Corona - Life's Losses

Oddly, I think it's only this week that it has dawned on me just what I have lost due to Covid 19. Worse, that the losses may, at best, last a long time & at worst never come back.

I had an email this week, from the management of the Playhouse theatre where I work as a volunteer usher, enclosing a piece in "The Stage."
https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/coronavirus-oxford-playhouse-prepares-for-redundancies-in-cost-cutting-plan
People who have been furloughed up to now face redundancy. Worse still, the theatre, along with so many others, faces real financial difficulty, which it may not survive. I feel dreadfully sad on so many fronts that I'm not sure I can express it. Obviously firstly for all the people involved in keeping "the show on the road" - (Sorry, couldn't resist that). There are so many that the public don't see, not just the stars & the Front of House people. Wider still is the loss to all our lives, the audiences & the many people who participate in the outreach programmes theatres like the Playhouse offer.

Personally, for me, it's the loss of one of the most enjoyable aspects of the life that I have built for myself here in Oxford. I enjoyed it so much. I have seen productions I would never have otherwise seen & met so many nice people. To quote Anthony Burgess "All human life is here" - Shakespeare too in As You Like It - "All the world's a stage & all men & women are merely actors". It seems to me that we really do need to make every effort to "keep the show on the road" now. We literally can't afford not to.

Then there is NOA Community Centre, which runs on a shoestring & has been closed for the duration. It is a hub for Summertown & the wider Oxford community. The range of courses & activities for all age groups is amazing. Again there is a nucleus of paid staff with a supporting cast of volunteers. I'm not involved with the management any more, so I have no idea what the total loss of income will mean to it's viability into the future. But I do know that it will be difficult to ride this out. Again, for me, it is the loss of one of the main focuses of my life.

Last but definitely not least, I have no idea when, or more importantly if, the swimming pool I use will re-open. It's in a local independent school. They have enough problems providing education in the current situation. I doubt they have given much thought to the Swim Club I & my friends are members of. It isn't just the exercise, vital though that is. It's the friendship group we have. We transferred our monthly coffee mornings to Zoom meetings. So we haven't lost touch, but it isn't the same. My fitness has plumeted, swimming is the only exercise I can do.

 

This Pandemic has hit so many people really hard & it isn't over yet. Everyone has to live with fundamental change & uncertainty. I can cope with that. What I'm not sure I can cope with is the total loss of point to my life that gives me a reason to get up in the morning.

Corona - Consequences

I'm officially fed up with this - 88 days shielding. Out of the house 3 times, once to go to A&E, once to get a blood test & once to walk to my daughters last week.

Cupboards cleared out. The stuff for charity shops put in the car port for people to help themselves because there was so much it blocked the hallway. Old slides & photos digitised & made into family photo books for my daughter & grandsons. Numerous Zooms & Webinars with various charities - I'm extremely well informed about the climate crisis. Also a really interesting one yesterday with Netgear because it's even more important to have good WiFi now. I spend half my day or more on the computer. I discovered that I need a Mesh system. Regular conversations of various sorts with friends, but very few face to face ones. Books read, fiction & non fiction. TV watched - very little live, mostly the stuff I record on the PVR. I still can't watch daytime TV though, it feels too sinful. I have eaten better, because I have cooked virtually everything from scratch. I've even made two cakes.

What I haven't done is any exercise - swimming is the only thing that doesn't cause significant pain. I also haven't done anything creative - I'm really disappointed in myself. With all this time, I really thought I would.

There is no plan, to my day, my week or the months ahead. There is nothing in my diary. I have a holiday booked in September, but I hope they cancel it because I don't want to go on public transport. I can't see how it would be the holiday experience I wanted anyway. My life is lived from minute to minute & hour to hour, day to day & week to week. It does all seem to be going very quickly, which is counter intuitive.

For the first time in my life I am beginning to feel my age. There is no focus. Both my voluntary jobs ceased more than 88 days ago. I couldn't carry on ushering for the Playhouse theatre or being on reception at NOA Community centre because they were such public jobs. I knew from the outset that Covid 19 would be dangerous for me. Swimming almost daily meant going out & walking  through Summertown. I would always meet someone I knew. I now realise just how important actually being in life is. Living is not enough, you need to be a participant.

