Lockdown Living

LOCKDOWN

NOUN:

A security measure in which those inside a building or area are required to remain confined in it for a time.

- English definition, Courtesy: Collins English Dictionary, Online Edition


Like most of us, probably, I had only come across the word in shoddy American tv shows and movies, typically accompanied by much gunfire and explosions, usually with Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwarzenegger in the thick of it.  Then along came COVID-19.  Suddenly, most of the world found itself in lockdown – and without a shot being fired.  The world started to change before our eyes, in ways most of us had never believed possible.

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People and governments reacted in different ways.  In Europe, Italy and Spain were a bit caught out and hence have suffered the worst attrition.  Britain, as usual, reacted late and arguably this cost unnecessary lives, as much as anything because the government seems to have failed in providing an already hard pressed NHS with sufficient ventilators, masks and other personal protection stuff to both staff and patients, and has also been somewhat tardy in testing.  It hasn’t been helpful that the PM has spent time in Intensive Care after catching COVID himself, and his enforced absence has shown for all who care to open their eyes the paucity of ability in his Government.  The phrase about headless chickens springs to mind.  I’m sure people – especially within the NHS - have done their best, but it hasn’t been enough to prevent a hundred thousand confirmed cases and getting on for twenty thousand deaths in a few short weeks.  Tragic.

Elsewhere, Trump has predictably gone his own sweet way, initially blaming it all on a Chinese conspiracy, then mystifyingly the EU, then saying it would all be over in a couple of weeks, then back at work by Easter…...and all the time marking himself 10 out of 10 for his handling of the crisis.  And the number of cases has mounted and the number of deaths multiplied, and his scientific and medical advisors have struggled to contradict the man and convince people to follow their professional advice rather Trump’s “hunches”.  His supporters, inevitably and again mystifyingly, have lapped it up, and are as I write demonstrating in a number of states – all of which have Democrat Governers – against the lockdown measures imposed, citing loss of freedom and jobs as the economy tanks, and demanding an immediate return to normality.  The man himself, of course, supports and encourages them through a daily barrage of tweets. Tragic? Yes, and insanity.

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And what of Poland?

The government actually acted very quickly.  Borders were closed, with all motorway crossings manned by police turning back non-Poles (unless driving trucks of goods destined for the Polish market) and testing everyone else.  Any hint of a temperature resulted in 14 days quarantine.  Airports across the country were closed, and all flights grounded except for repatriation flights. International train services were also stopped. It’s been eerie: I live quite close to the main airport so there is always aircraft noise.  I also have a little cottage on a development bordering the airport, and I visited a couple of days later.  Typically there is a take off or landing every four or five minutes – during my two hours there I counted two take offs and no landings.  It’s been like that, or quieter, ever since.

The lockdown terms have been quite strict, with only vital trips outside allowed.  Public transport is still running, but bus drivers are only allowed to take on half the people – so a 40 seat bus is now “full” with 20 passengers.  Working from home, if at all, is widespread. Small shops remain open, and supermarkets, but the malls are closed.  The shops themselves, from day 2, have been restricted to allowing only customers in a multiple of 4 per till – so if there are 4 tills and only 2 are open then only 8 customers are allowed in.  Staff man the doors and only allow customers in when someone else leaves, strictly one to one.  There is hand sanitizer and disposal gloves provided just inside the entrance – use of both is mandatory.  All staff wear masks, as do most customers, and there are tapes on the floor by each till to guide social distancing.

It works.  The vast majority of people happily follow the rules, so the numbers here are really very good – currently there have been 10,034 confirmed cases and only 404 dead  and that’s out of a population of just under 38million (Source: Google). Most of them have been in the area around Warsaw, the most populous part of the country.  There is a caveat: many people believe the government is under-reporting and the actual numbers may be several times higher: but even if that is the case they compare very favourably with the rest of Europe (indeed, the World….).  No doubt “true” figures will surface one day, when this is all over.

Certainly, there is excellent communication.  Whenever there is a change in regulations an SMS message is sent to every Polish mobile a day or so in advance, in both Polish and English, explaining everything.  There is also a tentative exit strategy, announced over the weekend, that will gradually open stores, places of worship, bars and restaurants and allow limited gatherings and sporting events, but there are no dates set apart from Phase 1, effective this Monday, that re-opened parks and forest trails (there are many around the city), and allow us to go outside for more reasons – exercise and cycling are now possible, so I’m off for a bike ride through Kabaty Forest tomorrow. 

But social distancing remains in force, and masks must still be worn outside until a vaccine is readily available – and this, said the notice, may not be until next year.  “Masks are the new normal” it said.

Of course, there have been the odd instance of people stretching matters.  I heard a radio news report recently about a guy who went out to buy essential supplies one evening – a bottle of vodka.  He drank it all on the way home and fell asleep on a bench outside his apartment block, where he was woken up some time later by the police.  They issued a ticket for the appropriate fine for going outside on a non-essential trip – PLN30,000 (at today’s rates, close tp GBP6,000).  Expensive drink – and if the fine isn’t paid he’s looking at a 6 month prison sentence.  No idea how that one ended up – there has been no follow up so I guess he paid it.  Either that, or the story was an excellent wind-up.

The worst abuse happened over Easter, an important time where all Poles visit the local cemeteries to pay their respects to parents and other departed family members, lay flowers and light candles – it’s a lovely tradition that this year was forbidden by the lockdown.  But there are always people who believe they are above the law, and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of the governing Law and Justice Party (you see the irony there?) proved it by heading off to Warsaw’s main cemetery to visit his parents’ grave – in a black limousine and accompanied by a full security detail of perhaps a dozen armed guards.  No masks.  No social distancing.  And in full view of a media scrum including tv cameras from all the main networks, who I assume had all received a tip-off from someone. There is a presidential election in May: he is not standing but his party’s nomine is – or at least, was – clear favourite to win.  To judge by the outrage in the press and on social media this crass error of judgement is quite likely to come back and bite his arse very hard.  And quite right too.

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So – living in lockdown.  How has it been?

