Covid-19, Lockdown Easing - A Rural Diary, Week 10 - Cummings and Goings
25th - 31st May
Political Cummings and (Not) Goings!
So what did this week bring? Well, the headline news was the shenanigans of the Prime Minister's chief adviser, Mr Dominic Cummings. A long and convoluted tale of how the man who was presumably deeply involved with designing the Covid-19 national behaviour guidelines, decided it was a good PR move to flout them in the early stages of Lockdown by driving him and his sick wife and 4-year old son up to his parents' farm in Northumberland. Given he lived in London this was not exactly a good example of 'Stay home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives'. Media and public roasting (well, more of a Crucifiction actually) ensued, especially when it further emerged that, once in Northumberland, he had driven to a not-so-local beauty spot, apparently 'testing his eyesight' to see if he was up to driving another 260 miles back to his job in London advising the Prime Minister (do you still qualify for the job, Dominic?). Then an outspoken TV presenter got equally roasted for speaking her mind on the supposedly neutral BBC - and more media chaos and public outrage followed. In short, a bugger's muddle, 'scuse my French. Not made any better by the car crash press conference Mr Cummings gave in the garden of No.10 Downing Street, nor by the fact that the PM, having chatted things through father to father, decided not to sack him - and Dom refused to resign despite the baying hordes wanting blood. More furore as the media suggested our PM is a puppet to the wayward strategist and it is the wayward strategist who actually runs the country. Mr Johnson was then clearly confused as to whether he should Stay Home (and get a roasting) or Go to Work (and get a roasting). He eventually decided to pop his head out from behind a pile of dirty nappies and...got a roasting.
Meanwhile, in the USA, President Donald Trump.....[That's enough politics! Ed]
-------
Back in the real world, the sun was less indecisive than our politicians and decided to stay out in the open. No hiding behind a cloud for that one. No sir! Up every morning with the larks and on parade. Thank God for Mr Sun! What on earth would we have done without him shining his light on us during these dark times? Mr Sun for Prime Minister I say! At least that way we'd all get lots of nice immune-boosting Vitamin D so we could stay safe and still go to work - but that's another story.
-------
Things started shuffling along a little bit more towards the 'new normal' as we were told that all workers who couldn't work from home could go back to work. In our case that meant that the window cleaner showed up, the Aga got fixed having been fading slowly since Lockdown began to the point of being useless, and a lovely lady came to measure up for the long-awaited new curtains (17 years!) which I'd finally started to progress. The Aga engineer declined a drink, wore a mask and we stayed a good 4m apart at all times. The curtain lady and I also stood a long way apart and I'd opened all the windows in the rooms she had to go in - and she made sure she stood next to them. Hands were gloved or sanitised. It's a whole new world, for sure.
Social Comings and Goings
In week 9 we had been told we could now meet one person outside of the family - outside. L was first off the mark and met a friend at the reservoir for a dog walk. Then, on Bank Holiday Monday, N had a friend come up for a walk and a beer in glorious sunshine ahead of our family barbecue lunch of marinated chicken, sausages and salads. So that's two Bank Holidays when the sun has shined - surely a record?! I noted the first vapour trails in the sky again - a sure sign that out there in the Big Wide World things were changing. I couldn't help but feel a little sad - how lovely the peace and lack of 'movement' had been.
To boost morale, we were told that next week we'd be able to meet up in groups of up to 6 - outside. Why 6? N kept arguing that it should be 8 then at least that would be two average size families being able to get together. I argued that I imagined it was based on the 'Science' of exponential spread. (Or maybe it was just a random number Mr Cummings pulled out of the hat?!) Then I read that it can be 6 people from 6 different households - which is worse than 8 people from 2 households on the exponential spread front. I guess it was to help the young meet up. But judging by photos of London parks they'd been doing that anyway for weeks...
We had also been told that this week we could now drive a little further to walk. Obviously, this then meant that all beauty spots around the country were rammed on that sunny Bank Holiday Monday, somewhat against the spirit of things. What was I saying last week about Boris giving us enough rope to hang ourselves with...? The Peak District was no exception. Yet, after weeks of being cooped up, was it really any surprise that everyone just wanted to escape? Not really, and completely understandable (let alone predictable). The only way it wasn't going to happen was if:-
a) Government had saved that particular easing measure till after Bank Holiday or,
b) we'd taken the French approach from the beginning i.e prescribed distances that people could travel to get food and every time you left the house you had to fill in paperwork to say where you'd gone and why. Moreover, the regulations were heavily enforced by the police and the military.
