Good Morning

Splash!

Unravelling

Photograph: Dominic Cummings (Reuters).

My sister (an NHS Occupational Therapist) has been in hospital twice; once for breathing problems, the next with heart problems (resting heart bpm 100, mildly active heart bpm 140).  She had no underlying health problems before this outbreak. She has the Long Tailed version of the Covid19 virus and thankfully appears to be making slow progress on at least two supressant medications.  My son (Prodigal 1), who is 14 years younger than his aunt, had to seek medical treatment and rested up at home, thankfully now recovered.  At one point, he ( a full-grown man, not one for sentiment) was crying on the phone, thinking he was dying or been left to die.  Later, in his words, he said that he'd "never been so ill [...] I was delirious for days".

Whether you are in sympathy with Cummings' plight or just jaw droppingly incredulous over his 'blind driving' tales <--- think that the UK have had their very own 'Trump/Bleach' moment here, what the general public have been shocked and angered about is the following:

• The blatant disregard for the rules that he essentially made.


• The assumption that the British public have been whipped up into a political frenzy by the press rather than being able to think for themselves and see this debacle for what it truly is.


• The audacity of the man in his lack of apology and lack of resignation, sitting pretty while he throws a 'protective loophole' around himself.


• The sheer affrontery of prominent MP like Matt Hancock having to protect this man either spontaneously or on the instructions of his boss.

The British public are experiencing the following:

• the loss of loved ones:  the elderly, the children, the robust and the frail - in the hospitals, in care homes, in their own homes.  NHS staff, key workers, even those furloughed at home or have been shielded. Some have lost multiple people from one family.

• grief made worse by not be able under government laws to be with their loved ones as their lives came to an end and tthen not be allowed at their funerals.

• anxiety, fretting over loved ones who are still ill and/or been in contact with someone seriously ill and are about to go down with the same symptoms.

• fury and extreme personal pain after they have lost their livelihoods, their marriages, or  being locked up with their abusers. Some plainly have lost their minds, with 7 weeks of lockdown and then 2 weeks of chaos as one political blunder after another was made.

People have obeyed the government guidelines to the letter.

TO THE LETTER.

This can best be summed up by Emily Maitlis on Newsnight last night.  Good, conscientious people feel like mugs, they feel that they have been belittled (not helped by their childish lexis of telling teachers to stop 'squabbling' and to  'wean' others off of being furloughed - the government's appraisal of the electorate).

The whole thing is now spectacularly unravelling.  Some have become even more cautious, but many, many people now feel that the lockdown doesn't apply to them any more.  They have flocked now in their 1000s to beaches and beauty spots.  Very little evidence of social distancing and now extensively free-ranging because Boris said they could and by extention, Dominic has shown that they always could.  I live in one such beach resort and there are tales of double-parked out-of-towners that have swamped the resorts here. In this county of Cornwall, we only have one large barely-coping hospital in the city of Truro.  There are a chain of smaller hospitals who do NOT have the same support as the bigger hospital.

I have had sleepless, weepy nights on top of numb and weary ones.  Last night I went to bed and bawled like a child.

For those who have been blinded, blamed, bullied, bereaved, belittled, bullshitted and  broken - I resound a massive FUCK YOU to this rancid, elitist government.

To quote Victoria Coren Mitchell 'wait, so this is the new rule "Follow your instincts"? Hold my beer.'

Friday Funk!

Some cool funky tunes for a Friday -

Barry White - Somebody's Gonna Off The Man

Me'Shell Ndegeocello - Who Is He And What Is He To You

Betty Davis - If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up

Creative Source - Funky Luvah

Bill Withers - Use Me

Enjoy.

Rainbow ....

Still astonishing after all these years -

Terry Riley - A Rainbow in Curved Air - Full CD

1. A Rainbow in Curved Air - 00:00
2. Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band - 18:46

Pauline Oliveros

I love drones and similar minimalist music -

Pauline Oliveros - The Last Time

Enjoy.

A Truly Heartfelt Piece of Writing

Posted on my Facebook feed and I hope that the author will not mind me adding it to my journal. He lives in Los Angeles. A truly heartfelt piece of writing...

Twice a day, I walk my dog Ace around my neighborhood with one, or both, of my girls. I know that doesn’t seem noteworthy, but here’s something that I must admit:

I would be scared to death to take these walks without my girls and my dog. In fact, in the four years living in my house, I have never taken a walk around my neighborhood alone (and probably never will).

Sure, some of you may read that and think that I’m being melodramatic or that I’m “playing the race card” (I still have no clue what the hell means), but this is my reality.

When I’m walking down the street holding my young daughter’s hand and walking my sweet fluffy dog, I’m just a loving dad and pet owner taking a break from the joylessness of crisis homeschooling.

But without them by my side, almost instantly, I morph into a threat in the eyes of some white folks. Instead of being a loving dad to two little girls, unfortunately, all that some people can see is a 6’2” athletically-built black man in a cloth mask who is walking around in a place where he doesn’t belong (even though, I’m still the same guy who just wants to take a walk through his neighborhood). It’s equal parts exhausting and depressing to feel like I can’t walk around outside alone, for fear of being targeted.

If you’re surprised by this, don’t be. We live in a world where there is a sizable amount of people who actually believe that racism isn’t a thing, and that White Privilege is a made-up fantasy to be politically-correct. Yes, even despite George Floyd, Christian Cooper, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor (and countless other examples before them, and many to come afterward), some people still don’t seem to get it.

So, let me share some common sense points:

1) Having white privilege doesn’t mean that your life isn’t difficult, it simply means that your skin color isn’t one of the things contributing to your life difficulties. Case in point, if it never crossed your mind that you could have the cops called on you (or worse, killed) for simply bird watching then know that is a privilege that many black/brown people (myself included) don’t currently enjoy.

2) Responding to “Black Lives Matter” by saying “All Lives Matter” is insensitive, tone-deaf and dumb. All lives can’t matter until black lives matter.

3) Racism is very real, and please don’t delude yourself into thinking it’s limited to the fringes of the hardcore MAGA crowd. As Amy Cooper proved, it’s just as prevalent in liberal America as it is anywhere else.

4) While racism is real, reverse-racism is not. Please don’t use that term, ever.

5) In order for racism to get better, white allies are absolutely critical. If you’re white and you’ve read this far, hopefully you care enough to be one of those allies. Please continue to speak up (despite some of your friends and family rolling their eyes at you), because your voices matter to PoC now more than ever.

6) And if you’re white, and you’re still choosing to stay silent about this, then I honestly don’t know what to say. If these atrocities won’t get you to speak up, then honestly, what will? Also, it’s worth asking, why be my friend? If you aren’t willing to take a stand against actions that could get me hurt or killed, it’s hard to believe that you ever cared about me in the first place.

As for me, I’ll continue to walk these streets holding my 8 year-old daughter’s hand, in hopes that she’ll continue to keep her daddy safe from harm.

I know that sounds backward, but that’s the world that we’re living in these days.
#BlackLivesMatter

Massive Tunes

Well it is Friday and it is a funky sunny day -


Kyoto Jazz Massive - Crossbreed

Les Gammas - Outra Vida

Salvador Group - Moksa

Trüby Trio - Jaleo feat. Concha Buika

Enjoy.

The Friday Five

What have you learned today?

What’s one of your favourite habits you have?

What do you do for fun?

What’s the best LJ name you’ve seen in your time here?

What’s the weirdest thing a guest has done at your house?