March 16th 2020
Corona ….
Who amongst you remembers when the man with Corona was a welcome visitor up your street?
I have vivid memories of Saturday mornings sat in the front window waiting for the Corona pop man pulling up and getting surrounded by kids, dragging their harassed mothers along to pay for the weekly guzzle of sugary carbonated water. A bottle of American Cream Soda and a block of Wall’s Ice Cream made a great pudding – ‘afters’ as we called it – for the Brookes siblings growing up in 1960’s Cheadle. A slice of ice-cream in a bowl and a slosh of pop on top – glorious glorious glorious!-
We have two Welsh grocers to thank for Corona – follow the link for a brief history about Corona and two of my favourite Welsh men.
What a shame that the name of that iconic reminder of 60’s Britain will be for ever tainted by the rapidly rolling envelopment of the world by the corona virus Covid-19.
Covid-19 will in inexorably alter the shape of the world, its people and how we interact, trade and live with each other for a generation. Globalisation of production and economies has brought many benefits (some would argue) but it is undeniable that the increasing ease and cheapness of shipping goods and people, in this case people, around the world underlies the rapid spread of the corona virus.
I’ve been a Guardian reader for a long time, I picked my first copy up at my old friend Tony Churton’s house back in 1970 ‘ish. Tony’s Dad, Len, was the head of the Science Department at Reddish Vale Comprehensive School back in those days and took the Guardian every day. I was hooked there and then, introduced workmates on the Subscribers Apparatus and Line staff at Stockport back in the 80’s – where it provided the lunchtime crossword for us, and I subscribe electronically to this day. Len Churton was a very real influence on me for another reason – he played a very real role in me passing my BTEC in Electronic and Electrical Engineering (which kickstarted a long and enjoyable career in BT for over 33 years) because he was the man I turned to when I was struggling with the Maths and Electronics parts later on in the four year course. Just so you know – Subs App &Line was Post Office speak for the repair and maintenance of telephones, telephone lines, switchboards etc. and my ten years driving around Stockport, knocking on doors and fixing phones were the best working days of my life, but those memories are for another day, maybe.
I’ve wandered off-piste again though. The reason I mentioned the Guardian is because one of my favourite columnists is John Harris (@johnharris1969) and on 1st March last I read this article ‘Corona virus will show us what this government is made of’
It really hit a chord with me but also opened up a new world, namely the parallels with the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic by making reference to a book called Pale Rider by Laura Spinney, a scientific journalist with a great turn of prose. I promptly ordered the book, it arrived within a week and I devoured it from cover to cover in three days.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book to you all, it makes scary reading, especially when you realise how much quicker the planes of today are than the coal-fired ships of 1918. This virus will be with us for a long time yet, not helped by the mish-mash of different international government approaches to dealing with it, and it is a very real threat to me personally.
My current read is ‘Tribes: How our need to belong can make or break society’ by David Lammy, the Labour MP for Tottenham. Now I like David Lammy, I like the cut of his jib. He writes well, his arguments are well thought through and he talks a lot of sense. A potential Prime Minister? Who knows – but he’d get my vote.
Talking of votes, I’ve cast mine for the Labour Party leader and deputy leader contest. No names no pack drill but I truly believe we need to win the next election and not be held back by the baggage of the last ten years. We tried ‘Corbyn’ism’ and it failed – it failed the Party and, more importantly, it failed the Country. We can’t remain the Party of (almost) permanent opposition and that wont change if we choose a new Leader who perpetuates the old mistakes.
I have been told by my healthcare workers here in France that I am one of their priority cases. I’m not quite in the age bracket being bandied about as I’m 65, not over 70, but I do have the requisite underlying health problems – I’ve had a couple of heart attacks and this time last year I was on the verge of a serious bout of sepsis that saw my blood pressure fall to 50/30 and meant that I needed something like 20 litres of fluids intravenously to get that up to a reasonable level. At the time the doctor looking after me said that another infection like that wold be the end of me as it is known that sepsis seriously reduces the immune system.
Yesterday Karen and I had planned to go out for our Sunday lunch, our usual weekly treat, and we had a table booked at a lovely place we use regularly called ‘A la Terrade’ but on Saturday night the French government took the decision to close all Restaurants and Bars, all Schools, Colleges and Universities, in fact pretty much everything other than Doctors, Chemists and food-stores. The situation is pretty fluid at the moment but more, more major restrictions, are coming along probably tomorrow.
So instead of eating out we decided to drive into Auzances and do a bit of shopping. The route takes us through a tiny place called La Gare, a little hamlet of 4 or 5 houses by the train stop for Les Mars and as we passed we saw mum, dad and two kids, obviously visiting Grandma and Grandad, carrying bottles and trays of food – and all wearing face masks! The supermarket wasn’t rammed and there was plenty of loo roll to be had but staples like rice, flour, pasta, butter, milk and tins of tomatoes had pretty much all gone from the shelves. There was plenty of fresh fruit and veg, meat, cheese and fish though and no one seemed to be going mad – unlike the herd behaviour seen on UK TV!
17th March 2020
Lockdown
And no, I don’t mean that contrived moment in ‘Pointless’ where two teams find themselves on the same score.
Today we woke up to an almost total lockdown – President Macron has told France to stay home for a fortnight – ‘quinze jours’ as they say here, fifteen days being a French fortnight. The Police and Gendarmes are out and about stopping people on the streets from 12:00 noon today. Everywhere is closed except for foodshops, Doctors and Chemists. If you aren’t a healthcare worker or out for a legitimate reason – shopping or going to the Doctors for example, you risk a fine – 38€ first offence, 135€ for the second offence and even a month in pokey! If you go out for food the shops will only let 4 people in at a time and everyone has to keep their distance. Things are gearing up here quite openly, unlike in the UK I’d venture to say. Karen and I watched Johnson last night as he outlined his plans to try to contain Covid-19.
Too little, too late is my view.
We’ve known about Covid-19 for over a month now yet there isn’t enough Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) of any kind, never mind the right kind, available for front-line NHS staff. Let’s be brutally honest here – front-line NHS staff and those getting retrained to help cope with the expected demand will be wide open to contracting this virus AND SOME WILL DIE as a consequence. Patients will die because of a lack of ICU beds, appropriately trained medics and equipment. Did you notice the Chief Medical Officer massaging his audience when referring to the potential for deaths?
Another worrying thing I noticed was the constant referral to ‘the four nations’ – meaning England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Call me a cynic if you wish but I detected a subliminal message there from the Government! Make of it what you will.
Both my daughters work at a private hospital in Didsbury, South Manchester and I have been told that they are getting ready to stop their day-to-day business so they can turn their beds over to the NHS to help cope with the expected demand. The whole of the Government response has been aimed at minimising and delaying the impact on the NHS, the very same NHS that their deliberate policies have deprived of funds, resources and equipment. The NHS will not be able to cope, regardless of the herculean efforts we know they will make, the efforts Johnson and his crew know they’ll make, but make no mistake – this Government are culpable for the parlous state of the NHS, its inability to protect people during this time of crisis and, ultimately, the deaths of people infected.
On a personal note Karen and I are both OK and hopefully will stay that way. The Creuse is one of Frances’ least populated areas – here in Chard the population density is less than 14 per sq. km. Creuse has a population density of less than 23 people per sq. km. Compare that with London (5,491 people per sq. km) or Manchester (4,716 per sq. km). We hardly live cheek by jowl, which must offer some degree of protection.
Our builder called it a draw for the duration this morning, all down to the restrictions imposed by the French. He had been cracking on at a great pace recently, he obviously got his mojo back after all the problems he and his family have suffered since Christmas. My new bathroom is almost finished. It’s fully functional and in use but there are still a couple of little finishing touches to be completed. The concrete footings for the car-port – or hangar as they call them here – were laid this morning and the boarding out of the attic has started. The mix of works started are more an indication of the impact of the weather on the jobs that can be done rather than any reflection on Christophe’s organisational skills.
The car-port will measure 9m x 5m and so have room for all our vehicles and sundry other mechanical bits and pieces. The grounds are a bit of a mess at the moment and will stay that way until the lockdown is lifted, but we’re getting there.
My new bathroom is quite simple – a tiled floor, shower (at my level) loo and sink – the main benefit being a sink I can drive under rather than sit sideways on at, as before, and a shower that I can push myself in and out of, so reducing Karens’ workload. All little bits but all helpful little bits.
In closing Jem’s Juke Box tunes for this instalment are
Jackson Browne – ‘Late for the Sky’
– a live version of a great song
The Beatles –‘Don’t let me Down’
– live from the roof of the Apple Studios, the Beatles at their best IMHO
I’ll sign off for now folks with one last message – stay safe, do everything possible to keep you, yours and others safe from the Corona virus. To all of you who, like me, have been determined to be vulnerable due to our age and underlying health problems – I’m with you in heart and mind. To those of you who have friends and relatives like me and us old and frail specimens’ – do not forget them – you could well be their (our) lifeline.
Stay well
Jem xx