Then 2020 happened. The believable\/unbelievable line has been fundamentally re-drawn. I mean, I assume it has. It disappeared over the horizon and hasn\u2019t been seen since February. It might well lap itself, assuming of course you\u2019re not one of the increasing number of people who believe the Earth is flat. (The truly scary word in that sentence for me is \u2018increasing\u2019. Apparently, we\u2019re losing that argument.)<\/p>\n
Quick recap: The world caught a deadly virus because of bats. Lots of people believed it was being spread by a thing designed to give you better mobile phone reception. Then the Microsoft paperclip guy was trying to insert microchips into the world\u2019s population to track where they were. When they were was locked in their houses \u2013 see above. A British government advisor went for a drive in a car to test his eyesight. The world\u2019s rat population is apparently getting more aggressive because we\u2019re throwing away less food. Don\u2019t hug granny \u2013 you\u2019ll kill her. The US President speculated it\u2019d all be fine if we just drank bleach and swallowed the right kind of lightbulb. He is currently threatening to barricade himself inside his office as he doesn\u2019t accept he lost an election. Large chunks of North America seem to be permanently on fire. There\u2019s something out there called a Murder Hornet \u2013 you\u2019ll have to Google that one (I just decided to give it a miss as some things you just don\u2019t want to know). America has its first QAnon supporting senator. How is that even going to work? \u201cI strongly disagree with the Senator from California\u2019s position on eating babies, but I\u2019m willing to work with him on agricultural subsidies.\u201d The POTUS crack legal team screwed up a booking and ended up briefing the world\u2019s press between a crematorium and a sex shop.<\/p>\n In short, we are living through Marilyn Manson\u2019s fever-dream cover version of Billy Joel\u2019s We Didn\u2019t Start the Fire<\/em>. Go ahead, see if you can make up something weirder than what has actually happened \u2013 I DARE you. Reality has jumped the shark.<\/p>\n If the US Government came out and confirmed the existence of extra-terrestrials, which \u2013 spoiler alert, a couple of senior American politicians floated as a possibility a few months ago – it would not even make the top five weird things that happened this year. Hell, if they landed in the middle of New York our first questions would be: \u2018Do you have a vaccine? Have you got proof of voter fraud? And do any of the wackadoodle theories the guy from The Corrs keeps spouting have any truth to them, or is that just what happens to a man when he\u2019s spent too much time being told his sisters are the three hottest women in Ireland?\u2019 (Again \u2013 have a Google but don\u2019t say I didn\u2019t warn you.)<\/p>\n I guess, what I\u2019m trying to say is, I have a book coming out on the 14 January 2021 \u2013 assuming 2020 ever actually ends. It has already been twenty-seven years long. My dog has taken up smoking and now runs out of the room when he hears the theme tune for the Nine O\u2019Clock News. Currently, the book is listed as fiction but watch this space, it becoming reality would frankly be a welcome return to sanity.<\/p>\n In the meantime, watch the skies, wash your hands, and don\u2019t believe anything Clippy the Microsoft paperclip tells you.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/The-Stranger-Times-cover.jpg\")