THE FINAL STRAW

Yesterday I finally flipped.  Like a tidal wave, all my frustration, anger and emotion swept me out of control.  Luckily, Leaf was in the studio.  I tried calling friends who had offered listening help whenever I needed it, but no-one answered and I wasn’t about to leave messages.  They would have been incoherent anyway.  Then I realised, the obvious person to calm me down was my sister – obvious, yes, but she lives in the States, is six or seven hours behind us in time and it was early afternoon.  We call each other every few weeks and are on the phone for a couple of hours, quick calls are impossible.  Not that this one was going to be quick.  Out it poured, through the choking … but to backtrack to Thursday.

DESPERATION

We were out with Monty, it was around 7pm.  There’s a little chemin a few meters up the road from our house that leads into fields and woods.  Ideal for a good walk and the views are phenomenal.  Monty likes to dig holes, so we often carry on and collect him on our way back.  This time I watched where he was heading as he was disappearing into the long grass.  Leaf walked on, briskly as he does.  I located Monty and hurried to catch up with Leaf then saw him duck under a wire into another field.  When I got to the spot, he was way off in the distance having gone down into the valley, across a stream and was now climbing a steep hill up to the road that leads to our place.  I called that I would see him at home and returned myself with a rather dirty-nosed Monty.  A quarter of an hour later and he hadn’t turn up.  I searched all possible roads and even re-traced our walk.  It was getting dark and I was getting frantic. I pictured him lost somewhere in a wood, hungry and cold.

LOST

It was about two hours later when we were reunited, after our neighbours, our maire, the gendarmes and a local family had become involved.  Leaf had taken a wrong turn and walked down to the nearest village then several kilometers through fields in the wrong direction.

The upshot of all this is that our gates have to be chained and padlocked and Leaf is only allowed out with Monty who acts as a restraint.  He pulls on his lead, despite his harness, and therefore Leaf only walks him through the village and back.  I’ve ordered an identity disc on a chain.

A big lesson has been learnt.  Leaf has taken it relatively well as he realises what he put us all through, but he keeps forgetting that there’s now a chain on the gate.  If he gets out on his own, I have to take responsibility, of course.  Another load and one that many, maybe most, carers have to carry.

DOUBLY CONFINED

That was bad enough, but what actually tipped me over the edge?

I’ve been keeping up with the latest information on the virus, both from the official sources and a multitude of independent investigations.  It’s a time-consuming business but I never assume what we’re told by governments and the media is the absolute truth.  What follows is a testament to the damage that can be done by inaccurate reporting or out-of-date reporting.

On a France Inter site I read that Professor Karine Lacombe, virologist and adviser to the government, strongly recommended that people over 60 (at the youngest) and those with pre-existing health conditions remain in isolation for anything from 18 to 24 months!   That was it – the final straw.  The floodgates opened.  We were to lose one of our most valued rights, our civil liberty, for an unbearable length of time.  It amounted to imprisonment. I was incensed as well as horror-struck.

UNBEARABLE ISOLATION

After my call to my sister, who expertly calmed me down, not with platitudes (how I hate them!) but with a great deal of empathy, love and sensible advice, I was able to compose myself, up to a point.  Leaf appeared and I told him.  He was remarkably sensible and comforting.  We had a stiff drink and went into the garden to do some planting.

Our neighbours, Claude and Philippe, were outside spring-cleaning their chicken house.  We got chatting over the fence and I told them what I’d read.  They immediately brought me up-to-date.  The report was a couple of days old and, following a hoo-ha, the idea had been ditched.  Now everyone, without exception, would be out of lock-down on the 11^th May with the proviso that sensible precautions should be taken for protecting the vulnerable.  Of course, this could change, but it was a big relief.  I understood that the legislators had been made aware of the horrible consequences of isolating the old, sick, lonely and emotionally or mentally disturbed without carers, visitors or support.  Our problems are miniscule in comparison with theirs, a factor of which we, unlike some, are very aware.

