LOCKDOWN CASTELLDEFELS - DAY 49 – Sunday, 3rd May

 

The enthusiasm for the outdoors early in the morning! 

     Well, the general enthusiasm had markedly diminished by the time I got onto the Paseo at just after 7 am!  The First Day zest had cooled as I rode down a sparsely populated sea front.  Don’t get me wrong, there were more people there than usual (I mean the usual of more than six weeks ago) but given the masses who were relishing their new found freedom yesterday, their staying power was something of a squib!

     I did my stint from the house to Port Ginesta beach that is at the far end of the gentle arc of the bay that ends with the train tunnels that eventually lead to Sitges.  This journey I saw nobody whom I knew and my trip was personally uneventful.

     What was interesting was the positioning of the police at the roundabout at the end of the Marina, guarding the road that leads into the beach part of Castelldefels.  This was obviously there as a deterrent to any ‘visitors’ to the beach, as we all should be exercising near or rather ‘near’ our homes.  The positioning of the police links up with what Toni told me yesterday when he noticed the police stationed on the part of the beach road that links Castelldefels with Gavà.  Toni also mentioned that the end of his walk was getting closer to the cut off time for our age group of 10 am, and the police are not hesitant in dishing out fines to those who break the regulations.

     I am just over five months away from being cast into another age group when my times for exercise will differ from those of Toni – but who really has the slightest inkling of what will really happen in those countries which have suffered (and go on suffering) the most from the virus in five long months.  Given the speed of the news cycle nowadays we may not be able to recognize the world as we knew it as having any real relationship with the way that we will be living then!

     The incubation period for the virus is two weeks or thereabouts, so we should be checking the infection statistics on May 16^th to see if the relaxation has had any numerical results.  I hope to god not, but given the way that people are responding to the fine weather and the new freedom, I fear the worst.

At the moment Toni’s family is having a joint ‘meal’ via the Internet to celebrate Mother’s Day.  Unfortunately Toni’s mum does not know how to join the videoconference and so she is present in thought only!  Though now she is being contacted by phone in the hope that it can be converted into some sort of joint effort.  I do not hold out any lively hopes.

     I suppose that what we are stuttering out way through at the moment could become the fabulous New Normal that everyone is talking about and no one knows how to make real practical sense of it.  If physical distancing continues for the foreseeable future and travel between towns is banned, then the videoconference is the only way of giving a form of immediacy with sound and vision.  Like so much else, what is now new and unusual will become the everyday.  Mobile phones and smart phones are a case in point, who now does not own one and, more importantly, know how to operate it at a level of sophistication that would shock the selves of just five years ago!

     If this does become more usual then I am sure that there will be something like a curated service that will guarantee HD quality sound and picture and give a firm electronic link – and there will be plenty of people who would be prepared to pay for something a few shades of sharpness better than that you get for grainy nothing!

After the 8pm clap for health workers I made my second bike ride of the day along the beach path to Gavà, and it was fairly full.  I only saw two illegal kids who should have been indoors at the time that I was there, but it was the other people who made me wonder about how this is going to turn out.  There was little evidence of physical distancing and, when I returned I went in the opposite direction on the Paseo towards Port Ginesta, there was even less.  As far as I could see, the people on the Paseo looked and behaved as if it was a normal Sunday evening.  And that is worrying!

My collection of poetry, Coasts of Memory, continues to frustrate.  I am satisfied with the general editing; it is more the practical production of a printed version that is causing me heartache!  The Brother printer that I have was bought specifically for its ability to print booklets.  I make problems for myself by adding colour photographs to the mix that have vast implications for the memory.  Even with cutting the size of the file it is too unwieldy to sent via email.  I therefore took the decision to reformat the colour photographs and ‘transform’ them into artistic black and white productions. 

     There were yet more printing difficulties and the photos had to be redone.  Again.  But, at last, I managed to get something printed with which I am almost satisfied.  I think that I will have to see if I can get a professional to give me a quotation for the printing of the chapbook in colour.  Otherwise, the black and white will have to do!  And I have to admit that the final product does look quite elegant.

