Happy New Year to all, but how did it get to be the year 2026?
I grew up in a small farming community. I loved the freedom of playing outdoors, walking along the nearby beach, skimming stones in the water and watching the animals in the fields, especially the lambs playfully leaping in springtime. It was a carefree country childhood that I cherished.
I have a vivid memory of being about 9 years old, so in the late 60s, of the peripetetic art teacher coming to our primary school and explaining that by the year 2000 we would all be living under the sea as land would be depleted and unusable (global warming was known about even back then). We were to paint a picture of our future underwater living places.
I was devastated that I would no longer be able to watch lambs in springtime, collect mushrooms as they grew, look for treasure on the beach as the waves washed it up. And, good grief, I worked out I would be 40 years old in 2000! Unimaginable!
The turn of the century stuck with me through the next 30 years as a benchmark of the future. I would be 40 years old! A new way of life awaited. In the intervening years I grew up got married, had children of my own, the eldest of whom recently confessed he thought acid rain would play a bigger role in his life due to a similar school lesson conversation! Teachers, be aware that the strangest things stick with your pupils!
After I turned 40 I did begin a new life, not underwater but at university. It was an exciting time but I somehow forgot that the years kept passing. It has come as a shock that we are now more that quarter of a century past that benchmark future! How did that happen? The eldest Bomber is now over 40 himself. Another conundrum as I, myself, remain resolutely 28. At least in my head.
Significantly Different 