I keep fantasising that I’m Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and occasionally, Bing Crosby.

Think I’ve got crooner virus.

I’m in the HIGH RISK category of copping it if I get Corona’fied.

Am I bovvered…?

Nahhhhh!

There’s a new film coming out this week. It’s a remake of an oldie and it’s called The Invisible Man.

I got a text from Wendy today –

‘We should go and see the invisible man xxx‘

Ha! I said. You can’t catch me out with that old joke!

Mmm. Seems she hadn’t actually realised what she was writing… That’s girls for you….! 😂

Hong Kong is a higher risk area than Italy for 2 reasons: Firstly the density of our population; secondly our proximity and close relationship with China. We had our first coronavirus cases in mid Jan. So why has coronavirus been less severe in Hong Kong (116 cases, 3 deaths) than Italy? (It could still go bad again in HK…)

1. The government take it seriously
   Having been through it before (SARS), the government closed schools (so far) until April 20th; the Chinese border is effectively closed (anyone crossing gets 14 days in quarantine). Compulsery quarantine has been extended to people coming from the most affected countries too.
   
   
2. The population take it seriously
   People wear masks, wash their hands, use hand sanitizer and (mainly) avoid large scale social events. It’s also important to try not to touch your face, avoid kiss & handshake greetings and if you feel sick – stay home or go to the doctor!
   
   
3. Businesses take it seriously
   A lot of people are working from home; I get my temperature taken about twice a day (on entering some business premises)

So there you have it – if the UK wants to avoid another Italy, the whole country needs to take it seriously and use its common sense… If the fact my Mum’s local Church are all still drinking out of the Communion Cup is representative, you have no chance!!!
Cheers all!

Is Italy the Corona virus crystal ball for the rest of the world?

It arrived here first in the western hemisphere and is spreading to every corner of the globe, I expect what has happened here to be mirrored everywhere else, with a four week time lag, I wanted to post this to temper the media fear-mongering that I hear is prevalent, so here’s a brief roundup of what to expect based on facts.

Five weeks ago we had 60 positive cases.

As of this evening, we have 9200+/- positives, another 1800 in the last 24 hours, as each day passes now, the number of new cases seems to increase exponentially.

The mortality rate in Italy at the moment is 5% and slowly climbing, partially attributed to the larger than average elderly population I would guess.

10% of people that contract the virus need hospitalisation and now hospitals are so full in the red zones that cancer treatments are being stopped and authorities have decided upon a demographic to accept into care to try to save and the rest will go untreated, there simply isn’t the space in the hospitals or the staff.

All schools and universities are closed nationwide.

All public events have been cancelled nationwide.

Shaking hands is banned.

Church services have been banned.

All civil services such as marriages and funerals are prohibited nationwide.

All cinemas and theatres are closed nationwide as are pubs, bars for the meantime remain open.

Restaurants are staying open for the moment so long as they rearrange seating to give spacing of one metre between customers but it seems the customers aren’t going anyway.

The red zones have been closed off, effectively quarantining 16 million people, a quarter of the population, anyone caught trying to leave these zones face fines or three month prison sentences.

I don’t believe Italy will use methods of control as draconian as China has been accused of so I don’t know what that means for the national situation in say one months time, if numbers keep climbing as they are, by the end of March there could be 40,000 positive cases and it seems the great hope is for the heat of summer to deal with the virus, that will be maybe three months away at least.

The Italian economy is going to be in tatters by the summer, at which point the country would normally be full of tourists that prop up the economy, this year that seems highly unlikely to happen.

So there you go then. Worldwide economic collapse in the offing, and large scale death of those that are weakest. Blimey….. sounds like it’s back to nature then. The weakest are supposed to die. It’s only ‘ modern advancement’ that keeps us all alive way beyond the ‘ natural ‘ lifespan we should have, with health and medical companies making huge profits from keeping everyone alive for ever. People like me shouldn’t be alive. I should have died at the time of my accident. My health is managed artificially. As im completely sanguine about death, if Corona took me then I wouldn’t give a monkeys arse. It’s certainly going to kill lots in my situation who are more disabled than me. Well that’s only natural isn’t it? It’s hard to argue otherwise, surely.
I haven’t stockpiled anything, but I do have quite a lot of wine so it could be worse.

In the pursuit of being seen by other road users, I purchased a pretty cool rucksack, after I spied this dude on a skateboard in Hyde Park using one. It’s cool because it has an LED panel on the back. That means it’s like having a TV screen on your back, with moving images that are of your choosing. Now obvs that makes you 1/ highly visible and 2/ gives you scope to have a laugh with what you put on the screen.

You can download GIFS – short repeating videos – as many as you want, and have them playing in sequence, or draw your own pictures, or write your own messages that can flash, can repeat, can move in different ways etc etc. You can be sensible, or you can be ‘ topical ‘ or risqué …

I imagine I could be stopped by the Feds for anything indecent/ too offensive, so I so far have been ( sort of ) sensible. The novelty of being sensible will wear off soon I’m sure.

Floods and Corona then. One of em is gonna get you or someone you know quite soon. It’s when Corona starts killing ( old ) famous people that the reality will kick in. No one is exempt… it’s in Italy in a big way and will infiltrate the Vatican City. All those cardinals and the Pope… all old. Presidential candidates in America…. all old peeps. Go abroad and catch it, go to crowded places and catch it, or get your mates round to yours and catch it. I’m fascinated by it, and what will happen. Not in an obsessive way, but it’s bringing down companies and will change the world. Losing a billion people will make a fair difference to man’s effect on the planet ( well provided we don’t burn everyone and add to global warming via that )

Aye Corona!

Staying in more because of the unrelenting rain means more cosy nights in with my girl ( when she’s in London ) Watching films in bed isn’t too awful an option when you are with a beautiful woman, who happens to be breathtakingly fit. Wendy is a very rare thing – the body of a 25 year old athlete ( with just the most amazing bum ) despite being a mum of 2 in her 40’s… well that’s good for me! Plus she’s most certainly the most snuggly and loving woman I’ve ever met ( by far ) .. so it’s not all bad in my world any more.

Great to see Cress and Toby yesterday ( for lunch no less ), to see a fair bit of Marky P, including Royal Geograpical Society nights, to spend a day watching the rugby with Leigh, to seeing Lily, to seeing some old mates at Clair’s party, and to teach my brand of English to the varied selection of peeps that turn up to my class. I get housewives and I get refugees, I get young and old. They are all positive and they all smile a lot, despite their ‘ situations’ not being ones they are used to or wished for.
The Overprivileged could certainly learn a lot from em, that’s for sure. They seem to like me, and all show a lot of humanity. It’s a bit weird being called Sir, and no, I didn’t ask to be, but they all seem to insist on doing it. Respect is alive and well, if not so much so amongst the British born and bred. …