It is a soggy cheerless Sunday. I have just arisen languidly from an uncommonly deep nap on the green leather sofa. Already it is late in the afternoon approaching the dinner hour. The yellow hue of the declining sun gleams through the blotched grey clouds like an advancing Chariot of Fire. The light is otherwise mercurial and lacks the vibrancy of blue and gold. In keeping with my undying religious necessity I expiated my guilt earlier this morning in the gymnasium on a stationary bicycle or what qualifies as an “indoor cycle” on my Apple Watch. It is an experiment which I doubt will succeed my passion for outdoor cycling.

The atmosphere continues to be shrouded by uncertainty. There is a reluctance to penetrate any boundary for fear of endangering one’s health. So convinced are some of the continuing lockdown that they have taken to retailing “local” at every opportunity. Daily at table others are circulating among themselves the previously ignored advantages of what is right at their door. Meanwhile the effort to revive society feels yet almost illegal. For my part I no longer have an interest in retail shopping other than on-line.  More than once I have seriously considered the option for home delivery of groceries – not because I wish to escape domestic stigma but rather because I have difficulty maintaining myself upright. Because of the pandemic travel among vacationers and restaurant diners has for the moment lost its vendible allure.

As we descend more deeply into this evolving vernacular there are sprigs of new design popping up everywhere.  The human mind is unaccustomed to enforcement. Like a creeping vine human ambition will cling to whatever it can while enlarging its breadth. There are undoubtedly financial repercussions as well. The relevance of expenditure is at stake. So too the awakening to new habits and enterprises. The alteration of the working model to stay-at-home occupation is an astronomic change having social consequences far beyond what to wear at work. There is also the affect upon the family knit, pollution, psychological stress and general utility. The motor vehicle industry has been given another kick in the pants regarding electric transportation. Public transportation – roads, rails and flights – will endure associated change.

As we daily approach an increasing intimacy among ourselves we at times expose our emotions to the urgency of anxieties which we might have normally obscured. Getting the best out of any situation is my continuing sentiment whatever the consequence of familiarity. The duration of this particular blip in activity does however disturb me. It is the first time I’ve knowingly witnessed Nature at its indiscriminate best, surmounting mankind’s feeble objection.