Aviary

22 March 2020 – 10:35 GMT – 8°C Partly Cloudy – Co. Dublin, Ireland

Dunnocks on the bottlebrush.
Bullfinches feeding on the last flowers of the winter cherry.
Robin and Blue Tit scampering around on the budding maple.
Blackbirds on the lilac buds, chasing falling food to the ground below.
Great Tit lurking and singing in the pittosporum.
Long tailed tits looking me in the eye while clutching onto the thin window ledge.
Two Wood Quest Pigeons courting in the pine tree.
Magpies watching from the gutter.
Shadows of unseen hooded crows glide across the scene.

All this while I listen to the BBC TV that I have to use because RTE has no budget to show much news at all.

13,000 dead.

Centralised action to defend against pandemic is not the same as diversified economic activity. Social protection is not socialism. Markets work under capitalism so when the markets falter, capitalism should be suspended. When covid-19 retreats, we’ll need to support the markets. For now, governments should pay everyone a living wage. Everyone.

Socrates was right then and for now:“Eternal vigilance is the price of democracy” – of course, he said that in a pejorative way, him not being a fan of democracy.

Policy versus polity. Are we striking the right balance?

A change to an easterly breeze and high pressure brought out the hang gliders. Some might say a welcome sight, public entertainment. Not foolhardy? Imagine the pilot crashes. Imagine the paramedic choice – attend to someone with breathing issues or pick-up a sack of broken bones? Right and wrong are hard to define in times of stress, especially when experience isn’t available to guide us. Ethics. What’s reasonable? How might my action affect someone else?

I won’t be hiking for weeks to come. All it takes is for people to perceive me as a risk for that risk to be real. Which adds unnecessarily to existing anxiety. I was in three pharmacies yesterday – it’ll be two weeks before I know if I caught anything. Unlikely considering I maintained protocols. Should be fine assuming all transmission mechanisms are known. Best to stay home.