Social distancing

“Social distancing,” yes indeed. It’s basically what June and I consider ordinary life. We’re retired, we’re home a lot, and don’t have the energy to cope with huge events like concerts, parades, sport events and so on. We don’t go to pubs. 

So we’re doing our part by basically keeping on keeping on. I’m working on techniques to avoid using my hands as much in public places. If I’m going through a door that simply pushes open, I push with my shoulder.  After I wash my hands in the gents, I dry them on a paper towel and then grip the door handle through the towel. I’m all for flattening the pandemic curve. What I don’t think is a good idea is flattening the economy. More here about this from David McWilliams.

So we’re wandering around the living room or the garden, reading, writing, working in the garden, pulling weeds, and so on. Life continues.

Best TV Series 2012-2020

Last Tango in Halifax is pretty much the perfect family series. Beginning in 2012 Series 5 came on the iPlayer in February this year. It's based on lead writer Sally Wainwright's personal experiences. She described it as "the most personal thing I've ever written". Her mother, Dorothy, lost contact with a childhood friend, Alec Walker, when she was 15, but they reconnected on the social networking website Friends Reunited 60 years later and within six months were married. Alan and Celia's romance is depicted alongside the troubles of their own grown-up daughters, and the series' official description says that its portrayal of family is "as dark as it is comic". There’s real beauty in seeing amazing characters depicted by equally amazing actors in a real life setting. 

Discussing the casting of Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid, Wainwright stated: "we went for the best and we got them". Great stuff indeed.