If you like Jazz Fusion then you’ll be sad today – Chick Chorea died!
They are all passing into the realm of time.
Chick Corea Elektric Band – Time Track (1987) – YouTube
The Corona Diaries – Day 327
It’s bloody freezing here in Yorkshire! The snow has frozen into ice. There’s a cruel wind from the east.
I didn’t go on my usual walk up my hill. The road was too icy and treacherous. Instead I walked the back lanes. At least they were flat and there was less chance of a broken arm.
Back home I’ve been playing Roy Harper’s Work Of Heart album. Very uplifting. Through all the trials and tribulation here in mushroom valley in the cold!
Meanwhile out in Coronaland the variants are spreading. It looks as though we are in a race. Can we vaccinate faster than the virus mutates? If the variants take over and become the most dominant the vaccines become less effective.
There is a lot of positive news though. The number of new cases continues to go down slowly. 13,308 new cases with 621 deaths. Still much too high. There are hopes that the number vaccinated will soon start to have a big impact on the virus. With fourteen and a half million vaccinations already carried out it will start to have an effect. The hope is that we can get enough people vaccinated to reach herd immunity. With a projected uptake of 81% that looks likely. That would get us back to normal.
Looking around the world at the projected uptake it is quite salutary. In the UK we have 19% who say they will not take the vaccine. Are they nuts? Would they rather have Covid? Or are they expecting everybody else to take the vaccine and thus keep them safe? Sounds a bit selfish to me!!
In the States it is even worse. Despite all the deaths – 481,000 so far – with another 5,463 yesterday (Trump has so much to answer for!!) – 34% (over a third) are still saying they won’t be taking the vaccine. I think America has completely gone mad. People are arming themselves. I am hearing from American friends fear of Trumpist threats. Anyone who opposes Trump is being intimidated and threatened. They still believe what the orange fascist tells them. Half of them still believe Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos is behind it all – implanting tracking devices. They are nuts.
These conspiracy theories are going to make the whole world unsafe!!
The sooner we bring in a vaccination passport so only vaccinated people can travel, visit cinemas or restaurants the better. I certainly don’t want to share a room with people who are potentially pouring out viruses!
The other statistic that sounded a bit ominous was that 20% of covid ill people seem to suffer long covid. That’s a lot of people.
I’m so glad I’m vaccinated. If I do catch it from one of the unvaccinated fools at least I won’t get it too severely.
Johnson was optimistic about relaxing lockdown. I hope they’ve learnt from last time. They tried to do it too quickly and too irresponsibly and ended up with a second wave that has killed another 70,000 people!
We need to look at New Zealand and Vietnam – they haven’t had a single death for months!
Get the numbers down to very low numbers. Monitor borders closely. Stamp out outbreaks with stringent testing, track and trace and isolation, local lockdowns. Keep on top of it.
By all means open up hospitality – outside! Not inside. Lets have outside gigs, outside drinking, outside meals, outside meeting up, and keep all inside meeting up for the future when we have it firmly back in its box!
I notice that there is talk of new game-changing drugs to treat the disease – the arthritis drug for starters. That’s great. They say they are fast-tracking it but it is still going to take months. Why so long???
Johnson says that we’ll have to learn to live with it. That there will be booster jabs in the autumn to deal with the variants.
I can handle that. I want my life back and that means vaccination that is up to date and effective against all variants. I want to be able to meet up and travel with confidence.
Nothing that Johnson says or does fills me with confidence!! He’s a lying, incompetent clown disguised as a haystack!!
Could be worse I suppose. The impeachment of Trump is going on in the States. Any senators who look as if they might impeach their darling fascist thug of a leader are being threatened. They fear for their, and their families’ lives. At least we haven’t descended to that sad state.
We’ll see if sanity reigns of the Republicans are going to roll over and pay homage to the orange Nazi.
Stay Safe (particularly my American friends). It’s always darkest before dawn!!
Today’s Music to keep me SsSSaAAanNNnEeee in Isolation – Roy Harper – Work Of Heart
I’ve been playing this album all day! I find I love it more and more!
Vietnam – Celebrations at the Temple
The temple was packed. It seems that this was a day of celebration. The Vietnamese were bringing their offerings. They were wishing for prosperity. They were burning fake money and bring gifts of flowers and food.
In the midst of this bustle we slipped through, strangers in the midst of a different culture.
All around there was fervent belief. By making these offerings they would be lucky.
Vietnam – Life around town
Poetry – Between all the horrors is pride
Between all the horrors is pride
Between the spew stains on the pavement,
The game shows and the squeals,
There’s a culture trying to be heard.
Between the concentration camps,
The genocides and arrogant superiority,
There’s a history to be proud of.
Despite the cruelty, the belligerence,
Viciousness and self-righteousness,
There sits a worthy spirit of generosity.
It is the ‘betweens’ that I wish to focus on.
In the ‘betweens’ I can feel affinity.
The ‘betweens’ are where I feel at home.
Opher 11.2015
Between all the horrors is pride
Walking through a city centre on a Saturday night with all the lads leering around with their shirts hanging out and the girls, made up to the nines in their tight micro-skirts, tottering around on high heels, on the pull in a world of drunken mindlessness, it is hard to find the pride in your culture. Sex, booze and incessant back-ground pop. It doesn’t add up to much.
