Football v the NHS

Sport.

Something that provides some normality in a sea of death and dispondency. 

Today we hear that some players are “fearful” about returning to play.

Players on silly money each week who live in their luxury mansions who cannot agree on how to defer salaries to support other staff at the club or the NHS do not want to play for 90 minutes every 3 days to complete the obligations that they get admirably rewarded for.

Thank goodness the staff at the NHS did not say the same thing. They have obligations and rolled up their sleeves under their inadequate PPE gear.

The “One” Show ........

There is only one show in town at the moment and that’s Covid19. 

You can’t get away from it. 

It’s in the news, it’s got its own daily update with socially distancing MP’s providing dull, uninspiring information in a style guaranteed to bore. The fact that they wheel out a different cast to reel out the same lack of answers to the same questions each day. 

Deaths and cases go up, or down but the drone remains the same.

At moments like these I think about the 24 hour news stations and their constant repetitive cycle that goes round in an an hour rather than a day. I mean how much of the same can you take?

In the past there has been “breaking” terrorist attacks or explosions where we have to go to our nearest reporter to give you their uninformed eye witness commentary as they speak to people who didn’t see what happened but could describe the horror of the aftermath.... as they go back to the studio where they have found someone who is an “expert” to give an informed opinion about something that we have no information about.

Spare a thought at this time to think about Sports stations such as Sky .... who have 9 TV stations for live sport.....when there is .... no live sport to bring.

We can talk about when sport will come back, if it should come back, why sport is irrelevant at this time, what elite sportspeople are doing to stay fit and ready for sport when it returns......

.....let’s listen to sports people who have no sport to talk about talk about the Corona virus ..... and it’s effect on sport.

Channel flicking ...... the NHS have no PPE........ footballers who are not working are unwilling to give up part of their £350,000 a week to .....  teams should go in for Harry Kane but it will cost £200,000,000.....

A  99 year old man can raise over £20miion by walking round his garden. There’s a sport that is worth watching.

Are you a squirrel, lemming or jack ass?

Squirrels gather their nuts for winter, lemmings follow each other over cliffs in bouts of mass hysteria and a jackass is just a jackass.

And today we have queues round the Tescos car park, security guards and police used by supermarkets as panic buying goes into turbo charge mode.

Supermarkets are not empty. There is food. Just not necessarily the basics.

Fruit, veg, meat, pasta, paracetamol and cheap alcohol have all shot from the shelves.... Don't know what kind of self isolating party these people are having but I am glad I am not invited.

As you may know, I hate the shortening of words, BREXIT Covid19 and of course FOMO. Why are people so afraid of missing out that they need to spend their entire monthly wages on stocking up their   Deep freezes and fridges to overflowing.

 If only we did our weekly shopping as we all do but stood 1 1/2 m away from each other we would all be fine. 

I always feel sorry for the items that are left on the shelves.......all the sweet corn tins had gone.....but there were loads of tins of peas......since when did they go out of fashion.

All the wine under £7 had gone but the good stuff was still bountiful. 

There were calls in a newspaper for Boris to get the wartime spirit going.........well with security outside supermarkets we already have rationing and following BREXIT our new found fear of foreigners.

Think smart. Hunker down and wait. 

Hopefully the bloke who left with an 8 month supply of toilet rolls....won't be back in tomorrow .....sadly the people who didn't get any yesterday will mutate into him in time for the tills to open tomorrow as they missed out yesterday and so the whole FOMO thing mutates.

We should have known things would be like this. See motorways......how come we all grind to a halt when there isn't an accident.....and everyone thinks that any one of the other lanes is travelling at 1/2 mph faster than theirs so they want to change lanes and then someone else wants to change and move into their space....then there's the bloke who bombs down the lane with the red T and indicates like a mad thing knowing that we will still let him in even though we have done the sensible British thing and queued up sensibly.

We need leadership,information and a clear plan........and then we all need to stick to it!

Sadly you do have the right to kill yourself .... but don’t take me with you.

Corona virus.

It’s the only show in town and at this point the only thing on tv. 

I can’t bring myself to watch the Corona virus updates which show 3 politician/medical expert/blah blah blah person with their podiums set to the recommended 2m distance for people to still socially distance.

There is very little informative to learn from them and some of these people have no bedside manner or ability to feel empathy with the people in lockdown watching them from their homes.

It’s good to know that 90% of Britons are following the lockdown order. What about the rest? Why are they not?

Did Anne Frank think , no , these Germans are not interested in me, I’ll just pop out to the Amsterdam Cornerstore for a lava lamp to make my loft hideaway more bearable. 

I love the fact that in America there are now marches to defend the people’s right to free assembly and how lockdown is “unconstitutional.”

Lockdown in the UK has been reffered to as Draconian. 

People are concerned about the long term effect on the economy....... so....just how many cases daily deaths make it acceptable for us all to return to our former lifestyles.

We are not in normal circumstances. Yes Americans have the right to assemble in the constitution ..... during the blitz in WW2 you have the right to set fire to your waste in your garden at night as the German bombers flew overhead but I hope that none of your neighbours choose to.

In the UK we have been told that some of us are TOO good at staying in. 

It will be interesting to see how we react when we are told that lockdown is over. Some will run out into the sun to reclaim their lost time.... some will peek out, gently adjusting their eyes to the change and some will not want to stick their heads out at all.

It’s also good to know that several months into this pandemic and with  over 12,000 deaths in the UK

That the Government has put together a corona virus vaccine task force.

This is not the “shall we or shan’t we” invest in salt and gritters when it may or may not be a cold, snowy winter.

You can’t always plan for worst case scenarios.... although someone, somewhere earns big bucks to run theoretical scenarios. Why are we so far behind the curve that rather than flatten it, we have let it climb higher than it should?

Not a lot of those “Keep calm, thrive in Lockdown and carry on” memes.

Car crash tv....

Here we are in self isolation for 3 weeks. Many people are struggling to find things to do or are “bored” with having to spend 3 weeks in a house that they have bought, decorated and furnished with things to make it comfortable. Why don’t people do something rash like use the opurtunity to do something positive? I don’t mean learn a new language or write a book but play with their kids or make plans-start projects with their spouse or partner.

The media is full of celebrities and their struggles as their selfies show how they are coping in their 10 bedroom mansions with swimming pools.....

Others have to go out shopping with their designer face masks .........but I digress.

Having gone through the news which has for the most been repetitively similar for the last month ... I clicked on the US showbiz section of the Daily Mail online ....I know....

Isn’t it amazing how “showbiz” or “celebrity” takes on a whole new meaning.

Amidst articles about Brad Pitt, John Travolta and Angelina Jolie are loads of others

I still don’t understand the fixation with the Kardashians/Jenners. The fact that you get screen time for overacting badly in front of cameras by talking loudly and controversially whilst being a designer coat hanger is something I will never get.

This has spawned “Real Housewives” from a variety of different places from New York,Orange County and Beverly Hills........people.... these are anything BUT real housewives as their plastic surgeons will testify to. Real housewives of the Bronx or Nowhere special  Arkansas probably wouldn’t get ratings because those are real people with real everyday issues.

Whilst we have “Strictly” the Americans gave dancing with the stars.....where it seems compulsory for marriages to fall apart after hours of dancing together..... dancers names appear regularly in the media..... for those of us old enough ..... can you remember any dancer from Saturday night Seaside Special?

 

Teen mom, 90 day fiancé, for the US whilst we have loads of news from stars of TOWIE or Love Island. There was an article about how someone from Gogglebox had passed away ..... a program which watches people watching tv and talking through it ......I mean anyone who wants to talk through tv should be sent to their room.

My big fat Gypsy Wedding or dear god ....the Tiger King, appear to take the most dysfunctional examples of humans and give the world access to them for the viewing world to watch in shock and awe.

The more of this ....cheap tv that there is , the less time broadcasters have to develop a fine historically accurate costume drama.

 

It is all car crash tv. Something that is horrible but that   once seen, cannot be unseen.

In a world where people are famous for being you tubers, social influencers, gamers.....can we take a moment and understand that tv’s idea of reality - just isn’t!