Hi all! If anyone’s still out there…
Just a quick one today, not the (what has become) standard 2000-word essay, which you may or may not be happy about!
These have certainly been times. I won’t call them the u-word since we’re all sick of that. There are so many pandemic think-pieces around, I wouldn’t dream of adding another to your pile. Have I obsessed over the war between political point-scoring and evidence-led scientific recommendations? Absolutely.
Have I saved hundreds of links? Definitely. For what it’s worth, follow Ed Yong’s COVID coverage and you can’t really go wrong*.
Since I last wrote about me, I think it was wedding time. So, just over 4 years later and here’s a very brief summary of life since:
- moved to California, USA (South SF Bay area) 🇺🇸
- issues with the USCIS (immigration) and legal go-betweens resulted in my inability to seek work for about half of those 4 years, in total. Very cool.
- attended a community college; came away having befriended tutors rather than students because I’m old now
- made friends with lots of hummingbirds; they only want you for your sugar water, beware.
- saw a LOT of whales in truly awesome Monterey Bay! Including a pod of transient orcas celebrating a sea lion kill, on the #whalenerdsWeekend, an all time best trip
- visited many National Parks! Walked the whole floor loop around Yosemite valley and waded through an ice-cold mountain stream flooding a trail
- camped in the high desert and found desert rainbows and rattlesnakes
- went to Hawaiʻi a few times, and saw manta rays!
- learned to swim and beginner-snorkel 🏊🏼♀️
- learned to drive… an automatic, on giant American roads
- made some lovely (human) friends
- completed ~600 consecutive days of Duolingo
- expanded my cooking repertoire, including a particularly excellent focaccia
- got a huge amount of sun (and very little sunburn; get that Factor 50 on)
- grew our Destiny clan and spent many joyous hours in the virtual solar system playing with sci-fi guns and space magic, and met up with some fireteam members irl 🎮
- made many plans that fizzled out because of the whole staying-at-home thing
- moved back to London, UK, at the end of last year. For my sins. 🇬🇧
That’s a whistle-stop tour, obviously lots happened – or did nothing happen? Time is an illusion and nobody knows anymore. In addition to these fun/exciting/frustrating events, I also missed two funerals (and lost three friends). I’m very mindful of the privileges that have meant we’ve weathered these things with very little difficulty or personal cost, and how different things are for others.
I hope that you, dear reader, are keeping well. If you lost anyone important to you recently, I am sorry for that and for the ongoing insensitivity and denial we are facing.
Healthcare friends are struggling under the weight of it all and I hope they are able to achieve some rest soon as well.
*I’ve seen people fall down conspiratorial holes and the toll that’s taken on family members, too. If you see someone share something and you’re not sure how to interpret it, get in touch and I’ll see if I can help.
There’s not much to this other than an awareness of all the drafts I have yet to finish and that I haven’t actually published anything here in ages so… here’s a thing. Have an e-hug, a cup of something warm you enjoy, and hopefully I’ll get around to writing something interesting (to some of you!) soon.
💙
Purely a figment of your imagination 