Over the couse of the last seven days, I single-dug a good portion of the backyard garden, spread manure, and planted 30 strawberry plants, two rows of onions and two rows of shallots. Very satisfying work.
Sunday, Steph and I went to her friend’s baby’s baptism. It was my first baptism, as not even I was baptized. Cold church. Beautiful, tall arching ceiling. Vibrant stained-glass windows. A hundred people seated, singing together for Mass. Two babies will be baptized today. The priest speaks, and the audience respond on que at the right times with ‘amen’ or by manually crossing their chests, or breaking into choir. It was a bit chaotic, lots of people, not knowing where to sit (Steph and I and Maria, our friend, sat on the wrong side of the aisle. Both babies refused or misunderstood the command of the priest to put the holy water on their own foreheads, and both babies cried after their parents dipped their heads down to the water and the priest soaked their hair.
After there was the buffet and party, lots of fun, decent food. Lots of wine and bubbling wine going around. Met some older folks who were excited about various ecologically-friendly alternative initiatives springing up in their area concerning agriculture and construction. Met a couple who informed Steph and I about the various free schools which offer instruction in tradeskills, including ‘Les Compagnons’, a world-famous school of high quality. I will look into this last school.
When I return from Belgium I will do a two week volunteer stage with a local renewable energy installation company. After I will decide : carpentry (ecoconstruction) or electricity (renewable energy).
Today is Monday, and in less than twenty four hours I will embark on my trip to Antwerp, Belgium. Not much money in my pocket, but well-fed, and well-enough equipped with one of the two languages spoken in Belgium (French).
In the back of my mind, I consider the scenario of shit hitting the fan in the future, in terms of economic collapse, food-system collapse, social program-collapse, unemployment, rioting, etc. And so I subject every idea for my future to criticism from this collapse scenario point of view. Stephanie and I have agreed that if things get hairy, we will farm. Here or back in Ontario, where I already have a bit of a network. Learning electricity or carpentry will be very useful in almost any possible future scenario, for earning money with a stable job, and for learning DIY (do it yourself) skills for maintaining and repairing a house, or building a new one. I would like to learn both, but which one to pursue first, which one to make into a ‘career’ ?
What do you guys and girls think ?
Write to you from Belgium !
Cheers,
Maurizio
1 comment:
I've been catching up on your blog a bit, read a post from a few days back, read the two ones after (newer than) this post.
But yeah, shtf inevitability, scary worldview eh?
If you have time lookup the "web bot project" and it's 2010 predictions, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpXo3V5om0s&feature=PlayList&p=B22777428F8C404F&playnext_from=PL&index=0&playnext=1
I'm think too about "where do I want to be when it happens" and definitely ONtario. But I'm worried/dissapointed that I may not even get to travel to all the places I want to travel to before it all falls apart.
I know speculation is a time-waster of an exercise, but, based on what you see progressing in the world here and now how long do you see before western countries face scarcity and descent in a serious, noticeable way?
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