Public Spirit

 There was an interesting programme on the beeb last night, presented by Lucy W. Called 'The Blitz Spirit' it looked at said spirit from the point of view of ordinary people via their diaries. Their lives were hard, grim but stoical. The frank expression of their thoughts, the disappointment that the News wasn't  new or accurate made it all the more valid. 

Not everyone made it.

I wondered what people would write in their diaries about the current situation.  (Do people still write that kind of diary? (It's a shame Mum's diaries were thrown out - well, she was encouraged(!) to throw them out).

This pandemic isn't a war as such, although there are parallels, particularly in the way it has been managed by Government.  

Whose diary would be considered representative of ordinary people and their experiences? We hear about the care workers. Doctors, nurses, paramedics and everyone who works in and around the NHS, including the cleaners, kitchen workers and all the other support staff.

So who has been left out? Perhaps the mortuary workers, the porters, the funeral directors. Has there been a backlog of bodies needing space in a chilling room? Has there been enough coffins, grave diggers, crematorium workers upon whom we rely, to deal with After - after the death, after the grief, after the family have done all they can before (gratefully) handing over their loved one to the professionals?

When mourners were refused admission to funerals, how was that experience for those whose job it was to be there?

Was (or will there be) counselling?

And for those other hidden victims who survive? The police officers who have had to enforce difficult laws, who have been attacked. The RNLI, Mountain Rescue and all the other volunteers whose lives have been endangered because selfish idiots haven't bothered to follow the rules.

Will life change? Will people change?

We shall see.