Halloween

We got 12 trick or treaters. My mom got 100. I was glad it was over early because tonight was the final of the Great British Bake-off. I don’t enjoy cooking, I don’t enjoy excess and waste and indulgence, yet every week I sit and watch the bakers create mountains of rich food (after spending weeks perfecting recipes). One woman used 60 eggs in one of her creations. It is first world indulgence of the first order.

But the chefs are likeable people and, apparently, something in our DNA means we like to see people put under a lot of stress to see how they cope. British TV is full of shows where people have to survive on an island or try to hide from teams chasing them in helicopters. I think every show should have to disclose its carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions and the British people should have to decide, is it worth it? There’s reality TV and then there’s reality: Millions left homeless after hurricanes and flooding in the Caribbean; thousands burnt out of their homes in the American West; tens of thousands of suicides in India as drought lays waste to farmland. Trick or treat?
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