It all started during the pandemic with the streets and parking lots suddenly empty.

I like people and crowds. I missed them.

The stress made my mind wander. Nothing felt normal and life was pretty boring, plus I sucked at pandemic productivity and trendy activities, so I started to obsess over details I wouldn’t have noticed months before.

Like this black car that circled the neighbourhood in Ottawa for months—probably an unmarked police car sent to make sure everybody was complying with social distancing.

Pandemic restrictions are over, the streets are lively, and I can enjoy people-watching again but I learned how to pay attention to details hidden in the background.

I can’t unsee them now.

My new obsession is the telehandler mystery in Nantes.

Last spring, I started noticing quite a few orange telehandlers parked in downtown Nantes. One was right in front of my mum’s building, badly camouflaged behind a tree—it would change position every day, extended or folded (insert dirty joke here) depending on… the weather? The moon? The tides?

We started joking about it because it stayed there for an entire month, and we never saw anyone operating it.

Now, the telehandlers have multiplied. I spot them in every corner of Nantes, bright orange or light red. Most of the time, they are just parked, waiting for mysterious instructions—and maybe an operator.

Or maybe they don’t need an operator.

Maybe they are plotting against us, waiting for the right moment to take over the world.

Forget about AI takeover.

My money is on orange telehandlers.