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Locking Down Some Experiences in the Time of Covid 19.



None of the photos littering this blog have any relevance to content. They're just things it gives me pleasure to think about: a lotus in the heat of a Thai afternoon.

Many, many wonderful people are using their twitter to send out words of cheer and support to others; posting Beautiful Thoughts; inspiring quotes, uplifting art, and solidarity.

I'm rubbish at all that.

While  Beautiful Thoughts & Art lose their capital letters at my hand they, and words of cheer and inspiration, are liable to be so idiosyncratic and (depending on where The Black Dog is at any given time) enigmatic, that people do not feel cheered at their receipt, but strangely chilled. There is also, of course the possibility that I have come straight from talking to *Mrs. Simpson and may respond in Georgian cant.

(As, I have just realised, she's accompanied me here and forced me to say things like "at their receipt" and "accompanied me". It takes a bit of time for her to wear off. Patience.)

An art installation on the beach in Barcelona


 So all I can do is send out things I've thought and hope that someone else thought the same thing. Which would cheer them up no end because, let's face it, I am not the only person to think I'm going slightly do-lally over this whole thing, so it's really good to know other people are learning random things too.

1.Urban-dwellers.  Are pigeons and/or gulls in your area starting to look a little lean and anxious?  Birds that have adapted to scavenging from human detritus are confounded by empty streets and seem to have developed sophisticated strategies - which may exist purely as a result of my anthropomorphising  avians.

2.Urban Dwellers: Has the thought ever slipped through your head that we're living on the set of "Twelve Monkeys"? If you haven't that's ok - but I'm sure there's more than one of us (Nope! Two - my son's just affirmed it). Those posters flapping in the breeze advertising events that will never take place; the small businesses which haven't got gates/bars and have had planks hammered across their frontages?

An unexpected slice of history on a stroll somewhere in Europe


3. Have you ever felt you might be living in a Truman-Show-esque reality? This is probably is much better idea, but does have it's dangers.  One could get seduced into this comfortable fantasy for real.  Which, as recent evidence from America has proven,can lead to mental deterioration and, indeed a complete loss of knolwledge as to the whereabouts of one's marbles.

4. For those who are unable to work from home: We have silenced all those who argue! Time IS a human construction! I mean, without looking into the right-hand corner of the computer, can you tell me the date today. OK, so some of you had no problem with that. But now: - can you tell me what difference that makes to anything? It's a day when I bet a lot of us slept longer than usual. A day when we bustle about a great deal more than necessary before going down the beach or the pub or on country jaunts. But, seriously, what's the good of Saturday when it's just the same as Monday?

The entrance to a Police Station in the mountains of Indonesia.


5. Have you noticed exactly how many dust-bunnies share your living quarters yet? Oh don't shake your head smugly because your place is a dust-bunny-free zone.  What about behind the bedside cabinets? Now steel yourself to get a torch and look at the sides and back of the fridge? (If you don't have dust-bunnies at the back of the fridge it is either brand new or, unfortunately, you are Not as Others Are.) Anyway, most people will, sometime in the past week or so have come to the realisation that we usually live in a sea of filth and will make definite plans to do something about it.(Awareness is all. Action is optional) Now they have the time.

6.OK, so it's peculiar that no-one crosses your threshold any longer, but have you explored the possibilities of this? When you're swanning around starkers now you don't have to stress about how ridiculous you must look dressed in only your pinny (an absolute necessity in the kitchen where a stray fat-spurt could give you 3rd degree burn-of-the-boob). There is not one sliver of dread or doubt about window-cleaners, workmen or The Vicar any longer! You are free! So, alternatively, if it pleases you to dress up like a Princess? Or a Jolly Pirate? Or your favourite Star Wars person? there is no longer any risk that a helpful neighbour will dial for the men in white coats. TIP: Doing the whole make-up thing can take up so long the hours simply whiz by.

7. What is the Lore of the Loo Roll? What arcane secrets does it hold? Why have the magical properties of toilet paper been kept secret from us for so long? What mysteries of eternal health and well-being lie hidden within it's 3-ply embrace? And why have only half of the population been gifted this knowledge? What qualities do they posses of which we others are kept deliberately in ignorance?

A koi pool in Thailand and a former lover

So: a page of random images and disjointed thoughts.
- the closest I can get to cheer and support and Beautiful Thoughts. I am but a things of rags and patches - so that's yer lot. Stay safe.




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