If it were left up to me, I wouldn’t go away in winter. Truth be told, I probably wouldn’t travel anywhere at any time.

For the loneliness and unfocused anxiety, the smug indifference to the environment, the dreary boredom of life in the technological society, the sovereign cure is a well-organized New England storm.

Well, the first two weeks of 2015 have already brought a jarring handful of ominous tidings for our near future here.

Don’t rock the boat. That was the slogan plastered on buttons and bumper stickers in the 1990s when Islanders went to Beacon Hill to fight for control of the Steamship Authority, the boat line that is their lifeline.

There was a light dusting of snow Thursday, but it felt more like something to sprinkle on a six-year-old’s birthday cake.