     Now, on with my plan to distribute it via email and ask for a donation to the NHS charity of a country of choice!  Onward and upward!

LOCKDOWN CASTELLDEFELS - DAY 48 – Saturday, 2nd May

Two good, long bike rides!  By me!  After six weeks this is something to write about!  Literally!

     Enough with the exclamation marks.  It was not as liberating as I thought it would be.  I got up at 7.00am and was out of the house in double quick time, adopting the normal swimming pool technique of brushing teeth, quick wash and shower after the ride.

     There were far more people around than normal.  There were the usual unhappy looking runners of all ages; couples taking a walk; dog walkers; people walking on the beach; surfers and we cyclists.  It will be interesting to see if the same numbers of people are around tomorrow after the delight of pseudo-freedom has worn off and the unaccustomed aches in parts of the body that have been ‘resting’ for the last number of weeks are a little more real!

     We have seen pictures of television where the numbers of people who came out onto the streets made physical distancing very difficult, and my perception is that people are disinclined to continue the restrictions.  This does not bode well.

     As an example, as I am typing, a group of (noisy) people have made a little party around and in the communal pool.  The composition of the group includes parents, children and rat dogs – with dogs being specifically banned from the pool area.  In some ways I suppose it is good that they are able to act as though there was no Covid-19 crisis at all.  Good luck to them, one might say.  But the one thing that has demonstrated itself with crystal clarity is that the virus does not fall back in baffled frustration when confronted with people who do not take infection seriously, it feeds on such irresponsibility and thrives and does not restrict itself.  And kills.  Over a third of those who are ill enough with the virus to go to hospital do not leave it alive.  That puts silly sociability into proportion!

     Castelldefels is a seaside town, where walking the Paseo is an essential part of living!  As we move into the clear summer months and more and more people (quite understandably) want to be by the sea, and it is going to be more and more difficult to sustain anything approaching the requisite distancing that shows the necessary respect to reject the fatality of slackness.  I think that previous sentences is stupidly complex and involved, but I’m too lazy to strike it out.  People are going to become more and more easy going, as the weather gets hotter.  And we are not going to take things seriously until there is another spike in the virus deaths and then it will be too late.  For some.

     Perhaps people are seriously thinking in percentages and thinking that it is probable if they are young(ish) and healthy(ish) that in percentage terms that they are likely to survive.  And they are, of course, likely to be right.  Unless they are wrong.

     But I did go out for a ride.  I should look on the positive side, and go out for another one when our next authorized period starts.  I can go out just after the daily 8pm clap for the health and essential workers.

In my third ride of the day on my bike I actually saw two people whom I knew, but didn’t stop to talk.  There were still lots of people about (and three illegal kids – NOT their time to be out) with many groups and people talking and interacting with an ease that suggests that they consider that the crisis is just about over.  Which it most assuredly is not.

LOCKDOWN CASTELLDEFELS - DAY 47 – Friday, 1st May

JOHNSON SHOULD OFFER AN APOLOGY FOR HIS GOVERNMENT’S HANDLING OF THE COVID-19 CRISIS AND RESIGN.

At least then he will be able to spend more time with his various families – though his children from his last divorced wife apparently fully supported their mother in the divorce proceedings, so perhaps not the warmest of greetings from them.  But, who knows, if he actually spent time with them, quality time, perhaps things would be different?

Here in Spain and Catalonia, people continue to die and continue to be infected with the virus, but all of us are looking forward with varying degrees of confidence and optimism to the next stage in the loosening of the restrictions.

     Tomorrow from 6 -10 am and 8 – 11 pm my age group is allowed out for our first walks in the open streets for the last six weeks and more.  In my case I am looking forward to my first bike ride!  Before the sun goes down, I must make sure that I dust off the pine pollen that now encrusts the bike after its weeks of inactivity, and oil the mechanical bits too – and power up the battery.

     It is yet another level of irony that the throttle that I have ordered and paid for from Mate has still not arrived.  More than a year after it was paid for!  Bugger the lot of them.