Well, by what I’ve seen and heard from my kids and relatives back home, not too bad provided you find ways of avoiding boredom.  Thank God for Netflix, Disney TV, YouTube, Zoom and so on….windows on the world and a release.  My sister has been happily working in her garden, in the better weather, pruning the roses, trimming hedges and feeding the birds.  My eldest son has spent much time in his garden playing with the kids, building useful things like wooden sun loungers, and gardening himself.  Another son has likewise enjoyed garden and Disney time with his kids.  They’re both getting by and looking forward to a return to work at some point.

A garden would be great, if for nothing else than extra space.  I live in a relatively small fifth floor flat, two bedrooms, bathroom and combined lounge/kitchen/diner with a small balcony – so space is at a bit of a premium.  The place is full of love and laughter, and we want for nothing in terms of food and stuff to amuse ourselves – it’s great, and I’m very happy with my life here.  But lockdown has shown that we really do need a bit more elbow room.  We’re working on it.

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Peace and quiet and a bit of personal space can be hard to find.  When the kids are doing their schoolwork it can get a bit tricky.  Like all schools, lessons are being conducted online using Microsoft Teams and by-and-large it works well.  My two are more fortunate than some of their classmates in having their own kit – one has a desktop computer with all the gaming gear (microphone and head set, big monitor) while the other her own laptop.  Sharing a room means where lessons overlap, milady has to decamp to the big room and set up on the dining room table – which is fine, my wife and I are happy to eat from the settee where my wife is also doing her own online stuff.  Meanwhile, as now, I tend to sprawl on the bed balancing my old Lenovo on my knees.  Sometimes, for a change, I use the window ledge (it’s broad enough and stone, so very solid) but less than ideal and gives me backache.  But we manage ok.

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Distractions abound.  My kids are both avid YouTubers and gamers, so getting them away from those apps and focused on their schoolwork is challenging.  Yelling competitions are not unheard of.  By and large the tv stays off until their work is done – around lunchtime – after which it goes on for the afternoon programming that tends to be old soap reruns or DIY/home search stuff – some of those are ok, and show some nice décor ideas we could use when we eventually move.

At this point, too, the online gaming starts and things can get even louder: can anyone explain why people, kids especially, tend to communicate at full volume when they’re playing an online game with friends, or making a mobile phone call?  I know I’m as guilty as the next person! 

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Then food.

My missus is a fantastic cook, and it shows on my waistline. Last year I worked hard at exercise, much walking and cycling, and managed to drop nearly 8 kilos between May and October – and felt much fitter and healthier for it.  I managed to remain stable through the winter, and aim to drop more this summer – ideally my target is to get below 90 kilos, something I haven’t managed to do for at least 10 years.  At my age, with dodgy knees and hips, I figure that would be good for me.

I weighed myself last week, for the first time since lockdown started.  Unless the scales have seized up from a lack of use over the past 6 months (unlikely….) I have, in the space of four weeks, put back on all the weight I lost last summer, plus a bit more. Bugger.

At least, as from this week, I can get out and about again, but it means I have to go back and do it all over again and my sub-90 target is further away than ever.

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I read reports every day of the crisis in Britain and elsewhere caused by the lack of surgical masks and PPE kit, and we are also suffering. But at least in the area of masks – not so much.  People increasingly make their own.

It’s not so difficult, and all the women’s magazines, breakfast tv shows and Facebook are awash with tutorials. Patterns are readily available and shared between friends, and since most homes seem to contain a sewing machine people the length and breadth of Poland are using them to churn out facemasks for family and friends.  My wife has made a whole stock of them for us to use, in a variety of designs – stars & stripes, camouflage pattern, blue and red paisley, spotted….. So far she’s used old bandanas and scarves hidden away in drawers for the basic mask, heavy duty elastic bands for the ears, and vacuum cleaner filters or j-cloths for the filters, and they are adequate.  Now most haberdashers here are selling special filter material in rolls and of course they also sell normal elastic (as you would use in repairing your kid’s PE shorts for instance).  She and my daughter have made them for friends and family as well, and we have plenty of materials left to do more as and when needed.  And very fetching they look too.

It’s also interesting the way people have accepted the need to wear masks, I think.  I had seen pictures – as I’m sure we all have – of people in places like Tokyo and Hong Kong and other Asian cities wearing them as a matter of course for years.  Walk down any street in Rome or Paris, London or New York, and you were guaranteed to see coach loads of middle aged Chinese and Japanese tourists wearing the things.  I always found it quite amusing, and felt I would never wear one no matter how smoggy the atmosphere – I would look an idiot.  Now?  I step out to take the trash out and put on a mask (and disposable plastic gloves) as a matter of course.  The streets are full of people wearing them and you tend to look more at people who aren’t.  The masks are part of normality now, and as I wrote earlier will remain so in Poland for the foreseeable future.  It no longer looks like something out of an apocolyptic movie, it’s simply life.

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There have been unexpected gains.

Most notably, the traffic is so much lighter.  My block is on one of the main roads from the
southern edge of Warsaw into the centre, so traffic is always heavy.  My bedroom overlooks the road, and despite double glazing there is a constant roar and hum of cars and buses from about 5 a.m. until midnight-ish.  I’ve lived here for 15 years so I should be used to it, but no: I’ve always been a light sleeper (at least since fatherhood forty years ago) and it seems to get worse as I get older.  Insomnia really is a bitch.

Anyway, lockdown has pushed the day’s traffic start back half an hour or so,but it makes no difference to me: I still wake about 5.  And there is certainly less traffic on the road.  Before lockdown, there would be a traffic jam outside more or less all day in one direction or the other, and during the rush hours both ways.  Not so now: the picture above was taken from my bedroom during the second week of lockdown, at the height of the afternoon rush hour, when normally traffic would be bumper to bumper and stationary outside and all the parking places occupied.  See the difference!

The affect of this is that Warsaw, one of the most polluted cities in Poland – if not THE worst – now has cleaner air.  Every evening, after the weather forecast, the TVN bulletin adds a smog forecast, and the city invariably has a higher rating than anywhere except perhaps Katowice, down in the coal country to the south. Step out onto the balcony some nights and you can smell and taste the stuff. 

