Doom merchants are getting me down

DO you ever get the feeling that we are surrounded by a bunch of doom merchants. Open the papers, look at ‘the box,’ listen to the radio or surf the net and there they are, coming at us like a swarm of locusts eating away at our tender souls.

They warn us of the apocalypse to come. Not like the ones predicted in the past that never materialised, but the Real Thing.

They say the tsunamis, hurricanes, eathquakes and floods are just the warm-up for the big event to come and that they will increase in their velocity, leaving us all nervous wrecks.

On top of that the world will be so polluted we’ll all be gasping for air. And they don’t stop there: we’ll get a dose of something or other, you know, a few pandemics or a blast of radiation to keep the cauldron simmering.

If all of that doesn’t put paid to us, then expect to be sizzled as the ozone finally takes its leave of this crazy world.

God, I think I’ll go back to bed and sleep it off. No, maybe that’s not such a good idea, for I may have a nightmare. God, please, give me a tablet - give me the Real Thing.

Jim Yates

93 Cill Cais

Old Bawn

Dublin 24