2020s
Blossom in the garden. Nature’s beauty continues, oblivious to our anxiety. And it is a balm for it, too.
Dear fellow journalists,
It is not necessary to give every article an intro linking it to the pandemic, especially if it has nothing to do with Covid-19.
Thank you, Adam
Is it right to be shopping online for non-essential goods right now?
A good piece by Rachel Moss for Huffpost explores the health and ethical complexities.
Where is the coronavirus information campaign?
This is a good point in an otherwise rather run-of-the-mill “tutting at the tutters” piece:
It is strange that we are not being bombarded with adverts along the lines of the ‘Get Ready For Brexit’ campaign about what we should be doing and are instead reliant on – often inaccurate – memes being shared over social media.
This is certainly the case in my neck of the woods, and those confusing messages are leading to tension. The lack of clear, central advice means that people are starting to form pro- and anti-online mobs around the issue of driving somewhere to exercise or walk your dogs, for example.
Spectator: The ugliness of coronavirus shaming
A new take on my Engaged Reading Time newsletter.
3 links a day. None of them about the coronavirus.
What do you think?
I’m slightly jealous of people who are dealing with lockdown boredom. Luckily, I still have enough work to more than fill the working time I have left after doing half the home schooling for my daughters. With local community commitments, time is actually pretty short…
Consequences a’coming. Any way back from this? The Cornish revolt against second-home owners.
This is a challenging read, that slowly brings me around to a position I never thought I’d hold: We Need A Massive Surveillance Program)
This morning: teacher Now: cook Afternoon: back to working Evening: 🥃
Repeat for an indefinite number of weeks.
Perfect timing for the quasi-lockdown: Disney+ is live in the uk
Tuesday
Yesterday was a good day. After a bleak start to the morning, I managed to find my mojo and buckle down to work. And there was good work news - one client was happy to switch to an online version of the workshop I’d been planning for them, and I had constructive discussions with a small team of fellow trainers who may be delivering a project collectively.
I still hope that the government do something for the self-employed - but I’m beginning to hope that I might not need to take advantage of it.
Home-schooling is going pretty well. The girls are excited and having fun, so we’re riding on the crest of that wave for as long as we can - hopefully it will carry us through to the Easter holidays. We are lucky enough to have a small garden, so they can run around outside in their breaks - and the weather has been conducive to that. Goodness knows what this is all going to feel like in 5 weeks on a rainy Wednesday, but for now Team Tinworth is enjoying itself.
I had an extended session with the girls teaching them some of the features of their iPads beyond playing games. That went well - but I was slightly disappointed to discover that my eldest didn’t know what a programmer or programming was. Something to work on.
The quasi-lockdown announcement last night wasn’t a surprise - and we’d already been living like that since the schools closed. We can still do our daily beach walk, thankfully, as long as we maintain social distancing. That’s reassuring.
Day four in the house — and it’s going well so far.
There are times when I think one of the fastest ways to stop coronavirus misinformation spreading would be to shut down Medium.
A quick history of technology lesson - now the girls understand why the return key is called the return key.
Currently staring at a newly-arrived “while you were out" card from a delivery company.
I mean, WTF?