Tag: virus

Creativity Takes Root

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I’m really enjoying all the creativity people are coming up with while in isolation. I just watched the most remarkable video of a man in a leotard dancing in his garden. Without the virus that moment would never have happened. I was tagged in a live music show this evening, which I only discovered afterwards unfortunately but enjoyed listening to it after the event. Another friend shared her sisters morning fitness class as she is a personal trainer which will give people some much needed exercise and hopefully some new habits. People have already started to put works of art up.

It is early days and people may still be in the excitable fun stage of isolating but for now they seem to be doing all the right things. In time lets see how it goes as they start to suffer from seclusion but the videos coming out of Italy show that even after weeks and an horrendous situation they are still on their balconies singing. There was a video of someone playing Bella Ciao with a saxophone from their balcony which raised a smile. People are worried, scared, bored and in some cases alone but they have found the drive to produce, to share, to inspire.

There is something about being human that shows how well we can adapt to circumstances when we need to. We may be a bunch of soft snowflakes and tough right wingers who both seem to take offence in equal measure but when it comes down to it we seem capable of getting on and surviving when we have to. It is early days potentially and we’re expecting another couple of months of this, fatalistically just waiting…maybe I’ll write about that tomorrow though…but even with that hanging over our heads we find the spirit just to carry on. People shouldn’t be out and about of course but it’s amazing that those who are seem to be smiling and laughing with each other. The initial shock has passed and we’re just getting on with it.

If it’s possible to remain objective within all of this then it would be incredible just to sit and observe how people’s mood as a collective has changed and evolved until now and will do over these next few months. But I’m not objective let’s be honest, I am viewing this through my very own eyes mixed with and confused by a certain combination of fear, bravery, bravado and ignorance that keeps me getting out of bed in the morning and through the day; being happy when I’m happy and sad when I’m sad. Crisis brings people together but it also reminds us while we may have our differences, our base instinct, feelings and emotions are all pretty similar. Carry on people, stay indoors if you can and keep on performing. Keep us all sane and keep us smiling.

Relax…All Will Be Fine

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As someone who has spent time abroad and socialised with people who do not either serve food or run hotels, it has long been brought to my attention that the British people have somewhat of a reputation for consuming large quantities of alcohol. While I don’t deny others countries do drink large amounts too, or at least the fun ones do, we, along with the Irish come to think of it, are renowned for being the drunks of Europe. This then seems to have been confirmed with the latest news relating to the lockdown we’re facing in the UK.

There has been much debate about what exactly should be classed as an essential service and it’s one of those issues that nearly every wannabe expert has an opinion on. Construction sites for example have been a highly controversial issue because while they can’t ban construction that relates to potential virus related work, the guy building the patio next door could probably not be classed as essential and immediately necessary. It would be nice to sit out in the sun with a nice gin and tonic while isolating though come to think of it, so that’s a toughie. We have though taken it to a level that only the comics writing this black comedy could have dreamt of. As the country battles a world wide pandemic; Off Licences of all things have been deemed as being of the utmost importance and essential to the smooth running of the country. For those from countries that use other names an off licence is what we call our bottle shops / liquor shops / alcohol shops. Yes they serve but one purpose.

It is important in times like this to be honest and admit there is something absurd about this that makes me proud. Cultures need something that sets them apart from each other; the Italians talk incessantly, the Greeks argue for pleasure and the French are arseholes, but that is there thing, that is their national identity they take it out into the world. As the south of Spain can attest we export drunks and even in times of crisis we are sticking to this national identity. It makes me proud we’re being true to ourselves. How are we supposed to suffer through at least three weeks of isolation? Stuck inside homes with partners we hate and kids we have to love? So much energy has been put into avoiding our families and we find ourselves forced into their company. Without the ability to keep a steady level of intoxication it may be worth going out in public and catching the virus just to get some space. The British people can not be told to do something, the inner child comes out and they insist on the opposite even if they don’t really want it. All those poor soles who were forced to leave the cities and endure serene villages and countryside over the weekend simply because they had been told to stay indoors. At least give to poor bastards alcohol. Just imagine the damage a sober populace could do, I’m so relieved they saw sense.