Now it’s better.  The air quality is better, the haze that so often hangs over the neighbourhood is gone. Whether it will last beyond lockdown is open to debate, but if more people adopt the “new norm” and work from home, or leave the car at home in favour of public transport, then it could be a lasting difference and a bit of a COVID Bonus.  I’m usually an optimist, so I have to say I hope that is exactly what will happen – but the realist (or cynic) in me somehow doubts it.  Of course, the longer this situation goes on, the more deep seated such changes are likely to become, so there is some hope. 

It’s not only here in Warsaw, either.  Cities and indeed countries the world over are showing similar decreases in pollution levels, and there have been a number of interesting images published by NASA showing before and after COVID hit major polluters and the difference is striking.  Given the widely accepted need to reduce CO2 levels drastically and soon to avoid calamitous climate change, COVID is actually giving a new hope to activists.  But the changes need to become permanent, and the appetite for change post lockdown remains a big imponderable.

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Shopping, despite the queueing outside the door, the hand sanitising and gloves, is easier because the stores are emptier.  The aisles are no longer awash with shopping trolleys going every which way, no traffic jams approaching checkout.  Because it’s easier for staff to monitor the stock and refill as soon a product runs a bit low, there are few empty shelves – and as far as I know no shortages or panic buying after the initial couple of days (and as I saw myself in LeClerc down the road that was nowhere near as bad here as reported elsewhere).  Plenty of toilet rolls.  Lots of bottled water.  Stacks of tinned foods.  Shelves full of freshly baked bread.  It’s almost a pleasure to go to my local Biedronka now.

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So lockdown is ok.  It’s not been easy, but certainly not boring – but I do feel the need to get out more and more.  Now the weather is improving, my balcony beckons, as does my bike, and with this week’s rule relaxation I can do something about that.  It’s given me the chance to do a lot of reading and writing (though not as much as I had planned – but that’s a whole other story….).  And it’s brilliant to spend this time together with my family.  That said, I can’t wait to be able to hop on a Wizzair to Luton and see my English family again.  It’s been too long already….

As far as Poland is concerned, it seems to have made a big difference, and I think that is mainly because the population seems to have embraced the need in the way others haven’t.  I can see it lasting for a good bit longer yet – calls to get back to normal quickly seem to me way too premature.  How long?  Who knows, really, but I would be surprised and a tad concerned if the measures were all removed much before Christmas.  I can’t see much prospect of vaccine availability until this time next year, for a start….

But we shall see…...in the meantime, have fun in your own lockdown, and whatever you’re doing and wherever you are…..

………..Stay safe.

The NHS and football - can Coronavirus make a difference?

There's been a lot written in the press and various chatrooms relating to footballers - particulary the highly paid "superstars" of the Premiership - and their response (or lack of) to the Coronavirus epidemic.  It's part of a wider narrative about how the sport has acted so far, when play has been forced to a standstill so close to season's end.

Let's take the second bit first.  It seems to me with the virus still raging across the world, talking of being able to re-start the season in May and finishing it by mid-summer, using the windows offered by UEFA's pragmatic decision to suspend the Champions League and Europa League competitions indefinitely and move the scheduled international Euro 2020 finals into 2021 to do so, is a little over-optimistic.  There is still so much medical scientists and the WHO still do not know about the virus - for instance whether there could be a second outbreak in Asia (which is at present pretty stable) or elsewhere that could again spread globally if travel restrictions are relaxed too soon.  There is still no sign of a vaccine yet (despite what certain peole seem to think, the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine is not currently approved against COVID), and probably won't be for several months.  There is even argument going on in some places as to whether social distancing, self-isolation and working from home are making an appreciable difference to the spread of the virus.  Masks?  Depending where you get your news from, they're either very good prevention or practically useless.  The same goes for basic hygiene, despite the advice of every health advice bulletin, whether by governments or the WHO. 

It seems ridiculous to risk more lives simply out of a desperation to finish a few games of football, probably behind closed doors, to maximise prize money perhaps as part compensation for lost gate revenue.  It puts the Prem at odds with the FA, that has suspended all competitions below National League level, effectively ending the season now and voiding results, and the Football League, that has taken a similar stance as the FA but remains hopeful of continuing at some point.  National League clubs are broadly in favour of stopping now and voiding the season, but are taking further legal advice.

Clearly, there is no simple answer that will satisfy everybody.  Taking non-league as an example, a letter has been presented to the FA by a delegation of grass roots clubs asking to continue - noticably the clubs that are against an early end are the ones who may miss out on promotion and the most vocal in favour of scrapping the season are those in danger of relegation.  I can understand where they're coming from, but these are not ordinary circumstances - not by a long chalk. 

My own view is that the season should be scrapped now.  From the Prem right the way down.  No prizes awarded - no league champions, no promotion, no relegation.  Prize money to be distributed based on league position as of the date of suspension.  That's straightforward enough, and sorry Barrow (a country mile ahead of everyone else in the National League and nailed-on certainties for promotion to the EFL before this happened), and lucky you Stevenage, 10 points adrift at the bottom of League 2 and bound to replace Barrow in non-League.  C'est la vie.

But to take it further: next season should kick off as normal (health restrictions permitting), but with all teams starting with the SAME playing squad as this season - no player movements in or out for any club, and no summer transfer window.  A level playing field - to prevent, say, Man City spending another billion quid on players to close the gap on unlucky Liverpool.  The problem with this idea seems to me the issue of players whose contracts expire at the end of this season - what of them?  Should replacements be allowed or contracts extended?  The lower down the leagues you go, the bigger that issue becomes - in non-league most players are on yearly contracts, and that "year" is only 44 weeks.  They are not rolling contracts, and certainly not the multi-year deals prevalent in the game's upper echelons.  Most clubs from National League down lose the majority of their squads at the end of May and have to re-build every season.  How practical it is to consider offering new contracts to an entire playing staff at every club, or even if the players would agree to signing, is a fiendiishly difficult one, especially for the poorer part-time clubs. 

