Here we go again

 

Image from Sciencenews 

Mark Drakeford, our First Minister, last week announced that here in Wales we’re having a Fire-break to halt the spread of Covid. It means that for two weeks we have to keep away from each other and not light any fires (something like that). We can’t even buy candles, apparently, as they aren’t essential goods. Let’s hope we don’t get any power cuts, then, as the remains of hurricane Epsilon (what a name!) howl around us. Menstruation is banned too, I gather, as sanitary goods are considered in one Tesco Store to be non-essential.

As for whether the halt to events like Halloween and Guy Fawkes that through the dark nights would keep us going (the children anyway), it remains to be seen whether a firebreak will have the desired result. Compliance remains an issue. We’re too ready to keep a welcome in our hillsides and vales, so we’re our own worst enemy when it comes to a pandemic.

Wales has reverted to previous ‘form’ too. In the ancient days of little princedoms across the country, princes were always bickering and sulking if another princedom got one over on them. Because Pembrokeshire doesn’t have as many infections as South East Wales they don’t see why they have to be locked down too. We’ll see how they feel when those of them that do need hospital care find the hospitals they’d be flown to, overflowing with Covid (unless I’m mistaken about there being a pandemic of course).

It’s all a funny, not very ha-ha, business. It’s the only thing to talk about most of the time and now that the clocks have gone back, the nights are long and the weather is sh** there’s not much to get up for. “Strictly” is back and how nice is it actually to watch people having a glorious, glamorous time of it while the rest of us slouch in our pj’s? It simply reminds me of how very unglamorous I am these days and how unlikely it is that I would ever be waltzed around a glittering dance floor. Tbh, even if, in the hugely unlikely event, that Gareth would suggest doing so, my arthritic limbs wouldn’t cope with it anyway.

Here I am, grumbling again. It’s what I’m good at. I’m looking at the clouds in the hopes of seeing a silver lining but all I see is the birds buffeted in their flocks trying to make their way south to sun and warmth.  We’ve packed the moho off to storage and it gave us such a look as we left it, as if to say “Hey, what happened to winter travel? You’re just gonna leave me here?” 

But seriously......(yes, there are some serious things to talk about - US elections I’ll avoid for the moment, though)  I recently listened to a radio discussion about whether it’s the younger generation taking the brunt of all this; economically and sociologically. How does their future look? There may historically have been worse times but it’s not our young people’s fault in this day and age if they’re not prepared or equipped for this.

The pandemic (if it’s real - there are those who think it a conspiracy) is also making us think about what ‘freedom’ means. Are we free to do as we choose; sovereign in our decisions about what is good for us? Or, is our freedom limited by the needs of those around us, and indeed by those who are not close to us? Through modern times we’ve come to think of ourselves as individuals with divine and unassailable rights. ‘Responsibilities’ are of a lower order, unless it’s the responsibility of someone other than ourselves and then we can get quite vocal about it. There’s also the big question about ‘truth’, but I won’t go there.

I’m glad of my little blog-reading community here. You give me the opportunity to blurt my silly thinking. Knowing that you’re out there keeps me sane.......well it keeps me writing anyway.