Thursday, March 26, 2020

Thursday's nonsense




Is it not extraordinary my daughter said that the conservative party has turned socialist.  I will leave you to think that one out. But they are funding many people through this crisis, and those needed the most the workers.  Then we have the gallant NHS nurses and doctors taking risks to nurse those most ill.  The message is loud and clear - self isolate, do not put unnecessary strain on the system.
Here in the village it is quiet, took Lucy to the land where we planted the trees on Sunday.  It is about an acre following the line of the river on one side and the road on the other.  Butterbur, that strange flowering plant trails along the path and is host to plenty of honey bees, even saw a butterfly on one of the flowers, red admiral I think.  The willow branches with emerging catkins sprayed across the path and caught my hair, reminding me of Tolkien's poem - Old Man Willow.
There are yellow brimstones in the garden, a good sign that the year has at lasted started under way.
As for my family, long phone conversations and they seem to be coping, my son works hard from home, whilst my daughter and three grandchildren self isolate with Teddy the dog, who has occasional bouts of sickness and diarrhoea, due to old age.  The girls keep to their bedrooms working on school tasks.

My daughter told of one incident in Lidl when she shopped. Having to pay, she stood in line of correctly spaced out customers.  The woman in front had an overloaded trolley, which was being sorted at the till and some things taken out, it will be a good thing when some form of rationing can be applied.  An old man pushed ahead in front of my daughter, she then felt  guilty to the people behind for not saying anything, he then dropped all his money on the floor.  Now whether to help him, and maybe put him at risk flashed through her mind, luckily the assistant came round and picked it up for him.  These are the small incidents that occur, the dilemmas people face.


There is gloom and there is hope, the ruins of Rievaulx are testament to that. Even as they crumble they are beautiful, reminding us of great craftmanship and hope.  Even today firms are turning round and making the equipment needed  to combat the illness. And so even Ozimandias might have got it wrong!


My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away

8 comments:

  1. Yes Thelma it does seem to be bringing out the best and the worst in people - I try to cling on to the best and that gives me hope for the future. Stay well.

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    1. I think there is a lot of good people in the land and we will eventually see an end to all of it. But what will the future hold I wonder and will we understand the ways of nature and change our attitudes to how we see the world.

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  2. I hope this is the start of a change of thinking, a change of attitudes, we become a more considerate society.

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    1. I suspect it might do, we have had to alter our perception of a world that sailed away confident, to a world that is insecure, frightening and dangerous in the matter of a few weeks.

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  3. I read a short news article about two young niche brewers turned to bottling and sending off the sanitizer they developed for their equipment.

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    1. Something similar has happened here with a chemical company, turning one of their old buildings into a place to make sanitisers Joanne. The spirit is always willing ;)

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  4. Like sustainablemum, I hope this will bring a change of attitudes and perhaps a change in the way we shop, and hopefully we will look after this old world of ours a bit better - instead of constantly abusing and destroying.

    Social dilemmas in shops - what a difficult situation. Especially when there are people out there who seem to think the rules don't apply to them and they are invincible against the virus, although that doesn't apply to that poor old man. For the next year - and probably in the future - we will certainly be using the supermarkets as little as possible, and remembering those who stepped up in time of need . . .

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  5. As someone who only recently stopped going to York hospital, my abiding memory is of all the kindness and goodness I met there from staff as Paul slowly melted away. I shall always be grateful to those who have the strength to do their duty and those who volunteer knowing they may put themselves in danger.
    I certainly wish for a change in the future, and perhaps this wretched virus will have taught us something.

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