Hard News: Together Alone
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Great idea to reactivate this (usually caring but always interesting) online community. Thanks, Russell.
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Damn. Covid-19 has claimed Manu Dibango.
I've had so much joy from this one, truly great great record.
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And, look at me, back on the blog comments, after more than a decade away.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
And, look at me, back on the blog comments, after more than a decade away.
Blogs! They're the next big thing!
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Yay - back in here. Well today is the last day of driving the big airport bus for at least 4 weeks. Sad in a way but also great to get a break from all those shellshocked, over anxious people who are trying, trying, trying desperately to get home to wherever in the world it is. One young woman was shaking so much I had to take her ticket out of her hand to scan it, another guy in a state left his money pouch with everything - money, passport, tickets, cards etc sitting on the bus seat - lucky it was found & returned shortly after.
These people keep reminding me that 'be kind' is deffo the Public Address word for 2020. I am in first on this one eh Russell. -
Great to be back, Russell. I'm attribute at least some responsibility for my long term career trajectory to this site. :-)
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Russell Brown, in reply to
Great to be back, Russell. I’m attribute at least some responsibility for my long term career trajectory to this site. :-)
Hey, Deborah! Great to have you back! So what you doin' these days?
;-)
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Ping from Kelston. Hat tip to Deborah for making me aware that I am in Kelston, NOT New Lynn. She is intimate with the boundaries and I am Sepuloni's problem :-)
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Hope everyone is going well, I just wanted to say that I’m really enjoying Nadia Reid’s new album. It’s more expansive musically than anything she’s done previously, but it’s still very direct lyrically and vocally.
For an album about trying to find your own place in the world (both literal and metaphorical), it’s surprisingly well grounded, if that makes sense.
And I like the arrangements- some of them have a soulful swing to them, and the countrified touches sound natural too.
Anyway, stay safe people! Walking through the supermarkets yesterday was an eerie experience, everyone (apart from the patient and kind staff) looked like they had seen a ghost. I think a lot of people are waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak.
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Suggestion for Russell. Start another honeypot thread which is for discussion rather than community spirited kindness and sharing of experiences, and divert any debate to there.
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Hi there, from deepest Dunedin. We just took our walk, to the chemist for prescriptions. It's surprising how many people were driving in South Dunedin - the traffic was almost normal.
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Hey... welcome back everyone. Not long ago PAS was one of my favourite NZ online communities and for those of us who refuse to use Facebook or practice read-only Twitter, a comfortable place to exchange thoughts with like-minded individuals. And generally no trolls.
Our family has been watching covid far too intently for what seems like forever because our daughter was in Baden-Württemberg -- one of the worst outbreak areas in Germany. I've kept a little daily spreadsheet and the trend line is near vertical now. The first case in their area was 25th Feb -- as of today there are 5,348 confirmed cases in Baden-W. It's scary.
We have Tash back home now (therein lies a tale) and the three of us are in day #9 of isolation. We're isolating by the book and apart from no cuddles for 14 days, it's working out well.
We live on a beach north of Dunedin. While climate change will take out our village eventually, for now it's a damn fine place to isolate. The background track is distant waves and continuous birdcall. There are very few people, some safe walks along the beach or through the little forest. When you do come across other people, everyone is respectfully keeping their distance and speaking in quiet voices about how the world has changed.
Everything feels different.
It's been good to reconnect with friends in Europe and the UK (see what I did there?) and discuss the complacency of some governments. Boris & Dom's "kill off the old people" policy doesn't impress any of my UK friends. But then they're old. Like me. I'm so proud of the leadership Jacinda has shown throughout. I have confidence that NZ's response is science-based and can work. At the moment NZ is the best place to be in the world.
I'd have to say that despite the darkness covid is bringing to the world, there's a shared sentiment that when this is over, we can rebuild the world as a better place. This is a giant reset. We all know that we're living through one of history's bigger bits.
We're reading more books. And a super-friendly fantail visits us every day for a chat. I can't think of a better place for time to stand still.
Stay safe everyone. And keep the fuck away from other people.
