Sunday, May 10, 2020

200 years


Lockdown is supposed to ease tomorrow. Already the traffic along the lane much busier. White vans carrying produce to stores emerging from seven weeks of closure. Tractors making final preparations before the early wheat is harvested. Storms are forecast for this afternoon so the farmers are trying to cram in as much as they can before the thunder arrives. Three aircraft fly overhead. We look up each time one passes. Not commercial flights ; more probably the delayed delivery of Airbus aircraft that have been in limbo since this all started. The aircraft are heading west towards America. The airlines will not be particularly pleased to take delivery of $100m white elephants.


Away from the lane you step back a hundred, or possibly two hundred, years. A headline in the paper says this will be the worst economic downturn since the great frost of 1709. Considering that the period involves a number of wars and a revolution or two that is quite a claim. If it's true we're going to see history being made in front of our eyes.


Four moorhen chicks sitting sunbathing on the water lilly leaves. As soon as we're within fifty yards they're up and scurrying back into the safety of the shrubs that line the pond. One day we will get a picture of the entire family ! They have a permanence to them that says the great frost of 1709 was taken in its stride, as will this.


Sophie has collected quite a variety of twigs and leaves in her muzzle. This is a sign of a good walk.



10/10 in the esoterica rankings. Feisty Jewish diaspora in Yemen music. Mega cool and brave : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD90UbVXZSE

This is remarkable writing: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/finally-virus-got-me-scientist-who-fought-ebola-and-hiv-reflects-facing-death-covid-19



7 comments:

WFT Nobby said...

The music is indeed "mega cool".
I suspect I'm not the only one who is having difficulty absorbing and making sense of all that's been happening over the past couple of months, and trying to predict where things lead from here.
But I do know that Bertie is happy. As I think is Sophie.
Cheers, Gail.

Penny said...

Thank you for the two excellent links, both thought provoking and inspiring.
Your daily walks help us to maintain a modicum of sanity, as here in South Africa, we have only recently been allowed out of our properties for walks/runs/cycling from 5am-9am with a curfew at 8pm - 5am ( other than trips to the closest supermarkets and chemists for essential items and fuel).
Your pups and their antics are a delightful diversion. How you keep them so clean and groomed is a marvel! Penny

Poppy Q said...

It is nice to have no airport noise at the moment. We have easing conditions too, and the roads are getting busier.

Coppa's girl said...

Pouring rain first thing this morning, but the clouds have rolled by, the sky is blue, and the sun is out.
Moving up to phase 1 tomorrow morning - how pleased we'll all be to see some semblance of normality return to our lives! Though I've been luckier than many, because I have Inca to walk each day and we have a garden. Sometimes I'm not sure that she appreciates these walks, as we have been very limited to the distance from home, and there are only two routes we can take. Later this week we'll drive down to the coast to meet up with a friend we haven't seen since lockdown began, and we'll walk along by the beach for a breath of sea air.

Angus said...

What a great day for owner and Inca to be out by the sea !

Angus said...

Bertie and Sophie have the unbridled happiness of the innocent .

Bella Roxy & Macdui said...

Hope 'the frost of 1709' doesn't cause moorhen to be on the menu.

Interesting article. I've read a few similar about the lingering effects of C-19--that it's not just a you die or recover situation.