Tuesday, April 14th, 2020
Here goes yet another day of #stayhome. The days are beginning to blur one into the other. Same routine, same procedure as yesterday, same procedure as every day, an adaptation of the 90th Birthday also known as Dinner for One A brilliant sketch produced for German television in 1963 which is watched as New Year’s tradition in Germany. Every German child will understand the meaning of “same procedure as last year? same procedure as every year”.
Days of the week have somehow lost their meaning. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday used to be Aikido days. Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday EM swim practice days. Monday and Wednesday family dinner nights. Now every day is the same. Emails, news, exercise, work, lunch, walk, work, bike, blog, games or a movie. Rinse, repeat.
Fortunately, my computer at least shows the time and date in the bottom right-hand corner or I would be without any sense of time, other than the time of day, defined by time zones. Early mornings and evening are Asia time, mornings to early afternoons are Africa/ Europe time and all day is Latin America/ US time.
Also, very grateful to be working. Just the thought of spending days filled with nothing to do is torture. Plus, it provides for distanced socially human interactions; even if at times one sees more of peoples whereabouts than one cares for. On the other hand, it is kind of interesting to explore the various residences of one's colleagues. I am noting though that most have one place to have their video calls from. So I tend to see the same vase and flowers or books or window in the background. Just like people will see the same red walls and the same painting behind me – or if I turn the laptop, the same view out of the window which currently is very pretty as both the Dogwood and the white Azaleas are in full bloom.
Just imagine how outlandish video calls were considered to be only a few decades ago with Star Trek placing them into the 23rd century and here we are in the 21st century and they are very much the norm. Which reminds me of the first cell phone I ever had – it was the size of a half-brick! (and having grown up in South Africa, I have not only a good sense of a half brick, but also an understanding of what to do with one).
One thing Star Trek featured, which we have not yet mastered, is the art of beaming. Would it not be amazing to just say “beam me to …. Scotty” and instantaneously arrive at the destination of your desire? I could quickly pop over to my mum or a quick visit with my sequestered friends in Cape Town and be back in time for breakfast. Although someone mentioned that if too many people do this there is a risk you will not get reassembled correctly; just imagine having someone else’s arms or legs or ears because particles got mixed up. What recourse would one have? How to reverse? Clearly, I have spent too much time on this couch….
While infections are still growing with almost 2 million cases confirmed globally, there is increasing talk around the world of reopening. The FT believes that the “Coronavirus Economic Reopening Will Be Fragile, Partial and Slow”. It contests “From airlines to carmakers, companies are planning to gear up again. The new normal will look anything but, with safety shields, blood tests and plenty of space between customers.”
Countries like Italy, Spain, France, and Germany seem to be turning the corner with death tolls and reported new infections seem to be turning the corner numbers in the US are still rising, with 620k cases confirmed as of today. So it may be a little to early to be optimistic, even though everyone is itching for this to be over. Headline news today has been about agent orange declaring he has authoritarian powers. This has caused a shit storm in the media – thankfully.
Other news of the day: the USA has declared it would stop contributing to the WHO until further notice. This is of course completely in line with this administration’s overall suspicion of anything multilateral. This news has prompted a discourse about the honesty of the WHO, with someone claiming the organization had been protecting the Chinese and not properly informed the world.
I found this timeline which clarifies that the WHO warned of the dangers of the disease at the end of January. Declaring it a pandemic only once cases on every continent had been confirmed (which happens to be the definition of a pandemic). Even if they had declared it in early February, would that have changed the course of action of agent orange? I think not.
Beyond the virus news I found a site which provides very good reflections of political events unfolding in the USA. The fact that Bernie Sanders has endorsed Joe Biden gives rise to hope that the orange occupant of the White House just maybe might not be in same next year. So far though nothing seems to have damaged him, no matter how obnoxious or outrageous. While I am not overly optimistic after all I have learned about the democracy in this country over the past almost four years, one should not ever give up hope. So here is hoping that we shall overcome.