Quarantine random thoughts #2

It’s day two AV (after virus era), the UK is catching up with the rest of Europe asking people to avoid other people, but from what I can see from my window there’s still plenty of folks out and about (schools are still open, and there’s a school at the end of the street).

Meanwhile I just made some farfalle.

It’s interesting how France appears to be going with an Italian approach (ordering everybody to stay home, policing the streets to make sure that nobody moves), while the UK is still suggesting people to stay away from others, apparently counting on citizens to do the right thing. Let’s see if this works.

In any case things are changing, and everybody is wondering how long this will last: on one side after a couple of months China seems to be coming back online, but others expect the impact of the virus to last much longer, changing our life for as long as one year. That’s great, by the time I will leave my flat Crossrail will be up and running! (Just kidding, of course we won’t be forced to stay home for a year).

There’s more and more data available every day, but it’s not easy to compare and understand what is really going on. Here’s an interesting article comparing the Korean and Italian crisis, trying to understand why the significantly different mortality rate.

Changing your behaviour for a certain amount of time helps forming new habits (I work with a company that has built a product on this). Some say it takes 66 days, some more, some less, but it does appear that we will all have the opportunity of forming new habits this spring.

A lot of people will get used to working from home and get stuff delivered. It’s a trend that was already happening, but any resistance will be blown away. I think that some companies will start wondering if they really need all that expensive real estate.

On the good news side, we will probably get used to better air quality. I wonder if people will notice and do something about this when they will be allowed to leave their homes again.

And canals in Venice are suddenly crystal clear.

Others are still adapting: I just got an automated spam message promoting discounted parking at the airport. Clearly the campaign was set up in the BV (before virus) era and nobody remembered to turn it off.

It’s sad to see all countries closing their borders (in most cases it’s a bit too late for that), and there’s a strange feeling knowing that I won’t be able to go home for a while. I’ve stayed away from Italy for longer, but there was always the option of jumping on a plane and get home. Now there isn’t. Apparently I could catch a bus to Dover, a ferry and then a train to Italy… the world is suddenly big again.

The internet is keeping us together. There have been a couple of glitches in my connection over the weekend, long enough to contemplate with sheer terror the idea of being offline. It was just a moment, but it did feel more uncomfortable than usual.

That’s all for today. Stay safe, be nice, keep in touch.