Kid From Kensington
Dunsy’s mix tapes
Tuesday, a day made better by having a reasonable, though not perfect, sleep last night. I went to bed earlier, so, even though I woke up around 03.30 again, I was slightly better rested. Also, it was overcast and miserable and thus a bit darker, so getting back to sleep was easier. I still remember waking up several times, though, and I eventually got up around 07.30 or so.
I’m still tired, but not knackered like yesterday. I also received a handy tip via WhatsApp for a night blindfold that works. I’ve tried with some old ones given out by various airlines over the years, but they’re always uncomfortable.
For the most part I’ve had notifications on my phone switched off and haven’t looked at it today. I did plant out a Hebe of Lindsay’s that was pot bound, pottered around a bit, and perpetrated some writing–not as much as I’d have liked, but enough to get momentum going. I was also given a present of a tub of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia ice cream, which was a very fine present indeed.
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To the extent that I’ve seen the news, it is all about easing of lockdown. I understand the need to get economic activity going again, but I can’t help feeling that, at a UK level, it’s going too quickly.
At the (last) daily press conference in England and Wales today, Professor Chris Whitty said:
I would be surprised and delighted if we weren’t in this current situation through the winter and into next spring. I think then let’s regroup and work out where we are.
I expect there to be a significant amount of coronavirus circulating at least into that time and I think it is going to be quite optimistic that for science to come fully to the rescue over that kind of timeframe.
This is a not-so-coded corrective to the gung-ho political message. The truth is that the virus is still with us; there is no cure and you’re dependent on a set of unknown factors to survive, as most people do, but some don’t. Much as there are some things I miss, I’m not in any great hurry to get back to what I used to call ‘normal’.
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Music: what do civil servants do in their spare time? where do their heart’s desires really lie? This Edinburgh band from many years ago included one of my colleagues at Registers of Scotland, Dunsy. That’s him with the low-slung Les Paul in this video (and this is Dunsy’s Guitar World, his YouTube channel). The photo above is of a couple of mix tapes he put together for me around 1991 I think. I’m entertained that, thirty years on, he’s had his hair cut, and I’ve gone the other way.
The Joyriders: King of Gasoline.
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