Jim Stewart's Blog

A bit more planting today. Made a mistake of putting some plants in the shed yesterday – too hot. I think I managed to save them. But here comes a problem – I have so many plants at the moment. Prince Charles thinks we should talk to plants to help them grow, and who am I to disobey out future king?

But I always think the first thing you need to do in a conversation is exchange names. And my plants are not replying to me. So I need help in picking names for them. What should I call them? Of course one of the seeds I got from Germany I could call Heinz.

I remember a weekend retreat many years ago with between 50 and 100 people. We were all walking along a corridor to see an event, I think it was something Steve Hollinghurst was doing. I got talking to this guy beside me. We exchanged names, he was apparently called Steve Lawson. Then I caught myself half way through asking what he did for a living. We chatted about the question for a second or so and decided not to ask each other – to avoid putting each other in a box. He then went on to ask what colour my underwear was as an alternative topic – and later performed a song about the subject. An odd question – but it has as much to do with how we relate to each other as our jobs do.

We all have so many facets to our character and yet we often promote the same few and use them to relate to each other. This lockdown period has changed how we link with each other and in some ways has made us focus on different facets, different relationships.

I was chatting to a psychiatrist about this today – we both discussed how people seem to be discovering that their old lives had not been as sustainable as they thought. Running as hard as they could had stopped them from seeing they were going nowhere. We both looked forward to people finding that some of those other hidden facets were more important to them. To a society built on different values.

I have noticed some interesting changes over the last few weeks. In politics we have a conservative government promoting principles that have more in common with communism than conservatism. Today I watched a select committee where industry leaders were saying market forces should not be allowed to dictate how our essential infrastructure operated. I’ve watched some newspapers that had a healthy well researched criticism of the government become little more than hateful gossip sheets. Things are being shaken up more than I would have expected.

And on social media and on-line I see friends developing amazing new characters, I see people I hardly knew becoming important people in my life. I look forward to seeing more interesting aspects of people I know and people I don’t yet know.

But I still worry about naming my onions. I mean, are red onions male and white onions female, or is it the other way round?

So how many elephants you need to wash you hands?

Not sure if this is Day 51, or is it my second Day 1. The reason being – I had to venture out to the chemist today to collect my prescription. The world looks like a scary place with face visors, plastic screens and warning posters. I was glad to get back indoors to my freshly replenished hoard of toilet paper. Yes I know we need to protect people, but maybe we need to think about how the image affects moods. Made me a little afraid, but not a lot since I have worked with PPE for all of my working life.

I noticed that the chemist were selling hand sanitiser at £3 for a small 50ml bottle. Unbelievable – when I can still get a litre delivered to my door for under a fiver (and no – not from a scam source – from a retailer I use regularly for other things). Made me a little annoyed, but not bad.

There were groups of young people hanging around together, cycling around together. Not a big issue, but that annoyed me, more than a little.

I am now set for another 50 days indoors. Quite a biggy. Doesn’t really make me feel good or bad.

So how many elephants do you need to wash your hands? Twenty, of course. And if you don’t understand go watch the film Gregory’s Girl. For some reason the Chic Murray piano scene popped in to my head this week – and try as I could I just could not get it out.

This part of the film has nothing at all to do with the story-line – it just is one of those classic clips that is there to put a smile on your face.

I see there is another feel good film on this week – I have never managed to see the start of it, so please don’t call me at 9pm on Thursday. I will be watching Hunt for the Wilderpeople.

In other news I see that Southport Flower Show has now announced that it is cancelled. Sad – buying my seeds there was one of my feel good moments in the year. Thanks to a friend’s “her indoors” I have a list of seed distributors, but it isn’t quite such a feel good moment.

Funny how the little things we do in life can make such a difference to moods, both positive and negative, even more than the big things.

I caught Father Ted the other night – the episode where Richard Wilson plays a version of Richard Wilson that hates the catch phrase “I don’t believe it!!”

It’s been that kind of day for me today. Tesco delivered my toilet roll. They also delivered bread mix and flour. And sparkling water. And it all arrived early. Amazing.

Maybe I should have ordered some laxative to help me make the most of my toilet paper fortune.

