This will be a very short post today.

As pretty much everyone else on this planet will probably agree, the last year and a bit has been pretty stressful. Work has been stressful. Family life has been stressful. Staying healthy has been stressful. And I barely need to mention the enormous COVID-shaped elephant that’s been looming over all of us.

We all have this dream about being in control of our lives. We’d all love nothing more than to be the person calling the shots, able to do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted, while having the rest of the world at our beck and call.

And I suppose some people get to achieve that dream. There are the great captains of industry, or those born into power and privilege, who get to live that reality every day. But that’s certainly not the existence that most of us share.

Sometimes, when I reflect upon the enormity of human history, I can’t help thinking it’s a marvel we’ve survived this long. We humans, with our need for 24 hour comfort, and never-ending entertainment and instant online connection, once lived in cold damp caves with nothing to keep us occupied except fires and rough paintings on the wall.

I’d have made a terrible caveman for a bunch of reasons. Partly, due to all the factors listed above. But there’s one particular reason above all that makes me very thankful I’m alive today and not back in the stone age.

I like to think I’m a reasonably environmentally aware sort of person. I always try to do whatever I can to look after the world. I make sure to switch lights off, and I don’t use heating or cooling unless I really need it. I minimise car journeys and try to walk whenever I can.

And I always make sure to recycle.

I’ve just been sorting through my music.

Being an obsessive, organised sort of person, I like to do this from time to time. And yes, I’m old school enough to still own my own music. I like the idea that it’s mine and I can listen to it whenever I want to. And besides, if you’re relying on an external service to provide your music, what happens if they should go bust? Sure, those streaming companies look pretty big and solid, but in the technology world things can change pretty quickly. That’s why I keep all my music, preferably in more than one format. Did I say I was a bit obsessive?