29th Apr - 5th May 2020
There is some good news as a result of this virus 'panicdemic'. Nobody, as far as reports go, seems to have suffered from seasonal flu this year. Also, many people and organisations have benefitted. These include those now happily working from home and not having to traipse into an office every day. Then there are those who have been 'stood-down' (I'm trying to avoid the dreadful American word 'furlough') from jobs they may have found tedious and taxing, on 80% of normal pay, and can now blissfully spend their time at home drinking beer and watching Netflix. Companies have the luxury of being able to dispose of expensive 'deadwood' in their offices without the need to compensate; and all this is being paid for by our generous Government, ie. us, for at least a generation to come. It will be difficult to persuade some of the idle bastards to go back to work or dig fearful fainthearts out of their burrows when the lockdown is considered over. I'm sure many commercial organisations have managed to profit enormously from the situation such as home delivery services, especially Amazon, internet and TV service providers (Zoom?), bicycle suppliers and not least the manufacturers of PPE and the pharmaceutical companies. The big 'pharma' company that manages to produce the required magical vaccine will, if you'll excuse the expression, make an absolute killing.
I had a conversation with a friend whose daughter works as a nurse in the NHS. She works in the cancer department of a large hospital. She (the nurse) said that she had never been so underworked in all her career. There have been very few cancer patients to deal with, and the same is true of other departments. She spends lots of time now hanging about chatting and drinking coffee! Her colleagues 'the front line heroes' dealing with the coronavirus patients were mostly very happy and enjoying the cameradie and the challenge. They were also benefitting from lots of perks and basking in the glow of public adulation. On the down side she also mentioned that there were some 'less than conscientious' nurses who had deliberately self-isolated to avoid coming in. The NHS has now become like a religion. All NHS staff are regarded as sacred beings. Any slight criticism is viewed as blasphemy and those who do not praise and glorify enough are condemned as heretics and likely to be stoned to death. In fact there have been many serious failings in the NHS at the managerial (well paid) level. It has been the beneficiary of oodles of charity donations, including the £33m courtesy of Capt/Col Tom and his team of advisers and hangers-on. Where and to whom does this money actually go? Fees? Commissions? Expenses? Wages? Equipment? We shall probably never know for certain.....just 'The NHS' and everyone feels better. Lots of others are jumping, or more likely being lifted, onto this bandwagon. I have just read of a 102 year-old lady who is going to hobble around her garden, or maybe swim the channel in her bath, for similar reasons. As I said previously, I have a high regard for all the doctors, nurses and other staff in the hospitals. They do, and always have done, a magnificent job, and so they should, but then other people are doing equally noble and sometimes unpleasant things to keep us going. Think of all the workers keeping the sewage, electricity, water systems, etc. up and running and many others in 'essential' services. They do not attract such recognition, or perks.
I found a couple of photos. One taken of a group of nurses in the 1960s (left). So smart and trim with a stern looking matron on the right to keep them in order.
Right: Another pic of a group of nurses taken recently. I'm sure they all do an excellent job but I couldn't help noticing that they are rather less well turned out and carry substantially more 'condition' (ie. fat)! I would have thought that with all the encouragement from National Health England (another bureaucracy that has screwed up badly) to stay healthily slim (coronavirus is more lethal for the obese) that our nursing staff might have taken note. Famine is definitely not an issue here.
I still regard this mawkish, naff and unBritish clapping and cheering of the NHS (and now carers I believe) on Thursday nights with disdain and as pure 'virtue signalling'; as for people sticking rainbow pictures in their windows.....yuk! I expect sooner or later some righteous lynch mob will drag me out of my house, tie me to a lamp post and tar and feather me. Again, and I hope he won't mind me repeating his story, the admirable Rod Liddle (Spectator columnist) has an interesting take on this. He lives in a remote village and was rung up recently by Majestic Wine Merchants to query a delivery order. They said there must be a mistake because they had just received his order for 18 bottles of wine but had delivered the same only 5 days previously. Mr Liddle said " no mistake, that's correct, you must realise that there are two of us living here". He goes out of his house at 8.00pm on Thursdays to clap the Majestic Wines delivery service.....if he can stand up, he adds.
