8th - 14th Apr 2020
Right: More risky DIY. There was a blockage in the plug socket. I sense that valuable hospital bed space is indeed in danger of being taken up.
Left: Not mine, but I have something similar.
Rt:...............At least the cherry tree was blooming. If it's a cherry tree. Might be a gooseberry bush for all I know!
Easter weekend came and went and, as rather expected, Boris rose from the dead. Good for him and no doubt this will have done his political standing no harm at all. His resilience and impeccable timing have never been in doubt.
Life in isolation has never been a problem for me; in fact I find it rather relaxing frankly with no obligation to do anything or even speak to anyone if I don't want to. OK, a bit boring at times as there is very little to see or do on the occasions when I do escape my lair, but I have still paid a daily visit (except Easter Monday when it was closed) to the hardware shop for a chat and on to the Co-op shop for 'essential' supplies. One of which is a newspaper, or more accurately described nowadays a 'coronavirus statistics report'. There are still queues around the car park at Tesco so I don't bother to join those. One episode of semi-excitement occurred when I was wandering along the High Street. A lady was walking down the pavement when she spotted, at the last moment, someone approaching her head on from the opposite direction (not me I hasten to add). In her paranoid 'don't come near me or I will die' state of mind she leapt into the road and was very narrowly missed by a speeding car which had to brake suddenly and swerve. If she had been run over and killed would that have been considered a 'Covid-19 related death'?
My TTD list has not reduced much but I actually did something on it. This was a big something. The weather was fine and I decided, at last, to paint the fence running down the side of my house. This task was not without an element of danger. It involved perching on a narrow ledge about 5 feet above the pavement while holding, as far as possible, the top of the fence. A slip would have involved a painful, if not lethal, fall and possibly a hospital visit to take up valuable space in an overrun NHS ward somewhere, not to mention spilling a tin of expensive paint. That took a total of 6 hours painting over two sessions. Left: I hope you are impressed by the result. I was. Took me a day or two to recover from my exertions.
I'm still continuing with the 'jogging'. A two-mile stumble across the Common and down a road and back. I remember doing that distance, a long time ago, in about 15 minutes. I won't embarrass myself by telling you how long it takes now. Suffice to say about twice as long would not be far off. At least it raises my heart rate and makes me sweat which, until I collapse from a coronary, hopefully keeps me fit. In fact, just to set a good example to the 'self-isolation' zealots, I now only do this every other day. Again, I do not like selfishly to risk being carted off to take up valuable NHS bed space.
Right: More risky DIY. There was a blockage in the plug socket. I sense that valuable hospital bed space is indeed in danger of being taken up.
Just out of interest; I have been in regular comms with an ex-colleague who lives in Vietnam. They have been in lockdown since 1st April, but he says this is due to be relaxed on the 16th, possibly. He tells me (and he is a senior guy; sensible, reliable and well informed) that the deaths from all respiratory diseases in Vietnam, a country of 98 million people mostly living in crowded cities, cold in the north and warm in the south, have been, so far, of entirely normal proportions with about 200 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and as far as he is aware no (zero) deaths specifically from that, and he has many contacts out there that confirm this. Indeed for most countries around that part of the world (excluding China) the recent mortality rate has been normal for this time of year. It is curious to compare these figures with the carnage reported in Europe and the USA (predominantly New York). I can’t get my head around it, and have no reason to doubt the veracity of his reports. Why should they be so different to us?
I think it may be something to do with an inherent acquired immunity, from which we in the West have been long protected hence very vulnerable! I really have no answer.
I am also becoming rather cynical about our ‘statistics’ which link any respiratory illness and death to Covid-19, even those who have died of other things (ie heart attacks) who tested to ‘be with’ Covid-19. Anyway, our public have been suitably panicked..unlike the Vietnamese who are rather more resilient and pragmatic and take these things on the Ho Chi Chin!
He sent me an interesting and fairly up to date ‘chart’, which appears legit, listing comprehensive figures relating to this virus on which you can scroll down the figures for every country and tap onto the map in the centre. Quite revealing. Anyway I attach the link below for your perusal if you are interested. I have a feeling it will not 'click open' on this blogsite.....so if you are that interested you will have highlight and copy it into a search bar.
I expect we will be encouraged to go out again on Thursday at 8.00pm to clap and bang tins to applaud out heroic NHS workers. As I mentioned in the previous, I have every admiration for our NHS workers (alongside all others who are still catering for our needs), but I find it somewhat of a 'virtue signalling' exercise and faintly 'unBritish'. A retired doctor and newspaper columnist, Dr Theodore Dalrymple, who is now holed up in Paris with his wife and mother-in-law (Heaven help him) wrote an article recently including his thoughts on this which I hope he won't mind me repeating verbatim. He wrote:
'The people in my street lean out of their windows and clap. They are applauding the staff of health services that are responding to the epidemic. My wife has made new acquaintances thereby, but I do not join in because I find the gesture both empty and kitsch, as well as mildly intimidating. If you do not join in, does it mean that you do not appreciate the health workers and are therefore not a decent, grateful person? I have noticed a tendency for the applause to last longer, and for people to add ululations to it. I am a little reminded of the speeches of communist leaders, with which it was hazardous to be the first to cease to applaud'.
Left: Not mine, but I have something similar.
Rt:...............At least the cherry tree was blooming. If it's a cherry tree. Might be a gooseberry bush for all I know!
I can't think of anything else to report, let alone anything interesting. I might add to this or wait another week before posting further inspiring thoughts and comment, and maybe try to rustle up some photos.
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