But back to my original question, about Prem players and their contribution: I think a good many of them are doing something already, as far as their clubs allow them too.  I'm sure all of them would happily contribute financially in some way at the very least.  It seems to me that clubs, perhaps understandably, want to protect their major assets, agents (who increasingly seem to run the lives of their client players) are even more reluctant since they have a vested in the players' market valuations (they would lose their 10% cut on any transfers that are no doubt being set up this very second), and the PFA, the union that is supposed to act on the players' behalf seem reluctant or unable to provide guidance to its members.  The result is a complete mess, with mega rich clubs like Spurs and Liverpool laying off part time match day staff and refusing to consider pay deferrals for high earners - in contrast to say Barcelona where management and players, Messi included, have accepted temporary pay cuts of 70% of salary to protect their part-time match day staff and provide additional funding to hard pressed Spanish health services.    I see no good reason why say Chelsea or Manchester United should not do something similar.

Government demands that players should be forced to do something are at best unhelpful.  Jordan Henderson, the Liverpool captain, has reportedly been working hard with the other club captains to put a scheme of some kind together that will provide additional funding to the NHS but is apparently having problems with clubs and the PFA providing only lukewarm support.  The PFA even stated that to apply a pay cut would "decrease the amount of tax paid that goes indirectly to the NHS so reduce their funding".  Gordon Taylor, the PFA's leader, is picking up a quarter of million a year (despite announcing he was retiring a couple of years ago), and his solution is to get "all stakeholders - players, clubs, the tv companies, agents....around a table to discuss it....and find a mutually agreeable solution". 

What nonsense!  The money is needed now, to provide additional safety equipment, oxygen supplies, ventilators and a hundred and one other things that are deperately needed for the NHS to cope with the crisis COVID is placing on the organisation.  If the idiot Taylor gets his way the discussions will STILL be going on this time next year - and I dread to think how many NHS staff, never mind their patients, will have died in that time.

I can't see why Henderson and his felow captains can't simply do a weekly whip-round of their players, collect the money that way and pass it on their local hospitals without needing  the club, agents and PFA to sanction it.  All the players know how critical the NHS is, all support it and all use it, the same as everyone else - I have no doubt the vast majority would be happy to dip into their bulging bank accounts and pay over ten grand a week each (the average salary is apparently something like seventy grand a week) in this way.  It's their money, surely, to spend as they see fit.  I would be suprised if many of them were not doing something similar privately in any case, simply not publiciising it.

Finally: it seems to me that football itself in England needs shaking up.  It seems desperately unfair that the 20 clubs in the Prem, with all their billions in tv and prize money, their billionaire owners (whether individuals or consortia), their players on contracts bringing in millions a year - not counting endorsements and bonuses - do nothing to help maintain and grow the grass roots game.  The smaller clubs all have a hand-to-mouth existence, surviving on gates in the hundreds, woth players on 44 week contracts (if any at all) and are extremely lucky to break even at the end of the season, never mind turn a profit.  The staff are frequently unpaid volunteers, making the club the lifeblood of their local community in a way that ALL clubs should be but often at the top table aren't - or at least these top clubs are more focused on their global following rather than the kid who lives two streets away and dreams of playing for them one day.

In my view there should be a contingency fund of some kind set up specifically to provide support to non-league clubs - that is from the National League down.  Contributions should be made by all clubs in the Prem, the Championship and Leagues 1 and 2, on a sliding scale based on league position (hence linked to prize money), with those clubs in European competition paying an additonal sum based on their UEFA prize money (paid per round and known in advance).  Additional funds could be taken as a percentage of gate receipts (since admission prices are known before games, often before the season starts, and the number of people admitted is known before the end of a game, this is a simple calculation to make).  The fund could be managed either by FA (that is responsible for the non-league pyramid that would benefit), probably in conjunction with some kind of fund administration company, or by a separate body set up specifically for the purpose. 

Let's go the whole hog: impose a limit on the value of a player's contract (no more £100,000 a week deals for a reserve or bench warmer, thank you very much!) and hence on agent's fees - in fact, peg those fees at no more than 2% of the player's agreed base salary (none of these 10% plus add on's crap), payable only on completion of the player's contract term.

The game, at least at the very top level, in England is broken.  Now is a good opportunity to start fixing it.

Two Historians, Two Books

Norman Davies – “Beneath Another Sky: A Global Journey Into History.”

Professor Davies is a Bolton-born historian of Welsh ancestry – and proud of it. A specialist in Eastern European history, in particular that of Poland (where he spends much time, having taken citizenship in 2014, and has a home in Krakow), he is without a doubt my favourite historian. His books are always entertaining, packed with detail that really gets under the skin of his subject matter. Davies doesn’t merely record a dull succession of historical facts, characters, events and dates, although they are all there. They are supported by a wealth of anecdotes, fragments of poetry and song from the period and country in question, documents, detailed maps and illustrations that bring his subject to life. His writing is clear and, considering that his topic can be complex and a bit dry, hugely entertaining.

I’ve read several of his books, and never failed to enjoy them immensely and learn from them. “At the Centre of Europe: A Brief History of Poland” and his classic two-volume “God’s Playground: A History of Poland” both taught me about my adopted country and its people, and have proved invaluable. His superb “Risng 44: The Battle for Warsaw” relates a day-by-day journal of the tragic Warsaw Uprising in 1944, when the city was largely destroyed in street to street, house to house fighting between the Polish Home Army resistance movement, with its boy soldiers (some as young as 9 and 10 years old) and the Nazi occupiers, while Stalin’s Red Army watched from across the river and refused to intervene. “The Isles: A History” and “Europe: A History” are huge, 1000+ page epics that tell the history of the British Isles from pre-history to Tony Blair, and pre-history to the EU respectively, whilst “Vanished Kingdoms” focuses on once mighty kingdoms that flourished in Europe (Burgundy, Castille and the Austro-Hungarian Empire for instance), ran their course and died. In an Epilogue, Davies suggests that the next vanished kingdom may turn out to be the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland, torn apart by arguments about EU membership and an increased desire for independence in Scotland and Wales. The book was published in 2011, long before Cameron announced the Referendum that makes Davies’ prediction seem even more prescient.

“Beneath Another Sky” is something altogether different, however. Part history and part travelogue, it recounts a round the world trip taken by Davies and his wife to fulfil a number of speaking engagements. Starting from Cornwall, the journey takes in visits to, amongst other places, Azerbaijan, India, the UAE, Australia/New Zealand, French Polynesia and Texas – the kind of trip I would love to make but never will. Written in his usual style, Davies delves into what each destination is like now, and its history. This time, as well as the snippets from local legend, music, and the arts, he uses his family stamp album (passed down to him by his Uncle Norman, a pilot killed in World War 1) to illustrate points of historical relevance. He jokes and complains in equal measure, and finds time to discuss and present his own theory for the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 in 2014 – and it’s as plausibe as any other suggestion out there.