But that is just one small part of the day. On Saturday night I filled in an e-consult form for my doctor. I was expecting a call tomorrow from my GP to discuss it. But no. Today I got a call from outpatients to say I had been referred by my GP and would have an on-line appointment on Wednesday (turns out my GP had sent an email just two hours earlier).

In the middle of the largest crisis since it was founded I had unbelievable service. And this was not a major problem – fairly routine – but the NHS continues to work. Unbelievable service.

Yes, the NHS has problems, but overall I think it must be the greatest achievement of this country.

When I lived overseas I had really good private medical insurance. I got the best treatment. The one thing that really bothered me was the way some medical staff saw my insurance as an invitation to make a lot of money. I remember I had something blow in to my eye and had to have it washed out by an optician.

By the end of the session I was asked to see Professor XXX and say the optician had sent me – he would analyse my eyes for cholesterol (yes apparently it can be done and might have some benefit – but high cholesterol is hardly an issue for an optician even if they are a professor). The national system was pretty good, but the private insurance funded system had a level of corruption that was unacceptable.

I think the honesty, the integrity and the dedication to providing care based on need is what I value most in the NHS.

Thank you all.

There I was, relaxing watching an on-line video when a bird landed on a tree outside. I looked at it – it had a bright red beak and fawn coloured breast. I grabbed for a nearby camera, but it got confused by the window so I didn’t get a good photograph (well I got a good photo of a window pane).

Talking to several bird lovers and nobody could identify it – the best explanation was a bird that had been drinking red paint (or a Zombie bird caused by the virus).

I mentioned before the bird at my front door that seemed to have no fear of me. A few days ago I was in my back garden when a bird sat on a branch about 1m away from me and watched me. My neighbours have a bird that comes and pecks at their window when their bird feeder is empty.

Nature seems to be changing – I’m not sure why, I don’t think this is just perception, I think there is a real change. Surely the birds can’t be getting close to us in order to find our toilet paper? I wonder what their new found lack of fear is caused by?

It reminds me of my visits to Greenland. One morning I sat on a rock drinking coffee and a bird came and sat beside me – no fear of humans. can remember putting up my tent one night and looking behind me to see a young arctic fox watching me, turning from side to side as though in disbelief. But I have never seen that here.

Another new normal perhaps? One I would welcome. Given the opportunity there are some areas where I would like to see the changes we have made extended.

Just wondering how much junk mail is sitting in the post offices waiting to be delivered to us. Something I have not missed in the least. Maybe instead of an opt-out scheme we should have an opt in scheme.

It has been hard to get tired tonight – anticipation. My first Tesco delivery comes today – and it should include toilet paper… I am told hand santiser is also venturing back on to the shelves (like the birds it has lost the fear of us). The bulk buy greed is something I would not like to see continued.

Today was interesting, after completing all of my backups one of my backup drives failed. It looks like it was the network connection that went. Note to self – always make sure any new network drives also have a USB connection. One of the reasons is that there is an encryption chip built in to the interface, so it makes it hard to simply put the drive in a new box. Anyway, I think I have worked out how to do it. Good job I have 5 more copies of the data elsewhere. And when I move it to the new computer will have 7 copies.

Did a bit of video work today, thanks to Pete Banks I am a little bit better at youtube videos than I was before.

One video involved a toilet roll.

Did a little mask making today. I’ve been looking at on-line patterns and experience. One simple hint – put the material over your moth and try to breath through it. If you can’t then you probably have the wrong material. If you find you are blowing air past your eyes then you might as well use a cut away plastic bottle. I found that pockets from old jeans are good materials.

I remember Jeremy Corbyn made a statement that he would build houses and get rid of homelessness. It was a pretty big over-simplification of the response needed. This week we hear that the government have decided that they will eliminate rough sleeping, and at least they have said that it will be a multi-agency response.

I still think it is a bit on the naive side. Yes, we need to try, but I think we also need to accept that the best we can do is walk beside some of the rough sleepers, to be their friends as they struggle and often fail. To make their lives one little bit better.

We have just had May Day, and we have seen the call to stand with the poor workers against the rich oppressors. To the barricades comrades. I read the comments and wonder how many of the proletariat realise they are some of the richest in the world. They are actually the rich oppressors – and they do it by buying that cheap t-shirt.

