Interesting times
It might even be in the years before my teens when I first came across the (possibly apocryphal) Chinese curse – May you live in interesting times…
And – funnily – it seems an appropriate comment for the present time.
I am using the term Chinese with coronavirus here not in a racist way (unlike American presidents) but as a way of recording where the outbreak was first detected.
The epicentre is Wuhan in the province of Hubei (bizarrely the capital IS in the spellchecker but the province is not – how does that happen?) but everything has moved on from there.
The initial reluctance to label it a pandemic makes a degree of sense, albeit it was most definitely wrong in retrospect.
And the lack of conspiracy theories (American presidents aside) suggest most people are taking it seriously even if they may not be treating it as seriously as they ought.
Either that or I’m reading the wrong social media accounts…
Which is possibly more likely.
Apart from the whole world going to hell in a hand cart I don’t think I’ve ever been more up to date with my tasks than I am at present.
Back to basics, no twiddly bits, no bright and shiny distractions.
Interesting times.
Even had time to spot the not-quite-so-deliberate mistakes arising from rushing into things rather than thinking.
Okay – I know – some of you, family mainly, won’t be at all surprised but hey! It works most times.
Just not if you are thinking of the transition from the local to cloud-based versions of software and the overlaps between systems.
All my meetings this week have been via video conferencing of one version or another.
I’ve done (in no particular order) Zoom, Facetime, Skype and Messenger. I didn’t even know Messenger had a video capability before I received the call!
You could not have even done something like this in this way ten years ago.
It used to be you felt a sense of wonder that you could have a FREE conversation with pictures with someone on another continent.
Now I suspect you just get just a touch irritable when the bandwidth compresses and the pictures and sound become unsynced!
Odd little aside. I originally put “unsynched” as the abbreviation of unsynchronised (which is obviously not in the spellchecker because it’s the correct way to spell it rather than the American way) then thought I’d just Google it (other search engines are available).
Only to discover the consensus is “unsynced” – see two sentences above.
Now I had originally dismissed this as incorrect as a distant childhood memory tells me “c” before “e” is pronounced like an “s” whereas before anything other than “e”, “i” and sometimes “y” it would be pronounced like a “k”. Hence un-sinsed rather than un-sinked.
But who am I to be pedantic?
Because “unsynched” could be pronounced un-cinched which would be equally as wrong.
This is giving me a headache. I REALLY MUST stop thinking!!!
I’ve been reading about Covid-19 symptoms, etc.
And what I’m reading doesn’t help at all.
Because virtually all the signs of the mild version of the infection are what I get on a daily basis in my “normal” life.
Could have had. Maybe not. Nuck foes, he remarked, courtesy of Rev. Spooner…
It’s just a side effect of the aches and pains. Maybe.
Interesting times indeed.
Readers with long memories may remember me writing reams of drivel on man flu in the far and not so distant past.
Four times in just the titles over the last three years alone.
Ow!!! That was bizarre. Suddenly cramped a major muscle in the left leg and found myself the other side of the room having leapt out of the chair the side away from the door and the wall I found myself at.
Vastus lateralis apparently – the big one that connects the back of your knee to the glutes.
It’ll probably be the consequence of sitting here too long as usual.
But there’s nowt much else to do – there IS a limit to how many times you can get up and hobble round the house in a working day…
Interesting times ahead.
What’s going to happen if/when it gets nearer what used to be normality?
My favourite response to Government guidelines so far was, courtesy of the Guardian newspaper online:
- “I think I’ve got this straight now. I’ve got to stay in, unless I have to go out.”
Couldn’t express it better myself.
Although my local newspaper, the Southern Daily Echo, had the headline:
- “History cancelled”
which is possibly a liiiiiiiiiittle drastic. And does that include the history that’s already history or is it only from now onwards?
I think we deserve to know…
Asides aside.
Will business ever return to normality? Or what normality used to be?
How long will it take for the effects of self-isolation or social distancing to wear off?
Will we ever return to kisses as a greeting?
And think about meetings. If you have coped well-ish for three months or however long with video conferencing will you ever return to face-to face?
Like many I MUCH prefer face-to-face. You can judge a person’s intentions much better when they are there in person – in my opinion anyway.
Albeit after a first meeting it’s much easier to meet remotely – once you have the micro gestures, etc. in mind.
Will there be a permanent drift towards home working?
I’ve often said I can work from anywhere in the world. Will I decide to prove it?
Interesting times.
I think Lorraine is auditioning for one of the witches in Macbeth – there was an alarmingly loud cackle from her room at the other end of the building.
When shall we three meet again?
I love the late, great Terry Pratchett’s Discworld take on it – “I think I’m free next Tuesday”…
Undoubtedly she will tell me all about – whether I want her to or not.
And so we say goodbye.
Also Shakespearean if memory serves.
It just remains to say be safe, and co-operation and collaboration are the way to beat this virus.
Till next time.
