CORONAVIRUS DIARY – PART 1

Living with the threat of Covid-19 has lead to the new norm of enforced
domesticity; a bespoke big brother lite with cameras optional and confessional
room mandatory. This is an unpredicted mutation from traditional weather
imposed confinement to a government dictated lock down where the
traditional notion of personal space is now an ironic nod to the invisible enemy
rather than a basic right to limit unwanted physical contact.

Social interaction outside of immediate family is now dependent on the virtual
world with the likes of Zoom and House Party providing our digital windows
into other peoples’ lives. Drink remains the one constant in breaking the
“social distancing” ice but we now inhabit an exclusive public house where
licensing laws no longer apply and all arguments are one click, rather than one
fist, away from an immediate resolution.

Verbal communication is coming back into vogue and threatening to side-line,
if only temporarily, the tidal wave of social media chat that has been “dumbing
down” our use of the English language. Our contactless society is now being
forced to re-engage with the spoken word as sporting distractions are no
longer able plug the conversational vacuum and half-time has now been
extended to a full ninety minutes of coronavirus musings!

Despite the ubiquitous presence of the C word it is forcing us to challenge most
aspects of life BC (Before Coronavirus) and this in itself should be regarded as a
positive. For example our reluctant acceptance that commuting is a necessary
evil is now being supplanted by an acknowledgement that home working has
economic (and sedentary) legs and by spending more time at home we have
been forced to re-appraise the work/life balance.

Here’s hoping there could be a shift away from materialistic goals to those
where a physical receipt is not required but rather a sensory acknowledgement
that an unexpensed memory has been created and banked.

More to follow….

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