The view from my window

The view from my window
The view from my window

Sunday 29 March 2020

This and that!

So here we are again, another day older, another day wiser? Maybe, maybe not! As you might imagine, life around here isn't exactly bursting with excitement at the moment, but that doesn't really matter any more does it!

So what is new right now, if anything? Oh, on Sky News last night they showed a report on another upsetting aspect of the pandemic in Italy - as if they haven't got enough to deal with already. The northern part of Italy is the richer, more developed part of the country, while the south and Sicily depend more on agriculture and tourism. While the south doesn't (yet?) have the pandemic-level number of coronavirus cases it is being absolutely hammered by the economic consequences of shutting the country down. As the money is drying up and people's savings, if they have any, are also disappearing, they are now finding it more difficult to buy food and, in some cases, taking the law into their own hands! And to be honest, you wouldn't want to be in Sicily when people take the law into their own hands would you. One clip from the report showed a man trying to kick his way through a LIDL entrance so that they could get their hands on some food, while his mother was standing in the background begging the police officer to show some compassion. Now in this particular case the family were all living off the mother's small pension, but at that moment the bank was closed and they couldn't get their hands on any money to buy food. What a nightmare! In other instances, however, the reporter was explaining that although the government had set in motion "bail-out" cheques to help these people, many would not be eligible to receive this money since the south tended to "operate on a cash economy", and they were not, therefore, registered. I think we all know what that means don't we. But oh my goodness it struck a raw nerve in me seeing this because it does make you think (well me at least) "there but for the grace of God go I". And I know, I know, people all over the world go hungry and die every day but I think it takes something much closer to home to make it real somehow. I have a few smaller charities that I donate to every month and I also collect food for the food bank in town but at the moment, while I have a crate of food ready to go, I'm not sure about being allowed out to deliver it. They are only open on Tuesday evenings anyway so I'll have to try to get hold of them some how (so far unsuccessfully) to see if I can get down there and back without being hammered with a €135 fine for breaking curfew - money that could be much better spent on buying food don't you think!

In other news we put the clocks forward today so that was probably the only exciting event in my life this weekend - well that and moving my car over in my driveway by about 10 feet because (a) it needs to run occasionally and (b) I find the brakes seem to stick if I don't use it very often. Oh the excitement! And I saw on my 2020 calendar from the fire station that today is St. Gwladys' day. My mom's name was Gwladys and I've never seen it spelled like that outside of Wales, so maybe it is a Breton spelling too. But I guess that's just more trivia that serves no real purpose in my new daily normal!

Since I wrote yesterday about using technology to keep in touch, earlier this week I saw a clip of a group of workers in the US working from home who had set up a video-conferencing meeting. Unfortunately, one of the ladies must have forgotten it was a video-conference (I think the word "video" in "video-conferencing" was a bit of a giveaway though don't you) and she took herself off to the loo for a pee - while her horrified co-workers looked on in utter mortification. Way to go Jennifer!

And finally, again talking about "technology" issues, did anyone else see the video of the Italian priest who was trying to live-stream mass but accidentally turned the special effects on? Oh the poor sod - but what a hoot! Now that's how to make church interesting again I reckon!

14 comments:

  1. I think quite a few of those oops things are happening. A reporter on Twitter said yesterday she forgot to mute her phone and the whole group, political operatives, couple of former presidential candidates, heard her instructing her child go how to go to the bathroom by herselfand wash up afterwards, because mommy was working...

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    1. I think those slip-ups just make people more human don't you!

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  2. I think that I saw where the priest said after his faux pas had been pointed out that laughing is good for the soul.
    I imagine that there are many people who are finding technology has ways to embarrass them that they never predicted.
    Be well! Be safe! We will get through this.

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    1. You know, after that video I'd probably go to his church service despite the fact that (a) I'm not Catholic and (b) I'm not even religious, but fair play to him!

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  3. I bet there will be a lot of embarrassing moments with video conferencing. I've been listing in on a few video lectures (off in the distance). Nothing embarrassing yet, but her Spanish professor has four young kids so there is the constant child in the back ground. I will send positive thoughts toward the people in Italy struggling worse than others in food security. There is enough food to feed this world-like you, I struggle with knowing how to make it happen.

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    1. Remember when email first came around and we all did the dreaded "reply to all" instead of to just one person? I guess we'll learn with video-conferencing too won't we. When President Macron was announcing the first of our lockdowns, all grave and serious, a telephone on his desk started ringing really, really loudly. It wasn't a mobile, it was a desk phone and somehow he managed to ignore it. The temptation to answer "Battersea Dogs' Home" would probably have been too great for me!

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  4. Food insecurity is something I am familiar with due to my childhood. Mom did her best but lost it at times when we didn't have any groceries and back then there was no such thing as a foodbank in our town. The poor sicilians, one would hope the higher ups in the underworld would take care of them but instead they sit in their mansions self isolating.

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    1. Food insecurity is sadly very real in many parts of the world isn't it, and yet there is enough to go around. I was thinking about Sicily last night as I was going to bed and even with the best will in the world I could understand that the government might not want to write a blank cheque for obvious reasons. And growing up as you did I think makes you all the more grateful for what you have doesn't it. We were pretty poor and a large family, but everyone around us was the same, and while we never went hungry people in those days helped each other out. Let's hope we see that starting to happen now, although I think given half a chance people are more good than bad!

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  5. Hello, I just stumbled upon your blog from a link in a blog I read, Riding On. I like your style of writing. Stay well during this crazy time. I am guessing that you live in Europe? Perhaps the UK? But I did see a Euro symbol! Stay healthy!

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    1. Hi Michael and thank you for stopping by my blog (I saw that Dave had mentioned me yesterday). I'm a Brit but have been living in France for the last 30 years. We're a couple of weeks ahead of the US (I'm presuming that's where you are) in this pandemic business so I guess you all know what to expect, sadly. Take care and stay safe. Anna

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  6. Hilarious, fair play i suspect his audience has grown by the millions. Yes there for the grace of God go many of us. Time for the companies who make obscene profits to have some compassion with the current situation. Amazon could afford to send a food box out to all its customers and it wouldn't even put accent in their bank balance.

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    1. I thought that priest was brilliant too, and I agree with you about the huge companies making enormous profits. They could afford to give so much (and maybe they already do - who knows) and even write it off against taxes I don't doubt. It's a very unfair world we live in isn't it.

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  7. That was very funny. There's one out there of a British Vicar getting the sleeve of his sweater to close to a lit candle. As he's batting out the flames, he says something like "oh, dear, I've set myself alight."

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    1. I just looked it up and he was remarkably restrained wasn't he. I'm sure I would have been the same (not)!

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