Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
- Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain*
The Coronavirus: A Less Negative Take- Scientists in Madrid are testing a possible cure.
- You can now do your wine-tasting from your armchair. Come to think of it, I was already doing that before the virus hit.
- One very positive aspect of the pandemic is the quantity of funny - even hilarious - stuff going round. Possibly too much.
- Hmmm. Problems with those 650,000 tests Madrid ordered from a company in China. Not good.
- A truly modern crime 1
- A truly modern crime 2:- On Tuesday, my sister walked down the hill to the supermarket at the roundabout and bought groceries, which I then relieved her of in the car, leaving her to walk back up, as she preferred. Three, if not four, police cars passed her but only one stopped, to be satisfied by the note I'd given her in Spanish. Yesterday, I tried this but got only 30m before a car stopped and this conversation took place with 2 Guardia Civil officers, who again were very . . . well, civil [though less than 2m apart and not wearing masks]:-
Buenas
Where are you going?
Shopping
Where?
La Barca
Where's that?
Down at the roundabout at the bridge.
Which shop?
Carrefour
That's 1.5km
Yes, I know but it's the nearest shop
Don't you have a car?
Yes, but I prefer to walk
Well, it's a good job the shop isn't in Vigo
True.
You shouldn't be in the street
Yes but there's an exception for going shopping
Yes but you should be in the street for the minimum time possible
But I can walk with a dog, no?
Yes, but only for the minimum time possible
So, what exactly are you saying to me?
Are you Spanish?
No, British. I live in this barrio
Well, you should be on the street for the minimum time possible.
OK, I'll go back home and go down by car.
[Together]: OK
Now, I know for sure - having done it many times - that even in normal times - I would meet no one at all walking up and down this steep hill. And, more relevantly, that I'll make more contact with people and machines (think parking ticket) driving down than I would if I walked down, But these are not normal times; the repressive law is the law: the police are bureaucrats doing a (difficult) job: and common sense and flexibility are present in even lower proportions than they usually are. So, I complied and later walked in the forest behind my house, in the dark. Where - I believe - I didn't even meet a black cat. So, shoot me. Or at least denounce me. I will adopt the Spanish defence of lying my trasero off.
- Here's another - more exotic - example of people being sent back home with no fine being exacted.
- And below is the article we've all been waiting to read.
- Anyone with half a brain - and we know who that excludes - would know that, with the Brexit negotiations in suspense, the transition period should be extended beyond the end of this year. But, as Richard North says this morning, this is not on the media - or government - agenda right now.
- Fart: What can one say? Surely even his most fanatical (non-evangelist) supporters can see that the man is criminally insane. I've always expected assassination - from one of his own Republican Party - but it's beginning to look like I'll have to go over there and do it myself. Oh, I can't leave the house. So, that will have to wait.
- If there really is the God he ludicrously pretends to believe in, he'll surely get the virus and die. Or we could pay the Devil to do the job. He/She would surely like him as a celebrity resident down in Hell.
- China has reached the point where the low number of local cases demands the closing of its borders to all foreigners. As someone has said, with the USA now being the global epicentre of the pandemic, China is surely able to start calling Covid-19 'the American virus'.
- Wokeism and the social media at work on the Far Left, courtesy of Private Eye:-
Nutters Corner
- Right-wing pundit and professional anti-Semite Rick Wiles: Covid-19 is infecting synagogues because Jews “oppose” Jesus.
- Words of the day:-
- Multa: (Monetary) Fine
- Cárcel: Prison
- The virus meets music, for better or worse:-
- Neil Diamond almost sings a revised song of his here.
- Ditto Mungo Jerry here.
- And, least impressive of all, David Coverdale here.
- Acoustic guitar blues performers make a much better job of it here and here.
You lucky people.
THE ARTICLE
Coronavirus: Pandemic psychologist explains lavatory roll panic
A heightened sense of disgust to dirt and germs during outbreaks of disease could have set off the panic-buying of lavatory paper, according to the author of a book on how pandemics affect the mind.
Professor Steven Taylor, of the University of British Columbia, says that when people are threatened with infection, their sensitivity to disgust increases and are more motivated to avoid it. He concedes that the problem can also snowball due to a more prosaic reason — the simple desire not to run out when others are buying so much. “In that sense, the purchase of toilet paper makes sense because it is linked to our ability to avoid disgusting things. It’s not that surprising. It has also become a symbol. “In psychology research, it is called a conditioned safety signal. It’s almost like a good luck charm or a way of keeping safe. This type of behaviour is very instinctive and prominent in pandemics.”
He added that panic-buying can also amplify itself, especially in the internet age. “Graphic images of people buying and fighting over toilet paper have gone viral. This creates a sense of urgency and the fear of scarcity snowballs and creates real scarcity. This is the first pandemic in the era of social media and it is having an effect.”
Professor Taylor said governments needed to be thoughtful and positive in their communications and instructions if they want people to stop panic-buying. “Just telling people to stop is not going to stop them. People are panic buying because of the need to feel they are in control. They need to be told or given something positive to do, such as helping out their elderly neighbours in isolation or donating to food banks, so they feel they are doing something to help their communities. Then people stop thinking so much about themselves.”
*A terrible book, by the way. Don't be tempted to buy it, unless you're a very religious Protestant.
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