Today has been set aside as a quiet day for the Covid-19 Diaries. With input from Bill Taylor and, in Lombardy, Renata Baraldi, yesterday's instalments attracted an impressive readership, just under 700 visits to Salut!, a clear record for the series.
Today we'll make do with another welcome, thoughtful dispatch from Bill in Toronto ... otherwise, I urge to you to browse the growing catalogue; you'll chance upon some seriously good writing
Pensive notes from the trenches:
Inner dialogue:
Me: “Time to get the day underway.”
Me: “Why?”
Why, indeed? But that way madness lies so let’s not go there.
I shower, therefore I am.
And having showered, I put my clothes on and therefore I am all dressed up with nowhere to go. But at least I’m outta my onesie and bunny slippers (just thought I’d re-implant that mental picture; you’re welcome).
The luxury of time – if you still regard it as a luxury and not a burden – means you can look up words to your heart’s content.
The Macmillan Dictionary: “Not able to live an independent life after a very long period inside an institution, such as a prison.”
So, no, we don’t want to become institutionalised.
The city reportedly is resuming garden-waste collection. So there’s a reason to get outside – to admire all the garden waste they’d be picking up if YOU were picking it up first. But what’s the hurry?
This time last year, I was buying mulch to avoid the rush come October. May have to stand in line this time – we’ll probably keep an instinctive two metres apart – when the mulch stores reopen. Or can it be shoveled back into bags and used again?
See? We really will have to live our lives differently. Mulch is just a metaphor.
I’ve been encouraging pals across the world to contribute to a series of Covid-19 diaries and the response has been fantastic. Today, from Renata in Lombardy, came a truly beautiful lament for Italy .... https://t.co/XA2tAZH6Zu RTs appreciated, for her not me
— Colin Randall (@salutsunderland) April 6, 2020
If you look hard enough, you can find a good side to almost anything. Even the most devastating forest fire carries benefits to the ecosystem.
The ashes of dead trees and decaying underbrush return as nutrients to the soil (I’m paraphrasing science.howstuffworks.com) and it leaves the way clear for sunlight to reach the forest floor and encourage healthy new growth.
While this damned pandemic will destroy a lot of businesses – which is utterly tragic; unimaginably so – others will spring up. New growth.
The order will change. But the order will continue.
Sorry, that is wildly simplistic and probably annoyingly naïve. But I think it contains a kernel of truth. I have no wish to sound like a greeting-card philosopher.
There again, if Hallmark needs me…
I’m very curious to see how life will change. I find it hard to believe that it won’t.
I speculated a while ago that this is perhaps the revolution at last, with people not on the streets but off them.
More and more, I’m thinking that might be true.
There was a CBC story last week about qualified doctors who were trained overseas (some of whom right now probably drive Ubers) being allowed to apply for a 30-day Ontario license to fight Covid-19.
My friend Annie commented: “Perhaps this will open the medical regulators’ eyes to the available talent out there, and result in a world where all Canadians will finally be able to get a GP for themselves and not have to wait years for elective surgery.”
That would be revolutionary, all right
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