The shots this week were all taken of people waiting for a procession in Lisbon. Already seeing pictures of people congregating is starting to look really strange. It is insane how quickly what was once usual becomes utterly unusual. And how the abnormal becomes normal. Our worlds have shrunk considerably but we adapt.
I have never been indoors this much in my entire life but I accept this is how it must be. Having been sick with the virus (still untested but not possible its anything else) for last 10 days has actually helped me not climb the walls as have been wiped out and my worry is actually when I start to feel better and have normal energy levels. My other medical condition is I have ‘ants in my pants’ so having to deal with continued confinement might exacerbate this insect ridden underwear syndrome but I will endure as we all must. Like everybody, am already adjusting to this highly bizarre and surreal existence and memories of my former life are already fading.
Hope you are all coping okay. Even though we are all going through the same thing it doesn’t always feel like it as we are all in isolation and living it separately. It wasn’t untill last night when so many of us on our street came out to applaud the NHS did I physically see my neighbours who are all going through the same thing. To hear the cheers and the applause was so uplifting and connected us all. We are all in this together and we mustn’t ever forget it. It is our sense of togetherness that will help us get through it.
This is now a waiting game and we have to accept it might be a long one at that. This is no sprint, its a marathon race and we need to settle in to this new and very surreal existence. Patience and calm, not panic and worry are the order of the day. They will get us through this. And as a return to ‘nomality’ is potentially a long way away we have to prepare to be in this for the long haul. Don’t fight it. Get used to it. Appreciate what you have, not focus on what you don’t. ‘Survival is Victory’ and all that . Survival was, in fact, all that ever mattered but we had forgotten this. Maybe now, when everything has been stripped away from us, all the bullshit, all the nonsense, we will realise this again.
If you know anyone who is quarantining on their own, give em a shout, make sure they ok. A lil chat goes a long way. I have to say that one of the positives of this increasingly surreal situation is that if you phone someone they actually take the call. Everyone’s available. Everyone wants to chat. The ratio of answering machines to pick ups has drastically reversed. Could this be the thing that sees the return of phone conversations, the once dominant form of communication now deposed and replaced with text based interaction? Who knows but ‘it’s good to talk’ as an old BT campaign used to say back in the 80s, which was probably the last time someone took my call.
So lets keep the airwaves open, and as my friend Grant said, “we might as well because nothing else is”. Ironically it might be this enforced isolation that makes us realise how important it is to stay connected and to feel part of a community. It is, in fact, more than important. It is essential to our well being.
This is a time for social distancing not emotional distancing. If you are self-isolating together be kind to one another. Important to understand that we are all going to react to this in different ways. And just because someone ain’t saying anything don’t mean they ain’t feeling it. So share your concerns, don’t hold them in..and listen to each other. And give each other massive amounts of leeway. Like beyond stacks. When this is all over, then you can witter on incessantly about that utterly inconsequential thing that is bugging you. Just let everything go. This ain’t no-one’s fault and this definitely ain’t the time to be falling out. This is the time for staying tight.
As you may or may not have guessed, I am not actually out on the streets of Lisbon currently. I am stuck at home like most others. Me & Mrs B have been self-isolating all week as sick with poss/poss not Covid-19. ( mebbe 17 or 18 ;) If we do have it, luckily it is mild version & similar symptoms to Tom Hanks, no joke but the joke is that’s about all we can go on as can’t get tested. So these shots were taken on a trip last year and haven’t had a chance to go through them till now. I am also posting these in the midst of all this madness because its a way of travelling without moving.
With the current global lockdown and everyone isolated indoors it feels like virtual travel is definitely the order of the day. It feels like this is what the internet was designed for. To keep us connected when we can’t do so in the real world. And to keep us distracted. We need diversions during this indefinite period. You cannot pay attention to this shit storm all the time. It will drive you bat shit crazy. So maybe ease up on the constant drip feed of round the clock bulletins and let your mind wander elsewhere from time to time.
For what its worth I am doing daytime corona, nighttime escapism. I saw on Netflix that all the movies that were trending were virus related which to me seems crazy. That’s like watching airplane disaster movies on a plane. You need to stay informed and keep abreast of the latest developments but you also need to stay sane so make sure you give your brain a rest.
