In my last post, I talked about the necessity of living "dualistically" at the moment.

Nothing has changed.

In the real world of the UK yesterday, another 888 people died after testing positive for COVID-19, bringing the number who have died in the country's hospitals since the outbreak began to nearly 15,464. More than 50 healthcare workers have passed away. The "how did we get it so wrong?" question is being asked with increasing urgency: "We already know with some certainty that other countries, such as Germany, South Korea, Taiwan and New Zealand, will emerge from this crisis having performed far better than the UK."

In the real world, life really sucks for millions of struggling, grieving human beings.

In my sheltered, auto-created world, in an ongoing attempt to fence out horrors I can't control, I continue my pursuit of new things (to replace the new things I'm not experiencing on the way to Istanbul).

Since I last posted here, I've:

1. Completed the first eight days of my 1 Second Everyday movie project.

2. Written a couple of posts for The Velvet Cushion (on a Malaysian collection of poems and a Galician detective story, respectively).

3. Got majorly into microwave baking. Our Holland & Barrett delivery finally arrived on Thursday, not quite two weeks later than scheduled. It contained that so-much-missed, when-will-we-ever-see-you-again product: almond flour. That enabled me not only to make those nice low-carb pancakes I used to make back home (which go really awesomely with the apple-cinnamon-butter thing I talked about last time), but also to experiment with 90-second-microwaved bread-in-a-mug. This is a truly amazing invention, and when we (finally) get back home, we will so be buying a microwave... I've not been able to get hold of baking powder, but you can make up a substitute using baking soda and vinegar (works really well -- did a great job on the pancakes too). On our last shopping trip I'd also managed to secure the last bag of coconut flour, so today we tried coconut mug-bread. Equally good, according to Nigel, the main consumer.




4. Found out about Norfolk Horn sheep... They are actually one of the oldest breeds of sheep in Britain, believed to be descendants of the Saxon black-faced sheep that were once numerous in the north of Europe. Although the quality of their wool contributed much to the prosperity of the region in the Middle Ages, the breed fell out of favour, and herds declined. By the end of the 19th century there were perhaps only 300 specimens left, and by the 1960s the breed was judged to be on the edge of extinction. Fortunately, the energetic intervention of conservationists has ensured something of a revival. There are now around 2,500 pedigree Norfolk Horns, and the Rare Breed Survival Trust has moved them up to the "at risk" category on their watch list.


5. Started learning Hindi... No, not really... Well, not really really.... But I did do a quick excursion into the Devanagari script. Hindi is an Indo-European language, of course, but even so, having just learned to count from one to ten in Manx (nane jees tree kiare queig shey shiaght hoght nuy jeih), I was surprised at the degree of similarity with Hindi (written phonetically, obviously: ek do tee caar paanc chah saat aath nau das).

Of course, things don't have to be new to be amazing. Here are some of our extraordinary ordinary moments from the last few days: