A nighttime walk is good, but it’s not as good as a daytime walk. Especially if the only extended periods when you left the house during the week were during the nighttime. By the time it gets to Friday you will feel tired, inexplicably sad, depressed about all kinds of things and generally lacking enthusiasm… Continue reading Dark feelings, hope springs and peanuts (7.21)
Frozen (but don’t Let it Go) (6.21)
Yes, this week has been untypically cold for a London winter, with temperatures regularly below freezing (even during the day), necessitating me breaking out the jacket and boots I refer to as either "DefCon 1" or "Moscow measures" when we need to leave the house and go for a walk. And yes, even in this… Continue reading Frozen (but don’t Let it Go) (6.21)
Hints of spring; yet more winter (5.21)
This week I had my performance appraisal. It went well. My main concern was that when the discussion started, I looked out the window and saw a bee stuck in a spider’s web right in my eyeline, struggling to get itself free. And while I’m trying to say good things about what I did last… Continue reading Hints of spring; yet more winter (5.21)
Money, musicals and chess (4.21)
It must be great to be super-rich, mustn't it? I mean apart from the private jets, the champagne-and-caviar lifestyle, never having to clean the bathtub ever again, it's the security of knowing that even in a global pandemic, when a large part of the world is tumbling into poverty and uncertainty, your own personal bubble… Continue reading Money, musicals and chess (4.21)
A memorable week (3.21)
Today, Sunday, it snowed. Snow is exciting because it provides a punctuation mark in the endless flow of similar looking days. It will be a reference point of time. "No, no, that was before it snowed," or "Yes, that was the week after it snowed." It's also a weekend we took not one but two… Continue reading A memorable week (3.21)
Plus / Minus (2.21)
This week the UK deaths from Covid19 topped 90.000. On Wednesday more than 1500 people died. The safety warnings on the radio have become more stark: "If you break the rules, people will die." The enormity of the situation is almost unprocessable - my mind just can't take in these figures. So I hear them,… Continue reading Plus / Minus (2.21)
New word needed
I need a new word. A word that covers all the kind of feelings you get in lockdown in a grey winter in January. It would be word that covers a feeling that is a combination of sad, angry, frustrated, annoyed, confused, lost, and a bit scared. Angry, frustrated - the government seems to be… Continue reading New word needed
Not a great start to the year (1.2021)
I can’t say I like this year much more than last year so far. All the shitty stuff that was with us last year did not disappear with the clocks chiming midnight on 31 December. In fact some things are getting worse - Covid, the political situation in the USA, my weight. Ok, maybe it’s… Continue reading Not a great start to the year (1.2021)
I believe the science
I may not understand the science, but I believe in it. I trust the people with PhDs who spent years in labs learning about things most of can't even spell. I trust the immunologists and virologists and other people who study the things we can't see; things that are invisible but can kill us. I… Continue reading I believe the science
Lockdown 3 – here we go
It was not unexpected, taking into account hospitals reaching full capacity with Covid patients and the new, more highly contagious strain of Covid spreading rapidly throughout the country, but still it's a bit of a bump to be told we are going back into lockdown. A proper lockdown this time, schools are closing. I guess… Continue reading Lockdown 3 – here we go