Wall to wall worry is not going to help get you through this. You need time outs so am providing shots of elsewhere in the hope that helps. Obvs if you live in Lisbon (hello Paddy, dermot, fernanda!) this might be less of an escape but at least it might let you mentally meander to a time when Corona was just a beer.
Some of my aforementioned mates were part of the Brexodus that moved to Lisbon after the referendum (remember those happy times when we just spoke about the EU) and after visiting them last year I realised it pretty much ticks every box of what I want a city to be. The vibe, the people, the architecture, the way of life, the food, the nightlife..its all top draw. And from a photographic point of view, it is superb. So many incredible faces, you can barely turn without seeing a magnificently character on ever corner. The light is stunning, noticeably so, I don’t know why, but its truly breathtaking as it makes all the colours of all the buildings and the crystal blue sky pop like HDTV. (yes, fraid these shots are in bnw as still on my colour strike as I was depressed about the world before the film Contagion became a reality show!)
I have a feeling CoronaWorld ain’t going anywhere anytime soon so we might have to get used to not going anywhere for a while which is why digi-travel is the solution. This virus has brought the globe to a standstill and maybe that is not such a terrible thing. We go round and round and we never stop for long enough to work out what the fuck we are doing or where we are going. Both as individuals and as a species.
I feel life is relentless and I always wished that it would be possible for everything to just stop. To freeze everything. Just to get a time out. Just to have a breather. Just long enough to stop chasing your tail. They say be careful what you wish for…
I hope this enforced time out will give us time to reflect and realise that what we need to as a species is put the brakes on everything we were doing anyway. I hope we will learn from this and not just go back to normal after this has blown over and not learn from the experience and just return to the round and round…maybe the positive is that Corona will show us how we can live without relentless consumption & travel and put us on a regenerative path towards sustainable living. We must not let this opportunity go to waste.
I will be posting more shots of Lisbon up next week as I want to continue to ride the magic carpet of virtual travel…because I am housebound but also because once again I dream of Europe where they are doing whatever is necessary to put the safety of their people first which involves a total lockdown. Why aren’t we? No-one fucking knows. We are currently run by an arrogant, uncaring imbecile – a terrible combo at the best of times.
Stay safe out there people…and stay strong. Stubborn optimism is the order of the day. Don’t let this shit get you down. It shall pass. And meantime…all aboard the pixel plane!
P.s am starting to realise calling the series “Society In Meltdown” was maybe a little prophetic..eek.
Also, in other news (that isn’t totally apocalyptic):
#MYLDNBK got a feature in The Big Issue last week. You can see clipping below.
Book still available via my subtly titled “BUY BOOK” button in menu on my website…might give you somit to read if you going into quarantine lock down ;)
This picture kinda sums up the mood in U.K right now and probably most other places..everyone eyeballing everyone else like they might be the ones to give them the dreaded lurgy…suspicion is becoming as contagious as the virus. This lot giving me the stares should poss be checking out the dude to the right pumping spit into a sax & blowing it out the other end…that can’t be good.
In the book “The Future we Choose” by Christiana Figures and Tom Rivett-Carnac, a book focussing on positive solutions for climate change there is a chapter which demonstrates how fear of scarcity creates scarcity. They illustrate this concept with an example of Tucson, a desert town in Arizona which had the perception they were going to run out of water so over-pumped the available supply and created the very thing they were afraid of. If they had not panicked they would have been fine.
Anyone who is stockpiling toilet paper is demonstrating perfectly how, if we continue to focus on our own individual needs and concerns, we are doomed. It gives a chilling look into how people behave when they panic. If this is how they react over toilet paper, what will they do when food and water become scarce? We must stop thinking that we are up against each other and realise that our only chance of survival is to think and act collectively. It is imperative to our survival. Either “we all win or we all lose” as it states in the aforementioned book.
Or if I could put it slightly more offensively to the gentleman carrying 63 rolls in this photo (yes I counted) and others like him: don’t be a selfish fucking twat and calm the fuck down. You’re an embarrassment to your species.
