Day One Hundred and Thirteen - Japanese Death Rate and Battling the Buddleia

I'm always fearful that if I miss a day's walking I'm going to seriously jeopardise the conditioning that my body has achieved in recent months. Silly. One day isn't gonna make much difference. And I actually found that my walk was one of the best this morning. Best in terms of how I felt physically. I managed the whole route easily. And it was a beautiful morning. Blue skies and sunshine. I'm glad I was out then because the weather has deteriorated since. Back to breezes and clouds.

Here’s something interesting on the news that I found and I'll be interested to know What my friend who lives in Japan thinks. Apparently Japan has a mysteriously low virus death rate. That's according to a BBC news article. And given that the lockdown protocols haven't been nearly as strict as some other countries it makes it even more mysterious. The deputy prime minister of Japan feels it is down to "mindo" literally translated means peoples level and it is suggested that there is a superiority amongst the Japanese that may contribute to this low death rate. Another theory suggests that it is the Japanese lack of physical expression when greeting one another. Also that Japan may even have suffered a covid type outbreak before and people have an inbuilt immunity. Also in the article was the reference of the fact that the Japanese have been wearing face masks in public for many many years. The article says since the 1919 flu epidemic! That's 100 years. Does make you wonder doesn't it? Maybe all we ever needed to do was to wear face-masks. Here's a link to the full article if you're interested to read it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-53188847

I was whingeing about productivity the other day wasn’t I? Today I changed the bedlinen, washed it, dried it, made the bed. I wrote a book review. I wrote a poem. I played pop master with my friend. I was on the phone for some time with my friend. I’ve done some reading. I’ve done some eating. And I tried gardening. I potted three spider plants that had rooted very nicely. I’ve  picked some sweet peas and arranged them in a vase. After all the wind we’ve had its challenged some of the taller plants. I decided to try and tie the buddleia back. I was having trouble getting down to the garden to hang the washing out The boughs were blocking the path. And the bees are very attracted by it so I was at risk of getting stung. I failed miserably. I think it’s probably a two person job. My gardener used to manage it on his own. But I need some help. But I won’t get any. Social distancing aside I can’t think of anyone who could help me. It’s a bit of a worry because although I contacted my gardener  he didn’t reply to my text message. So I don’t know if he’s changed his phone or if he’s simply taken me off his books. I realise that I actually can’t manage without some help in the garden. That’s something lockdown has proved to me. I’ll leave it until longer then I’ll try contacting him again. Otherwise I’m going to be looking for somebody else.

Okay so in terms of productivity it’s not great and I realise that the fly in the ointment is the pop master thing in the morning. Because I don’t actually begin anything until I’ve done that which is ridiculous because it doesn’t start till 1030. I don’t start anything because I don’t want to be interrupted but I’m going to have to review that situation. However when my friend goes into hospital and has her kidney removed that may all change. At the moment she is more of a priority I think. The quarantine ends tomorrow and I think I’ll pop down and see her. I need to give her daughter some more dinners.