But that's just not cricket, is it? And we're not good with bureaucracy...
I'm only too aware that we have been on the better side of the prison bars and been able to enjoy the beauty of our immediate countryside - there are millions of others who are going screaming mad and are desperate to get out and see natural green spaces. Mental health and general wellbeing are also key in managing this situation. We cannot have Covid Tunnel Vision.
For our part, the girls and I drove to another local reservoir and had a beautiful walk there. I had last done it with G in the first week of Lockdown when I didn't realise that driving in a car 10 minutes didn't constitute a local walk. Then there were daffodils - and total silence beyond the music of nature. Now there were fishermans' voices echoing across the water, a full car park and lots of comings and goings.
And so we come full circle. Whether it's Cummings and Not Goings or Comings and Goings, within 24 hours of all the furore I was feeling weary and could no longer listen to the news or suffer the hate and anger on social media. Here we were with Brexit-like divisions all over the country again. Sigh.
So instinctively I turned inward again: I cleaned bathrooms and windows, I tended my garden and enjoyed its succession of emerging beauty. I Zoom-called a couple of lovely girlfriends who I try and meet up with in London once a year and it was a joy to see their faces and their family (and their sitting rooms, of course!). I went to the supermarket with G for our weekly shop. I walked to the post box in the village with my dog and a birthday card for my mother-in-law and had a glorious moment of quiet contemplation by the stream. I spent hours in the field over two days (with two confused llamas) getting quietly sunburnt and recording a song for the Great British Home Chorus. Gareth wanted us to show him where we lived. So I did.
----------
Footnote:-
Quote from Dominic Cummings' blog:-
Johnson may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it is also abundantly clear that he is still not very well. He needs people right now to help steady the ship - and that includes his right-hand man. Ironically, of course, this is where Cummings got it so badly wrong when he headed north: that ill-thought-through decision now threatens to sink the boat that he was helping to keep afloat.
Political Cummings and (Not) Goings!
So what did this week bring? Well, the headline news was the shenanigans of the Prime Minister's chief adviser, Mr Dominic Cummings. A long and convoluted tale of how the man who was presumably deeply involved with designing the Covid-19 national behaviour guidelines, decided it was a good PR move to flout them in the early stages of Lockdown by driving him and his sick wife and 4-year old son up to his parents' farm in Northumberland. Given he lived in London this was not exactly a good example of 'Stay home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives'. Media and public roasting (well, more of a Crucifiction actually) ensued, especially when it further emerged that, once in Northumberland, he had driven to a not-so-local beauty spot, apparently 'testing his eyesight' to see if he was up to driving another 260 miles back to his job in London advising the Prime Minister (do you still qualify for the job, Dominic?). Then an outspoken TV presenter got equally roasted for speaking her mind on the supposedly neutral BBC - and more media chaos and public outrage followed. In short, a bugger's muddle, 'scuse my French. Not made any better by the car crash press conference Mr Cummings gave in the garden of No.10 Downing Street, nor by the fact that the PM, having chatted things through father to father, decided not to sack him - and Dom refused to resign despite the baying hordes wanting blood. More furore as the media suggested our PM is a puppet to the wayward strategist and it is the wayward strategist who actually runs the country. Mr Johnson was then clearly confused as to whether he should Stay Home (and get a roasting) or Go to Work (and get a roasting). He eventually decided to pop his head out from behind a pile of dirty nappies and...got a roasting.
Meanwhile, in the USA, President Donald Trump.....[That's enough politics! Ed]
-------
Back in the real world, the sun was less indecisive than our politicians and decided to stay out in the open. No hiding behind a cloud for that one. No sir! Up every morning with the larks and on parade. Thank God for Mr Sun! What on earth would we have done without him shining his light on us during these dark times? Mr Sun for Prime Minister I say! At least that way we'd all get lots of nice immune-boosting Vitamin D so we could stay safe and still go to work - but that's another story.
-------
Things started shuffling along a little bit more towards the 'new normal' as we were told that all workers who couldn't work from home could go back to work. In our case that meant that the window cleaner showed up, the Aga got fixed having been fading slowly since Lockdown began to the point of being useless, and a lovely lady came to measure up for the long-awaited new curtains (17 years!) which I'd finally started to progress. The Aga engineer declined a drink, wore a mask and we stayed a good 4m apart at all times. The curtain lady and I also stood a long way apart and I'd opened all the windows in the rooms she had to go in - and she made sure she stood next to them. Hands were gloved or sanitised. It's a whole new world, for sure.
