Salut!

Covid-19 Diaries. Toronto: (13) Mrs/Mme Trudeau knows best

Scenes from a Toronto breakfast table as Covid-19 weariness and, just maybe, boredom and anxiety begin to show. And then Bill Taylor passes by an Ottowa branch of No Frills for the 13th episode of his lockdown diary. See the whole series here ...

 

Covid-19 Diaries. Harrow: treasures from China

Tina is on the right. Between us is a neighbour from our apartment complex in Siolim

 

Tony Evans, another of my former colleagues from decades ago (and an enduring friend) is one of the youngest eightysomethings I know though I do have an amazingly sprightly French aunt-in-law pushing 100. Here he tells of a heartwarming gesture ...

 

Covid-19 Diaries. London: (3) abscess and abstinence - and the series so far

 

 

It's just past midnight so thank God it's Friday. And here's a hearty thank you to all my contributors - Bill, Richard, Pete, John, Sue, Tim, Malcolm and Julian (look to your left for links) so far - for making Covid-19 Diaries so fascinating. One or two others are considering offering their thoughts so there is no immediate plan to wind down the series.

The response has been encouraging, too. Salut! goes through occasional spells of inactivity and therefore toddles along on very low "hit rates" until I publish something, plug it as best as I can on social media and watch the readership levels grow again.

Covid-19 Diaries. Paris: fine if you comply, fined if you don't

Nala and Lily social-distancing in the living room

 

I quietly urged my friend and former colleague Julian Young to add to this series from Paris. I am delighted to see that he has now done so ...

 

Covid-19 Diaries. Toronto: (12) Bill yearns for a hike, Lesley minds her languages

 

Bill Taylor is up to a dozen daily updates on life as he is currently leading it out in Toronto. A combination of culture, virtual get-togethers and an inventory of essentials gives you a general idea ...

Covid-19 Diaries. Howden-le-Wear: a lockdown recipe of TV whodunnits, crosswords and Spotify

Without wishing to tempt fate, I note that none of the friends contributing to Salut!'s Covid-19 Diaries has actually suffered the symptoms of this dreadful disease. But two women I have to know and value on social media, fellow Sunderland AFC supporters, have reported virus-like signs and, in one case, is sure she has caught it. Get well quickly and strongly, Hilary with your treatment combination of paracetamol, Vitamin C and Dylan.

And welcome, Malcolm Dawson, who was my deputy editor at Salut! Sunderland until we handed the site to others from Jan 1. Malcolm, now settled back in the North East after spending his teaching career in the from the East Midlands. The full series of diaries can be found by clicking on the final word of this introduction - here: 

Covid-19 Diaries. Whitley Bay: Spanish City bustle reduced to ghostly gloom

Sue Nicholson, yet another of the colleagues fondly remembered from the Bishop Auckland office of the Darlington Evening Despatch, joins the Salut! House Party of Covid-19 diarists, painting a moving picture from Whitley Bay of the devastating effect of the virus on admired local businesses. Sue remembers happy days from Bishop (I remember her as by far the hippest character in the office) but also much more recent happy days by the coast until lockdown began ... all part of this site's series of coronavirus notes from around the world 

 

Covid-19 Diaries. Toronto: (11) Russia, Italy or Canada when holidays are no longer taboo?

 

Three thoughts on Bill Taylor's new dispatch from Toronto: 1) mention of April Fool reminds me that the second series of Sunderland 'Til I Die is out on Netflix today; I predict compelling misery 2) Russia's a good idea but don't watch Putin: A Russian Spy Story before you book as it may put you off  and 3) talking of trains, catch the Michael Portillo's Great Canadian Railway Journey (an odd man with rotten politics but strangely appealing on rail travel) ...

 

Covid-19 Diaries. The road from Catalonia

Tim Sinclair is an old colleague from local newspaper days in the North East of England. I have not seen him in half a century and would imagine the same applies to Bill Taylor. Salut!'s series of Covid-19 diaries brings us together, albeit electronically, once more ...

Should I stay or should I go...... sorry to those who remember the song and it's now going around in your head.

I live in a campervan, my home rented out. I was in Spain when war broke out in earnest against the invisible enemy. I might as well have been high on caffeine as the go/stay debate went round in my head, eluding sleep in the night hours.

Covid-19 Diaries. Toronto (10) dog mess, dim wasps and social distancing

 

 

Nothing to do with my headline but Bill Taylor, in his latest (and 10th) report on how things are just now in Toronto, has the same thought that will have occurred to many of us about people previously taken for granted or dismissed, unvalued, as unskilled.

However important the health service personnel whether or not medically qualified, supermarket workers, care home staff, quota-driven delivery drivers, binmen and cleaners (and yes, lots more) seem at this. moment of crisis, it is pertinent to ask how long that acknowledgement of worth will last. Will employers - and the 'society' Boris suddenly notices, at odds with conventional Tory wisdom, does exist after all - act accordingly or just go back to being grateful that 'unskilled' or 'taken for granted' also means grossly underpaid?

The full Salut! series of Covid-19 diaries can be browsed here ...