Loom Bands

Photographic Quiz.

Photo no 233:

Question:- 5 points if you can spot yours truly, with ten points for any other named runner. A bonus of 10 for the venue, and 15 for the date.

Dear Blog,

                   The news that the Ebola outbreak is still out of control in parts of Africa is dreadful news. Having no cure is worrying on a global scale. Similarly, in the middle ages the Black Death had terrible consequences, ravaging its way across the country, killing thousands. Nature took its course and the disease petered out eventually. This may have been a long time ago, but in more recent times we have had less high profile health epidemic problems in this country.  Do you remember Blog, about twenty years ago we had the brown rubber band outbreak, spread around the country by the Postmen delivering letters from door to door. Thousands of the little blighters were left as a health hazard in the pathways, drives and road sides by the inconsiderate postmen who did not bother to take any precautions to stop the spread. They appeared to breed out of control of the local authorities, whose road sweepers could not compete with the rapidity of their spread in the urban areas. A wet rubber band caused falls as they became slippery. And worse; a brown half perished band on the bottom of a shoe, trod into the carpets of this country following a shopping expedition. It was not a pleasant prospect to clean up the mess! Luckily the outbreak seemed to be confined to city areas. Unfortunately, the brown bands mutated and we had a worse outbreak of red rubber bands, which seem to last for years and again was uncontrollable.

And now it has mutated again. This mutation is much smaller in size and seems to have happened, very suddenly. And what is most worrying is that it appears to only affect youngsters. The adult population seems immune. And because it is rife amongst this young age group, it has spread like wild fire between school age children, especially the girls. The infestation started a couple of months ago, with small individually coloured rubber bands. I assume the small size was Nature’s way of avoiding all known cures, the new mutant being surprisingly very addictive. The new virus is called the Loom, or the Lune or something similar. It seems to be a particularly western phenomenon, prevalent amongst the wealthier nations, the African and South American continents appear unaffected from what I have read in the press. Unless it is contained, it will no doubt spread there and become a global problem.  The rapid change of subtle design and the availability of multi coloured, or rainbow shades, make it hard for parents to counter act the desperate desire for ownership among their off spring. Once the Loom takes hold, it is very infectious, especially the ‘starburst’ variant.

Perhaps as winter approaches, the effects of the Loom will fade and resistance to the virus amongst the young population will build. The more virulent forms, the fishtail, the dragon’s scale will become less powerful as a new variant appears in time for the Christmas Solstice. No doubt it will be electronic based as social scientists believe, and much more expensive to resist by brow beaten parents. The Loom might not have cost too much financially, but a differently designed outbreak at Yule Tide will bound to be more costly as it will be fed by the media and no immunisation will be put in place. The design will probably appear very desirable to the young and the parents will have a severe struggle with their plastic cards to douse the addiction. I predict the outbreak of such a new virus will be almost unstoppable; the only consolation being that by the Boxing Day the viral strength will have faded extremely rapidly as have many types in the past years about this time of year. It will be contained satisfactorily within cupboards, wardrobes, outdoor sheds etc.. We can but prey.

                              Colin