Day 9

Got my old CD player working and dragged out one of our boxes, of our large collection, which I had packed up for storage. Took a few goes at loading but finally sprung to life. Life would be intolerable without music. Music expresses all emotions, is joyous and can make your body move in mysterious ways. We possess both a large vinyl and CD library. It is, cliched I know, an eclectic mix of rock, pop, r & b, jazz, classical and other styles.
I would be bereft if I was unable to listen each week to the various radio programmes, all of which I subscribe to on the BBC sounds app.
Music is life for me, I could no more live without it, than food and drink.

Today I will attempt food shopping. We have cut it to once a week. I go alone. I am not fond of doing it at the best of times but during these unprecedented events, it is a depressing experience. I will not repeat my opinion on the current shortage of various items. Suffice to say there are a few, whose shortage boggles my mind but that’s the nature of the public and their fear!

Fear is a strange bedfellow, though an understandable one. I have been frightened only rarely in my life. I don’t know if I ever been in fear of anything. Both Wendy and I are usually calm in most heightened situations.
We were discussing the other evening whether either of us have any phobias or fears. Neither of us have any phobias, certainly none of the well known ones, spiders, snakes, open spaces, claustrophobia etc. I have as I’ve aged, grown a little fearful of heights but this is more to do with specifically with ladders. I will climb them if necessary. My burgeoning career as a window cleaner was tragically cut short!
I suspect we’ve never been in a situation where fear was that heightened and I sincerely hope we never will be!

A word to those whose employment has been cut short, put on hold by this virus. If your employer has taken advantage of the Governments financial package, which I believe is 80%. Don’t be afraid to question it and seek clarification. If you have you employment contract, read it, make sure that your rights are not being brushed aside. Companies have to be strict in their adherence to legislation but this does not mean you are not entitled to challenge things if you are in doubt. 

Stay well

Day 8

Today’s highlight walking to the chemist to pick up Wendy’s prescription.
Went for ride on my bike yesterday, it is quiet, a bit like the seventies, for those of you who remember.

We have had to re-arrange our trip to Crete and postponed it until September (hopefully) A decision had to be made and we made it.
It is disappointing but compared too many a very minor thing. The upheaval in so many lives will be long lasting and fundamentally changed forever. Livelihoods and jobs have been destroyed and at a time when it was uncertain at tough enough already. Hindsight is a an odious thing but one wonders if you knew this was coming whether Brexit was such a good idea. Forgive me for the mention of a subject that is now completely unimportant in light of the current situation but where is Boris’s timetable now?

I read https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52094332 An article on the BBC by Matthew Syed, in which he espouses the idea that kindness is actually more progressive and empowering than just the its apparent usual view of being nice. Those who are kinder and team players will eventually overtake those of a more selfish nature who are trying to get ahead.
He also talks about turning the normal practices on there head and looking at them from a different perspective.....interesting.

What will the rest of today bring? Most days are predictable but something always happens that you weren’t expecting and those moments should cherished.
Cherish your unexpected moments

Stay well

Day 7
A week of isolation, where does the time fly?
Sunday turned into a flurry of room tiding. Only one problem with that in we only have so many rooms to tidy!
So what’s the plan for today? Thrill of any Monday morning the ironing and listening to Sound of the Seventies from yesterday. Then I might go for a bike ride. Well that’s the morning.
Does anyone else suffer from their fingers moving across the keyboard faster then there brain is thinking of the words and making lots of errors?
We had planned a walk to the chemist to pick up Wendy’s prescription but have decided to save until tomorrow. One must look forward to life small pleasures!!

I notice that the humour is becoming a landslide on Twitter as the days go by. It is amusing and typical of the British to meet serious issues with irreverent fun and why not.

What will this week bring? More of the same I guess? The news is the same everyday.
does anyone else think the guy on the NHS advert telling us to stay isolated etc looks creepy or possibly a kiddy fiddler? Just me okay!

Well that sal for today

More tales of high jinks tomorrow

Stay well

Day 6

Clocks firmly forward and now it is an hour later. Just had my regular breakfast of bacon, fried egg on toast and of course brown sauce.

