Well, my freezer is up and running. So today I made a big batch of soup to freeze. I am now almost at the end of my fresh produce – just a few carrots left. Thank goodness I have another food delivery coming this week.
Another day in the garden sorting out the good wood and the rotten wood. Finally finished. I also managed to pass a dozen seedlings to the neighbour. All of them Chipotle. They say they like hot stuff – hope they like it really really hot.
I’ve been doing a few COVID risk assessments this week. It struck me that protection from coronavirus was really similar to protection from radiation. Keep away from people, limit your time near people and shield yourself with masks.
But the thing that stands out most is the idea of the virus on a surface. I would rather have radiation because you can measure it. But there is a good read over. So places like door handles and petrol pumps are things to watch. Personally I would think most about horizontal surfaces (like shopping trolley handles).
I think there are some parts of the new advice that might be better. I would not sit on a park bench. Yes, I know they are outdoors, but there are several reasons why it could be more of a risk than other areas. It had stood out to me from park photos and was one of the things that stood out to me about the DC story. If you knew that somebody that had the virus had sat on a bench beside the river would you then go and sit on it? I wouldn’t.
We have a long way to go, and we need to be careful. But one of the things that struck me when I was thinking about the comparison was the materials we use and the design of our places. Things like fabric covered chairs are really hard to keep clean (for example think bus seats and office chairs). If I were designing a world to avoid passing on a virus it would look a lot different to what it looks like now.
It does make me think about our balance of form and function. Starting to wonder if we will see a return of 70’s pvc seats in cars. If we need to live with this long term then the world is going to look more and more like the inside of a nuclear power plant, and that would make the Amish world seem fancy.
I’m also wondering if my hair is growing faster these days, or have I been in isolation longer than I remember. When will I next get to see my barber? And will any of us ever go to the dentist again?
The more I thought about it the more I realise that perhaps I am not quite ready for the degree of change we might see.