I had another semi-success this week. Another item on my lengthening TTD list has been crossed out. I managed to replace the filter on the extractor fan above my cooker. The lady who sold me the new filter said this should be done every few months. I hadn't done it for 5 years! The problem was that congealed fat and debris was strewn all over the work surfaces, the floor, the cupboard doors and me. This called for a large clean up operation which, to date, has only been partially completed.
I had an interesting experience in a long queue at the local Tesco store a couple of days ago. A chap behind me was wearing a face mask and plastic gloves. His mobile phone rang. He took his phone from his pocket then removed the snot infected bug trap from his face to talk. Holding the bug trap in one gloved hand he then spoke and coughed into his phone. He then put the phone back into his pocket and put his mask back on. Of course by now any nasty bugs he may have possessed were liberally spread over his gloves, face and mobile phone. I couldn't resist very politely pointing this out to him. He was an amiable chap, fortunately, and just said "gosh, I hadn't thought about that"! That is the problem. Better if he had not been wearing a mask in the first place, and the gloves were of no further use!
I read a comprehensive list of 212 countries, on the 'Worldometer' internet website, which have been affected by this blasted virus and it gives daily updates on how many cases of Covid-19 they have recorded and deaths therefrom. It is quite revealing. It seems that less developed countries have had much fewer, some to the point of negligible, percentage-wise, fatalities, especially in the Sub-Continent and Far East. Even allowing for some faulty recording the stats appear consistent and believable. Compared to the carnage apparent in Europe and the USA, and maybe parts of South America, the rest of the world is relatively unscathed. As at 5th May India, pop 1.3 billion has recorded 1,695 deaths, Pakistan, pop 133 million 526 deaths, Thailand, pop 70 million, 55 deaths, Vietnam, pop 97 million, 0 deaths. I am in no way qualified to say why this is; perhaps they orchestrated a much more effective isolation, testing and tracking system? Or, my other thought is that the populations of these countries have not been so prone to obsessive hygiene regulations, nor filled with vaccines, pills and antibiotics and have as a result developed a much stronger natural immune system than our more 'health conscious' Western peoples who have been protected from just about everything, until now. I attach below a link to this list which you might find interesting. I suspect you won't be able to 'click on' it to open here but can copy the address to your Google search bar.
There is some good news as a result of this virus 'panicdemic'. Nobody, as far as reports go, seems to have suffered from seasonal flu this year. Also, many people and organisations have benefitted. These include those now happily working from home and not having to traipse into an office every day. Then there are those who have been 'stood-down' (I'm trying to avoid the dreadful American word 'furlough') from jobs they may have found tedious and taxing, on 80% of normal pay, and can now blissfully spend their time at home drinking beer and watching Netflix. Companies have the luxury of being able to dispose of expensive 'deadwood' in their offices without the need to compensate; and all this is being paid for by our generous Government, ie. us, for at least a generation to come. It will be difficult to persuade some of the idle bastards to go back to work or dig fearful fainthearts out of their burrows when the lockdown is considered over. I'm sure many commercial organisations have managed to profit enormously from the situation such as home delivery services, especially Amazon, internet and TV service providers (Zoom?), bicycle suppliers and not least the manufacturers of PPE and the pharmaceutical companies. The big 'pharma' company that manages to produce the required magical vaccine will, if you'll excuse the expression, make an absolute killing.I had a conversation with a friend whose daughter works as a nurse in the NHS. She works in the cancer department of a large hospital. She (the nurse) said that she had never been so underworked in all her career. There have been very few cancer patients to deal with, and the same is true of other departments. She spends lots of time now hanging about chatting and drinking coffee! Her colleagues 'the front line heroes' dealing with the coronavirus patients were mostly very happy and enjoying the cameradie and the challenge. They were also benefitting from lots of perks and basking in the glow of public adulation. On the down side she also mentioned that there were some 'less than conscientious' nurses who had deliberately self-isolated to avoid coming in. The NHS has now become like a religion. All NHS staff are regarded as sacred beings. Any slight criticism is viewed as blasphemy and those who do not praise and glorify enough are condemned as heretics and likely to be stoned to death. In fact there have been many serious failings in the NHS at the managerial (well paid) level. It has been the beneficiary of oodles of charity donations, including the £33m courtesy of Capt/Col Tom and his team of advisers and hangers-on. Where and to whom does this money actually go? Fees? Commissions? Expenses? Wages? Equipment? We shall probably never know for certain.....just 'The NHS' and everyone feels better. Lots of others are jumping, or more likely being lifted, onto this bandwagon. I have just read of a 102 year-old lady who is going to hobble around her garden, or maybe swim the channel in her bath, for similar reasons. As I said previously, I have a high regard for all the doctors, nurses and other staff in the hospitals. They do, and always have done, a magnificent job, and so they should, but then other people are doing equally noble and sometimes unpleasant things to keep us going. Think of all the workers keeping the sewage, electricity, water systems, etc. up and running and many others in 'essential' services. They do not attract such recognition, or perks.
