Perhaps two years ago I saw this definitive statement on a newspaper: free lunches no longer exist. The story had a very specific topic, but the title invites a more general interpretation. It seems to suggest that everything, down to the most trivial entity, always has a price. For me, this is not true, and I dread the moment when (if it ever happens) that I feel obliged to attach a price tag to the time I use for any single purpose. I've done that a few times and it feels absurd. Maybe I should, from now on, only count things that can be stolen. Time cannot. As far as I know, this is why some African people are not too particular about their exact ages. But they do count their sheep carefully.

At least free rides still exist. I've been getting a lot of them. Unfortunately, it looks like there are lots of them available in world politics too, especially in environmental issues.

I'm going downstairs now, to make myself a free lunch. 20:23