Well, it appears that Matt Hancock has reached the 100k figure of tests for the virus, in spite of the unlikely jumps in numbers that were necessary to make that happen.

     It may appear like sour grapes on my part that I find the figures difficult to believe, especially as there have been claims of multiple testing of individuals counted and tests counted that have been sent through the post or merely ordered.  I would like to see an independent audit of the figures, but at the same time what effect would there be?  It is obvious that the Government is much more concerned with getting the narrative for the virus in their favour than anything to do with truth – whatever the Conservative government understands that word to mean.

     Numbers of people tested is not the main point – who, when, where are all just as important.  The total set by Beckett was probably missed, but the total was plucked out of thin air, was not “led by science” and acts more as am illustrative function of a immoral bunch of third-rate politicians than as any thing related to the reality of the crisis itself.

     Undoing the lockdown without mass testing in place is almost meaningless.  Unless contacts are followed up and tested we are going into a sort of fatal free for all.  I fundamentally do not trust the politicians who have lied so extensively and comprehensively from the disaster of the Brexit campaign through the general election and in the Covid-10 crisis.  They have lost any faith that I might have had in their moral position.

     The Cabinet of Brexit fanatics can be summed up by their repeating what they regard as their saving mantra for this crisis: “We were only following the science!”  Any comparison to a saying from the mid 1940s is entirely intentional!  And Professor Joad’s continuingly useful comment, “It all depends on what you mean by . . .” is particularly useful here, when you consider what particular science the government is actually using.  They act as though there is a single scientific ‘truth’ whereas there are always conflicting opinions and a choice has to be made and the politicians must take responsibility for what they choose.

     It is fairly obvious that the government is hoping to deflect some of the justified condemnation on to the scientific advisors when the independent inquiry starts.

Let’s see how early I manage to get up to take my bike ride.  Please let it be fine!

JOHNSON SHOULD RESIGN NOW!

LOCKDOWN CASTELLDEFELS - DAY 46 – Thursday, 30th APRIL

The fact that I refer to 9.00am, when the builders reforming next door begin unlocking the gates to get to the next stage of their noisy work, as “bright and early” is a sign of how things have changed.  Pre-Covid my normal time of rising was 6.30am so that I could get to the swimming pool by the time that it opened at 7.00am!  What different days those now seem.

     The work on the house next door has meant that we have been subjected to almost constant noise almost every day of the week for months, literally months!  The people re-doing the house have treated the house as a normal building site rather than as one house joined to a terrace of others where ever hammer blow is seamlessly transferred to all the other dwellings.

     They have now started on the replacement of the garden fences with a breezeblock wall.  We have had to be nimble on our feet to go and question (wearing our masks) where exactly they think the borderline between our houses lies.  Of such stuff is the most acrimonious argument made!  To be realistic, given how tatty the previous fences were, virtually any replacement is bound to be a positive, but still one’s land is one’s own – even if the property is rented!

     The only positive aspect of this resurgence in building activity by our neighbours’ workers is that the waste sacks that have been lying in the car parking spaces opposite our houses for the last six weeks are, at last, being taken away – thought I wonder if they will take all four of them or leave a couple there just to mark out the territory as it were!

     As new neighbours, one has to say that they have taken no trouble whatsoever to keep the families that live on either side of them appraised of what they are going to do and the inconvenience that results from their building activities.  Not a good start to the prospects for convivial cohabitation in the future when this bloody house is (eventually) complete.  We will then find out if the family we have seen from time to time taking a proprietorial interest is residential or speculative!

In Catalonia we are waiting to find out the details of the adult exercise that we will be allowed to take this weekend.  It appears that there is going to be some sort of timetable for exercise depending on the group to which you belong.  I look forward to details that will allow me to use my bike once more!

     Talking of bikes.  My electric bike is a Mate – that is the name of the manufacturer, not an anthropomorphic designation by me – and generally speaking I am pleased with it.  In spite of the supply delays of the ‘Classic’ version of the bike, I was sufficiently enthused to purchase an ‘improved’ fat wheel version of the bike when it was suggested.

