Living with Covid

  I'm listening to the back catalogue of some podcasts, and one of them I'm up to just over two years ago.  You know, back when the pestilence first hit.

    They were talking about social distancing in the last episode I heard.  And about how some events were starting to be cancelled.  And in the one I'm listening to as I write this, they're talking about how they're having to postpone their live shows they'd scheduled.  They were saying how they hoped it was only April's shows which would have to be cancelled, and hopefully 'corona' would be done with by May.  How hopeful, and yet naïve, were those days!

    This particular podcast is made by two American ladies.  They made a PSA about how criminals were reported to be showing up to peoples' homes wearing hazmat suits, insisting they be allowed in and then robbing the place.  It was apparently just a rumour, not real crimes, but I can imagine how scary even that notion would've been, on top of everything else.  (We just had muggings -allegedly- over toilet rolls over here, which was bad enough!)

    Now, we're resigned -apparently- to living with Covid (it's literally the government's 'strapline').  It still feels weird walking into a premises without wearing a mask.  I'd been so used to it for so long.  (I still choose to wear a mask a lot of the time, but these days I do sometimes forget it and then have to go without.)

    Also, I still get that moment of borderline panic whenever someone coughs in my presence.  It makes me want to leap away from where they're standing, possibly making some gesture to ward off the evil eye or something!  (This isn't altogether new, I've had some extremely nasty colds in the past, and possibly the flu.  So I'm really not keen on these sorts of viruses, as you can imagine!)  And this happens a lot on trains.  Something about boarding a train makes peoples' hygiene go out the window, apparently.

    I don't really understand how the government believes they're able to monitor the situation and whether to reintroduce control measures.  Nobody's routinely testing any more (unless of course they work in health and social care).  The cynic in me says they've NO intention of monitoring (unless hospital admissions begin to skyrocket, again).  They're more concerned about stirring up activity within the economy, now.  This is why they want us all back to working in offices, again.

    I get that the economy is important.  But I just don't see why they need to dictate that we should be back working in offices, when working from home contributes SO much more to work-life balance for an awful lot of people.  And, I believe it was the lockdowns and temporary business closures which likely did the damage to the economy, not working from home.  True, I'm not buying train tickets anywhere near as often, but I'm definitely still spending money in my local shops (in fact more so than when I was commuting to the office, as I've got the energy to walk to the shops lunchtime/at the weekend) and I'm sure others are, too.

    My family and I have managed to avoid getting the virus, as I write.  I'm desperately hoping it stays that way, because I don't need long Covid on top of existing chronic ill-health.  A colleague has wound up in that position, and to say they're struggling is really only barely covering it.  Plus, I've had less than half the number of cold viruses on average per year over the 2 years of the pandemic, compared with when I was commuting by train and stuffed into a crowded office with too many other staff. 

    My family and I are all triple vaccinated (and will take up any further boosters which might be offered).  But, as we've learned, that doesn't necessarily prevent infection altogether.

    So, here's to annual Covid booster shots, in my view, please.  And, to continuing hand hygiene, etc etc PLEASE.  Thank you.

Photos: all photos from Unsplash, unless otherwise specified - eyes graffiti photo by Nick Fewings (apologies, credit was given for the majority of these in previous blog posts but I no longer have the relevant info to hand).  Let me know in the comments if any of the photos is your work, and I'll work with you to add the credit in this post.

Cookies/data
European Union laws require that EU visitors be given information about cookies used and data collected on this blog.  Google/Blogger have added a notice on this blog to explain Google's use of certain Blogger and Google cookies, including use of Google Analytics and AdSense cookies, and other data collected by Google.  If this notice does not display and you are in the EU, please will you notify me in the comments section.  Many thanks.

Environmentalism - what it means to me AND how it relates to my spirituality

 

    For the longest time, environmental activism was my only spirituality.  Or rather, it was there in place of a 'proper' spirituality.  I suspect this is going to be difficult for me to articulate well, so please bear with me.  I'll do my best.

    

    It was at quite a young age that I developed an affinity with nature.  And not long after that I formed the notion (picked up from somewhere I've no hope of pin-pointing now), the notion that the environment is threatened.  In need -very much in need- of protection.

    Some time later these notions/interests melded somewhat -over time- and became a very vague nature-based spirituality.  But I've never felt the presence of deity, so I don't have a pantheon which I revere.  I therefore didn't think of it as anything like religion.  (And I still don't.)

    Part of me would've liked it to be more like a religion for me.  I kind of wanted to incorporate ritual and other specific practices I'd heard about.  But while I felt that nature was worthy of reverence, it didn't make sense to me to 'worship'.  Trying for those rituals and practices didn't feel right to me.

    So instead I sufficed with nature conservation and other environmentally focused activities.  Striving to do whatever I could to protect nature was the best I could contrive to do.

    (Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to claim I'm one of those Greenpeace members who climb the oil rigs and get locked up for it.  I also have a day job which I can't afford to risk losing by getting myself any sort of criminal record.)

    I just do what I can.  I sometimes use the term 'slacktivism', so as not misrepresent the extend of my activities.  It mostly consists of:

- signing (and social-media sharing) petitions etc;

- writing my MP wherever appropriate;

- such things as having an environmentalism related profile picture on social media etc;

- being the energy-saving champion in my workplace (and encouraging things like recycling at the same time);

- litter picking locally, and as conspicuously as possible (of course recycling whatever I can of the items collected);

- supporting the school strikes whenever they occur locally (attending whenever my annual leave allowance permits);

- attending Extinction Rebellion and Greenpeace protests whenever I can (especially if they're local) - I can't often participate in the action, but I'll try to make up the numbers;

- raising funds for e.g. Cool Earth Action via Amazon Smile, and donating money to environmental charities when I can;

- using Ecosia as my search engine, both at home and at work.

That sort of thing.

    I've written elsewhere about my journey of exploring Druidry, which is obviously a pretty nature-focused spirituality/religion.  A short version, therefore, is as follows:  I was initially put off, because when reading about OBOD, ADF etc it seemed to me there was quite an emphasis on gods and goddesses.  Latterly, I've come to refer to myself as 'druidish', or following a 'druidy' path.  I'm slowly (glacially!) doing the New Order of Druids Bardic course.  Because although I still don't feel as though theism is part of my paganism, I don't see that it should stop me from learning about all the other aspects.  'Druidy' or 'druidish', to me, represents that Druidry is the closest fit I've found, despite not being an absolute perfect fit.

    I'm relatively happy with the current balance between my environmentalism and my spirituality.  Certainly it's a good balance for fitting in with my other obligations etc.

    I'd love to grow more, especially trees.  And provide homes for wildlife.  But I don't have a garden or access to somewhere where trees could be planted.

    Sometimes I still also crave more on the spiritual side, too.  So I'm still seeking -like an eclectic little magpie- ideas and bits of other practices I can adapt & incorporate into my own.

https://fridaysforfuture.org/

https://extinctionrebellion.uk/

https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/

https://www.coolearth.org/

https://www.ecosia.org/

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/

Cookies/data
European Union laws require that EU visitors be given information about cookies used and data collected on this blog.  Google/Blogger have added a notice on this blog to explain Google's use of certain Blogger and Google cookies, including use of Google Analytics and AdSense cookies, and other data collected by Google.  If this notice does not display and you are in the EU, please will you notify me in the comments section.  Many thanks.