I’ll start this with a seemingly unconnected statement.

A genuine new age will bring with it scenarios, circumstances and “problems” for which there are no precedents and hence the old “solutions” cannot be workable.

People can have a very idealized view of how things might work out. There has been some unwarranted nasty brutality at Bondi recently and there have been cries to “stamp out antisemitism”. There is no magic wand to wave which changes how people may think, one might be able to control the outward expression of antisemitism but not what people think. It is idealistic to imagine thought control. Suddenly people must feel all warm and loving to Israel and Jewry? It is not a realistic expectation. There is an unmet ideal in which things have not changed since the brutality in Gaza began. We want to go back to before.

There is a new reality, which may be difficult to accept.

People do not like it when any kind of ideal is unmet. There is an idea of how things are supposed to be which may be in marked contrast to how things are. The ideal does not match.

When I was tutoring “A” level science many parents expressed the notion that I could walk back into academia at the drop of the hat. I told them that this was not the case. Yet they did not believe me. That had an idealised view. The reality of REF and human resources grid style criteria was unseen. A lack of referees unexpected. Without current referees employment is close to impossible.

The circles I move in are so far from any UK based academia. My life revolves around garden, supermarket, DIY store and medical professionals. Aside from the wife and professionals I have spoken to no human being about my hip operation. This may not be how things are supposed to be. It is how they are.

At the moment there are two nodes in the onward life trajectory. One is seeking permission from the French government to stay, the second is the opinion of the orthopaedic surgeon as to a possible timing of a second operation. I will have an answer to the first by March next year and an indication to the second in January. “Les Echos” a French financial newspaper is suggesting that the French housing market is again stagnating due to ongoing French political uncertainty and public debt. Even though demand outstrips supply. Moving house in France is complex and expensive. The kilograms of documents sap the will to live. But the need to downsize remains chronic. My world  is not complex nor highfalutin.

I live in an entirely different world to that suggested in this morning’s dream.

There is little inclination for me to either develop new intellectual property or review old alchemical or Buddhist manuscripts. I certainly am not interested in doing anything publishable in an academic sense. I can’t be arsed to refer to what other people may or may not have thought. This fascination with “lost” knowledge is not something which I have. There is a glamour about it. I am not really going to be overly impressed by the fame and kudos of any university. I won’t get excited by a Harvard or an Oxford. I am not a fan of Inspector Morse.

When people fail to meet the ideals which others may have of them, they can be shunned and criticised. The object of an ideal becomes a hated figure with an alacrity of fickleness. One may be on the pedestal of someone’s imaginary ideal without knowing. All too easily can you fall to the floor and have the metaphorical shit kicked out of you by the herd or mob.

Idealism and expectation can cause a lot of suffering.

People are easily disappointed. That disappointment is often self-inflicted though obviously the stiletto finger of blame points elsewhere. It is never the fault of the disappointed person.

I have been coming around to the idea that the state of the UK economy and job market has relatively little to do with hot-air policy at Westminster. The economy does what it does. The governments then accept credit and apportion blame according to the prevailing wind. They give an illusion that the policies they attempt to enact matter and make a difference. It all seems like a bit of a con job to me…

The political chasm between parties is not all that deep. Though many may pontificate otherwise.

In Fance the reality of an aging population thanks in part to a good health service has brought fiscal problems. Doing the three monkeys won’t help.

Unmet ideals can cause problems with reality. They may clash and acceptance can be a problem…

Sometimes the penny or centime can take a long while to drop.