The lockdown continues to ease. From Monday, in England, groups of up to six people from different households will be able to meet outside. So that's pretty much all my local family. I'm sure a picnic will soon be arranged.
Tonight I jumped the gun and met with my elderly friend – who came out of hospital on Tuesday – and his son in their garden, distanced of course, with my spray disinfectant in my bag and BYO drinks. It almost felt like normal life had resumed. We clapped at 8pm for the carers. My friend gave me a tour of his roses which were in full bloom. On Monday we enter the meteorological summer season.
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
Thomas Gray
The downside of exiting lockdown – apart from the increased risks – is that the roads are already busier, the air that bit more polluted, people a bit more gung-ho, schools set to open for some next week, the shops opening in a couple of weeks after that.
Soon, capitalism will be back in full swing and this strange isolation will fade as if it were but a dream.
But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
WB Yeats
Speaking of waking up from a dream. I felt my first depressive thought in a while about climate change. All other news has been on hold except for this virus. And what was it that set me off? A car speeding up the road in a 20mph zone.
I wish we could ban cars or find a way for them all to run on green energy. No phasing out in 2030, 40 or 50. Now.
The car has become an article of dress without which we feel uncertain, unclad, and incomplete in the urban compound.
Marshall McLuhan
There's no going back from automotive technology. But if the lockdown has shown us anything it's that the world is a better place without vehicles choking our air, and emitting noxious fumes and planet-warming carbon emissions.
Yes, I have a car so I'm a hypocrite. But still I'd be happy to give it up and do without cars if society moved that way.
Thanks
The sun setting so late in the evening (9.15pm) means it's light until nearly 10. The lead up to the summer solstice is a special time of the year and gives the feeling of so much extra time. I love seeing the sunset every evening from the front window.
The weather forecast is sunny for days and tonight I had to water the garden to give the plants a drink after a week with no rain. I hope you are enjoying this lovely weather too.
Today I also enjoyed these things:
- Walking Weird Britain by Pete – he really is a lovely writer.
- The Miracle Sudoku – 25 minutes of a guy solving an impossible puzzle.
- This photo, which I'd forgot I'd taken of boats in the Azores.
- Tree Talk tree map – all the trees in London!
- Window-shopping for maybe getting a greenhouse!!!
Watch this space.
Commission/hire me: fiona [at] fionacullinan.com
Agree with the possible negative emotions around the gradual easing of lockdown. Despite much talk about exiting to a ‘new normal’, many car users in particular simply are not. They’re just returning to the ‘old normal’ behaviours.
Still so much apathy and disregard of the increasingly urgent climate change issues.
To be fair, it doesn’t help that those returning to work are being advised to use their own cars, rather than public transport. Understandable, but also infuriating.
Also, still feeling the freedom I experienced in having lockdown imposed as a safety blanket, but which is now being gradually pulled away – and before rates are sufficiently lowered, or health and safety mechanisms properly in place.
Would be interesting to draw a stupidity graph as lockdown continues to ease. Let’s hope the curve flattens quickly!