Garden

A weekend for being in the garden, enjoying the lovely weather.

Gardening continued on Saturday. After Nicky had been doing some fine work over in the 'bank', attention was turned to the 'raised bed' with some significant weeding and pruning on the right-had side of the big round bush, followed by some new planting (tough going in the dry, hard ground).

I was wandering around taking some photos the other day whilst Nicky was at work on the bank (slacking off - hence the 'Growth' photos from the other day), so do have a more general 'before' shot of the raised bed, followed by an 'after' of the right hand side.

  As for Sunday, a day for lazing around in the garden and relaxing. Barley certainly thought so.

X

A milestone day for the USA today, and we were able to watch it live on TV, thanks again to YouTube (see yesterday's post). For the first time ever, a privately funded rocket sent astronauts into orbit, soon to be docking with the International Space Station.

A couple of hours later at about 10:10pm we went outside as instructed, and sure enough we saw a bright light moving rapidly across the night sky, underneath the moon. We'd been told that we might see both the ISS and the Space X capsule, but we only saw one moving object, so can't be sure which one this was!

As for the significance of the event, it was the first manned US flight since the Shuttle programme had been shut down almost a decade ago, and so a pretty big moment, and hopefully no more having to (rather embarrassingly for a 'superpower') as for a lift on other people's rockets.

Meerkat

Another opportunity for a virtual experience today. This time a concert of sorts, presented live on YouTube. Bizarrely thanks to 'Meerkat Music' (who would have thought we'd end up here when some advertising sprog tried out the funny idea that 'market' sounded a little bit like 'meerkat').

So, we were able to join Gary, Mark, Howard and even Robbie (not the long forgotten Jason) in what appeared to be variously their home studios / garages for a mini concert, and entertaining it was too.

However, it has to be said that it's still not a patch on the real thing.

Reopening

A day of mixed news. Boris tries to get us excited about the fact that up to six people can now meet up, albeit outdoors and at a distance, and we hear that Premier League football will be back, without crowds, from 17 June. Baby steps.

This is to be offset against the grim milestone that now over 100,000 people have died in the USA, whilst we are told that South America may be the new epicentre. Things seem pretty bad in Brazil, with the official death toll past 25,000 and rising rapidly.

I restarted blogging 11 days ago, and in that post commented that the total position was 4.5 million confirmed cases and just over 300,000 deaths. Since then, those figures have increased by 1.1 million and 50,000. Whilst certain countries, ours included, may hopefully be over the worst, on a global scale, this thing isn't slowing down yet.

In amongst all of this, Disney have decided that now is a good time to get the ball rolling with reopening their Florida parks, as reported on the Disney Parks Blog. So far no indication of when the non DVC hotels will open, but DVC resorts to open from 22 June, followed by park openings on 11 July and 15 July. A pretty restricted restart, with reservations required for access, and a number of things missing, including parades and fireworks. Again, baby steps.

Maitlis

I read Emily Maitlis' book, Airhead, at the end of last year, and thought that it was an excellent read. Now it seems like rather than presenting the news, she's in danger of becoming the story herself. Right now she's trending on Twitter, although there was a distinct lack of any mention on the BBC ten o'clock news, and as I sit here and compose this, I'm watching the start of Newsnight. Again, no mention of the missing presenter.

Speculation in the Twitter-sphere is rife:

• Was the BBC lent on to sanction Maitlis after her opening remarks to yesterday's programme (comments that started with "Dominic Cummings broke the rules - the country can see that, and it's shocked that the government cannot" and went on to "he made those who struggled to keep the rules look like fools")?
• Has she refused to present tonight's show in protest at her treatment (it certainly looks like she was originally due to be back today, having signed off last night's show with "that's it from us, but I'll be back tomorrow")?
• Has Maitlis been 'suspended' in some way from her job? If so, does it not seem a little ironic that reporting on a story about whether someone should apologise / resign / be fired could put your own job in peril.

Stories within stories, and from the government's point of view, this just won't go away.

Razor

Whilst we were in Key West in February, I still managed to track down a few bookshops just off Duval Street. Typical of me, I know, but that's just who I am. Anyway, in one of them (Key West Island Books) I found some signed firsts of Carl Hiaasen's, which were a must, so I bought a copy of the oldest one there, Skin Tight, his third (single author) book from the late 1980s.


Fast forward to this bank holiday weekend, and I finally get round to reading his most recent novel, Razor Girl (2016), which has been on the shelves since publication, and I am delighted to find that it is set on Key West, and so a whole load of references (Duval, Mallory, Southernmost, and so on) mean more to me now than if I'd read it straight away.

As expected, it's typical Hiaasen stuff, and huge amounts of fun.

One of the reasons for reading it now is that a look on his website reveals that Carl has a new book coming out in the summer, and to quote from the site: "Squeeze Me captures the Trump era with Carl's inimitable savage humor and wonderful, eccentric characters. A surefire best seller."

Growth

Out in the garden for some of the sunny bank holiday today. Partly a little bit of gardening, and partly some badminton with Jake. Entertaining to marvel at the tree growth. Here's a photo which happens to be from almost exactly four years ago, and then a couple from today.

Rules

So, how should we feel about rules / guidelines / instructions?

Are they black and white, or is it necessary to apply judgement, and make the best of them according to your own circumstances?

Maybe these aren't even the right questions at a time like this, when deciding how best to apply a set of rules can be a matter of life or death, can make the difference between whether you even get to say goodbye to a loved one.

In any case, one thing is clear. Lots of people are angry for lots of different reasons, and now they've found someone to be very angry at.

Having been all over the news for several days now, and showing no sign of going away, it's difficult to know where we go from here. I remember in my younger days feeling surprised at what seemed to me at the time minor offences (even by others) resulting in ministerial resignations being done as the honourable thing. Whilst Mr Cummings is an advisor rather than a minister, it seems like the days of the honourable resignation ("I realised that I had become the story, and a distraction from the important work of government, and therefore in the circumstances, I regretfully tender …") are rather long gone.

It'll be interesting to see what happens next ...

(Note - for the record written on Tuesday into Sunday's post - worth acknowledging, as some investigators are also suggesting that Mr Cummings may have gone back and edited some of his own previous blog entries to make it look like he was rather more prescient on coronavirus!)

John

Four years ago today, I lost a very good friend of mine.

I think about him a great deal, and as time has gone on, gradually I'm able to look back more with gratitude for a friendship shared than with sadness for what I've lost.

I never did get around to posting what I stood up and said, and so for the sake of posterity, here it is:

Dear John

One of the many things you were good at was letter writing, and I could always count on receiving a letter from you marking key milestones in my life. Some letters would be to celebrate good times – in fact I had a note from you only a few weeks ago marking my career change, and as your last letter to me, it is something I will treasure forever. Other letters would be there to help me get through those tougher times in life. This is one of those tougher times, and I have no letter from you. So I guess, at last, I must step up and return the favour, and be the letter writer.

John, I first met you here in this very building. Well, that’s probably not entirely true. I first saw you in this very building, and I know for sure that it was just a little bit less than 27 years ago, in the Autumn of 1989. I’d just done my GCSEs, I’d just joined the church youth group, I’d just met a girl, and you were her Dad. As I said, I saw a Mr Wilson. I think it might be an exaggeration to say that I actually met you. I was a shy 16 year-old, and speaking to people didn’t come easy at that point in my life. I remember very clearly seeing Mr Wilson, as he went up to the front of the church to assist with communion – he looked very smart in his blazer and tie, and he looked very serious, maybe even a little bit stern.

Isn’t it funny how wrong first impressions can be?

Over the last 27 years I got to know you, I realised you had a wonderful sense of humour, didn’t take yourself too seriously, and knew how to have fun. (For everyone here, if you’re not sure about this, take a look at the photo that Nicky and Jake chose for the back of the order of service. It is of John in one of his favourite places – Disney World in Florida.)

John, I’m going to miss our sporting catch ups. We enjoyed following the progress of our national teams together. Just for the record John, you’d be interested to hear that England drew their first game in the Euros against Russia, and the final test against Sri Lanka has gone to a fifth day today. But, the best news from the weekend was that England beat Aussie’s down under in the rugby!

John, you’ve been many things to me over the years. Starting out with being simply my girlfriend’s Dad, you’ve also been:

• my A-level chemistry tutor - and a very fine one you were too!;
• my father-in-law;
• a wonderful Grandad to my son Jake;
• my next door neighbour; and
• a source of support and a trusted advisor.

But all of that leaves out one very important thing. You were one of the best and dearest friends I could ever have hoped for, and I will miss you terribly.

With my love always

Miff

Holly

I read the first book in the Mr Mercedes trilogy five years ago, in May 2015. It was only the third book by Stephen King that I'd read, and I thought it was fantastic. I particularly loved Bill Hodges, not to mention the relationship he developed with Holly and Jerome. I read the second part of what turned out to be a trilogy a few months later, in the autumn of 2015.

Looking at my blog history, I see that I mention reading book two in a post from September 2015.

Then my blog went a bit quiet for a few months around the end of 2015 and into 2016.

The final book of the trilogy was published in June 2016, and I read it straight away. Brilliant, and it cemented Stephen King's place in my heart as a favourite author.

However, the book left me in pieces.

(Spoiler alert.)

The case was resolved, and all was well, apart from the fact that our hero, Bill, suffered a rapid decline, and died at the end of the book.

Pancreatic cancer.

Since then I've continued to love reading books by Stephen King, but have been desperate to read more about Holly and Jerome (mostly to hear that they continue to miss Bill, but that they are getting on ok), so was delighted to have 'The Outsider' to read two years ago, and then to have just finished 'If it bleeds'.

If it bleeds is a book of four novellas, the longest of which (and title story) centres around Holly Gibney.

Interestingly, this YouTube video features an hour-long chat between King and Grisham (looking forward to Grisham's new release - Camino Winds - next week). King admits that originally Holly was something of a minor character in Mr Mercedes, but that he loved her so much he couldn't let her go. I sincerely hope that we get to read more about her in the future.

WFH

I am trying to remember when my last day in the office was. Official UK lockdown began on Monday 23 March, but I had certainly been working from home for part, if not all, of the previous week, so that must make it 9-10 weeks of working from home so far.

Thankfully our IT systems were pretty well established from day one, so it was possible to do so, although at that stage, all I really had was my laptop. Since then, a fairly large amount of additional kit has been organised, and I've done a pretty good job of colonising the study. I now have a docking station for the Surface, to which I've been able to connect two external screens, wireless keyboard and mouse, a couple of little external speakers, and I'm connected up to the home printer. I've even taken delivery today of a new office chair.

It goes to show that there is definitely some mileage in doing some more remote working, even once we're allowed to go to the office again.

Hope Springs

The pandemic is affecting millions of people around the world right now, and this post is not meant to trivialise things, but I want to talk about a subject close to my heart - Disney.

As a huge global corporation, Disney, like many other companies, has suffered badly at the hands of Covid-19. A very large part of their business model relies of people gathering in groups, whether to go to theme parks, to go to the movies watch sports, and so on. Really their only silver lining has been a quicker than expected uptake (including this household) in subscriptions for Disney+, but that always was expected to be, and still is, a loss-making enterprise at this early stage post launch.

Bob Iger thought that he was going to be able to retire (thankfully, I think, having decided against a tilt at the White House), having completed his 'Ride of a Lifetime', his long legacy complete. Now, however, he finds himself well and truly back in the trenches with New Bob, working through the crisis, making sure that the Mouse is able to ride out the storm.

