Coronavirus - Covid-19 - Boris Johnson falling down on the job - Page 5

Everyone,

There is a little story I have ( to my everlasting  great shame)  to relate about bringing people on-side. Yes I know this seems off point.. but please bear with me.

As a very green teenage private in the Army, over 50 years ago, our patrol founds ourselves cut off  in appalling weather.   I was holding up well.  l had all my kit in order and my SLR was oily slick and free of mud.   Was actually enjoying myself!   So the Sarge come up to me hauling  "Laho" ,  who is the worst disaster in the entire army.   laho  is the damaged product of a notorious orphanage. He has ebeen slung into the army as ther is no where else  for him.   

Sarge shouts above the strom  "We're safe.. camp here.. take care of him".    Apart from his SLR Laho has lost all his gear including his rations. He is soaked through .  He is blue-lipped and no longer functioning.

Cursing I dug out a foxhole for us and set up my hoochie.  Laho has lost his and his bloody sleeping bag. I take off his boots and roll him into my bag  and try as best I can to get in with him for buddy warmth.   So  there I am freezing and getting wet  because of this absolute  f.......r  who is going to get us all killed.

Anyway I have a bar of chocolate left.  I know I'm the only in the unit that still has one!  So I very very quietly  sneak it out of my pack and slip it square bey square into my mouth and  as it melts I swallow it all down silently.   My head is just inches from laho's head.  He doesn't know a thing.  It raining dogs.  I sleep deeply for a few hours.

At 0700 the rain has stopped and the sun is  warming things up a bit.   laho is alive.  He is purple colour, but he is alive.  I make tea in my mess tin and cursing drink in a hurry .  Very grudgingly I make one for bloody Laho with my last teabag.    He has just manage to get his boots on, and has rolled a fag with the tiniest bit of tobacco left in a plastic bag he has pulled out of his tunic.  This fag is the only thing he has in the world.     He has no food.    He lights it from the fire tablet...   and before taking a drag offers it to me.

My middle-class smug selfishness ..  and his terrible upbringing that produced such innate generosity..  still leaves me in awe.. over fifty years later.

But be certain of this.. if I could since give my life for his.. I'd do it in a nanosecond.  He mightn't  have looked it  but he was so much the better man.

Laho died in a crash two weeks after we got back.

Laho was as close to sainthood as a human can get.    

The year ahead is going to be very difficult for everyone.    It will bring the best out of us all if we let it.  We have to unify and pull together.

Still eat chocolate.. sticks in my throat.. ans so it bloody should!

Bill

Well said Bill

Dammed good question James.  Those from  Madrid have spread the virus the length of the Country. Madrid was the epicentre of the virus for many days, some might say it is a case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.

For those that haven’t seen it yet, this is what our “Estado de Alarma” entails:-

SPAIN’S government has decreed a ‘state of alarm’ across the entire country in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

As of today, Saturday, freedom of movement will be severely restricted with citizens required to stay at home for the next 15 days.

All of Spain’s regions and autonomous communities will be put under direct government control, including local police forces.

Officers will be given special powers to make ‘checks’ on people, goods, vehicles, buildings and establishments while the state of alarm is in effect.

The Royal Decree issued today says citizens will only be able to use public roads for the following reasons:

1. Acquisition of food, pharmaceuticals and basic necessities.

2. Visits to health centres.

3. Travel to the workplace to perform work or business-related activities.

4. Return to the place of habitual residence.

5. Assistance and care for the elderly, minors, dependents, people with disabilities or especially vulnerable people.

5 Visits to financial entities.

6. Any other activity of an analogous nature duly justified.

The circulation of private vehicles on public roads will only be allowed to carry out the aforementioned activities, or to refuel at petrol stations.

The state of alarm puts all security forces, including the Catalonian Mossos, the Basque Ertzaintza and the local police under the authority of the Interior Ministry.

The Decree adds the army will be drafted in to help make sure the curfew is in affect.

Those on this thread might be interested in this -

https://www.thedailybeast.com/boris-johnson-has-turned-britain-into-a-petri-dish-for-coronavirus?ref=scroll 

. . . . I think the penny has dropped and at last most know that the world-wide Covid-19 situation is serious. I had a quick scan through some of the latest posts on this forum and one guy doesn't know if there is overreaction. Then he says he hope people can get through this. Another poster is confused whether her dogs can be exercised during the "lockdown." In twelve hours even the staunch believers in Mr Johnson's non-actions have remained off the forum. I must commend them for this. 

I believe the Spanish government is acting in the interests of the country and its people including expats. I expect Mr Johnson will be seeking the resignations of those professionals who recently stood shoulder high with him and giving him wrong advice. I hear air travel to the USA from the UK and Ireland will cease in the next few days on instructions from the Oranged One. 

We're not out of the woods yet and our infirm and old are still under threat from Covid-19. It's a time for patience and I hope Common Sense will kick in shortly among those stupid fools who still are not aware (nor want to be aware) of the gravity of the situation.

Hi Mathew

What help is it to use the term "Stupid fools" in a post.  It's off putting. and for some actually is a form of  bullying.  The same with your term the  "Oranged One" 

It's divisive.  At this very desperate hour when we need to work together.  Johnston and Trump , their minions and their supporters thrive on this kind of division. Effectively you give them leverage they seek.  

And meanwhile it's no good preaching to the converted.

Reach out to the other side.  Save a life or two.

It's sounds corny , but when one gets to survival situations, our basic decency as humans can shine through.  

I know you will be out there helping others at some point. that's if you are not already.

I'm volunteering for grave digging..( with an old  mini-digger... just in case you had visions of a 70 year old digging furiously with a pick and shovel).  It's not much, but I'm hoping it might be helpful. 

Best wishes for your posts.. and hoping you will be safe.

Bill

Hi Bill, Thanks for that and I find most of your post reassuring. I am not withdrawing my comments regarding stupid fools or the "Oranged One" - We will always have stupid fools and unfortunately in situations like this they tend to get more stupid. Being an example to them is like being a lighthouse in the Yorkshire Moors, brilliant but useless. 

Such is the nature of the beast the "Oranged One" will clasp onto anything that will secure some votes for him. I take most of what he says with a grain of salt. He is a showman (although an elected one) and I bet he has been called worse. 

I commend your stance on Covid-19 and you are setting yourself as a role model for others. I think you're the kind of guy I'd enjoy a coffee with when this is all over. But, we are going to see a lot worse in the near future. You see, the Stupid Fools will break whatever regulations are in place. They believe rules are not for them. I would love to be posting differently, but my years of experience dictate that we will always have fools with us.

Matthew..

Speaking as a rough uneducated old thing myself..    we're doomed.   You are absolutely incorrigible.   By comparison Faulty was positively enlightened!  Wonderful!...   More a blundering "Mannering" myself.

So will do the coffee thing of course. Delighted.   Provisionally about Christmas time, or is that being optimistic? 

We probably wont be able tolerate each other after 5 minutes.  They say here  that  "Old bulls are all balls and no brains 

What are we about to experience....

Bill

Hi Bill, I don't think we'll have to wait until Christmas for that cup of coffee and we can share much more time than you think. With a little co-operation from everybody the advance of the virus can be stopped relatively shortly. They are doing this in China with a population that makes that of Spain and the UK look pretty meagre. 

Let's hope that we are not going to experience the Covad-19 death toll of Italy. The vast majority of people who will become infected won't die. But, the Capt. Mannerings and Basil Fawltys age group are in the high risk category. I would prefer to share a coffee table with them rather than those who are afraid to stand up to Herr Johnson.