Kevin's Watch

It's a little bit post-apocalyptic here today. The sky is orange, mid-day is as dark as twilight, and it's snowing ash. Looks a bit like Mars outside, though Mars probably has better air quality.

ugh Sorus I feel you.

I am dreading bushfire season ... the last was awful. I hate the smoky everydays, scary skies, firey vistas especially at night.

Sending you love and hope that the fires will be extinguished.

Stay safe

Warming up here as spring gets going, but rains apparently still far away unfortunately.

--A

Still dark and smoky, but the sky is no longer orange. Still looks a bit post-apocalyptic, but less garish. Yesterday's color theme looked like it was designed by an amateur photographer who just discovered filters and used all of them.

Don't know. Haven't been outside in a week.

I don't envy your circumstances, but I'd love to hole up for a week. It's nasty out there, both in terms of weather and general human mood. Six months in, and folks are going a little squirrely. I'm probably included in that at this point. I handle solitude better than most, but it's been six months since I had human interaction outside of work, which really doesn't count. But because of the nature of my work, I have definitely been exposed, and even without symptoms I need to assume that I could be a carrier. I'm probably being overly cautious, but I wouldn't forgive myself if I got someone sick.

^ a carrier

You'd think by now everyone in the world should be infected, to a greater or lesser degree. Like if I laugh too hard I get a cough build-up that reminds me of when I would smoke too heavily. And it was last November/December I had a double whammy bad cold. The December infection nearly crippled me, and I only just made it to the Christmas break.

As for the weather, it's neither hot or cold or wet or windy or cloudy ... just right I'd say.

I worked with someone who was fine on Monday. On Tuesday she was hospitalized with pneumonia. She tested negative for COVID and was back at work yesterday, even though she was still pretty sick. Which I'm not cool with. I don't have 100% faith in the accuracy of the testing.

Sorus wrote:I don't envy your circumstances, but I'd love to hole up for a week. It's nasty out there, both in terms of weather and general human mood. Six months in, and folks are going a little squirrely. I'm probably included in that at this point. I handle solitude better than most, but it's been six months since I had human interaction outside of work, which really doesn't count. But because of the nature of my work, I have definitely been exposed, and even without symptoms I need to assume that I could be a carrier. I'm probably being overly cautious, but I wouldn't forgive myself if I got someone sick.

I can relate to this. The reason I wear a mask is not to protect myself (my eyes will still be exposed to Covid-19, and anyway it's the frequent washing that helps protect me, as I understand things), but because I fear I could be asymptomatic and infect others. I couldn't forgive myself if I got others sick, either!

Lazy Luke wrote: You'd think by now everyone in the world should be infected, to a greater or lesser degree.

I'm pretty sure I had it in January. There were no confirmed cases here at the time, but now they suspect it actually started here last December. Everyone on the bus was coughing all through January.

The real question is whether I have (or had) antibodies that offer any sort of protection against getting it again.

Sorus wrote:The real question is whether I have (or had) antibodies that offer any sort of protection against getting it again.

I had it bad in December. On a commute to work I felt so weak I had to fight back tears - (I remember I'd been thinking about the story of Billy Casper in the old Kes film, and had to look out the window for fear of being seen.)

Then the strangest thing happpened. When I got off the bus and went to cross the road, a small roadkill bird was in my path. A sickly little mess I might not ever forget.

Sorus wrote:I worked with someone who was fine on Monday. On Tuesday she was hospitalized with pneumonia. She tested negative for COVID and was back at work yesterday, even though she was still pretty sick. Which I'm not cool with. I don't have 100% faith in the accuracy of the testing.

I was never cool with sick people coming to work. It’s a recipe for taking the entire team down - a complete counter-efficiency.

Stay well and safe.

Apparently as you can get reinfected the antibody question is difficult to determine.

Skyweir wrote: I was never cool with sick people coming to work. It’s a recipe for taking the entire team down - a complete counter-efficiency.

Absolutely agree. Our governor just signed two new laws that require us to be told if we've been exposed, and paid if we get sick from exposure at work. And of course businesses are saying that's not viable. (By execs who aren't at risk of exposure, I'm sure.)

We'll see how that works out. Things at work are... bad. Nobody wants to rock the boat because they're firing people for the most minor infractions right now. But them refusing to tell us if we were exposed never made sense to me - you'd think they would want to prevent an outbreak, not to mention that we now assume it's COVID if anyone calls out for any reason.

Don't know - might get out Saturday or Sunday.

It's official...a new study shows that based on temperature data, we have 6 months of summer, 2 months of Autumn, 3 months of Winter, and 1 month of Spring in SA.

https://www.businessinsider.co.za/trave ... ons-2020-9

--A

We have summer most of the year in Texas. But it has cooled down the last couple of days. Turned the ac off. Its 73 degrees out right now.

'Bout the same temp here right now, Summer is just on the way in, so still pleasant.

--A

It will get bitter cold in Texas for a few weeks. I'll have to get my jacket out soon enough.

Haha, our winters are nothing like yours.

--A