Flying circles

Thinkers living in the nearest market town are anxious about something called ‘Peak Oil’. Last week they held a public meeting on the subject: To Fly Or Not To Fly? The venue was a centuries-old meeting room beautifully decorated in the Tudor style, with an elaborate moulded plaster ceiling and monumental stone fireplace.

About 30 people turned up. It wasn’t particularly cold outside but, to judge by the layers of fleece and fibre, and the number of hats, scarves and gloves being tugged off as they made their entrance via a heavy velvet curtain, many were as concerned about the temperature of themselves as they were about that of the planet.

Before we got down to business we played a game. A cheerful-faced woman described the rules, which were as follows. One side of the room represented ‘yes’; the other side, ‘no’. The central area was ‘maybe’ or ‘don’t know’. She then read out a succession of questions, and we went and stood in the part of the room that best represented our responses.