Saturday, June 20th, 2020
As per the weather forecast there were scattered thunderstorms throughout the day; starting around 11:00 after a gloriously sunny start of the day, which EM kicked of going on some Chameleon procurement mission as the designated driver for her friend Julia.
In the age of CVOID-19 having a convertible is definitely an advantage! Contamination free ride sharing. The rain only started when we were ready to check out the Bethesda Pool. Not that the rain matters when swimming, it is more that pools close when there is thunder and lightning. We did drive by on our way to do the grocery run. It is all ready with lane ropes not only in the lap pool, but also in the main pool, across the diving well, bringing up total available 25 feet lanes to 14 plus an additional six or so 15 feet lanes. I am hopeful it will open sooner rather than later.
I did finally cancel my Equinox membership though. I had been wanting to that ever since I found out one of the main shareholders is a major sponsor of the Orange Cheeto. There just never was another pool I could have accessed from work. Given that work life is going to change dramatically, with far less time spend in the office, I decided to sort out a pool close to home. I have now changed our “Y” membership from EM alone to one including me. They have a lovely outdoor pool open year-round and I have reserved a lane for Monday and Tuesday alreay. Tomorrow I shall book one for Wednesday and so on as one can only book 72 hours agead of time. With that half of the exercise regime is back!
Glad I did not switch the sailing cancelled on account of rain yesterday to today, though the sun has been out for the past two hours. Am hoping it will stay nice until tomorrow afternoon as I now have a boat booked for 1pm. Because of the weather today was, apart from the grocery run and making lunch, another largely inactive home bound day.
Am waiting for EM to finish her lawn chat with her neighborhood school friend so we can at least go for a stroll around the neighborhood, before I turn my attention back to “The Warmth of Other Suns”.
Despite my hurtful text, my brilliant friend has reappeared, which made for a happy day. While a special bond, I know it will always also be a sad connection. Much like Ovid’s tale of the “two royal children, they loved each other so much, but couldn’t come together, the water was to deep”.
Today 8.74 million cases are confirmed globally, 2.3 million of which in the USA. US wide newly reported cases top 30k for the first time since May 1. Clearly nothing is under control! The blame game in States with jumping infections (Florida Adds some 4,000+new cases in 24 hours) has identified Hispanics as the cause, warning that day laborers in agriculture are spreading the diseases. More division of the races, sad. There have been early warnings that shipping them to work in school buses is a risk, which, while raised early on, has been ignored. I realize the families need the money, but what if none of the pickers would show up over the next four weeks and just left fruit to rot? It might proof less costly for the workers considering hospital bills they may be facing if they contract the desease.
In the midst of all this the chief instigator is holding a rally with 20k people in a closed venue. Already6 campaign workers tested positive. Maybe the 20k will to and sadly will not go to vote because of it. The only upside: those 20k people may find themselves unable to cast a vote; an uncharitable thought I know. No matter what the polls say, I am deeply worried that he will be re-elected. It would destroy this countries democracy fully. The only salvage would be civil war, with Blue costal states refusing to foot the bill and de facto breaking away. For the rest of the world it would, at least on the climate agenda be terrible. Everywhere else there may be opportunities for China, Europa and other regional powers to fill the power void. This would leave the us a power in decline, in terms of influence, not weapons, which can potentially be a great to world peace.
There are also ever new insights of how COVID-19 is contracted. The most common spread seems to be through accumulation of virus load in the air of closed premises. This is helpful for each of us to know as we reopen our lives to get on with them somehow. Also, scientists have found an explanation for the loss of smell (and I presume taste). I had the same experience, no taste from one minute to another and then after about ten days all back to normal. At the time I was convinced a Cortisone shot was the cause for this sudden loss of taste. The more I learn about COVID-19 though the more convinced I am that the virus not the Cortsion shot were the cause of my illnesses.
The Oxford University vaccine is moving to phase three trial, with more than 10k immunizations administered and production capacities being scaled up. If successful there could be a vaccine before the end of the year, say November 5th?
Here is hoping.