Great thread.
Here's my go at it:
22 July, 2013. I wake up to the scream of low-flying F-16s roaring low overhead. My heart racing, I rush downstairs to turn on the TV. Just the usual - no special report or anything. Breathing a sigh of relief, I head out to the chicken house to feed my chickens and collect eggs for breakfast, as well as checking up on my beans and corn. So far, so good...few pests and the rain has been very good this year, a far cry from the terrible drought and heatwaves of the late 2000's. The tomatoes are looking good too, I pick a couple for tonight's supper. The shift in the Gulf Stream, while devastating to the folks in Europe, have done us a world of good here in the US Southeast, lowering temperatures and bringing ample rains, even in mid-summer.
After fixing a breakfast of two fresh eggs and a filling bowl of grits, one of the few foods that's still relatively cheap, I go to work in my bicycle repair shop. Of course, everyone's doing bikes these days, but thankfully I got into the biz back in '09, and have a good, steady stream of customers. Of course, it helps that I'm willing to accept payment in trade...rice ration cards, food grown in other people's gardens, and sometimes even a pair of jeans, which are like gold these days.
As I finish one electrification kit and start on another, I try not to think about the terrible events of the year before. Things were going so well in 2011...for thirty miraculous days in May of that year, the total global output of oil reached an astonishing 88.5 million barrels a day, driving the price below $100 a barrel for the last time. The stock market even made it back above 10,000, although that only lasted a week or so. Damn my parents for not selling out when they had that one last chance. Of course, it's much, much too late now...anyone with a stock portfolio is just as good as dead financially. Hard to believe that the Dow is lower than it was back in 1993, 20 years ago. I think about how all hell broke loose in late '11, with KSA suddenly cutting back oil exports by 20%, sending the western economies into a tailspin as the price of oil nearly doubled overnight, to $250 a barrel.
I try really hard not to think about the destruction of Tel Aviv, when it was nuked in September of 2012, exactly 11 years to the day after 911. 700,000 dead in the initial blast, and god knows how many died in the counter attack. There sure isn't much of Iran anymore, and Saudi Arabia is barely holding it together, trying desperately to lift its daily oil production back above 4 million barrels a day. I think they'd be lucky to get it back above 3 million, to tell you the truth. And whoever thought that France would be in the midst of a bloody civil war? Sure wish I got to see Paris before half of it burned in the terrible riots of last October, even the Louvre is gone now, how tragic. And France was one place I thought would do well in the post-peak era. Like they say, you can't predict the future, you really can't. Chaos theory at its finest. It sure blows, though.
Amazingly enough, things haven't been that bad here in the ATL. Sure, the overcrowding is something else, what with the massive exodus out of Florida and the rural areas of the Southeast. I'm so glad I decided to make a go of it in the city than trying to set up a rural homestead...it's just downright impossible to make a go of it out in the country without access to a car. And with gasoline being doled out by the feds for essential purposes only, the black market for gasoline is now an astonishing $60 a gallon. Can you believe that?? I'm sooo glad I give up driving back in '10...I can't even fathom of being so dependent on automobiles like I used to in the old days. I don't miss it, either...driving was always such a stressful thing for me. I used to weigh 220 pounds, now I'm down to 185, and it continues to fall...riding bikes, gardening and walking everywhere has sure done my body good.
I look at my watch. Almost noon already, how time flies. I rush to turn on the TV, as it's time for the Wednesday speech by our President, who I love and adore. He really is a great person. What a disappointment Obama turned out to be - I'm so proud of the Dems for nominating someone decent this time, someone who actually cares for the people of America instead of kow-towing to the corporate interests like B.O. did.
The speech by the Prez is the best one yet, with me clapping my hands and shouting "Bravo!" when got done. As promised, he signed an executive order to suspend all debt collection, which is a HUGE relief to me, since I had $30,000 and counting of CC debt when I went on that major shopping spree when things went to shit in early '12. Hey, I was panicking just like everybody else. And I have a LOT of silver to live on, which should last me a long, long time. Shoot, I can buy two whole gallons of black market gasoline with just one coin, which is about how much I use in a year for my roto-tiller. And now with the new executive order in place, that debt is just as good as gone. Woot!!
I take a look at the stock market just for kicks...wowza! Down 800 points and another trading shutdown. Won't be long before it drops below 2000. Wonder how long it'll be before it goes below 1000? Doesn't matter to me none, that's for sure. I just feel sorry for all those folks who had faith in their 401-k's...talk about the kiss of death. At least they'll get to "shelter in place" for free now that they've passed the Universal Homestead Act. Too bad for all those landlords...they're just SOL. Oh well, can't make everybody happy. This is the Age After Oil, you know.
I flip off the TV. Time to head back to the shop to work on bikes. Today has been a good day to me so far. I'm 46 years old now, and it looks like I'll be able to live long enough see the Eclipse of '17, when I'm 50. Sure is going to be a long bike ride, though, hope I'm fit enough for it, since it's darned near 200 miles to the closest approach of totality. Something to look forward to, anyhow.
Yep, it's been a real good day, the 22nd of July, 2013. Never a better time to be alive than today, I say.