From an investor's perspective, it looks like the market has as much confidence in Disney as in any other US public company. Having just taken a quick look at the numbers, the Dow Jones average fell from its high point in mid Feb (29,500) to a low point in late March that was 63% of the high (18,500) and is now back at 83% (24,500). The Disney share price looks similar - 140 in mid Feb, falling to 61% in mid March (86) and back to 85% (119) now.

From a traveller's perspective, the position isn't so clear at the moment. Shanghai Disney reopened last week, at a much reduced capacity, but as yet there is no indication of when US (or Paris) parks will reopen, along with the associated hotels. Disney Springs opened today, but again on a restricted basis, and with none of the Disney-owned facilities opening, just the third party ones. There seems to be a plan to open some of the Disney facilities next week, which seems encouraging. However, presumably the main draw will be locals, as there can't be many tourists around, as none of the hotels, parks, or other attractions are open.

As for our own travel plans, we had hoped to arrange a trip somewhere in the summer, but that won't be happening now. We had some DVC points banked into our current use year, but it looks like we may well lose them as they will expire at the end of September. We will have to look forward to a later trip - maybe 2021.

Evensong

We live in a world of virtual gatherings at the moment. Until about two months ago, whilst it was lurking on my computer as one of the suite of Microsoft products that came as part of our Office package, I think I could count the number of times that I had opened the 'Teams' application on my fingers. Now I use it several times every day, and without it, I wouldn't have clapped eyes on any of my colleagues since March. This week, we are even doing a virtual overseas trip all thanks to Teams!

Anyway, taking a look at the BBC news site earlier on today, I noticed a mention of a virtual evensong that was taking place this evening at 6.30pm, arranged by an organisation called the Rodolfus Foundation, who I hadn't previously heard of. When I took a look at the order of service, I knew that I would have to listen, as it included contributions from Richard Coles and Stephen Fry, one of the readings was I Corinthians 13, and the anthem was I Was Glad.

It was excellent, and for future enjoyment, the recording is available on YouTube here.

Scan

On of the many changes has been having remote university attendance, and we've just entered into end of year exams. I've just been helping Jake with scanning in answer papers for his first one ready for submission in the morning.

Covid

Another long break in posting, and in this crazy time in which we are living, very little excuse, given that I have barely left the house in the last couple of months or so. For a lot of the time it is difficult to know exactly what to say. For blog posterity purposes, over the last couple of months the Covid-19 pandemic has taken over a large proportion of the world. As of today's writing, there are 4.5 million confirmed cases around the world and just over 300,000 confirmed deaths. Both figures are likely to significantly underestimate the reality due to difficulties in testing and reporting. The worst hit country is the USA, followed by a number of European countries including the UK, Italy, Spain and France. These countries, and many others, have implemented a variety of 'lockdown' measures in which people have been confined to their homes, and businesses and public services have been shut down, the only exceptions being critical services (healthcare, food retail and supply etc.). As well as the terrible human cost, the impact on economies has been dramatic, and central governments have put in measures to support businesses and individuals in a variety of ways. Despite these measures, economies have shrunk and people's livelihood's are at risk as well as their health. As a result, governments are looking for signs that we may be over the worst of the outbreak and are trying to find ways to start easing restrictions and opening up economies to avoid further financial damage. However, the concern is that this is a delicate balancing act - too much easing too soon risks an increase in infections and more people dying.

On a personal note, we have been extremely fortunate compared to many. I have been able to work from home, and whilst we have no way of knowing whether any of us have had the virus (there is a possibility that Jake, and maybe others, might have had a mild case in the very early stage, but there is no way of knowing for sure until testing is very much more widespread), no-one has been significantly unwell. We continue to send all our thoughts, prayers, and best wishes to our loved ones who are either in more 'vulnerable' categories, or continuing to be out and about far more than we are in 'key worker' roles.

There - I have at least managed to restart. Maybe some lighter posting on life in lockdown in the days and weeks to come.