Why are we here if we don’t do new things?

Some thoughts, memories and actions on the last day of summer

I will remember the summer of 2024 as a summer of noise. It began with a storm of noisy assaults. It ends with another sequence of blows to my eardrums. After the latest and largest Russian missile attack, we are experiencing another round of power outages. I don’t count how many hours a day we don’t have electricity. But I think we are exposed to distressful noise levels for at least 16 hours a day.

In Kyiv, the noise comes from small generators standing and shaking nearby every cafe and every small grocery shop in town, as well as huge generators hidden in business centres. The biggest ones are invisible to the eyes but I can still see them (hear them) with my ears. They are very loud and they don’t shut up even at night.

I want to add air raid alerts to that noisy bundle of stress. They are happening more frequently these days because of the drones that Russia sends our way every night. Tonight there were three or four such alerts. The last woke me up at 7 am. I didn’t intend to wake up so early on Saturday. The war doesn’t care if it’s a weekend or a holiday or you’re sick and tired.

You can never properly rest and you wait for a less noisy future.

Will it arrive with shorter and more melancholic days of autumn?

This early Saturday morning I’m sitting under a plum tree. A red, angry generator disturbs an…