It’s about a year since Shaun invited me to write a monthly column in “Fogey’s Corner” and hasn’t the world now changed in a completely unrecognisable manner. The changes have both terrified and confounded us all, and we now live in a world where up is down, black is white and for many, being employed means you don’t have to travel into work.
The Pandemic has had a profound effect on our behaviour, beliefs and confidence. A recent study has shown that over 65% of people don’t want to go back to a life as it was before lockdown, and for those in work, approximately 55% want to continue with some form of home working. Estate agents have reported that they’ve been overwhelmed by people wanting to flee the cities to a more rural setting – a kind of reverse Industrial revolution.
Our belief that “Johnny Foreigner” was not up-to scratch with regard to their Economies, Healthcare and Social Services lies shattered as we sit at the bottom of all tables in the handling of the Covid 19 crisis and we are truly the “Sick Man of Europe”. Who’d have believed that the Paupers and Minnows of Europe, such as Greece, Portugal and Denmark would have performed so well in the Pandemic.
The message that is being put forward is –
THE VIRUS IS STILL OUT THERE
To quote Albert Camus the noted French Philosopher/Author and Goalkeeper –
Everybody knows that pestilences have a way of recurring in the world, yet somehow, we find it hard to believe in ones that crash down on our heads from a blue sky. There have been as many plagues as wars in history, yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise.”
“We tell ourselves that pestilence is a mere bogy of the mind, a bad dream that will pass away. But it doesn’t always pass away and, from one bad dream to another, it is men who pass away.”
The lockdown has had a profound effect on our social behaviour in that we rediscovered our homes; learnt to queue in an orderly fashion; discovered that we could shop online for almost everything up-to and including cars!
The real problem now is the haphazard manner in which lockdown and social distancing is breaking down due to the many conflicting signals being given– Stay in/don’t stay in – Go out/Don’t go out– Wear Masks/Don’t wear masks; and we’ve now seen the catastrophic problems of – Street Parties – Crowded Beaches – Mass Demonstrations and is it any wonder that we’re all waiting for an upsurge in cases of Covid 19 or am I wrong?
And Now there is the FIRST of the Local Lockdowns in Leicester!
THE VIRUS IS STILL OUT THERE.
One Response
Great article. I agree it is a topsy turvy World. We lived through Aids, Sars,Ebola and Bird Flu.
But Covid seems to have floored us all. Socially distanced dating on Zoom is all the rage now. Covid has done more for safe sex than Durex ever could!
No one wants to go back to life as it was – everyone seems much more polite and tolerant than ever before.