On Becoming a Hermit, Sort of ... The 'Quantitative Easing' of Lockdown

A Happy Taz after a Free Run

It's been a couple of weeks since I updated this blog series. I apologise to everyone, who may have been expecting a continuance after week 13, but it was unintended, because other events took priority. There had to be a pause in proceedings.

Fountain across a Sea of Lettuce

Two weeks on from my last post, I confirm this journal will continue from now on as an occasional update, simply because it is clear that the situation caused by the pandemic is not going to go away as soon as most of us would like. We all want a successful vaccine, a cure or something that will help us - particularly the more vulnerable among us - to feel safer, more secure and comfortable with resuming what we knew as normal life. In the mean time, there is still the garden. And there will also be some more music from Clemency Burton-Hill's "Year of Wonder "; I shall pick out some choices as well as some more music from both my singing groups - Hallmark of Harmony and Fox Valley Voices.

Eva the Diva

We long to see and hug our children and grandchildren again, but I feel it will be a while before we can be sure of doing this safely for both them and for us.

Firstly an update on the state of the country and what the COVID-19 has been doing.

As at 29th June, total deaths, confirmed as being caused by the Coronavirus, stand at 43,730. This is probably the highest per capita rate anywhere in the World, even beside Sweden, who after deciding early in the year to go with the 'herd immunity' policy, have had a torrid time with infections and deaths rising catastrophically! And to think, this is the way the damnable Dominic Cummings advised we should go!! (let me remind everyone, DC is the unelected bureaucrat employed by PM Boris Johnson as his chief political adviser). Dare I suggest that the two or three weeks delay in implementing a lockdown and social distancing that this thinking caused, has caused significantly more deaths? To add insult to our intelligence, DC was also a core member of the Brexit cohort and guess what that's going to do to us at the end of the year - the end of the 'Transition Period'. They will of course now be able to blame the resultant parlous state of economy on COVID-19, rather than Brexit. The arrogance and ignorance continues ...

We're doomed ...

The other significant statistic is the result of testing. Out of a reported total of 9,426,631 tests, 312,654 have tested positive. I say 'reported' because of the debacle of failed government promises to deliver 100,000 test per day by the end of April, one is left with the impression that, at least for a while, there was a lot of 'creative accounting' for test figures.

Following the commencement of 'quantitative' easing of lockdown three weeks ago, the news has been littered with accounts of what I can only describe as explosions of relief by the masses of people who, during the very warm and sunny weather have converged on the beaches and resorts of our coasts. Bournemouth was a particular newsworthy item, as scenes of thousands upon thousands of people descended on the beaches there in the mini heatwave of a week ago. And let's not mention the reopening of pubs ... and the one metre 'plus' advisory ... after a few drinks, I think we all know how that's going to play out: more deaths!

Each and every one of those, who have joined the crowds, has contributed to the death of other people, if not themselves! Yes - and I say this categorically - each and every one of them has contributed to the death of human beings and will continue to do so.

It confirms for me the observation of human behaviour in this pandemic that either they simply don't bother with, or are incapable of, reading the facts about the mechanisms for the transmission and spread of the virus, as well as the science behind this, or many of them simply cannot discriminate between the logical and emotional sides of their brains. 

It is clear that ...

(1) the virus is spread by close proximity to the exhalations of other people, even outdoors and especially in close packed crowds like we saw on Bournemouth beaches, but especially especially in enclosed spaces, like pubs. 

(2) there are those who are asymptomatic or presymptomatic, who unknowingly spread the virus, through their breath or by touching communal hard surfaces with their virus laden hands; there may also be those who have mild symptoms but who are in denial, especially when there's a day out in the sunshine or a good time in the offing. 

(3) it has been established by science that social distancing is necessary and that 2 metres significantly reduces (even if it doesn't eliminate) the risk of transmitting droplet and aerosol infection to other people. One metre 'plus' (the newly advised distance) is a mockery, frankly, most likely driven by the greater lobbying power of the larger pub, restaurant and entertainment commercial concerns.

It is therefore inconceivable that there will not be further infections and tragically unnecessary deaths as a direct result of these emotional responses to being socially restricted for three months. There will undoubtedly as a result be another spike in infections and deaths.

In so many ways, I mourn the loss of the cleanest air we've experienced in over a generation; for some ... ever. I mourn the loss of the quietest time in the most wonderfully bright, sunny and colourful season of Spring. It reminds me of the days, when I was much younger - before the iron fist of corporate commercial pressure marched us irretrievably towards a seven day week, a 24 hour day - when the World seemed to stop on a Sunday, the refreshingly recreational peace and quiet that proved to be a true break in our busy week. I feel a genuine anxiety at the renewal of the madness of this seemingly irresistible addiction of consumerism. 

I feel a need to stop all the clocks for another period, not just for the sake of the sanity of the nation, of the World, but also to take a deep breath of what fresh air we have left in a rapidly polluting environment and to hold a few moments of silence for all those who have tragically lost their lives to this awful disease. I would also like to point you towards the June edition of >>> the BeZine <<<, whose theme is 'Sustainability', but notably a stunning introduction that draws together and links the three major and related issues of our time: Climate Change, Pandemics (and health) and Racism. 

All manner of produce in our green garden ...

Curlycue-cumber

Music ...

Sunday, 14th June brought this evergreen piece, that always makes me well up ... "The Lark Ascending" by Ralph Vaughan Williams. It seems that RVW had English musical culture and folk tradition written into his DNA. This famous piece is based on a poem by George Meredith about the song of the skylark. Every time I walk up to the moors above us, I listen to that elusive breathless sound of the skylark, sometimes ascending so high it makes them difficult to see in a bright sky. 

He rises and begins to round

He drops the silver chain of sound ...

For singing till his heaven fills,

Tis love of earth that he instils,

And ever winging up and up,

Our valley is his golden cup
And he the wine which overflows
to lift us with him as he goes.

And the day after, Clemency comes up with 8 Concert Etudes, Op.40 Prelude: Allegro assai by Nikolai Kapustin (b.1937). Kapustin is jazz-influenced Russian composer and it shows. get your ears and hands round this if you dare!

And to finish for today, here's Clemency's recommendation for Tuesday, 16th June ... The Frog Galliard by John Dowland (1563-1626). The Galliard was a popular dance in Elizabethan times. The 'Frog' part of that title remains a bit of a mystery, but it is suggested that it may have referred to a (presumably unsuccessful) French suitor of the Queen herself, duc d'Alencon, whom she referred to as her 'frog'. Perhaps he was all legs when he danced the Galliard. Who knows, but it is an amusing thought.