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I normally work at home, have done so for most of the time since my son was born (he's 29). This is all very weird - all these people are going home, finding wonderful things there - I feel quite left out - wish I could take time off to join everyone.
Meanwhile we're in the middle of moving house (the kids are gone, this one deserves a bigger family in it), the movers were coming on Friday, much of my office is already there, we're stuck in a house full of boxes for a month. We're also carrying a bridging loan, hoping the market wont crash while we're holding the baby.
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Alfie, in reply to
These people keep reminding me that ‘be kind’ is deffo the Public Address word for 2020. I am in first on this one eh Russell.
Seconded. This phrase defines NZ's humane and intelligent approach to this emergency.
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I wake up, I stay in bed without guilt. It's my patriotic duty to have a lie-in. Love me a lockdown.
Anyway, this was my morning laugh (from the UK):
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Moz, in reply to
I’m attribute at least some responsibility for my long term career trajectory to this site
We is suitably proud of you :)
I’m doing fine in self-isolation, have a job that lets me work from home and a boss sufficiently vulnerable to the clue-bat that he’s willing to allow that. I moved back to my house (was renting near work) just before things got serious so sadly had to buy groceries the weekend of the toilet paper panic. Not fun. OTOH, I can afford to buy extra groceries, and have my spare rooms empty rather than renting them out, so save your pity. One of my team has just returned from Japan and is in quarantine at home with their family… it’s a bit tricky in that house. Other cow-orkers are listening to talkback radio and reading far right websites, so the office is still full of coughing people whining about the smell of hand sanitizer. But Australia is not yet in lockdown, probably, sort of. The thing that started at midnight is sort-of-lockdown, but it's very soft by world standards.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
Suggestion for Russell. Start another honeypot thread which is for discussion rather than community spirited kindness and sharing of experiences, and divert any debate to there.
Not a bad idea I guess. I'll do something this afternoon.
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Moz,
Oooh, but importantly: I have baby chickens to supervise. So there has been a great deal of sharing of videos of chicks doing what they do. Mostly flashing their cloacas at the camera... like a lot of people at the moment they spend their days sitting round the house eating, cheeping and excreting.
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Great header…“Together Alone”…the Karekare Finn sound from the 90s played in my ears the second I scanned it.
Good thinking Russell to put the foot down again–a little at least–with PA Hard News. An existential crisis second only to Climate Change seems a fitting occasion!
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Ak.Council are padlocking beaches to 'stop campers' and 'congregations', seems harsh and unkind, especially out West with the bush rahui in place. Also a wee bit discriminatory against the less able and people who have to live in campers, vans or their car. Of course we (youngish, fittish) can still walk in to the beach but that means the 'congregation' is on the other side of the gate but that is not the Councils problem.
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Ease into the new paradigm tonight (weds 25) with an NZ Music 'insta concert'
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-EMrfUgeeH/
I think Francisca Griffin is on at 8.45!! -
also for those in the music industry and ancillary enterprises the excellent MusicHelps org has collected relevant COVID-19 Information and Support for Kiwi Music People:
https://musichelps.org.nz/2020/03/covid-19-information-and-support-for-kiwi-music-people/
including their Wellbeing Service
https://musichelps.org.nz/backline/wellbeing/ -
Moz,
I watched Tiki Taane’s livestream on Saturday, that was also awesome (“Free entry, no dress code, all ages, byo”). But oddly a lot of the discussion ended up being about his dog. Exemplified by his ad, where he had to dub in a bark because the dog just looked at him and went “man, I’m sleeping here”. Famous musician, dog just sees an annoying noise and no food.
Ad is on youtube, concert requires failbook login.
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Thanks so much for reactivating, Russell. I love the contributions of people here. I'll be plying the roads around Brooklyn, Wellington, on my e-bike, and I must say I'm looking forward to there being less traffic.
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One major beneficiary of the lockdown: my greenhouse project. Chili, jade plants, holy basil, thyme, Kowhai, Kauri and Radiata all popping up. Dwarf beans on their way.
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