Walking Commentary

Thoughts while waiting to walk from Manchester to Rome in 2022

ted

Resentments

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I was educated amidst resentments. Equality was a threat to the more equal and in Ireland, the more equal folk had a code word for denigrating the less equal. The code word was and is ‘begrudgery’. I grew up scared that begrudgery would undo society while the more-equal missed the point entirely.

Begrudgery is all about identifying resentment. It is resentment but it is also a pejorative term for the alleged resentful. And I wonder if begrudgery could itself go pandemic to become the single biggest threat after Covid-19.

  • 2016 Bouncy Castle
  • 2013 three day old clasp
  • 2016 Third Birthday Cake
  • 2003 Harefield Swans
  • 2010 Inukchuk Tableau
  • 2010 Inukchuk Wave
A selection of this day memories.
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Early Detection, Early Response

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My friend Peter from FabHappy recently posted to Life in the Right Direction about the TED talk from 2006 by Larry Brilliant. Here at home, we watched the talk earlier and were surprised by much of what we saw. If you’ve not see it and don’t work in the field of global medicine, you will be amazed by the simple message: early detection, early response.

I commented on his post. ‘Cheap air travel may be a thing of the past. Imagine how Europe would cope if just 1% of the people living in China and India decided to take a European package holiday in 2021. Tourism may be the biggest class of business casualty.’ Maybe. Maybe not. It’s a possible consequence we’ve been discussing here at home, on sundowner social video calls with friends and family we’ve not otherwise seen for last the 29 days of curfew. Changes to global tourism was something Peter Frankopan mentioned in The New Silk Road (2018), the arrival of newly wealthy middle class tourists from Asia – that was before Covid.

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Hard Lines

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Hindcast: Dateline Dublin Christmas 1348.

14,000 have died of plague in the last five months. Dalkey and Howth together with the port at Drogheda have been devastated by the Black Death. One third of the urban population have died.

Forecast: Dateline Dublin Easter 2020.

1,500 may have died in the month since the first Irish death of complications arising from Covid-19.

Our capacity for benefit may become the ticket to healthcare and a future. The UK is considering having people 75 and older to sign DNR forms. Spain seems to be doing it unofficially for 65 and older by treating likely survivors first.

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