Everyday I read something about Trump. I have hated very few if any people in my life but he is one of the most hateful men I have ever had the displeasure of knowing about. He is a subject I have written about many times since he began his Presidency but I have never been so bewildered as to how a nation elected him and then continues to allow him to be President.
I am bewildered how we elected Johnson but at least I understand it!

So yesterday no gardening or heavy lifting, it’s the weekend! Did write a piece for the Humanists of whom I’m a member. I am currently compiling a spreadsheet with historical publications that have Humanist themes. I am now writing profiles of a few of those publications. The first is on the Freethinker which you can find @ https://www.patheos.com/blogs/thefreethinker/

Wendy made scones. she complains about her baking but when she does I know they will turn out well and so it proved! Today I will be making bread. I enjoy baking and have been making two loaves each week for some time. I only hope there will be yeast available again soon, otherwise it will be soda bread!

The number of people infected is rising as is the death toll. It’s probably higher than reported not all cases have been recorded. We will be in lockdown for quite some time yet?

Watched Gerard Depardieu version of Cyrano de Bergerac last night and what a fine movie it is.

Just finished my morning stretching exercise courtesy of Wendy’s instruction. 

That’s all for today must save various thoughts for days to come and I fear there will be many

Stay well.

Wendy made me a new shirt jacket and I love it!

Day 5

So the PM has it and so does Prince Charles, well,well, well. The virus can affect anyone and everybody there is no escape unless we isolate ourselves, it is that simple. I could have chosen to be somewhat sarcastic about these establishment figures but the seriousness of this epidemic is there for all to see.
Wendy and I are of the opinion that enforced total isolation for at least 4 weeks would halt the spread but we understand that is completely impractical and would be impossible to control.

Started an exercise routine. I am lucky, Wendy is a Fitness Consultant and an expert in most forms of exercise. Yesterday was Pilates and this morning will be Yoga. I am not very flexible and this will help. It might help my golf swing as well.

Tidied the utility room late afternoon and in the cupboard I was elated to find a jar of crab paste, best before 2018 but lets live on the edge. Found a pile of Royal Dalton plates that we were given as a wedding present 40 years ago. Actually I found several piles of plates. It makes you wonder how you accumulate it all. 
Garden still being tidied. I’ve dug a lot, apart from needing to be done, I look at it as a substitute for some of my usual gym work!

We have become more creative in our menu. Digging in cupboards and pulling out all sorts of ingredients that have been unused or hidden. I may have said this before but if everyone looked in their larders and storage, freezers etc. I bet they would find enough food to feed themselves for a least a week! We waste so much, buy so much we never use. Maybe this might teach us to only get what we need when we need it?

I am retired (I know I’ve mentioned that several times) and at the best of times I can loose track of the days. This morning I looked on the BBC sounds app to play a downloaded programme and it took me a full minute to realise it was Saturday not Sunday and that’s why they we’re not there!

I spoke yesterday with my very good friend Kostas in Crete. They too are inisolation, like us all. A text needs to be sent to the authorities in order to get permission to leave your home, to exercise, supermarket or pharmacy or medical assistance the only things they can do. He lives in a beautiful seaside town called Agios Nikolaus. It is completely shut down. He went for a walk along the sea and told me it was a ghost town. He described it being like a empty film set!

So a full day ahead it’s 8.03 as I write this. Who knows what surprises and riches today will bring.

Day 4
Garden taking shape. Just been told by Wendy that China have banned eating wild animals, I replied what about the calm ones!
Vacuum stopped working most annoying. New motor on its way. I think we will be in!
Watching films so as to ration the TV programmes we normally watch.
Has been very sunny which at least is cheerful, it wont last but it has made it easier.
I missed the info for clapping for the NHS but I like many are grateful for all the emergency services. I only hope than when this is finally over they are not forgotten and everything just reverts to the state it was before this pandemic! There pressure will not be lessened, if anything it will increase as they try to catch up with all the the operations and other medical issues that have been postponed?
Don’t usually blog everyday but I have the time so why not.
Neighbours all seem to be okay and trying to stay positive. I make a point of speaking with them and if out walking or cycling saying good morning or afternoon to people.
Spoken to friends and family via this new video FaceTime thing, remarkable.
Still seeing scenes of people sin crowds at places like airports, why?
Lots of videos being launched by those who can no longer be there in person. I confess I find many of these to be victims of their own staged performance. Well I suppose that they are providing a service for those who want it.
Loaded Disney + on iPad, my sons subscription, so costs me nothing. Watched Jeff Goldblum show on Denim. Strange but entertaining. For those of you I have not bored with this before Mr Goldblum and I are exactly the same age to the day, 22nd October.