For someone who, as I do, has interests in travel and history writing, this book is an absolute joy, and one to be read and enjoyed during these difficult times.

Yuval Noah Harari – “21 Lessons for the 21^st Century”.

Israeli historian Harari could hardly be more different from Norman Davies, but his books have captured my imagination just as much. I stumbled across him about 5 years ago, en-route to Chennai. Browsing the Waterstones outlet in Heathrow T5 before my Sunday departure, I saw his first book, “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” and bought it to read on the long flight. A superb book, it entranced me from page1 and I read it through the week, finishing it on my return flight the following Friday. A mixture of history and philosophy, fact and speculation (can we really say with any certainty how and where we as a species came up with the idea of agriculture, or invented religion?), I found it a fascinating world history unlke any I had read previously.

 The cover advertised a sequel, “Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow” and I resolved to get it as soon as possible. In the event it took me another three years before I tracked it down in a bookshop in Luxembourg, but it was worth the wait. This time, Harari turns his attention to how our species may develop in the coming years. He speculates on how AI and biotechnology may help us to live longer and richer lives, end famine, eradicate many common diseases and end the need for warfare. But there are warnings too, in particular about the danger of such advances leading to what he terms a “useless” class: the millions, possibly billions, of us who at present do manual work like cleaning, assembly line working, and so on that could in the future be done by machines, and who are unable (or unwilling) to learn other skills.

Taken together the books make a coherent and thought provoking picture of how we as a species got to where we are now and what may lie in store. “21 Lessons” essentially completes the trilogy, and Harari turns his attention to the challenges that face us now, how we can tackle them and take our lives and our children’s and grandchildren’s lives safely through towards the future speculated in “Homo Deus”. All the usual suspects are covered: terrorism, religious intolerence, the rise of nationalist movements, global warming, pandemics and armed conflict. While no clear solutions are described – as is to be expected – there are many insights and suggestions as to what we could do to mitigate some of them. Harari has used many of the themes covered in “Homo Deus” and this has given rise to some complaints of cut-and-paste, lazy writing but in my view it’s a device he has used well to start a topic that has then been skillfully and thoughtfully expanded.

“21 Lessons” for me is as entertaining and thought provoking as its two forerunners, and it’s another book to entertain during our self-isolating days. Whether you could class it as a history book, or indeed class Harari as a historian is open to debate, but he is certainly an entertaining writer with some interesting views. Well worth a look.

Gettin' a bit Edge-y.....

A while back (November last, to be precise) I posted a piece on my old Blog (The World According to Travellin' Bob - http://travellin-bob.blogspot.com) in which I compared experiences on the main browsers out there.  I came down in favour of Chrome, closely followed by Edge with Firefox a close third.  In the time since then, I've continued to shuttle back and forth between them, but for me there has been very little in it.  But in the last week my views have crystallised.  Here is why.

Truth be told, as I wrote previously, all three of them are decent browsers for the average Joe Public, non-techie user.  They are all easy enough to set up, they all can run quite happily with multipe tabs open, they all offer security and privacy tools, password management and ad-blockers.  Pages load fast enough, they're all stable......basically if you just want to use them to browse the internet, manage e-mails, watch the odd YouTube video and listen to internet radio stations they're all fine.  I could get to my Google Photos and Music Libraries from all of them with no issues, ditto my Gmail and Yahoo Mail accounts.  So how to favour one over the other?

In terms of set up, there wasn't a lot in it.  Edge comes baked into Windows 10 as the default, so you actually don't have to do a thing if you accept the default security settings, unless you want to change the Home page and add a bunch of Favourites (which, let's face it, everyone does).  But doing that was easy.  Chrome?  Downloaded it in a couple of minutes, copied over all the Favourites and passwords from Edge in another 30 seconds or so, and voila -  good to go.   Firefox was a bit more fiddly - the download and install plus copying over Favourites was simple and took the same sort of time.  But then there was a bit more fiddly stuff, around Security and Privacy.  This was done via a couple of Extensions that needed to be downloaded and defined - simple enough, but added time, and according to all the articles and comments I'd read in a number of sources doing it gives you a much more private and secure browser than either of the other two, without compromising on performance.  Which is what Mozilla has always insisted is its raison d'etre.

I used them all, depending on how I felt on any given day.  After a while, it seemed to me that Edge was dead settled and I knew how it would behave on any day.  Firefox was fine and fast, but Chrome tended to slow up if I had more than three or four tabs open - something I had noticed previously.  So I Uninstalled it and made Firefox my default, thus taking advantage of the "increased security and privacy tools".  It worked fine, and if I fancied a change, I just launched Edge.  Happy days.

But then Firefox, too, started slowing down.  I started using Edge more, and found that it didn't have the same problems.  Loading was definitely slower on Firefox.....and in addition, on certain frequently used (and extremely popular) sites Firefox never seemed to save my Cookie settings - I had to renew every time.  This becamse incredibly irritating, as I didn't have the same problem with Edge.  Still not convinced by it, though, I had another trawl through the web and read up on some more recent comparisons.  Edge still seemed to be suffering and less secure than Chrome or Firefox.....

I took a deep breath, Uninstalled Firefox (again) and replaced it with Chrome (again....).  And carried on doing my stuff......and there was, indeed, little to choose between Chrome and Firefox.  Then I read an article about the new release of Firefox, saying it was blindingly fast, added new privacy functionality and was, essentially, a Chrome killer.  I ummed and ahhed - then when it took five attempts to load a page I got fed up, dumped Chrome (again!) and installed the brand spanking new Firefox......and groaned.  It was no faster to me than the previous release had been (no surprise - when these things are benchmarked by the tech press the differences tend to be in tenths of second or even less - so not noticable) but annoyingly no faster than bloody Chrome.