I found a couple of photos. One taken of a group of nurses in the 1960s (left). So smart and trim with a stern looking matron on the right to keep them in order.
Right: Another pic of a group of nurses taken recently. I'm sure they all do an excellent job but I couldn't help noticing that they are rather less well turned out and carry substantially more 'condition' (ie. fat)! I would have thought that with all the encouragement from National Health England (another bureaucracy that has screwed up badly) to stay healthily slim (coronavirus is more lethal for the obese) that our nursing staff might have taken note. Famine is definitely not an issue here.
I still regard this mawkish, naff and unBritish clapping and cheering of the NHS (and now carers I believe) on Thursday nights with disdain and as pure 'virtue signalling'; as for people sticking rainbow pictures in their windows.....yuk! I expect sooner or later some righteous lynch mob will drag me out of my house, tie me to a lamp post and tar and feather me. Again, and I hope he won't mind me repeating his story, the admirable Rod Liddle (Spectator columnist) has an interesting take on this. He lives in a remote village and was rung up recently by Majestic Wine Merchants to query a delivery order. They said there must be a mistake because they had just received his order for 18 bottles of wine but had delivered the same only 5 days previously. Mr Liddle said " no mistake, that's correct, you must realise that there are two of us living here". He goes out of his house at 8.00pm on Thursdays to clap the Majestic Wines delivery service.....if he can stand up, he adds.
I had another semi-success this week. Another item on my lengthening TTD list has been crossed out. I managed to replace the filter on the extractor fan above my cooker. The lady who sold me the new filter said this should be done every few months. I hadn't done it for 5 years! The problem was that congealed fat and debris was strewn all over the work surfaces, the floor, the cupboard doors and me. This called for a large clean up operation which, to date, has only been partially completed.
I read a comprehensive list of 212 countries, on the 'Worldometer' internet website, which have been affected by this blasted virus and it gives daily updates on how many cases of Covid-19 they have recorded and deaths therefrom. It is quite revealing. It seems that less developed countries have had much fewer, some to the point of negligible, percentage-wise, fatalities, especially in the Sub-Continent and Far East. Even allowing for some faulty recording the stats appear consistent and believable. Compared to the carnage apparent in Europe and the USA, and maybe parts of South America, the rest of the world is relatively unscathed. As at 5th May India, pop 1.3 billion has recorded 1,695 deaths, Pakistan, pop 133 million 526 deaths, Thailand, pop 70 million, 55 deaths, Vietnam, pop 97 million, 0 deaths. I am in no way qualified to say why this is; perhaps they orchestrated a much more effective isolation, testing and tracking system? Or, my other thought is that the populations of these countries have not been so prone to obsessive hygiene regulations, nor filled with vaccines, pills and antibiotics and have as a result developed a much stronger natural immune system than our more 'health conscious' Western peoples who have been protected from just about everything, until now. I attach below a link to this list which you might find interesting. I suspect you won't be able to 'click on' it to open here but can copy the address to your Google search bar.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
I switch on the BBC TV evening news and listen to the headlines. If, as has been the case for the past 6 weeks or more, all the topics are coronavirus related I now just switch off again. I'm sure I am not alone doing this. We celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day on Friday 8th. It has been declared a public holiday, but I haven't a clue how anyone will be expected to celebrate this while in pestilential lockdown. Maybe I will play old Vera Lynn songs on a loudspeaker outside my front door. It might even feature on the TV news. At least all the silly #MeToo allegers have taken a back seat (for the time being) and thankfully the juvenile antics of the Extinction Rebellion climate change zealots have been snuffed out. I haven't heard much about any knife crime either recently (such a popular subject earlier in the year), but I suppose it's difficult to knife someone if you have to maintain 'social distancing'.
