The New World

Going back in Time ...

 On the third anniversary of Barbara's death I thought it time to end this blog and wrote nothing more until today (10/01/2021). Barbara's life, however, continues through my memories and she remains present on my computer and the internet, so ending this blog is premature.

The world has been, and continues to be, dominated by Covid-19. That is likely to continue for the most part of this year, if not longer. The economic fallout for individuals, companies and countries will follow.

Update June 2021 -

 I left the start of this as draft, as my thoughts dried up, but next week will be the fourth anniversary of Barbara's death and it seems a bit slack leaving it.

 A few thoughts on Covid-19. Back in the dark ages I studied virology and over the years stuff such as evolutionary ecology so I had some fairly strong opinions on what should be done at the outset and what wasn't done and why we are where we are now. There is no point recounting my views on political decision-making, but what I found very positive was the response of researchers and pharmaceutical companies in terms of vaccine production - it showed what can be done and illustrated how far genomics has come. Of course, the cost in terms of human life has been tragic (especially in the Americas where Trumpian idiocy continues in the hands of Bolsonaro).

Will the pandemic change the way we are? I am beginning to doubt that, at least for the short term. Just as Brexiteers 'wanted their country back', so some seem to want, even to demand, a return to the norms of yesterday. There is here a parallel with the early days of forecasting climate change. It's taken over 30 years for the precariousness of that aspect of human existence to be realised. If, as seems likely, Covid-19 is due to ever-growing human encroachment and interaction with hitherto relatively isolated species combined with rapid global travel, triggering a zoonotic pandemic, then climate change and species geographic niche displacement is likely to exacerbate the potential for further zoonoses. We may never escape de novo diseases. One glimmer of change on the horizon is that with the internet, home working will become more regular. That sounds a rather minor matter, but it will change family dynamics. It will also put paid (I hope) to housing developments that have no space. When I worked in planning I tried to ensure that all sizeable housing developments had good access to public space.

Will this girl ever finish what she started??? It's now 10/08 and this draft has run from 10/01!

The chickens are coming home to roast (no pun intended ...) with climate change. I recall early discussions on climate change following directly on from the acid rain scandal of deniability. That would have been the mid-80's and it was in the early 90's I remember discussing with my ex-professor how, despite the real problems it causes, we need nuclear power to buy us time. Now we're getting a taste of what nature can do, perhaps he was right. Although the IPCC think we can avoid the worst, the deniability that pervades the thinking of people who make money from carbon fuels is on a par with that of those denying the impacts of pesticides on biodiversity. I read that Australian government intends to carry on producing coal and looks to a technical fix to mitigate climate change. That's the nub of the problem. While someone can make money from destroying someone else's world, they will carry on.

I suppose I ought to update my transgender life story. My partner remains at my cottage. We manage reasonably well considering the place is almost uninhabitable with no hot running water and more. She is now positively accepting my lifestyle and if we could get out more, we would. We don't just have the pandemic to deal with, but the effects of her early-stage Parkinson's disease on daily life. I have been suggesting we re-organise living arrangements, such as buying a flat in a town for when we are both less able. Surprisingly, one of her concerns was how that would affect my dressing!

We did get out once this year as I wanted to be pictured in a bluebell wood. Apart from that it has been difficult finding the time as I've occupied myself on adult ed courses and we've taken up weekly walks on the North Downs Way, all that Mens sana in corpore sano ... necessary in coping with the tedium of the pandemic. Now it's the school holidays and the UK is full of staycationers, which doesn't suit me, so I think my next appearance in the wider world will be in Scotland in October.

I'll 'publish and be damned' now, otherwise, several more months may pass by.