Staying forever young - life after Covid


Drying and preserving wild flowers

fleeting meadows
colours stay moisture leaves
beauty forever

heavy blossom
colours stay moisture leaves
beauty forever








Life after Covid

Some more hints as to life after Covid. We already suspect commuting will take a long time to return to previous levels, along with a permanent place for home working. Interesting that the 19th century growth of towns and factories meant families lived within walking range of work. Could we go back to a bit of that?
  Matthew Parris, Times May 2nd - Enjoys a local pint with his partner in their local. It's a cry for government financial help on behalf of all of our great pubs. Another plug for working and taking our pleasures closer to home.
  What is your favourite local? Mine/ours is The Stumble Inn at Hinchliffe Mill. Not too noisy, spread of generations, friendly landlords, good blonde ale and some not too intrusive sport on TV. If it's soccer it's usually Liverpool.
  What is your favourite pub in England/UK? Mine - The Swan at Fradley on The Trent and Mersey - a great canal pub on the junction with the Coventry. What a place to put a 57ft boat into a three point turn in front of all the regulars. It's Christmas tree is upside down. 
  Sir Michael Palin was interviewed on TV by Andrew Marr on Sunday morning. A great advocate for finding places to trip off to in England, Wales and Scotland. And spend time getting to know them in some detail.
  Christopher Somerville and Chris Haslam, the Times Weekend, May 2nd, supply lists of UK walks and breaks - staycations - perfect for the non-flying public.
 Andrew Marr in Start the Week, Radio4 interviewed experts in globalisation, in history and now. Globalisation weakening and nationalism is on the rise. I guess it would be no bad thing to start sourcing and supporting our own industries more. Will Covid accelerate this movement? It's a growing trend within a lot of local towns and villages.
  Finally in this section. One thing, despite Covid, that I doubt will change, is NHS finance and management. Clare Foges, Times, May 2nd, thinks it should but doesn't make any practical suggestions. Why treat everything the same - that way goes the psychopathology of the average? Think funding fit for purpose: we are private for our ophthalmic appointments though I recently braved it at Acre St, I worked privately for myself in occupational health, I am insured at the dentist, the childbride volunteers for the hospice which has a pitiful central grant and wonderful fund-raisers. Okay, I haven't used the NHS for a while, but would appreciate the emergency services being on hand. Same general point for management - go for quality and however that's achieved. I cannot be more specific on this point, but more nuance would be good.

Best of the rest

Katya Adler, the lovely BBC Europe correspondent, did One to One again this week, Radio4. How much do interviewees and interviewers reveal themselves and how much of a mask do they wear? Does this help in our understanding of personality? Apparently today older people are interviewed more often. Their broadcasts are more rewarding and less confrontational. Older people are more at ease with themselves and have less to hide anymore.
...................................

Last week's deliberate mistake. Dom attended the SAGE meetings not COBRA.

...................................

More or Less, Radio4. A very disheartening take on the week's Corvid stats, including the number of tests per day and the death rates. Derran from our zoom/coffee/pilates/thursday group suggested to not take a lot of notice of the news - stick to the briefing meetings with the scientists. Useful intelligence on home car-washing and pub take-aways from Greg and Derran.

...................................

Yes I have tried to press some wild flowers, with limited success.

...................................

Do give us a glimpse of your favourite pubs and a sentence as to why.


No comments:

Post a Comment