Friday, August 21, 2020 - 09:54 Carmen Gomez

CARMEN GOMEZ DIARY

As the initial surge of help and helpers during the covid lockdown now blurs into a distant memory; that’s how fickle memory is; we find ourselves in a strange world. We recall having seen how the pandemic affected the rest of the world as we watched the death tolls. When I say we, I mean what has become to be termed as the golden hour brigade; you know, the over seventies; not the young; as they were busy making themselves useful to the community, and living life on their own wavelength; as youth dictates.

We watched mesmerised as the government press conferences took place on GBC TV; informing us that life would never be the same again. Now with summer upon us, we do what we have always done in the summer months, which is to take the children to the beach or take ourselves to swimming pool areas, where hopefully there will be no other debate than that of “excuse me, but you are in my space.” This gives a touch of normality to our lives which was eagerly sought; except, it still continues to be a strange world.

Washing

I mean, we quickly learnt that our personal hygiene had to include the extra washing of hands; and when sneezes ambushed one, the phrase “catch it and bin it” had to come into effect. We became aware of the use of masks and social distancing; or as I prefer to call it, safe distancing. We began to accept all those things, and they have become part of our lives now. But what we were not aware of in all this time was that there was a master plan in the making; and it never dawned on us that that master plan was to rule our way of life, and in the making of it, turn our lives upside down. The making of a master plan would not surprise anyone who understands that the world continues to be in the grips of a pandemic.

The number of deaths is still very high in some countries, and in others it now appears that the age of preoccupation has now dropped to under seventy i.e. to those younger. Furthermore, although thankfully the younger generation is fitter and fights off the disease with greater success, it nevertheless appears to leave them with troubling after-effects.