Social Comings and Goings
In week 9 we had been told we could now meet one person outside of the family - outside. L was first off the mark and met a friend at the reservoir for a dog walk. Then, on Bank Holiday Monday, N had a friend come up for a walk and a beer in glorious sunshine ahead of our family barbecue lunch of marinated chicken, sausages and salads. So that's two Bank Holidays when the sun has shined - surely a record?! I noted the first vapour trails in the sky again - a sure sign that out there in the Big Wide World things were changing. I couldn't help but feel a little sad - how lovely the peace and lack of 'movement' had been.
To boost morale, we were told that next week we'd be able to meet up in groups of up to 6 - outside. Why 6? N kept arguing that it should be 8 then at least that would be two average size families being able to get together. I argued that I imagined it was based on the 'Science' of exponential spread. (Or maybe it was just a random number Mr Cummings pulled out of the hat?!) Then I read that it can be 6 people from 6 different households - which is worse than 8 people from 2 households on the exponential spread front. I guess it was to help the young meet up. But judging by photos of London parks they'd been doing that anyway for weeks...
We had also been told that this week we could now drive a little further to walk. Obviously, this then meant that all beauty spots around the country were rammed on that sunny Bank Holiday Monday, somewhat against the spirit of things. What was I saying last week about Boris giving us enough rope to hang ourselves with...? The Peak District was no exception. Yet, after weeks of being cooped up, was it really any surprise that everyone just wanted to escape? Not really, and completely understandable (let alone predictable). The only way it wasn't going to happen was if:-
a) Government had saved that particular easing measure till after Bank Holiday or,
b) we'd taken the French approach from the beginning i.e prescribed distances that people could travel to get food and every time you left the house you had to fill in paperwork to say where you'd gone and why. Moreover, the regulations were heavily enforced by the police and the military.
But that's just not cricket, is it? And we're not good with bureaucracy...
I'm only too aware that we have been on the better side of the prison bars and been able to enjoy the beauty of our immediate countryside - there are millions of others who are going screaming mad and are desperate to get out and see natural green spaces. Mental health and general wellbeing are also key in managing this situation. We cannot have Covid Tunnel Vision.
For our part, the girls and I drove to another local reservoir and had a beautiful walk there. I had last done it with G in the first week of Lockdown when I didn't realise that driving in a car 10 minutes didn't constitute a local walk. Then there were daffodils - and total silence beyond the music of nature. Now there were fishermans' voices echoing across the water, a full car park and lots of comings and goings.
And so we come full circle. Whether it's Cummings and Not Goings or Comings and Goings, within 24 hours of all the furore I was feeling weary and could no longer listen to the news or suffer the hate and anger on social media. Here we were with Brexit-like divisions all over the country again. Sigh.
So instinctively I turned inward again: I cleaned bathrooms and windows, I tended my garden and enjoyed its succession of emerging beauty. I Zoom-called a couple of lovely girlfriends who I try and meet up with in London once a year and it was a joy to see their faces and their family (and their sitting rooms, of course!). I went to the supermarket with G for our weekly shop. I walked to the post box in the village with my dog and a birthday card for my mother-in-law and had a glorious moment of quiet contemplation by the stream. I spent hours in the field over two days (with two confused llamas) getting quietly sunburnt and recording a song for the Great British Home Chorus. Gareth wanted us to show him where we lived. So I did.
----------
Footnote:-
Quote from Dominic Cummings' blog:-
We want to improve performance and make me much less important — and within a year largely redundant. At the moment I have to make decisions well outside what Charlie Munger calls my ‘circle of competence’ and we do not have the sort of expertise supporting the PM and ministers that is needed. This must change fast so we can properly serve the public. (January 2nd, 2020)
This 'out of context' quote is amusingly ironic in the current circumstances. However, it would not be fair to include this if I did not also point out that his blog - and some of his other essays - are worth reading. They certainly shed light on why our Prime Minister is keen to cling on to him. The bottom line is this: running a country is a complex business. It's like running an enormous household with millions of children all pulling in different directions and thinking they know everything. As in any functioning household, you need good support systems. It impossible to try and do it all. You get the best results if you admit what you are good at and what you are not good at - and you get other people with the right skill sets to do what you can't. I don't think this is an admission of weakness. I think it is the only common sense thing to do.Johnson may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it is also abundantly clear that he is still not very well. He needs people right now to help steady the ship - and that includes his right-hand man. Ironically, of course, this is where Cummings got it so badly wrong when he headed north: that ill-thought-through decision now threatens to sink the boat that he was helping to keep afloat.
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