The only mildly intriguing thing about 'the lockdown' is getting a peek inside other people's houses. As people start to rely upon online video sites to stay in visual contact and as television reporters and what have you broadcast from home, we get to see how everybody lives. The key thing, of course, is books. Shelves and shelves of books and a lot of people choose to sit in front of them, as if to say "See those books behind me? I've read all of them."
I find myself ignoring the person talking on screen and looking at what's going on around them: family photographs, a painting or paintings, clutter of various kinds lying around on coffee tables, a television, a sofa, a dining table. The whole thing has even got me thinking about how I want to be perceived by the outside world. Later today, for example, I have a meeting on Zoom and I'm trying to work out where I should sit. I thought about the book shelves, but they have become a cliche, so I've got various choices, including the garden. My favourite is the dining room table, or rather the dining table as there is no separate dining room, just a vast space that accommodates everything. If I sit at the dining room table my audience will be able to see a white (ish) wall on which a painting is hung, very cultured. What I don't want is for people to see me in a similar environment to those you see on Saturday night television light entertainment shows, when families expose themselves, their dull lighting and cheap furniture to the world, not that I have a black leatherette sofa from DFS. I've also considered taking the lap top into the downstairs toilet and sitting there, cistern in full view, and then flushing just before the end of the meeting.
The other thing, of course, is how to dress. I've considered wearing my WKD turkey mask that makes me look as if somebody has made me wear the turkey, and I've started to wish I owned a panda head, not a real one, just something I could wear to make me look like a panda, or a giraffe or any other kind of animal, although I suppose a panda would be topical, what with the Chinese link to the coronavirus, not that I'm making any kind of political point, or being racist. Perhaps I could introduce the world to the shaving foam goatee, or wear dark glasses. But of course, it's all a pointless waste of time as nobody has a sense of humour and even if they did it would last for all of 30 seconds and I'd have to take off my disguise as the joke would wear thin and I would be remembered as the bloke who made light of a tragic situation.
Has it crossed anybody's mind that while we're all on lockdown, the Chinese are getting up to something they shouldn't? I just wondered. I know there are people who think the whole thing is a con, but I'm not sure I'd buy into that. It's like my dad used to say whenever I brought up so-called 'conspiracy theories', he'd say that, by necessity, people within the walls of Government would have to know about it and for that reason whatever it was would get out and the perpetrators would be rumbled. If the whole thing was a ruse, somebody would know, there would be a whistle blower, this is miles too big. What about all those people in Italian ITUs, is that somehow staged? I don't think so, and yet I swear I heard Mike Pompeo being asked earlier if he thought the whole thing was just that, some kind of ruse. He refused to answer the question, which means he does think it's a ruse, which is weird because he holds a senior role in the Trump administration - or perhaps it's because he's a member of the Trump administration that he thinks the whole thing is made up. Mind you, being in whistleblower in the West is one thing, being one in China would be a decidedly risky career move.
So, Boris Johnson is out of intensive care and in recovery mode, the lockdown is going to be extended 'to flatten the curve' and I've found something that's even more annoying than having to stay indoors: people who think that sell-by or use-by dates on a bottle of milk should be adhered to. Back in the day, when milk was delivered in glass bottles by the milkman, the only way to tell if the milk was 'off' was to sniff it and I for one still believe this to be the case.
It's Good Friday and the sun is shining brightly outside, there are blue skies, blossoms in the trees and it's great weather to be out and about, but of course we have to stay indoors. Yesterday, around 1730hrs, I set out on another solitary 10-miler bike ride and today I'll probably ride a little further, alone, of course! It looks as if I'll break the 60 miles per week barrier again this week and then I'm upping the ante, 15 miles per day, which will take my weekly mileage up to around 85 miles if I take longer rides at the weekend.
* Photos courtesy of Pixabay.com
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| Bookshelves as a backdrop, but have you read them all? |
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| Does anybody in the UK have a sense of humour? |
Has it crossed anybody's mind that while we're all on lockdown, the Chinese are getting up to something they shouldn't? I just wondered. I know there are people who think the whole thing is a con, but I'm not sure I'd buy into that. It's like my dad used to say whenever I brought up so-called 'conspiracy theories', he'd say that, by necessity, people within the walls of Government would have to know about it and for that reason whatever it was would get out and the perpetrators would be rumbled. If the whole thing was a ruse, somebody would know, there would be a whistle blower, this is miles too big. What about all those people in Italian ITUs, is that somehow staged? I don't think so, and yet I swear I heard Mike Pompeo being asked earlier if he thought the whole thing was just that, some kind of ruse. He refused to answer the question, which means he does think it's a ruse, which is weird because he holds a senior role in the Trump administration - or perhaps it's because he's a member of the Trump administration that he thinks the whole thing is made up. Mind you, being in whistleblower in the West is one thing, being one in China would be a decidedly risky career move.
It's Good Friday and the sun is shining brightly outside, there are blue skies, blossoms in the trees and it's great weather to be out and about, but of course we have to stay indoors. Yesterday, around 1730hrs, I set out on another solitary 10-miler bike ride and today I'll probably ride a little further, alone, of course! It looks as if I'll break the 60 miles per week barrier again this week and then I'm upping the ante, 15 miles per day, which will take my weekly mileage up to around 85 miles if I take longer rides at the weekend.
* Photos courtesy of Pixabay.com