To Stroll For Strolling's Sake

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I read an article this morning about walking. It was reasonably interesting and revolved around some of the greatest minds of the past two hundred years being avid walkers. Henry David Thoreau, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Walt Whitman, Friedrich Nietzsche, Virginia Woolf, Arthur Rimbaud and Mahatma Gandhi apparently all loved a good walk and it wasn’t suggested that their achievements were down to their ability to walk but did suggest there was a link between their understanding of being able to put down the pen and getting the blood flowing with a stroll. This is by no means a new revelation, anyone who has sat in front of a screen or studied for too long has felt heavy, groggy and the necessity of movement to make them feel alive again. The point the article attempted to make was that in this day and age in which there needs to be a purpose behind everything we do; we have simply forgotten the art of simply existing. There is something cleansing about simply being in a moment of purposeless purpose that we cannot get when we’re walking from A to B to either count the steps it’s taken us to get there or because any other method of movement is not possible. The relation to Sisyphus in our effort to get to B before discovering we almost immediately need to get on to C and then D afterwards.

However it does neglect to mention that these great minds most likely understood the benefit of taking time for a stroll for their minds and the furthering of ideas they had perhaps started to stagnate on. To imagine while walking they weren’t thinking through various angles to problems is to misunderstand the mind. In that case it is quite easy to suggest they were never strolling for the sake of it existence in that moment because there was a purpose behind it, even if that was just to clear their mind there was purpose. We may live in an age were everything needs a purpose that can be monetised, and while that is soon to be found out as flawed over the next few months, that doesn’t mean people simply existed previously. Perhaps we just don’t know how to relate to the workings of their alien thought process and minds.

Saying all of that though it is entirely acceptable to suggest we could do with a little more strolling in life. To experience life for the sake of mere existence. How that can relate to people being stuck inside their homes in quarantine I’m unsure but I suspect there may just be a new age of appreciation for the simple art of walking as people find satisfaction once more in the stroll. Any excuse for getting out of the house and absorbing a bit of vitamin D. Don’t forget the two metres of course.

A Common Moment

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I’m not feeling overly inspired tonight. It’s already hard to think about much other than this virus and I’m bored of writing about it probably nearly as much as you are of reading about it. I could just read up on something else and write about that, I found an interesting looking article on nihilism I’ve been meaning to read and write about for a while but I don’t feel inspired to make the effort. The show must go on though and I must write in here daily. How will I manage if I get this virus, ooft that will be a strange series of pieces. That is the problem with creating the only rule that there must be a daily piece. I’ve been in front of this screen now for a few hours avoiding writing anything and I don’t feel any more inspired having started. I’m just not feeling very positive that’s all and not even in the way that allows for a rant about some corruption or injustice facing the world. Nor the way that allows for the deep ramblings of the wannabe philosopher. Or even the desirous child missing his football.

Really it’s a lack of energy and inspiration. It will pass, all things come to pass but in the meantime the mind is bogged down with little other than an overload of fear. I really can’t wait for this to be over so I can go off on an adventure. I fancy some sailing. That would be nice. In the meantime I’ve just started a new book; One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and that is my current pleasure. Unfortunately it’s about a man in a Stalin era gulag so not exactly something to take my mind off the possibilities of different versions of suffering. I am also not comparing the potential of being stuck alone in a flat for the next month or two to ten years in a soviet gulag but fuck it’s all relevant…an ambiguous phrase as you’ll hear me say today. Actually you know what, fuck this…self pity and self indulgent bullshit and nothing else…right I’m over it, let’s get on with it. Moping around is going to help nobody and certainly not me. I’ll put it down as one of those moments. That was a quick turn of events. And breathe.

Time For A New Normal

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There does seem to be one quite noticeable benefit of this virus and that is the very evident improvement to our natural world. I am sure by now people have seen the photos of clean canals in Venice and the dolphins swimming in the clean waters of ports. They may also have seen the graphs showing before and after images over China highlighting the decrease in pollution and heat from a suspension of industry. I’m sure I have seen one for Europe too because of a lack of cars on the roads but I don’t know how they can differentiate between vehicles and industry, I suspect the mention of cars was simply for the sake of a narrative.

I mentioned previously how I am really excited to see the longer term effects of this break in polluting and the Earth’s destruction, what the scientists will be able to tell us from a few months of clean air. This is unprecedented really because not for a second did anyone think we would actually be able to see what happens when capitalism grinds to a halt. Apparently stuff gets clean. Will the ice freeze again next winter too? Will anything happen to the jet stream that heats northern Europe from this chopping and changing of carbon dioxide and pollutants in the air and water? Will we be able to see how much the Earth is capable of cleaning and replenishing itself in such a short time. There are countless more things that my brain is unaware of or will remember later, but such opportunities for study and understanding have arisen from these circumstances.