What matters is the quality of life lived, not just existing. Most people can find things to do, even if it is just cleaning & tidying, but not indefinitely. We are social animals. So even if, like me, you are used to being solitary without feeling lonely, you do need human contact, both physical & emotional.

The thing I'm now realising through experience is that people become conditioned & indoctrinated relatively easily. Who would have thought in March that wearing face masks would be routine? We thought Asians were silly wearing them in Oxford. It puts wearing the niquab into a different context too. I doubt that the psychological effects of Covid 19 will be particularly beneficial.

I am going to have to go out more. Because if I don't I may not be able to return to "normal".

Corona - Freedom?

This weekend marks my 12th week of shielding. 3 months of my life has gone. In all honesty it hasn't been that hard. I've had plenty of contact, both virtual & real, with a lot of friends & with my daughter who has shopped throughout. It isn't what I would have chosen, but I have had lots to do. Indeed too much sometimes.

Yesterday I went out. In theory I'm not supposed to, but I am capable of deciding for myself what risk I think is reasonable. I don't need a politician to do it for me.
Oxfordshire Population: 687,524 – COVID-19 Incidence Rate: 306.8/100,000 inh – COVID-19 Increase: 0.36 new cases per day/100,000 inh -12th June.
It seems to me that at some point we all have to take responsibility for ourselves. We cannot isolate forever. Life has to return to some form of "normal".

I walked to my daughters house 10 minutes away. We all sat in the garden a chatted. Then M & I walked the dog down to the river Cherwell. It was really lovely. I enjoyed every moment & I don't think any of us were at serious risk.

Walking there felt odd. I felt as if I was in an invisible bubble. I was very conscious of everyone around me & at 10am there were quite a lot of people. I found that I was the one who had to move out of everyone's way, going into the middle of the road to avoid breaking the 2m rule. I wasn't nervous, but was in a state of heightened awareness, which was completely novel.

I now realise how unfit I have become. Walking there, walking the dog & walking back, would have tired me prior to Covid 19. I did have a rest sitting in the garden when I arrived though, so it was OK. But I could feel my heart on the way there & on the way back & I was breathless.

I don't yet feel that I would want to go into a shop. But I do think that at some point soon I may have to. My daughter has a demanding job & a family. A lot falls on her shoulders. She cannot continue doing this. Because I haven't had the shielding letter yet, (hopefully my surgery has this in hand now), I haven't been able to get a supermarket delivery slot. Also there is an issue for single people given that we don't need as much food as often as families do. Previously I shopped locally daily & did a big supermarket shop once a month.

The big issue for me is fitness. I can tell that I have deteriorated. Even if my swimming pool opened, I'm not sure how comfortable I would feel returning to swimming. Having to walk home in wet clothes would be uncomfortable.

How will we older people return to some sort of normality? Especially if the vaccine takes as long as it might to get to everyone. But even that is only the answer until the next Pandemic.

Unless we change our relationship with flora & fauna by stopping deforestation, supporting biodiversity, and having better farming methods & food chains, this will keep on happening.

https://ejatlas.org/ - Environmental Justice Atlas

We have brought this on ourselves, but it is possible to do something about it - The window of opportunity is very small though.

 Brazil's Soy boom destroys tropical forest.

Corona - Deforestation & Land Use

 

I have just participated in a really interesting & informative Greenpeace Zoom on deforestation & the Amazon. I really wish the Zoom's that various climate / eco charities are doing during Covid 19 were more widely viewed. Greenpeace & Client Earth in particular are disseminating some really useful presentations.

I thought I was quite well informed, but I was wrong. There are so many things impacting in a very negative way on the worlds forests today - Soya, Palm Oil, Cocoa & cattle to name but a few. These are driven by some of the biggest multinational corporations in the world who make mega profits. We are not talking about farmers here, we are talking about agribusinesses. We are not talking about the indiginous inhabitants clearing land for subsistance farming. Nor are we talking about dairy farmers, we are talking about industrial scale meat production.

