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The Koonzt/Camus Thread (for writerly solidarity during a time of plague)

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I'm trying to stay optimistic about this crisis, but as the restrictions are affecting everything, I wonder whether power cuts will enter the picture.

I lived though the three-day week of the 1970s, while working in London as a librarian, when power cuts were frequent.

Three-Day Week - Wikipedia

We stayed open until 8 pm at Marylebone library, so ran the place with strategically -placed candles, which was as creepy as it sounds!
 
Just popped into the office (as think I’ll be working at home for a while) and the shop to pick up some bits for a friend, and it’s like the mood has changed overnight: few people in the supermarket with dots on the floor reminding you to stay 2m apart in queues, few people on the street. Even the seafront was quiet and it’s a beautiful day here.
 
Andy D said:
Just popped into the office (as think I’ll be working at home for a while) and the shop to pick up some bits for a friend, and it’s like the mood has changed overnight: few people in the supermarket with dots on the floor reminding you to stay 2m apart in queues, few people on the street. Even the seafront was quiet and it’s a beautiful day here.
Click to expand...
Let's hope people in the UK have woken up and are not going to be complacent about this any longer. :crossed-fingers:
 
I've just frightened a man in the street -- he thought I was going to steal his dog. (Or maybe he thought I had designs on him... But no)

I had just put my shopping down on my front step to get out my keys when along came a nice little dog. Not too frisky, not too decrepit. I made friendly noises at it, just stopping myself in time from giving it a pat. It looked up and wagged its tail at me. A friendly small dog.

Owner came along, and since he obviously must live not far away, I was poised to ask if I could borrow his dog some time to take it for a walk. (I am going a bit stir-crazy and desperately need fresh air and exercise. Even a little. Keeping the recommended distance from both dog and other people.)

But as he came up, he shot me a startled look, whistled for the dog and almost broke into a run down the street. That was when I remembered I had a scarf wound around my face and head and must have looked as if I was planning an armed robbery..!
 
BTW, there are NO masks to be got here. I've just asked again in the pharmacy. But of the very few people on the street, everyone is wrapped up in some way, some wearing latex gloves.

I think it's not enough for UK figures to keep telling the public that the UK is 2,3,4 (figures appear to vary) weeks behind Italy. They need to tell them exactly what that means for them in that time. (Briefly, nothing good.) That might stop them piling into their cars and clogging up beauty spots.
 
I live in a flat above a petrol station shop, which is about as nice as it sounds. I just went downstairs to collect my post, to see that the owner has erected a ceiling-high plexiglass screen to cover the tills. Transactions take place through an opening barely large enough take a loaf of bread. The rather forbidding screen has WELCOME on it in silver glittery letters. The staff are wearing face masks and purple vinyl gloves, so it feels more like going in for surgery. :confused:
 
Yes, looks like the Italian viral supertanker is starting to turn around, almost certainly thanks to the enforced lockdown. Numbers still large, but beginning to taper. Let's pray the "curve" flattens considerably and heads south very soon.

And hopefully, that Spain will follow close behind.
 
My Indian friend has just told me, his lock down starts today- He lives in Jaipur. Yet when I saw India in the news today, there are loads of people running around the place as usual. I can't imagine how they are going to cope.
 
It's so nice to hear some good news come out of Italy!

@Eva Ulian Don't know how India will cope either :(

On a spookier note, Bill Gates predicted this in 2015:

www.ted.com

The next outbreak? We're not ready

In 2014, the world avoided a global outbreak of Ebola, thanks to thousands of selfless health workers -- plus, frankly, some very good luck. In hindsight, we know what we should have done better. So, now's the time, Bill Gates suggests, to put all our good ideas into practice, from scenario...
www.ted.com www.ted.com
 
Paul Whybrow said:
I'm trying to stay optimistic about this crisis, but as the restrictions are affecting everything, I wonder whether power cuts will enter the picture.
Click to expand...
I've been wondering the same thing, Paul, but we children of the seventies are battle-hardened; we can handle the odd power cut, and a bit of aggro in the sugar aisle. ;)
 
The region of Spain where we are, the Valencia region, has reported a falling rate of new infections since we started the lockdown.

New cases are still being reported, but fewer of them each day.

Prayers for Madrid, which is bearing the brunt. We will soon be applauding the health workers from our window.
 
I've started a project today, Day 1 of our (at least) 30-day lockdown: I'm writing a poem a day--light, sometimes silly, sometimes thoughtful, but always with the idea to uplift spirits. I'm writing them on the building wrap the builders left behind and putting them up on the builders' fence so the dozens of dog walkers who pass our place daily can enjoy them. I'm also photographing the signs and posting them on my blog/twitter/FB. Just a little fun and to feel I'm maybe helping others get through. A little thing, a bit goofy, but what the heck ... I do think it's the artists and dreamers that'll get us through this emotionally and mentally intact. First poem can be found here.
 
An affair. I'd put money on it. I was walking my dog. A man in a 4x4 and a woman in a small Fiat parked together at the other end of an almost deserted car park, the only other two vehicles an empty van at an electric point and a Scottish Gas van they might have thought was unoccupied. He got out, gave her a pack of haribos (if I was risking catching coronavirus for a clandestine meeting, I'd want a better gift than haribos! Or maybe she's at that love-blind stage of thinking this man - not even handsome! - is the best gift she could have . . . disillusionment will come). Then he gave her a pair of shoes which she changed into. New one. Not seen that before. I suppose so she'd go home and complain of lengthy supermarket queues, no evidence of woodland dust on her soles (but that sliver of dried leaf she won't realise is in her hair?). They must have thought no one could see them, but from the path I was walking on, I still could. He opened the back door of his 4x4. She got in. I assume the man in the Scottish gas van must have spluttered into his flask cup because the 4x4 man glanced in his direction then said something to the woman and she got out again. I don't know where they went after that because I continued my walk. Grinning.
 
Today’s my first actual day in lockdown without the excuse of work to get me out, or even give me some structure. There’s certainly things I could be doing - cleaning the flat, sorting out my tiny, in the shade and very windy garden, or even working on my book.

Unsurprisingly I’m so far laying in bed playing with my phone...
 
Yep. There's this creeping guilt that I'm wasting this enforced in-time, but it's hard to concentrate for very long when your brain is skittering with pandemic possibilities and grappling with new electronic teaching methodologies, while trying to supervise a reluctant child in his e-learning.

Thank goodness I have @Rainbird's book to beta-read. It's doing a good job of taking me away from the now.

(Almost finished, Emily. You should have my thoughts before the weekend is out :) )
 
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