That's when I started to think the hell with privacy - I've been using Chrome and Gmail for the best part of ten years, ditto Facebook, Microsoft tools a bit longer.......there is precious little "new" private information in my life, so they almost certainly have everything already.  I can't think, off the top of my head, of anything that wasn't part of Cambridge Analytica's haul back in 2016 - that's if they even bothered with me.  Final straw - I saw an article that said the new Chromium based Edge was released, I could simply update my old Edge and get all the (alleged) benefits of Chrome with most of the security and privacy of Firefox - in one place.

The conversion from legacy Edge to Chromium Edge was indeed simple (it took less than 30 seconds with no import of passwords and Favourites needed since they were all there).  I started using it.  And I have to say, as a completely untechnical user - the only code I know to any extent is the Morse Code and I've forgotten most of that - and hence as unbiased as you could possibly get, Edge, the new Chromium Edge, is bloody good.  It looks good, very clean, very Chome-esque as you would expect.  It is VERY fast - or at least seems that way: pages definitely are loading faster for me.  The Security and Privacy settings are very simple to set - there are three levels of each, the key features of each displayed in very simple terms in the choice box, and the default (which in my view anyway) seems to cover everything the average Joe Public user would need.  No changes required so I wenr Default.

There is also a tool that shows you how many Trackers have been blocked by the approrpriate tool - in the two days since I set it up and started using it exclusively, as my default, it has blocked over 7,500 trackers, of which a full one-third are from Google.  Even Facebook is way down the list with only around 200.   So it seems to me that A) as far as I know there is no report in Firefox that gives that breakdown and B) I can't see Google blocking its own trackers in Chrome, then Edge is doing everything it's supposed to, and all I need.

For me, the battle is won.  I haven't (yet) seen or experienced any of the "issues" with Edge that have been highlighted in various articles by the tech press, and I don't think I will.  I suspect they are using specific test scripts that are designed to break any browser and covering actions that Joe Public is highly unlikely to use (or even know about).  I don't think Firefox is doing much better on the Tracker blocking either: I can't see how (or why) Edge would block one Google tracker, for instance, and allow others.  But I'm open to any explanations....as long as they are in layman's terms not techie mumbo-jumbo!

Edge is fine.  I've Uninstalled Firefox, the (slow) blindingly fast Chrome killer.  I've set it as my default browser - it's the only one I have on my machine in any case.  And unless something truly cataclysmic happens I won't be buggering about with browser wars any more.

This Joe Public is very satisfied, thanks very much.

A request from Travellin' Bob

Afternoon all.

First up, many thanks to you folks who have had a look at the Blog.  It's most appreciated and the numbers to date are encouraging.  As indeed are the Comments that you have posted thus far - not many, but they are all read with thanks.  I'm not aiming at a Pullitzer Prize or Blog of the Year Award - nice as both would be: this work-in-progress is my hobby, something to fill my happy retirement days, keep my brain working something like normally (at least for me) and if I manage to bring some enjoyment, no matter how small, to someone somewhere then so much the better.  It will have been worthwhile.

But I can do better, write stuff that YOU want to read - I want This World, This Life to be as much yours, the readers', as mine, the writer's.  Right now, I'm filling it with stuff that I think might be interesting but it's of course a bit hit and miss - my thoughts are bound to be different to yours.  I will of course carry on doing that, but YOUR feedback will help me shape the content - please use the Contact form on the sidebar.  There's also a Comment facility at the end of each post, and I would love you to interact through that too, give some feedback, and start a dialogue that we can all join in.

Finally, there is also a place where you can sign up to Follow the Blog and hence receive e-mail notifications of new posts.  It would be great if you could all do that - it only takes a few seconds and you only need to do it once - and it will help me assess my audience, monitor its growth and tailor postings.  And please tell all your friends about the Blog, get them to take a look and Follow too.  It's an organic process!  Remember, too, there is a mobile version of the Blog, so you can keep up with and read it on your smart phone or other device on the way to and from work (once all this awful COVID stuff is out of the way and you're all back to work)!

Thanks again for your continued support - and stay safe!

Travellin' Bob

Stir crazy......and how I plan to avoid it

Well, well, well.  This Coronavirus outbreak is a bit of a bugger.  Coming out of nowhere - or at least China (unless you subscribe to the conspiracy theories about it being planted there by the CIA, with or without the assistance of aliens and/or the Lizard People and/or the Illuminati (delete as you like) - it's playing havoc with Living on Planet Earth.  All joking to one side, the numbers of infections and deaths are truly horrific, and the chaos being caused to businesses and sports and especially people's lives by the very necessary safety measures being put in place by governments everywhere are likely to change the way we all live for years to come.  It's still way too early to have any real idea how long this crisis is likely to last, and equally impossible to really make any meaningful predictions about what fallout actually will come about.  I'm not even going to try!

But there are some things we do know. Despite what very many people are saying, it is NOT seasonal flu.  I have lost count of the number of social media posts I've seen maintaining it is just that, and providing a multitude a graphics to prove it.  Most of these show that "seasonal flu" (I'm still not quite sure where that expression comes from - flu is a year-round ailment, surely?) kills many more people every year than COVID-19 has so far.  Well, yes - the key words here are "so far" - the graphics invariably show numbers from a couple of years ago, with the latest COVID figure squeezed in somewhere near the bottom.  Quite how that can be considered proof of anything, when the COVID figures cover a period of less than three months as a comparison against a full-year's numbers for everything else, is beyond me.  Apart from an ability to doctor graphs obtained from the internet to suit a personal narrative, that is....

The point is this is a completely new strain of coronavirus. Thus there is as yet NO CURE.  Indeed there are many things still not clear about it that we may need to understand before a safe vaccine can be created.  How the virus reacts to hotter weather is still unclear, for instance.  It started in a cold China, and the countries worst affected at present (beyond China itself) are mainly European (in particular Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) where the weather remains relatively cool.  Granted, there are outbreaks in hotter African and South American countries, and all American states including Hawaii, Florida and California (where temperatures are always hotter) - but also Alaska, where it is still bitterly cold.  This would appear to suggest that the virus is not affected much by temperature extremes, so anyone hoping it will all die down with summer are way wide of the mark.. Best guesstimates from government spokespersons in various locations and the World Health Organization all suggest a vaccine is unlikely to be available for wide use for at least another 18 months.