Religious bit – stop reading here if you want to avoid it.

It struck me that there are a lot of people that say “I want to be like Jesus” or “What would Jesus do?”, who forget who he was. He was born in a country under brutal occupation, in a stable, not a house. He had no home – he was a rough sleeper.

The God we follow was a rough sleeper. And I get to thinking, maybe we need to do more to learn from the rough sleepers rather than “fix” them. Maybe they are closer to our God than we are. We speak well from our comfortable lives. Do we need to kick against a broken society with our whole life and not just our words?

I noticed that Whetherspoon have started talking about re-opening their pubs. It was interesting listening to Boris last night where he made the comment that opening pubs would be a bad idea. I guess that is as close as it can get to a Conservative Prime Minister saying to a major Conservative donor in public “Don’t be so dumb”.

Of course this led to news programmes coming up with pub landlord interviews.

One major landlord described how he would ensure social distancing in his establishment. Now I did have a little to do with contamination control in my work life. Not a major expert, but I did take part in an international review covering four European countries. I can say that the ideas he was putting forward might not be the ones I would choose.

But it was the next comment that made me want to comment. He said “We will be checking temperatures at the entry. But if you have a bracelet showing you have been tested and that will get you to the front of the queue for entry.”

As one friend said, A test is like an MOT – it doesn’t guarantee your car is safe 10 minutes after it leaves the test station. In fact, with COVID, by the time you get the results you could have become infected.

This got me to thinking – the people that really are safest to hang around with are not the people that have been tested (remember a test station is a place with a high number of infected people). No – the people that have worked at strict isolation (those over 65 for example) are actually the safest people to mix with.

If you are the sort of person lining up to get in to a pub then you are not the sort of person that should be allowed in the pub. The people that should be allowed in the pub first are the people that are not interested in going in to the pub first.

This is an interesting conundrum – the people that have been most isolated are the best people to release from isolation. But of course, there is no economic benefit in giving them priority. I wonder if we should start an exclusive club for those in strict isolation?

(But maybe you should)

I spotted an advert on a food packet today – enter a code online and win a prize. Got me thinking about my change in attitude.

I don’t know if anybody has seen the sponsorship of programmes on TV that offer a free holiday. Call now and you will win a luxury holiday to…. Or call now and you will be entered for a draw to win a luxury cruise.

Just two months ago the idea of winning a luxury cruise would have had positive connotations in my mind – right now I would rather pay a visit to the dentist. Sending me on a cruise seems more like a threat than a prize. Am I really that fickle? Or is this a change in attitude that will last?

I remember back to one morning standing on the railway platform waiting for a train when somebody said to me – “Look at this – the Daily Mail are offering flights to Australia for £200”. It was just after 9/11 and people were still not flying. Confession time. I bought a copy and phoned the number – by that afternoon I had booked a holiday in Australia. Within a short period the fear seemed to evaporate and people were back to their old selves.

I have friends that are determined never to go near a cruise ship again, and some that would really like to go on one. I expect that the industry will do the same – offer very cheap cruises to entice people back on to ships.

So, yes, we do seem to be that fickle as a species. Offer us a little financial incentive and it overcomes our fears. I think that our collective approach to life can be heavily affected by money and how to get more of it or more from it.

This is why the national lottery works (did you know you have a 90% chance of winning nothing – and playing one draw every time it will take an average of over 10 years to win £100, at a cost of over £2000).

I wonder how long I will be able to hold on to the rationality of COVID-19, where money has been given a realistic priority. Probably not that long, sadly.

No – it isn’t a typo. This week is a not working week. Yesterday ended up as a working day, helping out somebody that has recently started to cover this area of work and is working at home. Normally people starting work have the ability to chat to colleagues to find out how to do things, but that isn’t easy. So instead she called me to work out the best way to work together.

Today was a non-work day which turned out to be another work day. It would be nice if things didn’t go wrong during a pandemic – but unfortunately they do. So today was spent on international incident work – but it did give me a chance to chat to an old friend.

I notice that car use has increased again today. The fact that accidents still happen is the reason we are asked not to drive – because accidents involve scarce resources.

I had to laugh at the BBC coverage of the daily briefing. They were running two sets of subtitles, one commenting on the briefing and another a rolling set of breaking news. The mixture was a bit unfortunate at times.

