Went for the Kia, left with a Mercedes; Photos in the deep; The LA fires
3 Things this week and a zinger from T.S. Eliot
Thanks for spending some of your weekend with Things I Wrote Down. I couldn’t help myself. I had to share a stanza from T.S. Eliot.
Hope you’re staying warm as we enter the third week of January. Here are three things, and some exquisite verse.
1. Went for the Kia, left with a Mercedes
There's something about a free upgrade. The immediate but temporary experience of what life is like with more—a better seat, legroom and champagne, or in my case this week, a luxury SUV.
I took a work trip to Nashville where the food lives up to the rumours and Taco Bell’s have live bands. Don't worry, I didn't eat at Taco Bell 😀.
When I went to pick up my rental, a Kia sedan, all they had for me was a Mercedes SUV. As someone who buys vehicles used and drives (and loves!) a 2014 Nissan Rogue, this was a special experience.
Flashback: One time I got an upgrade to business class on Singapore Air to Malaysia. I felt like a king. Security almost had to remove me from the aircraft because I didn't want to leave. How many peanut packs could I reasonably take without looking like the Beverly Hillbilly of air travel?
The experience reminded me of this comedic bit:
I hope you get an upgrade in ‘25.
If you have an upgrade story, I’d love to hear it. Drop a comment!
2. Photos in the deep
If you were to break a world record, what would you go after? World’s most sit ups? The most coffees consumed in a 48 hour period? The loudest yawn?
The National Post reported on this world-record-breaking photo shoot by two Canadians who reclaimed their record after a deep dive off the coast in Florida.
The shoot, which required multiple tanks of oxygen, required decompression and special training on the sea floor 50 meters underwater. It’s a stunning shot and a pretty cool story.
3. The LA fires
It’s awful to watch. The stories and images out of LA are horrific as 24 people are now reported dead, over 12,000 homes destroyed, and more than $250 billion in damages have forever changed the city.
The knives, also, are out. And rightly so. While some are saying it was inevitable, reports of mismanagement and unpreparedness are truly shocking.
Michael Shellenberger has provided insightful and clear-headed analysis. His reporting has surfaced that officials “defunded the fire department, drained the reservoir, and cut the budget for fire prevention.” He’s appeared on numerous podcasts and reported on his Substack that incompetence and nihilistic ideology are also sparks that lit the fire.
He also spoke with a whistleblower, a 40-year veteran of one of the 29 fire departments in Los Angeles County, who revealed the shocking series of failures by state and city leaders. The reports, confirmed by the LA Times, reveal that among other compounding failures, officials didn’t place fire trucks around the city before the fires in preparation of a blaze, even and after multiple warnings by the National Weather Service of perfect conditions for a big fire. They also have 100 fire engines awaiting repairs still sitting unused as the hills burn.
The slow response, as you may have heard, is in part due to the absence of the mayor when key decisions were required. The timeline of her travel itinerary looks rather damning.
While competent leadership clearly matters to prevent and respond to crisis, it’s amazing to see the goodness and kindness in others on display, even when fire and failed leadership wreak havoc.,
I’ve been following the story of Chef Andrew Gruel and his wife Lauren who own Calico Fish House in Orange County and whose restaurant has become an epicentre of volunteer relief efforts.
It’s amazing to see how people come together to show love in practical ways. And you can follow that sort of beautiful humanity live online.
A poem
Today feels like a day to share some T.S. Eliot. The fourth stanza of his poem Little Gidding talks about fire. And it stops me in my tracks. I’ve linked to the full poem, if you’re looking for some verse to read at length on a weekend in January.
Here’s one exquisite stanza. Breathe it in!
IV
The dove descending breaks the air
With flame of incandescent terror
Of which the tongues declare
The one dischage from sin and error.
The only hope, or else despair
Lies in the choice of pyre of pyre-
To be redeemed from fire by fire.
Who then devised the torment? Love.
Love is the unfamiliar Name
Behind the hands that wove
The intolerable shirt of flame
Which human power cannot remove.
We only live, only suspire
Consumed by either fire or fire.