We also know that many of the "cures" being bandied about on social media are complete nonsense, and in many cases dangerous nonsense.  Gargling with bleach is unlikely to do anything other than burn your throat out.  Swallowing solutions of liquid silver will do no more than cause kidney damage, seizures and skin discolouration (to blue apparently).  Eating loads of garlic will not cure coronavirus but as part of a healthy diet may help you stay fitter and, critically, your immune system remain stronger.   Certainly the toothpaste and vitamin supplements that loony American conspiracy theorist, alt-Right campaigner and Trump supporter Alex Jones is flogging at extortionate prices "exclusively" on his web-site will do nothing except boost his bank balance with the money received from the morons who believe his tripe and part with their hard earned readies.

With so much uncertainty around, the advice to stay indoors in so-called self isolation and practice social distancing (which seems to mean staying at least a couple of metres away from other people in check-out lines and avoiding crowds) seems to me prudent.  Quite how long this practice is likely to be required is anyone's guess - in my view, probably months.  Things may quieten down in the summer, in which case such measures may be relaxed - but what if there is a resurgence in the number of infections, as has been suggested by the latest Chinese figures?  As a 67 year old man with what is considered a pre-existing health condition (I had whooping cough in childhood and a bout of seasonal flu two years ago caused it to re-surface, meaning I am now more prone to breathing issues if I catch a cold) place me firmly in the highest risk profile.  So self isolation it is.  With my kids off-school and my wife at home too, it's not quite solitary confinement, but if any one of them catch a cold or a cough, then for me it will become exactly that.

With that in mind, I've just spent a week indoors, thinking through what I need to do if that happens.  Last Wednesday I went to a crowded supermarket for supplies, and until today that was my last step outdoors.  It's been pleasant enough, especially with my family here too, but I have to say it has become increasingly stressful (the Samsung Health app on my mobile tells me that - I could feel it anyway).  Part of the problem is we live in a small flat, with three rooms (not counting the bathroom) - a lounge and two bedrooms.  So there is little space to find a bit of privacy and peace and quiet - it will become easier with warmer weather when I can sit on the balcony.  But no matter how patient we are, no matter how much we love each other (and we do - a lot!), just sometimes that is precisely what we do need.  There is normally a queue for the bathroom....

So how am I planning to prevent becoming stir crazy?  So far I haven't taken any special measures at all.  But now, I plan to do the following:

• I am avoiding television news, since it's wall to wall coronavirus (and understandably so).  And not just television news - I'm cutting down on perusing the online versions of the BBC and CNN news sites, the Guardian Online newspaper and the curated news apps on Google and Windows.  There is nowhere safe, not even the Sports sections.
• I am also cutting back on social media.  I don't use it a lot, to be honest - Facebook, to stay in touch with family and friends around the world, and Linked In to do likewise with my old business friends and colleagues.  Tripe like Twitter and Instagram and TikTok and the rest I simply don't understand or use anyway.  Facebook is and always has been the Home of Fake News, so I always take any "news" item on there with a huge pinch of salt.  Linked In, sadly, is equally obsessed with the crisis, particularly with its effect on business (as you would expect from a business networking site), but the number of posts complaining about the damage being done to economies and businesses and ignoring the real human tragedies are becoming depressingly frequent now.
• I've made sure I have a good library to dip into.  I read a lot in any case so always have a shelf full of unread books (my backlog).  I've added  to it by digging out some old favourites to re-read, including some anthologies (the complete Evelyn Waugh, for instance) and some volumes of short stories.  There's definitely enough to keep me occupied for months - well, maybe three - before I need to risk a trip to a bookshop.
• I've made sure all my internet radio apps are working properly so I have something to listen to (I can always mute the news bulletins).  And there is YouTube.
• I'm trying to find other things to do - ironing and hoovering for instance, to give my wife a break, cooking for the same reason.  I'm also allotting time every day to shut myself in the bedroom and write - this Blog is the result of the process.  There are a couple of old side projects to work on as well - my long planned travel book and perhaps another go at the memoir, and even publishing my bloody book finally....
• We have plenty of board games to play, as a family.  The view from our window (5th floor) is pleasant enough, over a busy street, and allows me to gaze at nothing very much while I try to wake up my Muse.
• I also considered trying to make some plans for when this is all past, but it doesn't seem worth it yet, given the continuing uncertainty.  It might be depressing anyway, the longer the uncertainty lasts.  I'll do it later, when the end is in sight.

Hopefully all of that will protect my sanity, at least for a while.  Whether it will do the trick for several months remains to be seen - but you can guarantee I'll write about it here.....

Over to you, Dear Reader - any other bright ideas?  How are you coping with the prospect or reality of self-isolating?  I'd love you hear from you....Comment Costs Nothing.

Radio Radio

Back in the early 70s, one-hit-wonder Jon Miles sang about Music - an overblown three or four part song that in some respects was a poor man's Bohemian Rhapsody.  It started:

                                             Music was first love and it will be my last,
                                             Music of the future and music of the past.

I can understand that: music has been (and continues to be) an important part of my life too.  Calling it my first and last loves is a bit strong, but still - I do love a good tune.

Before downloads, we listened to music on CDs.  Before that it was cassettes and 8-track tapes, or maybe reel-to-reel tapes (if we were really flash).  Before that vinyl, 8" singles or 12" albums.  If I wanted to go back further there were acrylic discs, the same size as albums but with only one track per side rather than several, and playing at a different speed, and further back still acrylic cylinders - but both those formats pre-date even me.  Through all of those eras - except the cylinders - there was (is....) Marconi's world changing invention, the radio.

In my childhood, we had a big old plywood radio that was coated with something tacky that made it look like teak and hence more vaulable that it actually was.  It had valves and a kind of beige woolly grille through which came the sound (mono of course, only one speaker) and a backlit display that told you what station you were listening to.  There were three wave lengths: medium, long and short.  Way too technical for my family. we listened pretty much exclusively to the medium wave programming, that held all the popular BBC stations (all three of them: The Light Programme, The Third Programme and The Home Service), even though elsewhere there were many more exotic and mysterious stations available, often in different languages.  Not that they came through particularly clearly - all crackles and static, except for pop station Radio Luxembourg.  We used to listen a lot, especially Sunday mornings for the Children's Hour request show followed by Two (and sometimes Three) Way Family Favourites that linked our service personnel posted abroad with family back home.  It seemed to be the same music every week, but no matter.  Eventually we got a television, and that ultimately replaced radio as the main family entertainment (at least from about 5 in the afternoon, when I got home from school).

