I’m expecting to suffer from wind. I had it yesterday, and tomorrow will be worse, but so far today, things are calm. There’s been a warning that high winds tomorrow have already stopped the Sebeco and Dodekanisos boats, so they won’t be sailing (unless things change). If you’re intending to come to or from Rhodes tomorrow, check with your ferry company.
Oh, and be careful if you are going near the sea too, because there’s going to be a tsunami… there isn’t. There wasn’t, but it’s interesting how quick the services are to give out warning these days. Yesterday, there was an earthquake somewhere the other side of Karpathos which could apparently be felt for some distance as it was a six pointer, and people reported receiving tsunami warnings within a few minutes. This is a good thing, no doubt. Some people were also reporting earthquake warnings a few seconds before the tremor, and I, like them, wasn’t sure how that worked, but it was pretty impressive if a little pointless. ‘There will be an…’ Crash. We also get weather warnings here when there’s no sign of bad weather (but there is elsewhere in our region), in the same way we might suffer a ban on shipping on a perfectly calm day, because there’s a storm raging further up the island chain.
It’s good, in a way, but does remind me of the current trend for what are apparently called ‘trigger warnings.’ Now, I’m not putting anyone down, but when a total stranger writes to me to accuse me of not putting trigger warnings with my book blurbs, I tend to take exception. ‘All books should come with trigger warnings, you might cause someone upset!’ Ms Outraged of Wherever writes, to which I reply, ‘Your sensitivities are not my responsibility.’ I mean, honestly. The blurb makes it clear that there will be a murder in the story, it’s talking about the East End Ripper killing people. The blurb makes it clear there’s one of those hideous gay characters Ms Outraged doesn’t like, that’s the whole point of the… Never mind. I often wonder what ‘trigger warnings’ would go on famous titles. ‘Dracula,’ warning, this book contains descriptions of vampiric activity, blood transfusions, and Victorian women fainting. (Oh, btw, there’s also a stabbing and a big dog.) The Bible, warning, this book contains scenes of wife beating, torture, murder, revenge, violence, judgemental characters, mass flooding (worldwide genocide), and more than a little carpentry…
I mean… Tsunami warnings by all means, but otherwise…? If you feel obliged to pander, make it clear in your titles, covers and blurbs.
By the way, it’s interesting that when I use the instant thesaurus built into the Word program, and right click over the word tsunami, the synonyms suggested include eager and bore, and as I feel I am now being eagerly boring, I’ll sign off.