Well I’m signing off,  another day in doors, more tomorrow perhaps?

Day 3 of lockdown. for me it is not that much different from my normal activities. Apart from golf and the gym, I am pretty much doing what I usually do, with the added company of my wife (Which is fine)
One shop done, Sainsbury, depressing but understandable with all the precautions. 
Ive set-up a heath robinson golf wall in the garden. The garden, now there is a bonus, life would be less pleasant without that space. We are lucky.
I’ve undertaken some tasks which had been put off. Wendy and I were musing on how many men up and down the land suddenly had no more excuses not to do those jobs they had promised they would!
I have rode my bike and we have walked. Both normal activities for us.
I have never seen so many families out on bikes together or strolling about. fortunately the weather has been conducive to such activities. I even hung the washing outside.

The humour of about the current imposed lockdown and 19 in general has kept us amused and some has been laugh out loud. I am encouraged by the kindness and help that is happening. It is good to see that we are not selfish and only concerned with ourselves. 

We have taken to using video calling, something I’ve never really done. It is a way of feeling closer to family and friends and there is something reassuring about seeing them as well as talking. The conversations are longer.

I was heartened to read how many volunteered for the NHS. I did so myself.

Whilst this is a tragic event and one of the few that in my lifetime that is world wide , I think it might give people time to reflect and spend time they otherwise would not have as families. Maybe some will come out of this with a desire to do the thing they really want to or perhaps with a different perspective on how they live.

At this time we must also think about those not so fortunate, who virus or no virus live with hardship and in poor conditions. Those who suffer from all types of problems. The homeless, mentally ill, addicts and so many more.
Other countries that are thus far suffering far more than the UK. Those that are still to be affected as surely they will be.

Stay safe, follow the rules, they are not just for your benefit but for everyone’s!

Lockdown

So finally the lock down has been imposed, oh boo hoo! Isolation what a bore! I have to spend time at home how will I occupy my tortured mind! I won’t have all that comforting stuff that I do normally because others have had to stop as well!
What a selfish bunch of pampered humans we have become. I won’t be able to do that, I can’t do this, it’s pathetic. So used to having whatever we want, we can’t last for even a short period in our own homes without thinking we are being deprived. There are others who are having to continue because the rest of us lazy selfish bastards depend on them.
While we are saddled with hours and hours of TV. It’s not exactly we will fight them on the beaches is it.
I saw Piers Morgans rant about how we are not being asked to sacrifice like they did in WW2 and whilst I am always uncomfortable with that analogy, he has a point. What a bunch whining numpties we have become, so used to having what we want, we cant do what is right even if it is for the good of all.
I appreciate there are many in society, who often through no fault of there own are not as fortunate or protected as most of us. There are vulnerable people everywhere, old people on their own, homeless, those in more isolated areas and we need to be mindful of all the many who continue to work and expose themselves because their jobs are vital and essential.
I am going to adhere to the lock down simply because it is the right thing to do not just for me but for everybody. We are not being heroic, that is reserved for the NHS staff and emergency services etc.
I bet like us, if you rifle through your cupboards and freezers you will find all sorts of supplies you can live on. Will there be a better time to reduce what you eat and maybe get yourself into a regular exercise routine? Now is the time to be inventive and maybe try those activities you either put off or have not ever tried. Painting, drawing, writing, singing. Have you an instrument you’ve neglected or purchased and never really learnt to play? Everything is out there on the internet, lessons and instructions on how do anything under the sun. I can hear those of a sarcastic or irreverent bent, suggesting all sort of unpleasant or weird stuff, as they read this but let’s behave shall we!

