Pandemoanium

I'm a little sick of this global pandemic. It's going on too long. And now I see a bunch of photos have disappeared from my last two blogs. Clearly the government. Or Blogger has an issue. Or the butterfly police.

Let's write a list of pros and cons. I'm always telling people to do that.

Coronavirus pros;

Peter is much happier since he stopped doing any work.

Apparently the air is cleaner.

It is genuinely much quieter although without the ambient noise actually smaller noises are more nippy.

Less cyclists on the cycle path.

Less people at work.

Some genuinely funny stuff on the social media - particularly enjoying the swing to home hair-cuts.

Smug enjoyment of not caring about the things that have stopped that other people like, like the cinema, restaurants, pubs.

Like the lack of traffic.

Enjoyed a bit of tourist free sight-seeing although that has worn off already.

Coronavirus cons;

Primarily sick of being stuck in the city.

What's the point of the weekend?

I went a run around Arthur's Seat and then the Meadows today. People everywhere. You have to go round them. Everybody was talking. Why doesn't everybody just shut up? The worst is people talking on their phones and gesticulating with their hands.

Everybody should exercise in silence. There should be a rule. Single file and no talking.

The cycle path is now full of families on bicycles instead of commuters, also joggers, also dog walkers. It's not bad in the morning on the way to work but on the way home it's chocca. A few times I've gone by the roads because they're not busy any more, but actually since week 3 of the lock-down, the roads have become noticeably busier again.

It's sunny but it's cold. Okay, that might not be the virus.

It looks sunny outside my work windows and when I got outside there's a knife-like easterly.

Maybe it's not going to get warmer this year. Maybe the earth has gone off its axis but people aren't telling us.

I'm on 1st terms with the first minister now and I have conversations with Nicola about what she should do. On the whole I think she's doing a good job but I'm tired of this lock-down. Obviously it's pointless making everyone stay in the city because that means there's less room. She could have people pass a test to show they understand how not to spread the virus and then give them a free pass to get out of town - although I can't imagine where would be quieter now. I think everywhere I go there are going to be people power-walking and waving their bloody arms about talking on their phones.

I read nearly every word of her recent paper where she addressed the issue of how we are going to e-a-s-e out of the lock-down. "Things won't be the same," she kept saying, "there will be a new normal". Alright, alright already. Start with people talking and eating in the cinema. Ban that.

Ban people looking at their phones in the street because that means they're not looking where they're going. Stop traffic going through the park. Why would traffic need to go through the park?

Stop the Thursday night clapping. It's stupid.

Maybe  I'll have more news for you next time.

Covid 19 notes

OMG I have to go back to work tomorrow. It's been the Easter Weekend and despite the lock-down I've been having a marvellous time.

There's no time to explain it all. Let's have some photographs and lists which will at least serve as a reminder.

Lock-down sunset.

We ran to the hills through empty streets, always keeping away from folk.

Suggested names for weight gained during this time of pandemic..."Covid Curves" - mine, or the more cruel "Lock-down Lard" - Steve  Crane.

If this horse was a singer, who would it be?

Which bird is is that sings 'Cuckoo'? Clue - not a wood-pecker.

5am moon

On Easter Friday I had quite an amazing run on my own. I was planning to go and do a new Steps challenge, set by John Blair, which we're calling the Blair Stairs, and then run over to Arthur's Seat to do a standard 10 miler.

Once up Calton Hill it dawned on me that it would probably be quite busy over at the Seat but the centre of town was empty, so why not go and have a run around there instead?

Princes St Gardens was open and empty and I felt kind of grateful to Edinburgh Council that they haven't locked up all the green spaces.

The mound was relatively deserted so I ran it as hard as I could but I've been doing quite a lot of hills and I was a few seconds slower than last time.

Not a good photo but the point of it was Bruntsfield Links was empty.

I took a back-street to Holy Corner, since it was Easter. One of the churches is now a bank.

On Easter Sunday the weather looked a bit drab to start with. I thought I would do an off-road 10 miler and Peter came along too. He kept declaring loudly that he didn't expect to see any butterflies. After a while I realised that this was not for my benefit but he was using reverse psychology on the butterflies or fate or both. Man he's mental.

As a side-note, one of the features of this pandemic (so I'm told and so it may appear from 'social media') is an increase in domestic disharmony as couples and families are forced together for long periods of time. This makes sense to me since us humans have trouble getting along on a global level. If we're forced to stay home we will bring our not-able-to-get-along-ness along with us.

You could be forgiven for thinking that if we could tackle the disharmony at home then we wouldn't be so hard on the rest of the world and a new peaceful era might dawn.

Yeah, don't be stupid.

Let's make a list of other things that are happening just now, as I need to wrap this up. Work tomorrow FFS.

• The Tories
• People blaming everything on the Tories
• People saying we should have a proper lock-down with police and the army like Spain and Italy. (My personal view - fuck off. Do your own internal policing.)
• It is now safe to sit on your arse on the computer filling your face with doughnuts.
• A paradoxical sudden craze for exercise, which I think should be thoroughly embraced and encouraged. 
• Lovely quiet streets.
• Hardly a drunk bellowing in the night, although, come on it's Leith, and there has been the odd one. There was a chap drinking beer with his top off across the way yesterday who had his window wide open and was bellowing out "Fuck off you smelly cunt." It wasn't clear to whom his invective was addressed. I hope it wasn't me.
• taking a certain pleasure because at work there has been an increasing demand for everyone to share space - so there's 6 of us in a tiny room - but suddenly we can't! Hahaha! Hahahahahaha!!!!
• I am missing my Berlingo something terrible.
• Sainsbury's routinely has a long queue of socially distanced people out the door, whereas Scotmid has protected its staff with big plastic barriers and the punters are left to behave themselves - which largely they do. You can tell the ones who won't and just avoid them. I'm voting for Scotmid.
• In a similar vein, Sweden has stuck its elegant Scandinavian neck out and taken a policy of asking people to be responsible about not spreading the virus rather than being overly forceful about it. This has been roundly attacked from certain quarters, but last time I looked their death rate was proportionately similar to our Scottish one. That was a couple of days ago though, that might have changed. 
• Lastly, The Scottish death-rate has slowed in the last 3 days. That might be to do with it being a bank holiday weekend and the numbers being slow to be reported. We'll see.

The Butterflies fell for Peter's clever psychological manipulations and showed themselves.

Peacock. Lovely innit?

Small tortoise-shell. Cheeky innit?

Today I was tired and thought I would go out for 3 miles, incorporating the Blair Stairs. It was lovely out though. Prime running weather; cool and sunny, and no folks in the streets. Before I knew it I found myself up at the castle. I l-o-v-e the l-o-v-e-l-y empty spaces.........................