BACK IN THE COVID - The Lockdown Diary Day 24

So I am shortly off to top dress our newly cultivated ‘productive’ area a description which is, judging by the stones I have been disinterring, a tad over egging it. The inspiration for all this horticultural enthusiasm was our son Sam who got me on this tack simply by asking if there was anything I needed from the one local garden centre that remains open (because they also sell horse feed). He was looking to buy seed and compost and one thing led to another. I cannot express heartily enough how grateful I am. It does not matter how productive the damn thing is, not one iota, because here I am enthusiastically renewing both mind and limbs and reaffirming my zest for life and trust in the future in the face of a real and serious death threat. Priceless! And the same goes for our two warders, Zoe and Becky, shown here in this picture on their nightly rounds making sure the doors are locked, the inmates are behaving and at the same time delivering our meagre supplies of chocolate and crisps.

In fact they are all priceless, our whole family. It didn’t take a virus to tell us that but it did take a virus for us to proudly announce that to whole world and to thank them. Thank you all.



Warning, warning, rant incoming!

In our cosy little bubble we feel safe and protected. I am not going to pretend that I’m not actually enjoying it, I am. There are a lot of things not going on that I would prefer to stay that way. I am fearful of course, concerned for all of my family and their wellbeing but I have no intention of being pessimistic for the sake of it. As a general statement people are on the whole self centred arseholes and unable to act in terms of their own good let alone the good of the community. We are as safe from them in our lockdown as we are from this virus.

Everyday we get further examples of society being contained through government announcements and by well healed politicians who at the same time are flouting their own exhortations to obey the rules. Let no-one ever say to me that this virus is a great leveller, it can hit anyone. It is not! Those most exposed who are getting sick and dying are nurses, ambulance drivers, bus drivers, taximen, delivery men, shop workers, farm workers, railway staff most of whom, if not all of them then the majority, are comparatively low paid. Meanwhile Jacob Rees Mogg et al as nanny is busy educating their children in some remote wing of their castles or second homes are either strolling unfettered amongst their glorious trees and acres in the Easter sunshine or sipping their sherries whilst directing their assets from afar. Make no mistake this virus will hit the low paid and what Prickly Patel calls the “low-skilled” hardest and worst both in their health and in their economic well being.

Rant over, but not the campaign. The fight against social injustice, greed, self-interest, privilege and the remnants of our patriarchal, religion-inspired, feudal overlords will continue virus or no virus.