Mars

Years ago, I had a friend who lived in Romania and hadn’t eaten a single piece of chocolate for years. He never bought any either. We once had a discussion about spaghetti; he claimed it was made from cornflour and I said that was absolutely not the case. So I went to check the cupboard because he insisted it really was made from cornflour. No, not at my place, and I showed him. So the next food parcel I sent contained the spaghetti sold here and some chocolate. I can’t remember if there was a Mars bar in there too, but he was certainly happy with it.
At the time, I found it rather strange to hear that he hadn’t had any chocolate for years; he found it just as strange that I didn’t make my own mayonnaise. No, I don’t do that because I don’t really like it, but also because a ready-made jar is cheaper than what I make myself, at least, that was the case back then, when I didn’t keep chickens; I don’t have any these days either. I’m slowly clearing the festive table, and that’s probably not very wise given the current situation in the world.
I don’t eat much chocolate these days either; since the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s become scarcer, and the chocolate that is sold has a strange taste or smell. For instance, we recently had a bar that smelled of petrol. Unnoticed, more and more rubbish and chemical substitutes are taking the place of what used to be proper food. The manufacturers are even proud of it. It’s simply labelled vegan or organic, or presented as a healthy or animal-friendly substitute.
While we’re on the subject of food: I read that donkeys are now being slaughtered in Argentina so that people have meat to eat. And to think that many people in the Netherlands haven’t been able to afford meat for years – surely there are no vegetables in Argentina, or potatoes or rice? Food is likely to become even scarcer thanks to Trump’s game of ‘yes, no, maybe’. I find it astonishing how often he has already broken his word, but especially that Iran keeps falling for it time and again. From now on, everything will be at stake, and not just chocolate; refineries and petrol stations around the world are suddenly catching fire or exploding. Is this a coincidence? I don’t believe it for a moment; in any case, it seems that Italy is already preparing for the next lockdown. An energy lockdown this time. You probably still remember what Bill Gates said during Covid-19? He said even then that this wouldn’t be the last lockdown, and look at us now…
Would the prime ministers, the royal families and the President of the EU now all stay at home to save energy, just sitting comfortably in the dark? It is, of course, clear that this is yet another set-up to impose their will and suppress the people. Could it really just be a shortage of oil? If so, a car-free Sunday, or, as far as I’m concerned, a car-free weekend, would surely have been introduced long ago, just like in the 1970s. Given that no country has done this, it’s clear that governments have no intention of saving energy at all, but have entirely different plans.
Apparently, car factories and perhaps other factories too are now having to switch en masse to manufacturing weapons; doesn’t this production and waging war consume oil? Perhaps it would be a good idea to simply stop waging war to save energy? Enough has now been destroyed to rebuild, so that’s good for the economy, and if food parcels are then being dumped, a few Mars and Snickers bars can be thrown in straight away. Who knows, we might start liking Trump, or rather America, again.

_{Prompt: see title
21-4-2026}