Human’s have survived every imaginable event throughout history and although there are always casualties, we continue to progress and live together mostly in harmony. This temporary isolation is merely a blip and a necessary one, I urge you to adhere to it.

Community

I’m not sure whether it’s complete madness  but one thing for sure this virus pandemic is certainly highlighting every type of human behaviour. In the area where I live generally it seems people are behaving mostly okay. Yes the supermarket shelves are bare of all the goods that everyone is experiencing. So far we only have two confirmed cases. From a population of over 700,000 not to bad. So far.
I am retired and spend a lot of time in my house writing , drawing as well as all the usual tasks that need doing everyday. I am not to bothered about being isolated at home and I could do with loosing a few pounds! I am perfectly happy in my own company after 67 years I should be. I can get lost in writing and music, as I do already.
Perhaps isolation from each other will not be a bad thing. After all isn’t this the “me” generation! Maybe once it is safe again we will find that we actually might enjoy each other’s company? I understand the massive disruption this causes in peoples lives and I am not belittling any of the damage and hardship it will cause.
There are those who already do and will show complete disregard for all the advice and precautions we should be taking. Predictable really. There are always those who think they know better and care little for anybody but themselves.These are often people who should be isolated even when no virus is threatening us.
I will try be kind and if my help is required will give it freely. I hope that most will do the same.
Like all things, it will pass and in years to come we will look back and say “Remember that horrible virus of 2020”. I hope lessons are learned and when, not if another virus hits we will be better prepared.
We are often accused of being a nation that no longer knows our neighbours and have become unsociable and have lost all sense of community. It is an accusation I have often levelled myself and am probably guilty of being part of the problem. My hope is that this “crisis” will change that and self isolated or not we will emerge out the other side being kinder and with more inclusiveness and community spirit?
One can hope!

Inspiration

I just started reading Susan Calman’s book Sunny Side Up. I’m on chapter three, so near the start. I like her. I’ve watched her programmes on touring Scotland and her enthusiasm and charm are infectious. 
I was unaware of her publicly stated troubles with depression but from her public persona you would never know. I suppose she is not the first performer whose public image hides a darker side. She has certainly battled her demons. 
I like her cheerfulness. She has made a conscious effort to become happier and you should applaud anyone for that, whether well known or not. 
My wife has gone through a similar process having fallen into depression. Whilst she has slowly dragged herself up from her worse times she is still plagued with the spectre of that dark place and could oh so easily slip. Like Susan she endeavours to try and be happy. In addition she also has to cope with Fibromyalgia an insidious condition that has multiple symptoms and physical effects. I marvel at her strength. Ironically she is a Fitness Consultant and deals with people who are always complaining about their condition not realising that the person they are talking to is far worse off than they are! Her own fitness is one of her strengths and without it she her condition would be much worse.
A word to about the partners, friends and family of those who suffer from any debilitating disease. They suffer to. I don’t mean to be selfish. For a long while I felt as though I was treading on eggshells around her (still am now and then) I was careful what I said or said nothing at all (most unlike me) not knowing what might trigger her frustration and anger. To me it felt like she bit my head for no apparent reason, I never knew what might irritate her. There is always an upside a lesson to be learned. Mine was patience. I was never the most patient of men but her condition taught me to be circumspect and to hold back. There were (and are) times when the dam burst and words were said, harsh words, angry words but we’ve always been able to overcome our heated arguments and they are almost always trivial and over the most insignificant stuff.
At the risk of sounding glib, marriage truly is for better or worse, in sickness an in health, for richer for poorer. These are not just bland words spoken at a ceremony, they are real commitments. We may joke about them and why not but they have real meaning. My wife has supported me over nearly forty years of marriage. She coped with everything when I was close to death having contracted Leukaemia and has always stood by and supported me throughout our years together. Without her I would not be the person I am, a better person. She would say the same about me (I hope!)
She has benefited from her depression and that might sound contrary but it has allowed her to express her feelings better than before and with the help of a Wellness nurse she has come to understand how her childhood has had a strong bearing on her adult life and the resentment it has caused. 
I’m lucky, I am a person who has always been able to express how I feel and whilst I have had some dark moments I’ve never slid into any form of depression. For years I would try and “fix” my wife (that’s what men do) but you can only fix yourself and all you can do is help and remain supportive. 
The first step of any recovery is the admission that there is a problem and that you want to do something about it.