Thus self-isolating, social-distancing and furloughed with rigorous hand washing and plenty of gifting I am doing my bit to flatten the curve and squash the sombrero so there won't be an uptick in a second wave or spike to overwhelm the front line heroes of the NHS and carers in the local nursing home which is presumably short of PPE and, increasingly, elderly, frail and vulnerable inmates with underlying causes , but greatly helped by putting a rainbow picture in my window and clapping at 8.00pm on Thursdays before we can achieve herd immunity or a vaccine while non-essential workers stay home and stay safe with their loved ones.
Actually this is a load of rubbish, I only write it to demonstrate my new found fluency in 'Covidese'.
I have just read that we Britons are the most fearful of all nations regarding this virus. I am not surprised considering the doom-ridden scare stories we endure from the media and Government. I see the evidence in the frightened little mouse-like people who scuttle around our town wearing their face masks and plastic gloves avoiding, at all costs, their fellow citizens. Most accept unquestioningly any dictats, however nonsensical, from our increasingly authoritarian Government. If the 'experts' told us that to reduce the chance of infection we should stand in a bucket of cold water and sing 'God Save the Queen' every night before going to bed, many would unhesitatingly do so! Oh woe!
My motto; "BOLLOCKS TO THE BUG"
I switch on the BBC TV evening news and listen to the headlines. If, as has been the case for the past 6 weeks or more, all the topics are coronavirus related I now just switch off again. I'm sure I am not alone doing this. We celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day on Friday 8th. It has been declared a public holiday, but I haven't a clue how anyone will be expected to celebrate this while in pestilential lockdown. Maybe I will play old Vera Lynn songs on a loudspeaker outside my front door. It might even feature on the TV news. At least all the silly #MeToo allegers have taken a back seat (for the time being) and thankfully the juvenile antics of the Extinction Rebellion climate change zealots have been snuffed out. I haven't heard much about any knife crime either recently (such a popular subject earlier in the year), but I suppose it's difficult to knife someone if you have to maintain 'social distancing'.
Thus self-isolating, social-distancing and furloughed with rigorous hand washing and plenty of gifting I am doing my bit to flatten the curve and squash the sombrero so there won't be an uptick in a second wave or spike to overwhelm the front line heroes of the NHS and carers in the local nursing home which is presumably short of PPE and, increasingly, elderly, frail and vulnerable inmates with underlying causes , but greatly helped by putting a rainbow picture in my window and clapping at 8.00pm on Thursdays before we can achieve herd immunity or a vaccine while non-essential workers stay home and stay safe with their loved ones.Actually this is a load of rubbish, I only write it to demonstrate my new found fluency in 'Covidese'.
I have just read that we Britons are the most fearful of all nations regarding this virus. I am not surprised considering the doom-ridden scare stories we endure from the media and Government. I see the evidence in the frightened little mouse-like people who scuttle around our town wearing their face masks and plastic gloves avoiding, at all costs, their fellow citizens. Most accept unquestioningly any dictats, however nonsensical, from our increasingly authoritarian Government. If the 'experts' told us that to reduce the chance of infection we should stand in a bucket of cold water and sing 'God Save the Queen' every night before going to bed, many would unhesitatingly do so! Oh woe!
My motto; "BOLLOCKS TO THE BUG"
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