distanced

Monday 16th March 2020:

And just like that, gatherings, pubs, clubs, gyms etc have now closed in uk. This is unheard of. British people will either go nuts or will not adhere to the recommendations I fear.  We haven't had official notification to stay at home, but if we aren’t being told everything, I'm taking my parents into my own hands... I effectively ground them (most unsatisfying of role reversal given the reason). If the government won’t do it I will!  I had a new Zumba class starting tonight-but no surprise it has been cancelled.  It dawns on me that our freedom of movement may be taken away for some time.  This generation has never known anything like this. Brother tells me when I ask, that Hong Kong have managed to deal with covid by instilling such things as sanitising the streets every day, wearing face masks in general anyway, have been locked down, and taking lock down seriously.  Since SARS they have some experience of such times, and have for a long time assessed movement in and out of Hong Kong with temperature checks in the airport.  I hope we can do the same here. I also hear that in Amsterdam there were queues for the coffee shops. Topping up on pot supplies. Wow what people need in a time of crisis and lockdown! This wasn't possible in the world wars! 

My growing level of concern leads me to call my younger brother who doesn’t keep in touch with the family. He is a super power of intelligence and artistic talent and his work in the film industry all these years, including the part he played in the special effects on the Oscar winning Jungle Book film, should see his name in lights.  We have a long chat, and I miss him, as I always do. I wish he would engage with us all more. He is my most special and he is to all the family, but his choices, presumed to be stemmed from his unspoken pain, have given us no choice in being kept away from him,  and that makes a time like this so difficult for us all. But I go to sleep the happiest I’ve felt in a while, just to have heard his voice and have the relaxed chat, about many things, that we did. I want him to be careful with coronavirus. I think he listened.