     With the basic bike I bought a back rack, a front light and born, mudguards and, most importantly, a throttle.

     The light and horn arrived before the bike and when fitted the light worked for less than a week.  You can’t replace the light because it is of a unique designed.  You can’t replace the light because the service from Mate is less than useless.  The throttle did not and has not arrived.  It is paid for and should have been delivered last August.  And that delivery date was one that had been delayed itself!  I have written, I have pleaded and the end result is nothing.

     In an astonishing piece of effrontery Mate have actually had the gall to announce a Special Limited Edition of the bike!  They haven’t supplied customers who have paid for items over a year ago, but they can, apparently tool up to produce a new bike!  I am more angry than I can adequately express.  But I am sure that I will give it a go in future posts!

PRIME MINISTER JOHNSON SHOULD RESIGN AT ONCE.

I am glad that Johnson has survived Covid-19 and I congratulate his partner and him on the birth of a son.  But, he should resign for his criminal irresponsibility not only for the grotesque mishandling of the early stages of the crisis, but also for his deliberate flirting with Covid-19 in visits and the Twickenham match.

MATT BECKETT SHOULD RESIGN AT ONCE.

Beckett made the 100k actual tests per day by the end of the month (not the potential for tests) a cast iron policy for which he took full ownership.  He has failed and he must resign.

Johnson’s performance at the press conference showed an almost surrealistic disregard for the actual hard facts of infection and death in the UK.  That his bloody government can actually talk about “success” for anything that they have done is beneath contempt.

RESIGN NOW!

LOCKDOWN CASTELLDEFELS - DAY 45 – Wednesday, 29th APRIL

The Great Adventure! Or going to Lidl’s.  Such as the delights when you are in lockdown, you take your pleasures where you can define them!

     There are many more people around in Castelldefels, though as I passed over the motorway bridge the amount of traffic was small for the time of the day.

     Lidl was relatively full, though I didn’t have to wait before I entered the store to wash my hands in liquid alcohol and start shopping.  Most, but not all people inside the store were wearing masks, and I think that it is becoming a generational thing with the older shoppers being much more likely to be masked up rather than the young.

     As people are supposed to be alone when shopping, it does mean that there is a self regulating holdup when it comes to the checkout, and an infuriating lack of urgency by most when it comes to putting purchases inside bags to take away.

     I have to say that my trip to the shop was uneventful.  People were generally good in their distancing and there didn’t seem to be any shortages – apart form my 15 month mature Cheddar – luckily I stocked up during the last shop and so I still have a chunk left.

     I came back via the sea front to check on how people are working with the new regulations allowing a parent with up to three children to go for walks of less than 1km.  That was what most appeared to be doing as far as I could see, and there seemed to be fewer people on the beach, most were walking on the paseo.  It is still an oddly quiet and lonely activity to drive along the beach road, especially when the weather is encouraging people to come out and walk.

     As the weather steadily improves, it is going to be more and more difficult to keep people in their homes and I can’t help feeling that the government’s intention to allow adults to walk for exercise from this weekend is little more than following the feelings of the population rather than following the science.

     We do not have adequate testing in place in Catalonia and without testing then any successful and safe loosening of the restrictions is going to be a matter of luck rather than confident, evidence backed steps back to normality.  It is my fear that the increasing zest to get back to free movement is going to lead to an inevitable spike in infections and deaths in the autumn.

     For me, a sober assessment of my position would suggest that I fit a few of the criteria for ‘at-risk’ and I think that the onus of my continued existence is going to be squarely on what I think is an adequate approach to my own personal safety rather than going with the flow of governmental encouragement back to normality.

     There is much talk of the ‘new normality’, but too much of it is predicated on the basis that mere talk will make it true.  I do not think that many people have really come to terms with the length of time that there might realistically be before anything approaching previous levels of ordinary domestic intimacy will be back with us.  The double kiss of meeting is very much a thing of the past.  At the moment.  But old habits die hard and it doesn’t need much for people to forget that there was ever an interruption.

