all the resources we need to live full, happy and comfortable lives and not have to lift a finger. Unfortunately we can't all work in senior management, and there will always be far more boring admin that needs doing than there are people willing to do it, and whilst there are better ways to spend your days than deciphering some self-important kingpin's scrawl and transcribing it into electronic form, there are worse ways too. However, this aside, some people do seem to end up in jobs that are quite specialised in their way, and yet eminently unsuitable for them. Furthermore, some

Do you ever get the feeling you're being watched? It's a very real sensation, far from mere paranoia (although it may be a contributory factor to that misunderstood delusion). Picture the scenario. It's 5am, it's Sunday morning, it's summer and you're walking back home through deserted streets after a club night. It's already daylight and you've got the beginnings of monstrous hangover. Nevertheless, there's something to be said for the silence and solitude. Then you stop. You've got the feeling . Someone's watching. You look around. No sign of anyone. In the distance you can hear the engine of a lone vehicle, but that's all. Even the birds are silent. Some thing is watching. You can feel it. Outwardly nothing has changed; the streets are just as deserted as they were two minutes ago but viewed through the filter of potential observation, everything is suddenly sharper and more sinister. Then you see it. Five floors up and loo

If enough people agree on something it starts to exist. This is rather worrying. Suppose everyone starts believing in something that's wrong ? An agreed consensus of reality can result in everyone being dead wrong about certain facts. Look at those societies where they believed that the Earth was flat and at the centre of the universe. The fools. But at the time it made perfect sense and if everyone agreed that it was the case then it was so. Not so much a lie as a case of mistaken identity, but even so - the beliefs of the many outweigh the beliefs of the few. Effectively the Earth was flat in those days to all intents and purposes. However, even though we know better now, on some levels we still think of the Earth as flat. This is because maps are flat and if they want us to continue believing that the Earth is made in their image, they actually do have to start lying to us, or if not lying then at least distorting the truth. I'm sure we all have memories of a map