Turning on the telly to the endless stream of game shows and competitions with their ubiquitous squeals, (an import from America where squealing is the norm), it is hard to find anything of substance.
Looking back through history with the ruthlessness of the British Empire, it’s suppression of the ‘natives’, the genocide on the non-compliant, the in-built superiority emanating from Rugby and Eton but infiltrating down to the most base and uncouth soldier, and the invention of the concentration camp as a weapon of war, it is hard to feel satisfaction.
Looking back at our past with its religious orthodoxy, intolerance, oppression, vile class system, terrible inequality, cruel torturing, war-like disposition and social injustice, it is hard to feel a sense of belonging.
Yet in between the shallowness, arrogance, stupidity, unfairness, victimisation, mindlessness, inequality and brutality, there are the glimmers of hope.
There is a spirit in the British that is proud and free. They reach out a hand to the underdog and find a way to respect those who are different. There is compassion and a history of standing up for justice. This was the country that abolished slavery that brought in trade unions that fought for democracy and social justice. This is a country that has produced more than its share of artists, writers, scientists, engineers, musicians and social reformers.
That is where I can take my pride. There is an in-between culture that has substance and worth that underlies the squeals, the drink and mindless garbage, the arrogance and superiority. That is my Britain.
Poetry – Books
Books
Orders down the lines they pour
As through the night the presses roar.
Into boxes neatly packed.
Onto pallets tightly stacked.
Into lorries, on to trains
And off down the tracks again.
Convoys trundle down motorway –
Huge loads of books to convey
To eager people who wait
To hear the rattle at their gate.
Best seller lists record the score
As books are sold to rich and poor.
Everything is put aside
As the pages open wide.
Avid eyes devour the text
Wondering what is coming next.
A smile, a nod an excited mind
Delighting in what it is they find.
The planet is saved and peace reigns
As Opher’s message is obtained.
The hatred dies and birth rates dip
As Opher’s logic passes lip to lip
Chimps, whales and rhinos heave a sigh,
Safe again under unpolluted sky.
All is well and happy once more
As Opher’s words touch to the core.
But wait!
The alarm rings
And kettle sings.
Awake again –
Different refrain.
Down some lane a lonely moped bumps
Driven by a woman down in the dumps.
Such a long way to have to go,
A dreary ride through rain and snow,
To deliver one lonely pack.
Then to the depot, heads off back.
Opher 9.12.2015
Roy Harper – the Stranger
The Corona Diaries – Day 326
It’s absolutely bloody freezing! I don’t like the cold.
I have spent the morning editing my Harper book and listening to David Gray. Then I took a break for a bit of light reading – Sleeping Beauties by Stephen and Owen King. I finished my Robert Harris book yesterday but still have my Yuval Harari book on the go.
This lockdown is a strange unreality where time merges into an undifferentiated continuum. There are no landmarks to puncture it.
I’m off for a walk in a minute – a socially distanced stroll up my hill with a friend.
It’s now eleven days since I had my jab. My immunity should be quite good by now but I’m not taking any chances.
As for my mental/emotional state – I’m on an even keel. I’m certainly lacking in energy compared to what I was feeling like in my early stages of lockdown – nearly a year ago!! Then I was energised, writing and decorating like mad. Now I’m plodding. The editing is a good example. I’m working away at it without great enthusiasm. I have an outline in my mind for a new Sci-fi novel but no great desire to embark on it. I’ll complete the Harper book, relax and regroup.
This ennui is also manifesting itself in what I’m reading (light entertainment – Stephen King and Robert Harris – nothing too exacting) as well as the TV dramas that we are watching – currently ‘The Bay’.
it feels as if I cannot be bothered to grapple with anything requiring any great intellectual focus.
I’m running out of steam!!
Meanwhile, out there in Coronaland the levels continue to come down. The scientists say that the virus reproduction R rate is below 1 for the first time since last July. That’s good – although the levels are still high. There was another 13,494 cases yesterday. There’s a long way to go. They reckon we’ll be back to the low level enjoyed in the Summer by March! That’ll be good.
14 million now vaccinated. A new arthritis drug that could be a game changer for the treatment of covid. It’s looking good.
I feel sorry for Biden. The levels in the states are still high. How do you get some of the more loony Americans respect other people? How do you convince them to distance or wear masks. Some of them still think it’s a hoax despite the 475,000 deaths. They are truly nuts. Then you have all the antivaxxers!! Just imagine a world without vaccination. We’d be back in the days where half your kids died in childhood and diseases like scarlet fever, smallpox, polio, tuberculosis, diphtheria and cholera ravaged populations. It’s madness.
Likewise in Brazil – the levels are still high there too. While they’ve got a nutcase like Bolsonaro in charge they’ve got no chance.
Meanwhile – no deaths in Vietnam or New Zealand.
Stay safe!!
Today’s Music To keep me SSSsAaaAAaaNNNnnneeEEE in Isolation – David Gray – White Ladder
I don’t know what it is that attracts me to some music. Sometimes it clicks. I really enjoyed David Gray. He was good live too!
David Gray – Please Forgive Me (Official Audio) – YouTube
David Gray – Sail Away (Official Audio) – YouTube
David Gray – Babylon (Official Audio) – YouTube
David Gray – We’re Not Right (Official Audio) – YouTube
David Gray – Say Hello, Wave Goodbye (Official Audio) – YouTube