     Because we cannot see the virus, it takes an effort of the imagination to take danger seriously.  And it takes a steely determination to be constantly on guard; it is too easy to let your defences down momentarily, and that is all the virus needs to infect and threaten.

The pdf file for my chapbook, Coasts of Memory, is far too large to send via a simple email, and I have been looking to find ways to reduce the quality of the photos that are the major space takers.  I had thought that I would have to alter each of the photographic illustrations individually in some way or other, and then re-insert them into the document.  I tired to use one or two ideas and failed until I noticed that there was an option actually called ‘Reduce file size’ on the ‘File’ menu.  I wonder how many times I have opened that menu and simply not noticed that particularly helpful option!  I suppose it is better to have found it now rather than carry on with a series of futile half-arsed attempts at uninformed self-help!

     I have sent two copies of the file to Irene.  The first was a failure and there was no way that she was able to open it, I have sent the second and I have great hopes for that one.  I wait with trepidation!

     If the file is openable then I intend to send it out and ask recipients, if they feel so inclined, to contribute to NHS charities in their respective countries as payment. 

     This is an on-going enterprise!

LOCKDOWN CASTELLDEFELS - DAY 44 – Tuesday, 28th APRIL

It comes to something that the sight of a man in late middle age walking down the middle of the street on a mobile phone is something to feel riled about.  Without kids or dog or shopping basket, he was a prime example of someone doing just what the hell he liked – even if his misdemeanour was a simple unaccompanied walk.  This is not a luxury the over 14s can enjoy until the weekend.  Perhaps.

     I felt a distinct urge to “denounce”; the itch to feel the pleasure of condemning someone not doing what I’m doing, a touch of the retired major of Tonbridge Wells expressing outrage!  But, who would I tell?  Better to have a quick grumble and get it over with!

     In spite of the Plague Kids being allowed out and about there has been no discernable increase in human (and child) freedom in our small world.  The greatest concentration of Plague Kids is two pools away from us in houses nearer the sea and there are extensive grounds around their pool, but the kids do not appear to be playing there.  Perhaps they are totally in thrall to their small screens and the ‘outside’ has few charms to tempt them!  Or perhaps they are all walking their regulated hour a day along the paseo, or walking on the beach?  Who knows?  We are not scheduled for a shop visit for the next few days and so there will be no way to check on how the regulations are being followed.

     The next relaxation is supposed to be for adults, but to my way of looking, the government here in Spain is trying to have its cake and eat it.  The regions, especially The Basque Country and Catalonia are arguing for their own series of regulations, but the national government is saying that they want a national plan but for it to be implemented asymmetrically and gradually, with it therefore being different in the different regions.  Is this just a case of semantics, or is it a real policy?  As with so much during this crisis, it is a matter of waiting to see how theory works out in practice; but there must also be a recognition that time is also a killer.  If the policy is wrong, then in a fortnight’s time we will see a spike in deaths: mistakes will kill.

In Britain, a friend has written that she is keeping a diary of the idiocies of the government in their approach to the crisis.  I hope that everyone is remembering the deadly mistakes that the Conservative government made as, in a Public Inquiry everyone is able to submit an input and have it officially noted, and this government MUST be held to account.

     I am aware, but can barely understand, that the present government has fairly high satisfaction ratings and that the Blond Buffoon also has high approval ratings.  This is not only deluded but also dangerous.  Under no circumstances should we forget that not only do we have a miss-managed Covid-19 crisis, but also we have the very real threat of a no-deal Brexit: a double-whammy that only the right-wing trash that rules us could put together.  And think that they could get away with.  And they will, unless we are particular, and insistent.

LOCKDOWN CASTELLDEFELS - DAY 43 – Monday, 27th APRIL

Why does it come as no shock whatsoever that the Conservative Government is going to release the figures for the total of tests at the end of the month not at the end of the month?  Can it be that the 100k total of tests on which Hancock staked his future are going to be more problematic than he thought when he thoughtlessly uttered the guarantee earlier in the crisis? 

     So, the ‘end of the month’ becomes something of a moveable feast for the Conservatives when it comes to protecting one of their own – never mind about the people who died as a result of their failure to boost testing when the WHO was urging countries to “Test! Test! Test!”

