Facing change. Post-travel quarantine. Singing. Education. And protesters.

“Uh, oh! There is something wrong here!” These were the words of our eldest granddaughter as she walked into the living room yesterday. She hasn’t been in there for a while. Her recent visits have all been via the back door and straight into the basement kitchen. In the meantime we have rearranged the furniture in the living room, giving us easier access to our vinyl collection and providing us with a splendid nostalgia-fest. But our granddaughter is very much change-averse. It took her a good while to adapt to our having got rid of the old three-piece suite and now we have moved around the replacement furniture as well. Life is full of trauma for her. However, we did manage to go out for a walk together to get over the shock. So it goes.

Out in the wider virus-afflicted world news, British holidaymakers returning from Spain will now have to quarantine for two weeks because of a spike in the virus over there. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps will have to do so when he returns. After all, we’re all in this together. Ironically it is quite possible that some of the spiking is because of Spain opening up to tourism. In fact it is likely that wherever British travellers go to, believing it to be along a nice safe air corridor or air bridge, might suddenly be an unsafe country by the time they return home.

There has been much criticism of this rapid-action decision. However, I find myself in the weird situation of backing the government’s decision on quarantine - how do I cope with agreeing with the Tories? Here is a comment I noticed on a post about this:- “It is bad timing because most people travel this time of year with kids as schools break up”. Really! Perhaps someone should explain timing to the virus!

If we are monitoring the state of things in places we might visit, we must be prepared to make quick decisions. We still don’t know enough about this thing and it’s really no good pretending we are back to normal. Forget being back to normal by Christmas, Mr Johnson is now saying the middle of next year. Oh, boy!

Consequences of the virus-crisis continue to pop up.

Research is going on to investigate the safety or otherwise of singing and playing woodwind and brass instruments. It’s all to do with droplets being carried through the air. I have never joined a choir myself, having always been told that my ability to hold a tune is somewhat deficient, but I have friends who are missing that leisure activity. As someone pointed out, however, if singing is deemed dangerous, what about football fans watching a football match, on TV in a pub for example? Each time a goal is scored and fans cheer and yell out “YEEESSSS!” droplets will be shared.

Then there is the reported middle class flight from state schools to private. There has seemingly been a surge in applications for private schools because of fears that state school pupils will have fallen behind during the home schooling time.

“Many affluent middle-class families sending their children to state schools have become aware and often concerned about the digital divide between state and private sector,” said Diane Reay, emeritus professor of education at Cambridge University. “Fleeing to the private sector is an easier option than campaigning for state schools to be properly resourced and equipped, which is what should be happening. The state sector has always been the poor relation in education – around 25% of education spending goes on the 7% who are privately educated – but more middle-class flight will impoverish the sector more.”

Well said, Diane Reay!

Seismic stations all over the planet recorded what they refer to as an unprecedented wave of silence spreading around the world in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. As planes stopped flying, some factories closed down and people stopped driving along motorways for hours every day the world went quiet. “You can almost see it as a wave,” said Stephen Hicks, a seismologist who worked on the study at Imperial College, London. “You can see the seismic quietening spread over time, starting in China in late January and then moving on to Italy and beyond in March and April.” A quieter world means closer monitoring of signs of potential earthquakes and suchlike.

Another thing for us to think about on a global level.

From news reports from the USA comes this rather disturbing photo of Black Lives Matter protesters in Louisville, Kentucky.

“In Kentucky meanwhile, hundreds of armed, predominantly black, activists demanded justice for Breonna Taylor during peaceful demonstrations in Louisville that drew counter-protesters from a white militia group. Police closed streets and set up barricades to keep the two groups apart as tensions remained high in a town where protests have flared for months over the death of Taylor, a black woman killed when police burst into her apartment in March.

By the time black activists dressed in black fatigues arrived in the heart of downtown Saturday afternoon, most of the white militia members had already left. Police in full riot geared looked on.

Earlier in the day, three people were accidentally shot at a park where black activists had gathered, police said. The victims, all of whom were members of the militia group, were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.”

Scary stuff!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!