It's hard to believe that the world is in the position it finds itself. The corona virus has turned daily life upside down. Countries in 'lockdown', transport services being cut, people (like me) working at home (the worst nightmare, blending work with home life or, worse still, allowing 'work' to intrude on one's personal life).
I keep temporarily forgetting about it, thinking that everything is alright, but then I remember and I immediately feel depressed about the situation.
The media love it, of course. It doesn't matter what channel or what time, they're talking about it constantly. New phrases have been introduced: 'self-isolate', 'social distancing' to name but two.
And let's face it, the corona virus is 100% a skiver's paradise. I wonder how many people out there have phoned in to say they are self-isolating? They're probably the same people who are busy buying up all the toilet rolls and pasta and leaving the supermarket shelves bare.
It's quite incredible the speed at which the virus has taken hold. At Christmas time nobody was even thinking about shutting the country down. In January it was still unheard of, similarly in February and early March. Yes, we knew that the Chinese were having problems with a virus that started in Wuhan, but because it was on the other side of the world it was a case of 'out of sight, out of mind'. But then slowly the reality began to dawn upon us. We probably acted far too late and were far too politically correct to simply close our doors to the Chinese. When I think back to it, we should have immediately stopped all flights from China, bugger political correctness, bugger whether or not we were causing offence, the doors should have been closed. Perhaps next time - and let's face it, there will be a next time - we will have learned from our mistakes.
What amazes me is the mess this virus has caused, the chaos, and I've started to wonder when people will start pointing the finger firmly at the Chinese and request some kind of compensation. I'm wondering whether Trump is planning some kind of revenge, some kind of punishment, perhaps stronger trade sanctions, I don't know, but surely the Chinese are not going to be allowed to simply get away with it. How many people are there quietly seething about what's going on and wondering whether those responsible will be pulled up on the matter?
I'm sure that, as always, the perpetrators (in this case the Chinese) will get off lightly, nothing will be said and we'll all be left smarting and feeling short-changed.
Right now, of course, it's only just kicking off. I wake up every morning without a sore throat or a cough, but for how long? I wash my hands around a dozen times a day, but I've yet to practice 'social distancing'. There's a two days on, three days at home roster at work from next week, my mum's 'self-isolating' for the next 12 weeks so there won't be any tea and cake unless I make it myself. Fortunately (for the time being) there's cycling. I'm looking forward to the weekend rides and I'm hoping that the weather won't lead to an abort text.
I keep temporarily forgetting about it, thinking that everything is alright, but then I remember and I immediately feel depressed about the situation.
And let's face it, the corona virus is 100% a skiver's paradise. I wonder how many people out there have phoned in to say they are self-isolating? They're probably the same people who are busy buying up all the toilet rolls and pasta and leaving the supermarket shelves bare.
It's quite incredible the speed at which the virus has taken hold. At Christmas time nobody was even thinking about shutting the country down. In January it was still unheard of, similarly in February and early March. Yes, we knew that the Chinese were having problems with a virus that started in Wuhan, but because it was on the other side of the world it was a case of 'out of sight, out of mind'. But then slowly the reality began to dawn upon us. We probably acted far too late and were far too politically correct to simply close our doors to the Chinese. When I think back to it, we should have immediately stopped all flights from China, bugger political correctness, bugger whether or not we were causing offence, the doors should have been closed. Perhaps next time - and let's face it, there will be a next time - we will have learned from our mistakes.
What amazes me is the mess this virus has caused, the chaos, and I've started to wonder when people will start pointing the finger firmly at the Chinese and request some kind of compensation. I'm wondering whether Trump is planning some kind of revenge, some kind of punishment, perhaps stronger trade sanctions, I don't know, but surely the Chinese are not going to be allowed to simply get away with it. How many people are there quietly seething about what's going on and wondering whether those responsible will be pulled up on the matter?
I'm sure that, as always, the perpetrators (in this case the Chinese) will get off lightly, nothing will be said and we'll all be left smarting and feeling short-changed.
Right now, of course, it's only just kicking off. I wake up every morning without a sore throat or a cough, but for how long? I wash my hands around a dozen times a day, but I've yet to practice 'social distancing'. There's a two days on, three days at home roster at work from next week, my mum's 'self-isolating' for the next 12 weeks so there won't be any tea and cake unless I make it myself. Fortunately (for the time being) there's cycling. I'm looking forward to the weekend rides and I'm hoping that the weather won't lead to an abort text.