     If the 100k is going to be difficult to reach to save the hide of little Matt, then perhaps we should steel ourselves to any one of the following:

1.              The endless month of April, in the same way as MPs are used to some debates continuing on one particular named day even if that day has long since passed.

2.              The offering of the total number of tests available rather than the tests actually taken.

3.              ‘Discovering’ tests from previous days that have not been counted.

4.              Making up the results.

5.              Lying.

6.              Redefining the concept of 100k

7.              Redefining the idea of a ‘test’

8.              Lying.

9.              Sacrificing Rees-Mogg to placate, well, everyone up to and including Tories.

10.          Lying.

And let’s deal with the, “this is no time to be replacing a key minister when we are in a crisis” as we are in the crisis we are in because of the key ministers that we have had to put up with.

     

     It’s about time that our political masters began to accept responsibility, and with that end in mind, I am glad that Johnson seems better, and he should now resign after his disgraceful lack of responsibility in going out of his way to put himself in harm’s way by rejecting advice to social distance.  If Beckett fails to get his 100k he should resign: he made it a key pledge, he should live or die by it.  And if we are presented (eventually) with 100k, then I would like the figures scrutinized by an independent body!

With the allowing of kids out and about, there is a definite sense of ‘emergence’ from the lockdown – even though this has just included one parent with up to thee kids, the pictures of something approaching normality in the streets has produce a real feeling of achievement and hope that the end of the crisis is in sight!

     People are beginning to think of what summer could be like if social distancing is still generally in place.  What are the beaches going to be looking like?  At the moment we are regaled with film on TV of groups on the beaches being moved on.  Perhaps by July we will have the beach filled with tight camps of families jealously guarding their ‘safe’ space.  One shudders to think about it too closely!

     From queuing for pollo and bread and meds, I think that people will still go on socially isolating almost like second nature nowadays, but the continued isolation in-house is the more difficult to take.  Especially is there is an element of age discrimination added to the mix!

The Catalan lesson on line was an unmitigated disaster.  My basic problem comes form the fact that in Google Meet my computer stubbornly refuses to recognize that my in-built microphone works.  In other programs of a meeting nature it has no problems but with Google Meet, although it allows my camera to work it does not extend that courtesy to my mic.

     I attempted to rectify the mic. problem by using my mobile phone as the audio component and my Mac as the screen.  This was a bad thing to do not only because I could not read the screen within a screen within a screen on the mobile phone as it was tiny, but also because electronically having both devices on produced the most appalling caterwauling interference.

     Then there was the attempt for all two of us in the class (sic) to try and open the pages that would give us the work that we had to complete before Friday.  We couldn’t find the bit to click on and eventually, after what could only be described as a painful attempt to get us all on the same page, we were sent a new link to get to the page.  That failed.  We were then sent via email the page in question with space for us to complete our homework.  That failed.

      I have done my homework, but I sent it as a separate file via email.  We will have to see how this develops!  At least we have a week to prepare for our next on line lesson.

     It will not be time enough!

LOCKDOWN CASTELLDEFELS - DAY 42 – Sunday, 26th APRIL

As I had to replenish my meds I visited the pharmacy this morning, giving me a representative view of the effects of the loosening of the lockdown in respect of children under 14.

   There were plenty of kids around and with the exception of one child none of them was wearing a mask and neither was the parent.  The kids were on scooters and bikes and in one incidence on a skateboard.  The paseo was fairly full and there were people on the beach.  The fact that this is notable in a seaside town speaks volumes for what we have been going through!

     Perhaps it is naive to suppose otherwise but the kids acted as though there was nothing wrong and that there had been nothing wrong.  If that totally understandable reaction of the kids is transferred to the parents, or even more disturbingly has come from the parents, then the virus results in a fortnight are going to give pause for thought.

     If things go according to the plan outlined by the Spanish government, then next week we may see a further loosening of the restrictions, and adults will be able to exercise outside too.  What exactly that might mean is not clear at the moment – but the idea of being able to go for a bike ride at least would be something to look forward to.

