Lockdown Diary - Thursday 30th April 2020
Later start today as it looked as though the weather would be acceptable for running. First carer of the day arrived and I was changed and ready to run. Did a few stretching exercises after the carer had left then just after 7:30am I set off.
Lucky I ran when I did: within an hour or so after I had returned it started raining and has barely stopped since.
Work has dominated the day again, so not that much to talk about. Spent two hours in the morning attending the second and final part of the MIND mental health champion training, which was really interesting. I have some work to do to follow up on that, but it's been an informative and awareness-increasing way to spend some of my time. Once it was over it was time to get back to the day job.
For the third consecutive day my sons have made lunch and it has been brought to me in my office while I work.
This evening it's the next in the Idler's 'Drinks with...' series of Zoom-based talks, with tonight's guest being John Lloyd of 'QI', 'Not The Nine O'Clock News' and 'Blackadder' (amongst many other things) fame.
In preparation for the talk I've read more of III.4 of the 'Wake (only 10 or so pages until book IV) and got my work set up for tomorrow. All I need now is the obligatory glass of wine (it is, after all, titled 'Drinks with...') and I'm ready. There's a good chance the final carer call of the day will clash with the start of the talk, but no matter, I'll be on mute, at least at first.
Well what an unexpectedly good talk from John Lloyd, great discussion and wide-ranging conversation - especially interesting to hear of his seven 'lost' years to depression and life crisis. So many new things to learn about and ideas of books to read. An hour well-spent. (Oh, yes, and time to take my meds too)
Dinner is under way, mostly through the efforts of number 2 son, with me relegated to sous-chef and chief onion-chopper. There is some talk of watching the first episode of 'Devs' tonight, though #2 and I have just had a long discussion about the ending of 'Twin'. It's interesting to see how different a view on something someone can have, though I wonder whether some of the difference of viewpoint might be that life-experience has made me feel that few things have such certainty or finality or offer that chance to ask someone 'why?'
Another good result of today is that I have arranged to have a call with a friend in Berlin tomorrow and possibly another with a friend who lives closer by, in Bracknell. I was pondering earlier which of them I've known the longest, and quickly realised its the bloke in Bracknell, who used to work for me back in the Eighties, when I was a CICS and MVS Systems Programmer. Lifetimes ago.
The remainder of the evening played out pretty much as usual, these days, and we did indeed watch the first episode of 'Devs', which was interesting. It's visually very appealing, which is not surprising given it was made by a film director, we'll have to see how the story goes. It also generated some discussion about philosophy and determinism in particular, which also neatly tied back to John Lloyd's conversation on the Idler drinks call earlier.
Came up on random play of my main 63 hour playlist and as it's a song that I never tire of listening to, it's now here. Laura Nyro and Labelle with 'Wind' from the album 'Gonna Take A Miracle'
Lucky I ran when I did: within an hour or so after I had returned it started raining and has barely stopped since.
Work has dominated the day again, so not that much to talk about. Spent two hours in the morning attending the second and final part of the MIND mental health champion training, which was really interesting. I have some work to do to follow up on that, but it's been an informative and awareness-increasing way to spend some of my time. Once it was over it was time to get back to the day job.
For the third consecutive day my sons have made lunch and it has been brought to me in my office while I work.
This evening it's the next in the Idler's 'Drinks with...' series of Zoom-based talks, with tonight's guest being John Lloyd of 'QI', 'Not The Nine O'Clock News' and 'Blackadder' (amongst many other things) fame.
In preparation for the talk I've read more of III.4 of the 'Wake (only 10 or so pages until book IV) and got my work set up for tomorrow. All I need now is the obligatory glass of wine (it is, after all, titled 'Drinks with...') and I'm ready. There's a good chance the final carer call of the day will clash with the start of the talk, but no matter, I'll be on mute, at least at first.
Well what an unexpectedly good talk from John Lloyd, great discussion and wide-ranging conversation - especially interesting to hear of his seven 'lost' years to depression and life crisis. So many new things to learn about and ideas of books to read. An hour well-spent. (Oh, yes, and time to take my meds too)
Dinner is under way, mostly through the efforts of number 2 son, with me relegated to sous-chef and chief onion-chopper. There is some talk of watching the first episode of 'Devs' tonight, though #2 and I have just had a long discussion about the ending of 'Twin'. It's interesting to see how different a view on something someone can have, though I wonder whether some of the difference of viewpoint might be that life-experience has made me feel that few things have such certainty or finality or offer that chance to ask someone 'why?'
Another good result of today is that I have arranged to have a call with a friend in Berlin tomorrow and possibly another with a friend who lives closer by, in Bracknell. I was pondering earlier which of them I've known the longest, and quickly realised its the bloke in Bracknell, who used to work for me back in the Eighties, when I was a CICS and MVS Systems Programmer. Lifetimes ago.
The remainder of the evening played out pretty much as usual, these days, and we did indeed watch the first episode of 'Devs', which was interesting. It's visually very appealing, which is not surprising given it was made by a film director, we'll have to see how the story goes. It also generated some discussion about philosophy and determinism in particular, which also neatly tied back to John Lloyd's conversation on the Idler drinks call earlier.
Came up on random play of my main 63 hour playlist and as it's a song that I never tire of listening to, it's now here. Laura Nyro and Labelle with 'Wind' from the album 'Gonna Take A Miracle'
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