It was a surprise – nay, a shock – at how much the cost of parsley went up in the past two days.

Yes, days, not weeks.

Now well over a dollar for a small bunch, it is a reflection of how costly the produce section is:  broccoli at $3.79/bunch; shallots at $4.99/pound; mushrooms at $6/pound.

Oxtails – once so cheap the butcher would give it to you for nothing, my parents told me years ago – now are well over $11/pound.  Oxtails are no longer considered scrap meat, for now they are gourmet.

I’m not telling you something you already don’t know; we’re all this same dilapidated boat.  It’s just that it’s such a shock at how fast these prices are rising.  Even gasoline.  One day, it was $2.99/gallon.  By the end of the same day, it was $3.49.  A couple of days ago, it shot up to $3.99 here, and I am willing to bet a dime to a doughnut it’s now $4.28/gallon.

All that increase in the space of less than one month.

Naturally, I am not telling you anything you already don’t know.  We are together all in this same dilapidated boat, floating down a stagnant and smelly river, with little hope of escape.

It is shocking that in the space of a little over 14 months, we can go from a relatively peaceful world, affordable, and optimistic, to a world of war, destitution, and nihilism.

And – we are told this is just the way it is, that it is our fault, and how dare we question why, so just accept it.  In the long run, and in many ways, this is pointing to The Powers That Be pushing the Moldy Green New Deal.

Yes, this is the cost of parsley.  The Powers That Be are about that smart.

What a bunch—

©2022ColcannonMetropolis excerpt from “Passage to Paradise”