Panic buying, Eurovision and zombies

The reality of a zombie apocalypse is that in the initial days, hordes of unprepared people will panic buy everything in the stores. When cyclone Maria bore down on Yeppoon in 2015, some shops sold out of bananas in 30 minutes!

So it helps to have some experience with crazed mobs of shoppers. Something I discovered at the ADLI snow gear sale today. Whole families were there, some members dashing headlong into the frenzy while others carefully guarded their trolleys in nearby aisles. There were hand signals, strategic use of trolleys to block people and lots of ducking and weaving. And all I was after was milk.

And just because you are in a desperate survival situation doesn't mean you can't be fashionable. Eurovision likes to set new fashion boundaries so it was great to see Bosnia and Herzegovina rocking it with Mylar survival blankets as capes. They chose the classic bronze and sliver version, with that just unfolded, stylish grid pattern. At about $5 each they obviously had a big budget.

As for zombies there was an interesting piece in the issue 508 of The Big Issue. It covered the history of zombies, particular the pop culture side. But there was some deep discussion around how horror movies tend to be popular during uncertain, scary times. Times of economic troubles, civil unrest and boring election campaigns. So is the interest in zombies really a symptom of a society that, like a maggoty undead, is slow decaying away? Heavy stuff to ponder. Better stock up on more bananas. 


Bite off more banana than you can chew


Mr Rimsky