Looks like it's going to be nice for the weekend.
I broke the rules though. I went for an 'extra' walk today (and yesterday, although that was for provisions). Living in the countryside has its pros and cons: one benefit is it's easier to get fresh air and keep social distance. There's a lot of distance, just no much social! When you do see people, you can tell they think the same. People hunger for freedom and oxygen.
It's peculiar. A slight on the ordinary as though being outside is false. Normally I walk early in the morning; right after getting up because I know how quiet that period is. You get the odd early bird of course. Popping out for fifteen-twenty minutes after lunch, however, feels like absconding. Doing something normally familiar has a breathless touch of the forbidden. Like skipping school to come home early: being in a familiar place at the 'wrong' time,
Until the school rings up and asks why you skipped PE. I got more exercise riding home on my bike, and besides PE is (or certainly was) a giant waste of time!
I think the sunlight is going to provide the defining factor for this lockdown (that and the virus!). It's going to compel people into the outdoors. Certainly locally where we have the blessing of open countryside. I feel for people stuck in towns or tower blocks that don't have this luxury.
This situation is a mixture of things, making it a very alien time. On one hand there is the terror of an incurable plague over which our inept leaders have no control. But on the other there is an opportunity to take stock (where possible). Where behaviours can change. I hope that's an attitude I can carry forward, along with my newfound appreciation for taking a bath (instead of a shower). Suddenly old habits are thrown into sharp relief; somethings just aren't so important anymore.
Coming out of this, eventually (and hopefully properly), I sense the potential for a new outlook. Maybe others will feel the same. Beyond the deadly importance of politics and right through society. A shot in the arm of the social body We're forced to witness a brief renewal of the outside world; a taste of victory in the coming climate crisis - perhaps the next big struggle.
Where once planet earth shrank at our touch, now its the reverse. As we recoil, locking ourselves away from the microbial rampage, nature has the chance to out itself. The virus is nature, and it's a fight we can't win on its terms. We must find better measures, in the process learn a little humility. We cannot return to coughing up our lungs and spewing dirt and misery over sky and sea. Precious, this world is. A jewel in mute self renewal.
This could be, when all is said and done, the best chance in our lifetimes for real change. It won't be easy of course. There is no doubt the economic shock to the capitalist system will affect many, quite deeply. The capitalists will revert to type; they will impose heavy asuerity and cuts but we must resist. They will demand a heavy toll; but there must be no levy on our right to survive. The puppet master has been exposed. We see how the trick is done and you've been found wanting.
Our time will come soon. It may never come again.
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