We sit over breakfast most days and pick out bits of news from our iPads to comment on to each other, sometimes both selecting the same thing at the same time.
This morning we note that 1,200 California pastors say they will resume in-person services this month in defiance of Governor Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order to slow the spread of coronavirus. They have signed a “declaration of essentiality” (that’s a nice bit of legalese!!) that announces their plan to reopen on 31 May. “This letter was not sent for the purposes of asking for permission,” said their lawyer.
Once again I am amazed at the “essential” nature of praying together but a sneaky bit of me wonders if some of these pastors find it “essential” to meet so that they can continue to receive donations. Am I too cynical?
I am also amused by the fact that churches are grouped together with hairdressing salons and sporting events as businesses the governor of California says must not reopen yet.
Still on the other side of the world, I found this:-
“In San Luis PotosÃ, a city in central Mexico, some people believe the coronavirus is an invention by the government. They are sharing memes, videos and recordings with misinformation, in which people tell you that in the hospitals they drain the fluid from your knees and planes spray the city with the virus at night.”
And we thought it was just the North Americans who were crazy!
But in San Luis Potosà it’s difficult for people to stop working and self isolate. People are growing fatalistic. The prevailing attitude is: “The virus will strike who it strikes.” How sad! And some of those who do believe in the existence of the virus, and how lethal it is, have responded by attacking healthcare workers instead of staying at home and protecting themselves.
Mind you, we have seen instances of that here, with too many reports of people spitting on NHS workers and declaring that they have the virus. I fail to understand the mentality of people who do such things.
Maybe it’s a chaotic reaction to a chaotic situation. Not to mention the vagueness of guidelines and the sudden reversals of decisions.
There is this article about the lack of co-ordinated planning, or indeed any planning at all, for the return to school. According to the article the June 1st date has not been confirmed (?!), rather similar to the instruction for people to return to work on Monday 11th May which then changed to Wednesday 13th.
And last night on the television news I heard how tracking and tracing is working in Germany because they are doing it on a local rather than a national level. Have we perhaps opted to follow the wrong method again?
Which brings me to this article about the government simply being in disarray.
I am so glad not to have to go out to work any longer in the modern world! And then I feel a bit guilty for being in this rather smug situation.
That’s my gloomy bit over. Here are some more cheerful stories.
In Paris a certain Hugo Meunier is rescuing neglected plants which have suffered during France’s lockdown. His company, Merci Raymond, named after his father, is going round collecting half dead plants from offices as workplaces reopen. I am not sure how he makes money out of this. I suspect he makes his living out of bigger ecological projects for “greening cities”.
Then there is the story of “animal Zoom”. I had not heard of Zoom before lockdown came along. I have still not had occasion to use it but Phil has had chess committee meetings, our daughter has had union meetings, and at least one friend of mine is having Italian lesson, all via Zoom.
Lots of online interviews are undermined, or enhanced depending on your point of view, by a small child wandering in and asking the interviewee to play with them. Now there are people, like the owners of Cronkshaw Fold Farm in Lancashire, who are making a bit of extra money by allowing their goats to be included in Zoom calls. Apparently the goats have been to a Zoom rave in Berlin and a birthday party in New Zealand. £5 for a ten-minute appearance! Not bad!
And increasingly, it seems, a variety of animal breeds are being booked to join Zoom meetings, perhaps breaking the tedium by surprising everyone with a llama or a dog contributing to the discussion.
“I’m on the phone all day and people are just in hysterics because they’ve sneaked a goat into the business meeting and the boss hasn’t noticed,” said the goat farmer. “It’s so ridiculous, it’s complete escapism. At the moment people just want something completely surreal so they can forget about everything else.”
As for me, I am just video calling members of the family. Our daughter has just about managed to persuade her head teacher that she can work almost entirely from home, via the computer, after all. As a still-breastfeeding mother she deserves a special level of care - another advantage of breastfeeding your baby. And I am working on organising socially-distanced walks with friends and relations, possibly establishing a new kind of social life provided the weather favours us.
Today is wild and windy. This did not stop me from running this morning and should not prevent me from persuading Phil out for a walk later today.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment