LONDON, U.K. -- It finally happened. Eddie snapped.
He and his family live next door, and like many of us under lockdown, he鈥檚 working from home, which requires a certain level of quiet and co-operation. That鈥檚 not easy when there鈥檚 a jackhammer banging through a basement floor just across the back garden. After three days of it, suddenly, there was Eddie on his balcony, having a go at them.
鈥淚 want the owner鈥檚 name and number!鈥 (He later apologized for yelling.)
Eddie鈥檚 complaint was perfectly reasonable: Is it really necessary to use the bloody jackhammer all day? Nerves are understandably getting frayed. Perhaps that鈥檚 what happens when your favorite Primrose Hill pubs are shuttered.
For all of Eddie鈥檚 distress鈥攁nd ours, as neighbors in arms鈥攖he jackhammering didn鈥檛 really stop, and the workers aren鈥檛 exactly practising physical distancing either, which admittedly is hard to do when you鈥檙e digging up a lower ground floor at close quarters.
Nor have I seen a single worker wearing a mask, which might be a good idea, if only because of all the dust and dirt they鈥檙e churning up, let alone the fear of contracting COVID-19. Some people are blaming contractors for not protecting their workers, others are blaming Boris Johnson for not shutting down construction sites, the way he shut down everything else, though far later than the rest of Europe.
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Animosity may turn to sympathy , remembering that his much younger partner expecting their first child.
Some of you might also remember that in early March he visited COVID-19 patients in a hospital and happily announced that he had shaken their hands.
Anyway, let鈥檚 get back to the smaller world of personal home confinement in the middle of a pandemic.
Breakfast conversation:
鈥淒id you see the Americans are using blood plasma to treat the virus?鈥
鈥淵a. It鈥檚 supposed to be rich in antibodies from people who were cured.鈥
鈥淒oes it work?鈥
鈥淣ot sure. The Chinese have been experimenting with it.鈥
We used to talk about Brexit.
Apparenty there鈥檚 a proper way to wear a surgical mask and I got it wrong, as passed on by a friend鈥檚 sister who鈥檚 a nurse. (You can hide your face, but you can鈥檛 fool the experts.) It seems I was leaving a gap around the nostrils, which can be corrected by tweaking the wire band above the nose. Thanks Sue, at Mt Sinai in Toronto.
Today鈥檚 walk around The Regent鈥檚 Park鈥攚hich I鈥檝e re-christened the COVID Freedom Trail鈥攊nvolved running into a couple of Canadians wearing protective gloves, a duck up a tree, and a happy Sammy dog rolling in something irresistable, oblivious to the scourge around him. Nothing more than warm grass, one hopes.
Our flat has become a stay-at-home studio with three on-camera locations to choose from. For those who care, all it takes is a smart phone, a light on a tripod and away you go, live to the network. A viewer actually wrote to say he recognized some artwork in the shot. He didn鈥檛 say anything about the messy couch.
Anyway, that鈥檚 it for Day 4 under lockdown, which felt very much like Day 3, and for that matter, like Day 5. There are some things in life you just know to be true.