Lockdown Bulletin 6 - Happy Things

I've noticed that the beginning of a journey has a different mood to later points along the way. Setting out, all is jolly, excitement, the sheer pleasure of novelty. Of course, there was no jolliness at the start of lockdown due to coronavirus, but there was, perhaps, a freshness to our anxiety. Now we are at that stage where the cry from the back seat is "Are we nearly there", and unfortunately, no, we aren't. 

I'd say that carefree - (leaving aside economic cares, in favour of carefree meaning moving about without fear) - life is probably two years away, (working on the most gloomy estimate that I can bear to accept of how long it will take to create a vaccine; others may prefer the more optimistic version put out by the Times today - they reported that a UK virologist has suggested there is an 80 per cent chance of her vaccine working and being approved and dispensed widely by September; there is also the truly gloomy possibility that we will never ever work out how to quell this new virus, but let's not even contemplate that prospect).

Anyway, given that we are at the point where going back is impossible but there is still a long road ahead, I thought it might be time to pull out a few things that have cheered me or made me laugh during the past weeks.

1. Following a peculiar weeks-long stampede in Australia to buy all the loopaper available in all supermarkets, this picture appeared, which explained everything:

2. As many people began working at home, there was a fashion to be pictured in front of one's bookshelves; none of the pictures were interesting, but I did like this one that somebody posted, claiming that the creature in the shot was their new, highly unimpressed boss:

3. Working from home, (WFH), turns out to be contributing to relationship difficulties for some people:

4. Still, at least some people are able to work from home. Others are jobless and there is increasing concern about the dire consequences of lockdown for the economy. In the circumstances, it was good of the Slovak president to point a new way forward for the fashion industry with a facemask that coordinated perfectly with her dress:

5. Speaking of facemasks, a generously proportioned woman decided to follow instructions from a rather tiny Japanese woman on the subject of repurposing old brassieres into facemasks:

6. And speaking of repurposing someone made this, (it has bad language, so don't watch if you don't like that):

7. For those missing sports on the television, a BBC sports commentator came to the rescue:

8. St Louis zoo also provided something rather lovely in the surprising form of a penguin weigh-in:

9. And one of my favourite charities, the Sheldrick Trust, introduced us to a zebra foal, rescued from lions:

10. My youngest daughter reminded me of this poem, written some years ago by someone called Decca Muldowney, who I think now works as a journalist; the piece seems apposite right now:

11. I was surprised by the odd juxtaposition that Twitter threw up, when the sentence of Harvey Weinstein was announced:

12. Someone dredged up this Kissinger observation, which could not be more relevant - each person will have a different view about who has shown most leadership in this crisis. For what it's worth, the Chinese president doesn't make it into my top ten:

I suppose I have ended on a rather sombre note when I promised a barrel of laughs. Sadly, sombre notes are unavoidable at the moment, but it is in times like these that it is most important to try to find some fun as well.