Well I digressed somewhat from Susan Calman and her latest book! She (though she’ll never read this) would appreciate that as her writing has a tendency to do the same. Reading her prose I am feel like I reading the thoughts of a kindred spirit not only in the way she writes but the subject matter is about being kind and having more joy in the your life and the world and I could not agree more.
As soon as I started reading (I’d forgotten I had downloaded it) having just finished the first Game of Thrones (which seemed to go on forever, good though) I was immediately smiling and was heartened to find another whose rambling style seemed so akin to my own. I’m considerably older than Susan so I guess I was there first! When she expressed her admiration for Victoria wood and quoted “beat on the bottom with the women’s weekly” and “two soups” I knew she was my kind of woman. I showed the paragraph to my wife who smiled and nodded her approval. (she had her earplugs in).
I am looking forward to reading the rest, if it’s as amusing as the start then a joy it will be. 
Susan is quite right we do not talk about joy and kindness enough in this troubled world. If you read any of my previous blogs, I mention these two words often.
As Susan says, it only has to be small things, were not looking to have mass kindness or joyful pandemic’s just for each person to exercise being kind and experiencing joy in whatever form suits you. 
It’s not even a hard thing and really we should not even have to encourage people, it is as natural as breathing.
I hope you never experience any lows and I wish your highs are plentiful.
Smile!

Peace love and understanding

Apparently we have a pandemic? Whilst I would not minimise the risks involved with the Corona virus and I am no medical or scientific expert, it does seem the world has gone even madder than usual.
This is going to sound a little contrary but I believe this is actually a good thing. This is an illness that affects everyone in most if not all area’s of the planet and therefore is a shared experience. Perhaps just perhaps it will if only for a brief time halt the daily conflict and hate that seems to infuse our lives. I am not stupid I realise this virus can also fuel the vitriol. It will be used for propaganda purposes and some strands of the media will whip up panic and tell us how terrible it all is. Leaders and governments will be damned whatever stance they take. Some with justification. 
Call me am optimist but I am hopeful that during this crisis humans will band together in a community and once it is over continue to do so. We’ve all seen examples of this, the Italians encouraging the whole country to sing and play instruments together. We’ve seen many examples of good natured humour and help for others. Unfortunately we have also witnessed the nasty side of humanity. Fights and arguments over items in supermarkets etc. There will always be those who no matter how urgent the situation will only think of themselves. 
I am feed up with being cynical and pessimistic about it though there is often little proof that I should be anything else!
I like to think that we can be kind and help each other show some spirit of community ? Sentimental hogwash perhaps, unrealistic maybe but in para phrasing the words of Nick Lowe “What really is wrong with peace love and understanding”

Virus

What is wrong with certain sections of the British public, being lead to panic buying by hysterical tabloid press, who for years on every subject imaginable, have sensationalised anything and everything!
What a pathetic bunch of gullible idiots we are. It’s a virus and yes it’s unpleasant and could be deadly to those who are weak, frail and generally speaking the old. 40000 people die every year from “normal” flu, so what is the big deal?
I don’t wish to minimise the seriousness of this virus, I certainly would not wish it upon anyone but this mass panic is way over the top. 
Nature will always find a way of killing us off, it is just biology. 
We really need to get a grip, grow up and stop listening to anyone who is not an expert in medical science.
It is scandalous how all media, stirs up peoples reactions and with all the many platforms to spread lies and misinformation, available today, people like ignorant sheep blindly follow whatever the latest rumour or bullshit is!

There are many who are sensible about these things, I count myself as one of them and there certainly won’t be any upset or panic in my house.
The government are actually doing a good job of controlling this problem, though it pains me to compliment Boris and his cohorts on anything.

So lets all be sensible, calm down and stop raping the supermarkets for no good reason

Thank you