As is clear I suspect this is only temporary, I imagine normal service will resume in a few months from now. Perhaps normal service is already far more active than I realise but I don’t doubt there will be a huge drive to return to previous levels of economic success and we all know what that means. Let’s hope that the shock of these pollutants returning doesn’t then really hurt the environment, that is always a possibility. What is interesting though is how people will view all this afterwards. People are very sceptical of anything new or unknown until they have seen it in action and one issue with this environmental damage is that it continues because it is normal. This day to day existence is normal for us.

Reusing things fifty years ago was once normal and now recycling is some kind of a new gimmick. We are terrible animals of habit and if we can create new habits we may just create a new normal. People have already started walking in parks, Snowdonia had it’s busiest weekend ever, people are getting into nature. If we have shortages people will just get used to reusing things and consuming less. Perhaps they will see photos of clean canals and realise it is possible to clean up our mess, that this huge unrelatable problem has all of a sudden become something understandable and achievable. Who knows really.

If we’re going to be open to the possibility that capitalism is going to use this opportunity to tighten it’s destructive grip we need to also be open to the fact that the very opposite could happen. All is unknown at present and while the unknown can be scary it has proven in the past to result in some of our greatest achievements as a species. We haven’t survived this long to let a little virus like capitalism keep us down, let’s not allow it to win now at this most important of junctures when it’s grip may just be at it’s weakest.

The Covid-19 Miracle

Hamar WilliamsLeave a comment

Times of crisis expose reality for what it is. It is undeniable that we live in a world that thrives on illusions, usually used to sell us things we don’t need and to instil a sense calm servitude. There must be a multitude of old adages about how if we as a collective people knew the truth we would rise up and smash the state and it’s puppetmasters. How true that is is slightly debatable, I don’t have much faith in us not just taking the safe and easy option given such a scenario. I am attempting to avoid talking about this coronavirus with every post but it is quite a challenge when it has entirely taken over our lives, our newsfeeds and our thought processes. Everything seems the same as I look out the window but apparently it isn’t, that may just be one of the illusions I’m still living within.

This then may not yet appear to be a crisis but from all I hear it is already well within that category of event. Even if nothing more happens now, we wake up tomorrow and miraculously Covid-19 has disappeared; we have probably done enough damage to the economy that we’ll suffer another recession. Capitalism thrives on this, we live in an age of disaster capitalism and this will be welcomed with open arms by those already starting to buy up stock on the cheap. I’m not necessarily doubting the severity of this virus, while I doubt there is much danger for myself I worry about my parents, and I know I’ve said this previously. What I will be critical of, and it is another thing to add to the disgustingly large pile of bullshit, is how the media has used any opportunity to sensationalise everything relatable they can. The hysterical criticism of people who have stockpiled food in response to the hysterical whipping up of fear that stocks may run out. Like capitalism, like the vast majority of politicians, the media has no morality. I’m not going to go as far as to say the whole thing has been set up to create a new recession but the media have certainly played such a part in bringing one about, it is easy to justify accusations it is intentional.

Saying all that though, are they not just a creation of our own making. They keep creating sensationalism because all we respond to is sensationalism. If people were more receptive to stories about initiatives in local areas that have been set up to help those in need during this crisis then maybe they would print some. Maybe they don’t exist that’s the problem. I have been attempting to find any local to me and cannot. It is probably too early, people are still out and about.

We have been taught for so long to look out for ourselves and this is easy when things are comfortable, it’s when we struggle that we need to come together. As a society we haven’t really struggled collectively since the Second World War. Politicians are already trying to invoke this kind emotive response but they’re all so pathetic and such weasels that it is hard to take them seriously. Boris Johnson with whistle to his lips about to order us over the top, “Nah you’re alright ya prick, you first…on ya go”. On the upside we may rediscover what it feels like to get to know and help your neighbour, or help anyone. Maybe I’m getting a little ahead of myself with that though. The Covid-19 miracle and how it saved society. At the very least we’ll get some great data in a year or two about the environmental benefits of industry, airlines and cars being shut down. The steroid boost that slowed climate change, we have have just gained ourselves a little extra time. Now that would be a miracle.