When I was 11 or 12, for my birthday (or maybe Christmas) I got a transistor radio from my mum and dad.  Medium wave only and battery powered, it was about the size of two cigarette packets or a small book and fitted snugly in my growing hands and school blazer pocket.  There were no headsets then, so I used to walk around with it clamped to my ear in one hand, my school bag in the other and the sound set to a level that seemed ok to me but was probably too high because I think my hearing is not what it should be and I have mild tinnitus (but that could simply be age).  But I loved it.

I could listen to it at home too, while I was in my room doing homework, or reading my latest Biggles book, football magazine or War comic.  During the day I would listen to either a pirate station like Radio Caroline or Radio London (broadcasting from rusty old hulks bobbing about in the Thames Estuary) or the official BBC pop station Radio One.  That had been launched as direct competition to the pirates, who were deemed illegal, and the DJs were all hired from the pirates so the music wasn't too different - that is to say the pop charts.  But somehow they weren't as good - for a start the anarchic humour the pirates could get away with was missing as the BBC decided, in its infinite wisdom, that it was "not the right sort of thing for a public broadcaster".  They were probably right at the time, but eventually it all changed, especially when commercial stations were licenced as legal competition to the BBC and the pirates were finally forced off the air.  But my little pocket Phillips was the soundtrack to my childhood.

Later, in my teens, I graduated to bigger radios, still mono and still small, until at about 16 or 17 I finally go a stereo.  Black, oval with a flat base, and a tinny speaker at each end, it also played cassettes - indeed, it had two decks so you could copy your mate's tapes or record your favourite radio show.  Then I got a bigger one, the size of the Encyclopedia Brittanica, that had a carry handle and better speakers and was really LOUD.......cool, but bloody heavy to lug around.  Thank God for the invention of the Walkman.

Finally, in the late 70s and with marriage beckoning, I finally got a proper music centre (actually as a wedding present) that played and recorded cassettes and vinyi records, and had a radio that played both AM and FM stations and had proper separate speakers and a mixer.  I set it up in the living room of our little 2 bedroom terraced wreck and ignored the 12" black-and-white telly in favour of the music.

Despite the changing times (and sound-systems as I moved from house to house and country to country) I've always frankly preferred listening to the radio than watching telly (certain programmes like Match of the Day, EastEnders, the 9 o'Clock News and anything by Richard Attenborough excepted).  Listening to vinyl, cassettes and, latterly, CDs is fine from time to time, especially with the advent of multiple CD trays, but it can be a pain getting up every twenty minutes or whatever to change the music.

This is what I like about radio - someone else gets to do that.  I know the argument about it being their choice of music not mine, but that's fine - the presenters are paid a significant amount of dosh (the best of them in any case) to curate the music, and they have a much bigger choice than I do.  Let 'em do it.  In any case, it's a good way to get an introduction to something new and different - avoid the chart shows that stick to a rigid playlist, especally in the evenings, and you get to discover some absolute gems.  The internet and download does the rest if you want to.  Brilliant.

So what do I listen to?  Well, never the charts for a start.  Popular music, top 30 stuff, ceased to interest me nearly 30 years ago, when it all began to sound the same and the "artists", " bands" or whatever you want to call them were all manufactured and singing someone else's (generally puerile) songs.  Or were all rapping or (I thinks it's called) MC'ing - that seems to involve stringing words together and shouting them very fast and indistinctly.  Whatever happened to talent?

I've always preferred album music anyway, so back in the good old days I would be listening to John Peel, Tommy Vance, Alan Freeman - they played the kind of prog-rock and metal that I loved (and still do): innovators like Hendrix, like Cream, like Genesis, Yes and Emerson Lake & Palmer, not to mention the Stones, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, the Eagles, Springsteen.....the list is near endless.  Bob Harris, the ole whisperer, does a decent country show for a bit of variety, and Mark Radcliffe a similar service to folk music.  Peel, Vance and Freeman are all dead now, but their shows (or the memory of them) live on for me.  And they were (or still are) mainstays on BBC Radio Two.

It's the only BBC national station I listen to nowadays, via internet, and frankly it is not as good as it was even two years ago.  So I use the web to get at other stations for my UK radio fix, and I can do that from anywhere with the right tools.  Sometimes I listen to my old local station Radio Kent, when my team are playing and there is live commentary (but generally when I do so they lose...).  I listen to Virgin quite a bit - a good music mix but I wish they would stop plugging the Chris Evans Breakfast Show every ad break.  It's an ok show but the same format as he's been pumping out the last 20 or 30 years and to me it's a bit stale now.  The music is ok, especially later in the day, so the station is fine.  For my prog and rock stuff, there is a single choice: Absolute Classic Rock.  I love it - it's like Peel and Freeman and Vance have never gone away.  The other day somebody played Crossroads (Cream), immediately followed by Hotel California (Eagles), Highway to Hell (AC/DC) and Nevermind (Nirvana) successively.  All on my All Time Favourites list and I was in Seventh Heaven.

For chilling out - Classic fm or Scala.  They both play a great mix of classical music (something over the last few years, as I've grown older, I've come to love). but Scala is a little lighter: it's an entertainment station with news and guests and interviews and quizzes but mixed in with Wagner and Verdi, Beethoven and Brahms.  Oh, and it has a good hour on a Saturday afternoon that showcases music from video gaming, some of which is terrific.  Now who would have thought that?

In the car there are three stations to tune to in and around Warsaw - Eska Rock, Rock Radio (similar, and as close as I can find to Absolute Classic Rock) and RMF fm, which is like Radio2 or Virgin with its mix of music (Polish, British and American) and news.  If I get out of range - like on the way to the coast or somewhere - it's whatever I can find in clear, or Bluetooth the phone and hit my Library and playlists, or maybe a CD.  But I haven't yet found a Polish version of Classic fm - which is a shame.