Overall, it’s been a productive and not too intense working week for a glorious change and the main good news is that my mum is much better as she seems to be back to normal.
I had planned to see them for the first time over the weekend but the good old British weather put pays to this as the conditions weren’t at the required “Goldilocks” levels – not too hot and not too cold so I’m keeping everything crossed for it all being just right next weekend instead.
The bad news that I was dreading arrived on Monday morning – Dave’s office is going back in so his days working from home are now officially on count down. He will have to travel on the tram and I’m a bit scared but not as much as I would have been a few weeks ago. See, I am getting better with all this Covid-19 malarkey and learning to manage my own risk aversion with my very own heightened paranoia. At this rate, I’ll be up to going for a walk around the block again by Christmas!
We did a quick back of a fag packet calculation and the trams will be at about 5% capacity compared to just before we went into lockdown when you take into account reduced frequency too. How on earth is that going to work? The bus will be far worse, cycling is too dangerous on the roads into town, driving will be a very expensive ball-ache and walking would be fine if you had a spare 2 hours both ways.
Anyway, I am trying to be all zen about it as I know it is several weeks away and hopefully it won’t be every day. We’ve ordered more masks for the inevitable return before they all go out of stock as I’m guessing masks will be the toilet roll equivalent of a few months ago.
I’ve been absolutely shocked at how the Black Lives Matter protests have unfolded over here and in the USA. I seriously have no idea how valid all the claims are and, as a white middle class from working class stock professional woman, I am not furnished with the experiences to comment on racism in any meaningful way.
However, what I can comment on is the actively breaking of our precious laws. It is wrong. Actually, strike this. It is not wrong, it’s illegal. The material damage and vandalism is difficult to watch. Plus, surely all the crowds are potentially spreading Covid-19 and we will likely go backwards by risking more lives from not keeping to the social distance measures.
However, once again, I am conflicted because when we look back in history, law-breakers like Emmeline Pankhurst are now admired and they were the catalyst for amazing change but that is only with the benefit of hindsight. How do we know if these protests are equally significant?
I have read a couple of short articles where the premise is that this must be really important for people to put themselves and all others at such known risk so we should all take note but I can’t help but wonder if this is part fuelled by people being locked away for months needing an outlet for their general frustration.
Naturally, I have no idea what the answer is and, as usual, I am glad it’s not me making these difficult decisions. This issue will not be going away any time soon and is highly likely to escalate. It all certainly needs a resolution but I hope we can keep the casualties down to an absolute minimum across the board from black people who are unlawfully killed to those involved in the protests and the people who will now die as a result of the crowds not sticking to the social distance measures.
On a lighter note, a few things that made me smile this week:
I noticed that we’ve stopped listening to many of the people on the TV as they “bla bla bla” away giving us their opinion on the news as we’re too busy admiring and criticising their bookcases. The worst bookcase so far has got to be Barack Obama’s as it had more vases and ornaments than books – how disappointing.
Oooh, I’ve never heard of Azelaic Acid but apparently it’s good for blocked pores if you have sensitive skin and reduces pigmentation and scarring from acne. How has this passed me by? I wonder if it works on chicken pox scars as I have a few of them.
David Beckham and Gordon Ramsey might be doing a cooking show on Instagram as apparently Becks is a very keen cook. He even received lots of pans for his birthday!
Good to hear that this season’s Strictly is likely to have at least one same sex couple. It’s about time too and even better that nobody is blinking an eye.
My list: TV this week was full of the usual suspects but we started watching a series call Cardinal on BBC2 this week. It was gripping, atmospheric and, although set in Canada, looked and felt like a Scandi Drama. The story was easy to follow and we’ll definitely add the first 3 seasons to the “catch up catch up” list. The Other One on BBC2, is about a bloke who died then his family found out he had another family, was worth a watch too. Very good Friday night comedy.
I finished my book “The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year” and would give it 3 stars. I really enjoyed the first 75% of it and then it went downhill. I’ve started my new one, Boy Meets Girl, by Meg Cabot and the initial signs are very promising. Plus, I am loving the style as it is a whole collection of e-mails and IM’s with a bit of narrative so feels very modern despite being faded by the sun as it has been on my bookshelf for so long.
My lowlight: Not quite being able to lift myself to the usual levels of enthusiasm about my job – well, I am leaving soon so it is bound to be tough. Hope I manage to pick up another contract soon but think it will take a while as the market is shot. Goddamn Covid!
My highlight: A fabulous weekend catching up with friends and family. There was a 60th on Saturday for one of our lovely friends as we ought to have been away at her big party doo. Then, on Sunday a surprise Zoom call for one of my BFFs for her 50th. I just don’t know where the time went to as it’s back to work already.
So, that’s week 11. I’ve got 3 weeks left in work and only 1 week until my lovely sun loungers arrive. Come on sun – where the devil are you?