JBS Holdings are the leading processors of beef, pork and prepared foods in the U.S. and Canada with 73,000 employees. Tyson Foods is the world's second largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork after JBS and annually exports the largest percentage of beef out of the United States with 122,000 employees. Cargill Meat Solutions is a subsidiary of the multinational agribusiness giant Cargill Inc North American beef, turkey, food service and food distribution business. These 3 companies virtually control meat production & therefore deforestation & ecological damage.

By May 2, 2020, Cargill's High River facility in Canada, was the site of one of the largest COVID-19 outbreaks in North America with one death and 921 confirmed coronavirus cases among employees—representing about 50 percent of the facility's 2,000 employees. After closing for two weeks, the plant reopened on May 4. By May 6, of the 5,893 confirmed cases in the entire province of Alberta, the province's health services had "linked 1,560 cases to the Cargill facility."

Research now suggests that, rather than deadly pathogens lying in wait for humans, viruses – like  Swine ‘Flu, Ebola and, now, Covid-19, amongst many others – are often triggered by human destruction and exploitation of wildlife-rich tropical forest habitats like the Amazon. 

I've only mentioned farming - there is also mining. In the Carajas Mineral Province, Brazil, maybe the world's largest copper reserve (iron ore, manganese and gold are already found there), wood from surrounding forest is cut for charcoal to fuel pig iron plants, resulting in annual deforestation of 6,100 km². Then there is logging. More than 20 percent of the Amazon rainforest is already gone, and much more is severely threatened as the destruction continues. It is estimated that the Amazon alone is vanishing at a rate of 20,000 square miles a year. 

If nothing is done to curb this trend, the entire Amazon could well be gone within fifty years. The government of Jair Bolsonaro sees  stewardship of the Amazon as synonymous with ownership of the Amazon. Standing before the planet’s largest and most biodiverse carbon sink, he thinks: What an amazing business opportunity.

We humans continue on the road to destruction.

 

Corona - Freedom - At a price?

Having been in my house for 10 weeks, quite happily I might add, the Government has now said I can go out & meet one person outdoors. I learned of the change from the media & there was no evidence given for the decision. Indeed the scientific community are very concerned at the rapid about face for everyone, but particularly people like me. The R number & the incidence of infection are both too high.

I have reached the point where I have no faith whatsoever in Prime Minister & the Cabinet of this country. The list of their failings in dealing effectively with Covid 19 is too long. One "cock up" after another from the very beginning.The Cummings debacle is the final straw.

I have always believed that you should take responsibility for your own health & well being & your own actions or non actions. In everything you do. I am perfectly capable of doing that.

 

protectstudy.org.uk

I think I am well informed about my personal health situation & the risks posed to me by Covid 19. I am also perfectly capable of doing my own risk assessment, including the risk I might pose to others. I don't think that going outside for a walk is particularly dangerous if I keep distanced from people & don't touch anything. I also don't see that walking to my daughter's house & going into the back garden to sit & chat, distanced, poses much of a threat. I would quite probably have a cup of coffee too. On return I would obviously wash my hands.

However, I'm not going to do that just yet. I'm going to sit tight for another week or two. The 15th June is the day I complete my 12 weeks. The scientists say that another 2 weeks will show whether it is really safe to venture forth. Contact Tracing might just be functioning properly by then, although I won't hold my breath! (Excuse the pun).

I fully understand the very difficult financial situation we are in & the need to get society functioning more normally. I also understand that people are fed up with all the Covid 19 isolating & distancing rules. It is an exceptionally difficult balance to be struck by the PM & Cabinet. I just think they have done this deliberately to take the heat out of the Cummings situation. They are fully prepared to take a massive risk with people's lives to deflect them from the furore over Cummings behaviour & the PM's inability to function without him.

Why go through all of this only to put it all at risk for a couple of weeks? It isn't logical or sensible.