The old fart in lockdown week 2

I've noticed unintended consequences from the lockdown. First, cutting my own toenails - apologies to all those foot squeamish people. Thing is, our chiropodist, Andrew, collects great amounts of local trivia which keeps us as up to date as any computer app.
  Second, doing my own hair. I have been doing this now for 3 months courtesy of Rod Gooch from New Mill Choir, but now so relevant. There is an Amazon waiting list for electric cutters through til May.
  Third, talking to people over the phone, on zoom, FaceTime whatever. I usually talk to myself so I'm in overload, fatigued. As I keep saying there is survival value in being grumpy - it's one quality for surviving lockdown.

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  My shed  

Gardening was the great pastime for lockdown week 1. Quote in the Times March 28th from Joe Swift, 'Gardening means a lot to me ... It's physical, healthy, therapeutic, hugely creative, sometimes sociable, sleep-inducing and life-affirming'.

  Wow and he goes on a lot more - 3 column inches, finishing with a mangled quote from Voltaire 'In these troubled times, we must cultivate our garden, even if it's just a small pot or two on the windowsill.'

  More wow, but I think he might be on to something.

  Stephen Anderton has a list of essential spring jobs, one of which is cleaning out my shed, and like the grump who had a bath last year, I cleaned it out last year.

 Whilst I suspect we have all had a recent tidying up garden moment, I mostly sit, wonder and drink beer in mine. 

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Is anyone else aware of all the futurologists appearing out the cupboard? What is going to change as a result of covid19. Nobody knows but I guess more working together in a number of areas might be on most people's wish list.

  Radio4 this week, Start the Week, had Nick Timothy and Danny Dorling chatting about the relationships between state/government/political policy and markets/business and people/society. Plenty of permutations, remembering that the overarching value at the moment, prior to corvid19, is freedom to do whatever (social and economic liberalism). Harare popped up today to add his three penneth - the contrast between voluntarily joining in say lockdown vs compulsory - and nations going it alone vs a global solution to things such as economies. Bangladesh looks a bit fragile just now.
  Danny Dorling discussed his findings that lots of stuff is slowing down - change well underway before corvid19. The major characteristic of preindustrial life was that nothing changed and the opposite has been true of life post 1830. Population, life expectancy and data to name a few. But how large can the money cake get? Stuff has to slow down. We lead very different lives to our parents, but more or less the same as our kids. We are having fewer children, the number of inventions has fallen, increase in height has slowed and there is no way we can keep track of all the information. Economic growth is much slower. So how does the cake get cut? Right wing vs left wing - well off them/poor us vs totalitarianism.
  Danny finished up by discussing a few freedoms we could do more of. Freedom from fear and precariousness, freedom to have a nice life, freedom from keeping up with celebs. He cites the sales guy who tries to sell him a pair of trousers he doesn't want - neither gets off in these roles. 

  I don't keep up with it all, there is too much, and fairly soon it is not going to matter to our generation. Nice to be thoughtful.

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