This evening I ran a meeting on-line. People are getting better at working in on-line meetings. But working on smart phones is very limiting. A lot of advances in technology have been focusing on getting things really small so it can fit in a phone, to the extent that many people just have phones or tablets. Yes, the apps work on them, but there are so many limitations – personally I have trouble working with only one screen on a computer.

Another example of where our lust after the newest best technology seems to have been more important than having something that can be used. At the start of the home-working there was quite a rush on computers as people discovered their efforts to keep up with the Joneses meant they were limited.

Watching the advert tonight where the couple make a video for themselves about their wedding in 6 months – where they say their meal might be a bag of crisps. People do seem to be re-appraising what is important.

It seems that connections with real people is becoming important, and everything else is being judged in relation to that.

Not sure how toilet paper hoarding fits in to that idea though.

Every day I have gone out to look for weeds. Sometimes twice a day. I have been surprised at how fast they have shot up. Sometimes I weed in the morning and in the afternoon there are more than a dozen new weeds.

One of the problems is that the council seems to have stopped cutting roadside grass and the dandelions have taken over – the patch of grass outside my house is more yellow than green.

Today was another weeding day. My email provider has decided to close down the email address I have had for 25 years – and at very short notice (5 months before my current contract renewal date). So this means I have a lot to fix.

I have a number of email address books and I consolidated them into a single list of about 1000 emails. I went through and weeded that list into the people I might be in touch with in my non-work life. I went from 1000 to 200 on the list. As I went through I thought about whether I would ever contact people by email again – a lot of people have stopped using email.

Going through the list of internet sites where I have used the email address was another weeding exercise. Some places I had an account. Some places I just had registered for emails. Mailchimp was easy to sort out, but some mailing lists were impossible to change details on – I had to de-register then re-register with the new address. A lot of the sites I just deleted accounts – I no longer need them to have my details (it did make me think about how many companies have my email address).

I’ve been doing some light weeding in Facebook recently as well.

I got to thinking about the internet weeding in comparison to the garden weeding. The weeds compete with the plants that I want to see develop. I think there are a lot of contacts that I have that I would like to encourage more, but are being smothered by the growth of weeds. There are websites I would like to engage with more, but the large number of contacts from the “weeds” has smothered them.

Maybe I need to put as much effort in to internet weeding as I put in to garden weeding to keep the relationships I value most growing.

In other news – I ran out of yeast last night. I was going to try to switch to beer based bread but instead I decided to experiment with a more biscuit type baking with herbs and chili. Worked out really well – a mixture of two grains and a seed with a mix of herbs. The oregano came through really well. I always like savoury over sweet. Only one problem – too moreish.

I suddenly realised today – this month I have washed my car more times than I have driven it. It seems like a good time to be a car – my neighbour spent several hours polishing his car. Of course it could have been yet one more attempt to stake out my house to see if he could find my toilet paper. Just watching Red Dwarf – the episode where they review the excess toilet paper.

My third onion planting day today, that makes about 140 onions this year – probably enough for me. I also planted out some of the tomato plants out. A bit early, so I’m not sure they will survive, but I have so many germinating it seems worth the attempt. I am testing two varieties in hanging baskets – be interesting to see if they work.

Looking forward to an early night to rest the muscles…

Discovered I had reduced the resolution of photos from Greenland 2006 when I copied them on to hard disk. Thankfully I still have the original cards from the trip. If you look at the middle bottom of the picture you can see a wall making a three sided enclosure with some rocks behind it. This is a wall built by vikings at least 600 years ago (and probably closer to 1000 years ago).

At one modern farm you can still see the outline of Viking fields on the hills, in places that can’t be farmed with modern technology.

I remember one of the students at university joked that the only thing that would be found of the human race in a million years was the plastic from the Trabant car.

One place I used to work had a rule set by the government – any new buildings had to be temporary structures – nothing that would last should be built. The main reason was not cost – it was something called liability.

That wall in the picture was probably the work of one or two people – not more.

I am looking at knocking down that old shed and replacing it with decking and raised planting areas (finally sorted out the design I am going for). But that will hardly last 20 years. Am I building anything that will last as long as the wall that Viking farmer built?