30 August

Sometimes you go to a wedding or a party, and it rocks. Other times it's a bit meh, it doesn't have a spark. I've worked with a few event managers, whose job it is to try to put on events that have that spark. It occurred to me that this work is trying to fill the void left by our disappearing traditions. Sometimes events become traditions, so it can be a sort of seeding mechanism. But I'd be skeptical of how long these events will actually last, compared to old traditions. It's a window onto our world I think, that we have to employ people to try to paper over our lack of traditions. Like those weddings where the whole wedding party does a twee choreographed dance, desperately trying to reanimate an old institution. The instinct is sound, they know deep down the institution is dead. But you can't fix a multi-generational tradition with choreography. Time is out of joint.