Last minute packing for the family vacation, I am reminded of when this was called the Silly Season, as parliaments went into recess, schools closed and business slowed to a crawl, there was little news worthy of the title, and the media scrabbled for something to fill their allotted slots.
Photos of polar bears being furnished with ice to cool off during the less frequent heat waves, was the sort of image we came to expect, and were not even surprised if traffic caused by the occasional cat rescue from high in some central London tree made it to the 6 o'clock news.
How far away those days seem now.
Even the Olympic sports are struggling to maintain centre stage, with Zika and the drug fiasco and rioting in Rio. It appears that Brasilians haven't taken too kindly to their recent coup, not unlike Turkey and Ukraine.
We have major wars in Yemen and Syria, with 'lesser' conflicts in Libya and Iraq, but the bloody list continues, radiating out from the Arabian incubator through Africa, Asia and Europe.
In addition to being one of the front lines for islamic jihad, Europe also has multiple forest fires, some started deliberately, but no use seeking a motive there, because we will never trust the answer anyway...
Ah well, best get back to the suitcase.