     Whatever happens in the immediate future, I think the idea of breaking down the in-house seclusion will gain an inevitable momentum that will be very difficult to reign in again.

     There are hundreds of people in Spain dying every day from Covid-19, the crisis is nowhere near over, but the mind set is looking towards some sort of conclusion.  And that is dangerous.

Meanwhile in Britain, tomorrow sees the return of the incompetent politician who went out of his way to get infected with Corvid-19 and who ‘leads’ a government that dithered at the start of the crisis ensuring the grotesque figures of infected and dead that we have now.

     One wonders how he will stage his return and then how he will divide his time between trying to explain what has gone on and working towards a no-deal Brexit.  I shudder for the future of my country.

     Talking of shuddering, Cummins the creepy power behind the empty throne is a participating member of what should be a purely scientific advisory committee.  The revelation in The Guardian about his membership over the weekend has sparked a controversy, but given the way that this government reacts to such things, I wonder just how much traction such a revelation will have.

The continuing story of printing out the final draft copy of The Coast of Memory has now reached epic proportions.  The problem is the ink.  God alone knows what sort of depraved electronic jiggery-pokery there is inside a printer that limits the usefulness of the ink in cartridges, but the woeful capacity of the replacements that I have used in the printing is beyond astonishing.  I suspect that there is some artificial limiting device that is able to override the obvious and audible reserves of ink in the cartridge and ensure that it is inoperable.  I refuse to give up, but the last printing was less than satisfactory.

     I might even end up going to a commercial outlet.  Except, of course, all of those are closed at the moment.  Ah, the travails of the would be publisher are never over!

And tomorrow is the next on line Catalan meeting!

LOCKDOWN CASTELLDEFELS - DAY 41 – Saturday, 25th APRIL

It has been a long time since I considered the implications of a word like sarcasm.  It was usually enough to remember the notable exchanges between Whistler and Wilde, especially the exchange of Oscar hearing Whistler say something clever and his then saying, “I wish I had said that!” and Whistler quipping, “You will, Oscar, you will!”  Now that is sarcasm at a high level: clever, witty and true!

     Which brings us to the ignoble piece of narcissistic trash that is the current president of the United States of America.  Even for him he has plumbed a new low in trying to pretend that his “Let them drink Dettol!” was an example of sarcasm, used as a form of ‘sarcasm’ to taunt the members of the press.  I watched that particular piece of the press conference and the idiot said it with what passes for sincerity with such an empathy-lacking sociopath such as himself to a member of his scientific advisory panel.  Trump is a crap actor in the same way as he is crap at all aspects of a life.  For what I saw to be sarcasm, Trump would have to be a sophisticated, articulate, Machiavellian, consummate thespian with high comedic skills.  Trump, that is not!

     I refuse to believe that Trump has any conception of irony or sarcasm, even though his entire existence and his present position exemplify the concepts!

The British total of dead from Covid-19 has now gone over the 20,000 that the scientific advisors said would be a limit that would indicate that we had done well to contain the disease.  So, we have done badly, because not only are we over the total of 20k but also the figures that we have at the present give only an indication of what the true numbers are and will be.

     Yet again the testing put in place by the government has failed as the testing opportunities have crashed for the second day running, one wonders how the government is going to spin that disaster in the sequence of disasters that have marked their management of the crisis.

Tomorrow in Spain is the release of the Plague Kids into society.  No one seems entirely sure of the exact rules for the release of the kids, but it will be interesting to see how the general population interpret them – at least from our limited viewpoint defined by the house!

     I will watch the news with a great deal of interest to see how the rules apply generally.

Today has been one of those days that simply seem to slip by and one wonders what one has done to justify the gift of 24 hours.  To be fair to me, I have (I think) come to a final draft for the chapbook, The Coast of Memory.  Tomorrow a final print out and checking and then, as far as I am concerned, it is done!

