More about statues. Sailboats. Looking back at early days of the virus.

Well, it didn’t take long for the Bristol statue, “A Surge of Power (Jen Reid)” to be taken down. The artist who made it said it was not intended to be in place permanently. In fact, on a news report yesterday I heard the whole installation of the statue described as a piece of performance art. However, I think they expected it to last more than a day. But the mayor of Bristol organised for it to be removed this morning.

He said that the city was going through an “incredibly delicate time”. Aren’t we all?

“This is not about taking down a statue of Jen, who is a very impressive woman,” Rees said. “This is about taking down a statue of a London-based artist who came and put it up without permission.” So, part of the objection to the new statue is that it was a London-based artist who made the statue. Shades of “outsiders coming and telling us what to do”. What’s the betting that mayor Rees voted for Brexit.

He went on to point put that when the Edward Colston statue was pulled down damage was done to a memorial to an enslaved African man, Scipio Africanus. “If you’re going to do something, you need to do it with awareness and a full knowledge of the context in which you’re doing it,” he said. I might be cynical but it sounds like reasoning after the event. These are indeed interesting times.

Among the odd consequences of Covid-19 and the ensuing lockdown is a historical sailing fleet in Holland. The rather beautiful, graceful sailboats, some over 100 years old are a tourist attraction but also used to teach sailing techniques. They can”t operate with social distancing because of the cooperative work needed to raise sails and perform other sailing tasks. And so they can’t sail, the owners are losing money hand over fist and probably won’t even be able to afford the upkeep of the boats. And so they might be destroyed - a bit of history lost.

As time goes by, we begin to look back at what happened at the start of this current crisis. Here’s a link to an article about those early days, when, in fact, governments knew more about the virus than the rest of us. Early in the New Year alarm bells were ringing but most of Europe was somewhat distracted by the Brexit stuff that was going on. And so the gravity of the whole thing was underestimated until it was really too late.

Italy asked for help from the EU.

“No member state responded to Italy’s request and to the commission’s call for help,” said Janez Lenarčič, the European commissioner responsible for crisis management. “Which meant that not only is Italy is not prepared … Nobody is prepared … The lack of response to the Italian request was not so much a lack of solidarity. It was a lack of equipment.”

Reading the article, it becomes clear that not only did the UK not have sufficient stocks of PPE; just about all of Europe was in the same situation.

Then there was the question of lockdown.

“If Italy could have done it 10 or 14 days before it would have been better. The ministry of health wanted to do that but it took time to convince the government,” prof Walter Ricciardi, a senior adviser to the Italian health ministry said. “But they [the other member states] had the Italian experience and they didn’t follow it … It was very difficult for ministers of health to convince ministries of finance and prime ministers that this was a serious situation”

Italy had the excuse of being the first to be overwhelmed. The rest of us should have learnt from their experience. But that’s all water under the bridge. “If only...” doesn’t get us very far.

And now, according to this article, we need to get ready for a second wave in the winter! Oh boy!

In the meantime, we carry on, doing what we do. Phil’s new bike has still not had its maiden outing. Weather and other matters keep getting in the way but a butterfly has just flown past my window, a reasonable sign of some settled weather on the way. We just need to bridle paths to dry out a little. The amount of dried mud we cleaned off my bike yesterday afternoon is proof of how muddy those oaths have been in the last couple of weeks at least.

My bike was cleaned up a little so that improvements and embellishments could be added to it. It now has working lights, front and rear, extra reflectors, and a pair of panniers at the back. I can now consider a Wednesday ride instead of a walk to the market in Uppermill.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!