Tourists

It already seems an age since visiting Cornwall. Next week I will be putting Re and H on a plane going back to Broken Hill. I will be following them a week later.

Since leaving Cornwall Re and I have been documenting our travels on Facebook and Instagram. I have put together a few cruddy little videos using apps like Capcut and Lightcut. I have edited my photos using Snapseed. All to try and tell a story about our holiday. These apps of course make everything look chipper. Even my bad photos and videos. It is too easy to post sunny stories onto those platforms, much simpler than here on my blog. Which is a shame. I feel like my point of view is skewed on those platforms. My posts become about the awesome stuff I am doing as opposed to just everyday things.

Most sane people would not be interested to read my screeds here. Yes, dear reader I am saying you are not sane.

In the internet worlds of no-context it is simpler to encourage a happy-poppy view of life so beloved by advertisers. In the nuance-free worlds of Insta and FB we can avoid coming across as psychos by being eternally optimistic. We can avoid upsetting our relatives, our employers, our clients, that person we met once on holiday and all the other randos we have befriended. But we lose the chance to voice our deeper thoughts. Most of my audience on those platforms would not be interested and would probably disagree with much of my blether. Which is not to say they or I are wrong. We just don’t get a chance for an in-depth discussion. Here on our screens once it is in writing it is said and done. Our witterings become a sitting target awaiting praise or condemnation. A discussion in the panoptican is a dangerous thing to commit to. Real discussions are for around a fireplace or a kitchen table in a comfortable chair, face to face and free of an interlocuter.

All this is for me to say, ‘I feel dirty using those social media sites’. The posts are dishonest and hypocritical. Yes, I am enjoying travelling with my family and I have loved sailing around the Ionian. I enjoy meeting all the people from different cultures. It’s all great. I also know that I should not be flying around the world. I know we are living through a climate emergency and a cost of living crisis. I constantly question everything about how and why I am travelling. Since leaving Cornwall and getting off the boat in Greece it has been unadulterated tourism and to be honest, it all feels a bit pointless. Seeing my family, my friends and my old home was important to me. It was not always easy but it feels neccesary for my sanity. Sailing the boat in Greece was what I have always wanted to do. It was part of a bigger plan and I am so glad we have taken that first step. The rest of it I am not so sure about.