LOCKDOWN CASTELLDEFELS - DAY 40 – Friday, 24rd APRIL

Years ago, when I was a volunteer on Cardiff AIDS Helpline, part of the duties of the volunteer was to staff the phones so that you could answer questions on the disease from members of the public who were able to ask for information in a safe environment where their anonymity was guaranteed.  It was very rewarding and volunteers were only allowed to take phone calls when they had undergone a fairly rigorous period of training.

     I remember, in one of the training sessions where we were being presented with simulations of calls one of the trainers, after listening to my responses said, “A little judgemental there, Stephen!”  I put it down to my being a teacher where there is an obvious overarching sense of direction and intent in the pedagogic approach.  But, with the Helpline, it was all about the caller: whatever the caller said and whatever the caller talked about, the volunteer had to go with it and suspend judgement.  I found it refreshing!  Whatever the caller had done, was doing or thought about doing, I was only there to give unbiased explanations and to give advice if asked.  I heard some shocking things but I learned not to judge only to supply facts to give the callers the information they needed to answer their questions and to give them clarity in the direction that best suited them.

     In the early days of the AIDS epidemic ignorance was the great killer.  In spite of the eventual mass advertising campaigns, the sometimes-gnomic approach was not direct enough for the basic information to get to the bulk of the population and some of the questions asked showed a shocking lack of understanding.

     One caller asked if it was possible for, “Me to give myself AIDS if I cut myself?”  While another when being told that the AIDS virus could be killed with a weak solution of bleach asked, “Couldn’t you inject that into somebody to kill the virus in them?”

     I was reminded of my time with the Helpline when reading and listening to Trump in one of his latest deranged pronouncements where he seems to be urging the use of internal UV treatment and the ingestion of bleach as a way of combating the Covid-19 virus!  30 years later and still the same level of ignorance, and this time not a random anonymous caller from Cardiff but the so-called leader of the free world who, from the time of his inauguration has spoken, “some weird shit” as Bush put it.

     At one time you could smile at the antics of the Orange Grotesquery, but it has become increasingly apparent that his mangled language simply kills.

The second attempt at Google Meet for our language classes was not an entire success.  The sound quality was variable, to say the least and the pictures confusing.  Having seen Zoom conferences of neatly aligned video feeds and exceptional audio, this experience was a little less than overwhelming.  I do not even think that I managed to get the basic information from our little gathering, but I will persevere and see what happens.

     Our Catalan group is about five or six on a good day, but I was the only one there and will have to relay imperfectly understood information in the hope of getting some sort of on line lesson up and running.  As far as I can tell, the only good thing coming out of the crisis is that we will not have any examinations; for which much thanks!  But it does call into question any certificate that we might be given at the end of the year!  What little Catalan I did have before the advent of Covid-19 has now altogether disappeared.  Every time I open my textbook, it is as thought I am starting from scratch.

     To justify our continued places in the virtual classes we have to do a certain number of ‘tasks’ and submit on line for assessment.  Having looked at the first one, I am even more confused than I was before the meeting, but no doubt, I will cobble something or other together and stagger on in the way that has become second nature to me when it comes to the study of languages!

We have just had a loudspeaker car come around the streets telling us that the normal municipal Friday collection of garden clippings and pine needles has been suspended until further notice.  You may not consider this much of a hardship, until you realize that the constant dropping of pine needles (in an area called after the pine trees) is a major problem.  This is not because of any unsightliness, but rather because of the threat that the accumulation of pine needles poses to the efficient working of our drainage system.  The pine needles block drains and cause floods unless they are cleared from gutters on a fairly regular basis.  Everything is interconnected and ignoring one part of the system will lead in a fairly short time to its collapse.  One wonders what other services have been dispensed with during this crisis and when the end results of this neglect will start showing itself.

     We are now two days away from the release of the Plague Kids into the streets on Sunday.  The rules (as far as anyone really knows them) say that a youngster can be taken out on a short walk accompanied by a single parent.  I simply do not believe that this is going to happen and we certainly do not have the number of police available to make sure that the rules are followed.  But, perhaps I am being cynical.

The sun is out and the sky is cloudless and all is well with the world.  At least, all is well with the world when it is concentrated on the third floor terrace, my private bit of the ‘outside’!