Dr Kristopher Lovell

22/09/2020

Back into lockdown today. Or perhaps not lockdown but ‘tighter restrictions’ as they say. In a strange way it is a relief. Firm rules mean that you don’t have to walk some tight rope of what is acceptable; which friends are okay with hanging out, which friends are scared shitless and don’t want to be in the same proximity as anyone. Partial lockdown means you don’t have to navigate the new social, but instead can live in little bubbles. There is no anxiety about whether you should go for a meal with your family even though it breaks local lockdown rules; but if you don’t go you are not being part of the family.

The bubble isn’t too bad to be honest, less pressure. If you see less people it is almost like you can be less responsible for people. Everyone is just trying to find their own way through and you are almost allowed to be insular. It is pretty exhausting carrying the weight of everyone so it is rather refreshing only concentrating on one or two people. Or perhaps this is just the results of six months of all this. It is quite surprising how many people still hold onto the idea that there is an end point to all this. Vaccine hope, my friend calls it. The media and even the politicians talk about this golden arrow that will just make everything better. The scientists are pleading with us to realise that we have to change our behaviour and that this is long term. I don’t think people have the capacity for long term anymore. Everything is instant gratification. Also the individualism of society has become so evident. It feels like people can’t see bigger picture, instead it has to be personal.

Anyway, you can now get pretty cool masks from Gap, so Covid19 Fashion is becoming a thing.