THE VIRUS THAT TOOK OVER THE PLANET

To add to the distress being caused by the existing enforced lock-down, we now have considerable censorship of the Internet, free speech is being curtailed, primarily by the Silicon Valley giants.  People who ‘dare to question’ the official narrative, have to be silenced.  Hang on, I thought, this isn’t the free speech we, in the West, take for granted.  This smacks of the extreme control the Chinese, for instance, have to endure.  Of course, child pornography sites, incitement to stir up racial hatred, violence towards woman and the like are not to be tolerated, but having a different opinion on something is quite another matter.

It is now absolutely clear that confusion reigns about the origin, nature and effective treatment of hospitalised victims of the pandemic, as well as the wisdom of incarcerating all citizens in virtually all countries.  Scientists, medics and officials can’t seem to agree.  The results of this are bound to be catastrophic.  I don’t imagine anyone thinks we’ll be able to return to our lives as before and I fear that, in the long run, there will be many, many more casualties from the effects of the lockdown than there are from the virus.

EXTRA VULNERABLE

Just a quick word about the increase in cases in care homes.  By their very nature, these are living places for those who are already unable to look after themselves because of existing health conditions and/or dementia or lack of family support.  They will obviously be vulnerable to infections, from common colds, through seasonal flu to a more virulent virus.  As carers in many homes have not been given protective clothing, it’s no surprise that there are people dying which is, of course, as tragic for all concerned as it is for those who are dying in hospital and their families.

Last week I linked to a BBC article questioning the way cause of death is always named as Covid 19, if present, regardless of any other condition that could have been the main cause.  Luckily, this info is now getting out and the statistics are being seriously questioned.  Be that as it may, the virus is still dominating just about everything, how long for, no-one knows.

As for a vaccine, that is now in question.  Many labs across the world are looking for one that will be effective but they don’t have the time to properly test, double blind at least.   There’s a race on.  Who will win and take out the first patent?  Might they then be bought out by a Big Pharma corp?  Where is the major funding of this research coming from?  What will the excipients be?  Who will ultimately benefit financially?  Vaccines frequently chase mutating viruses which can’t be predicted, so how is it possible they can be effective?  As I pointed out last week, there are many questions.  For those who are concerned about this subject and unwilling to take it at face value, there is a docu-series ‘The Truth about Vaccines’ coming up next week which claims to be charting the history of vaccines and reporting in an unbiased way.  We will see.  Here is the link.

A CONTENTIOUS ISSUE

We are back, once again, to what can we do for the future?  Last week I looked at practical measures, and there are many, this week I’m focussing on introspection.  I’m great believer in examining my own motives and behaviour, in delving into what makes me do what I do and whether it rings true with my moral values or am I being a hypocrite.  It isn’t comfortable but it isn’t difficult.  Here’s a simple formula.

Let’s assume we’re all concerned about our planet.  Whether we believe that climate change is a natural, cyclical event, exacerbated or not by the behaviour of human beings, or whether we think it’s not happening. Whether we believe that our activities are detrimental to Mother Earth or not.  If we’re genuinely worried and want to do as little harm as possible, we can examine our everyday choices, even make a list, then mark those that are damaging to other humans, animals or the planet.  We can’t go around preaching about eco-living if we don’t practice it to the best of our ability.  Last week’s post had a pretty comprehensive list of changes we can make, so suffice to say, now is a good time for examining how we live, admitting some of our behaviour is bad news, if it is, and making some good resolutions for the future.  The first question to ask ourselves perhaps is ‘Do we really care?’  If the answer is a very firm YES, then we need to live up to our convictions.

WORKING TOGETHER FOR THE GOOD OF ALL

The Internet and the mainstream media are full of stories of people doing brilliant work at this dreadful time, and of people coming up with fantastic ways of coping, some of which can easily be carried on into the future.  In adversity, people come together even when forcibly kept apart.

May this be the dawning of an age of cooperation, community, connection and love.