The Spanish government has rightfully ordered a 15 day lockdown to limit the spread of coronavirus. It affects everyone. But this is my blog, so here’s how it affects me.

The friggin’ virus had already caused me a lot of grief. To begin with, here are the trips I’ve had to cancel:

  • 24-28/04/20, Lima (Peru), Business trip
  • 03-24/04/20, Papeete (Tahiti), Moorea, Raiatea, Bora Bora, Rangiroa, Fakarava (French Polynesia), Hanga Roa (Easter Island - Chile), Lima (Peru), Personal trip (invited to cruise on the Regent Seven Seas Navigator)
  • 02-03/04/20, Paris (France), Personal trip
  • 6-20/03/20, Miami (USA), Personal trip (invited to cruise on the Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady Sea Trial Sailing)
  • 14-19/03/20, Tokyo (Japan), Business trip (Medtec Japan)
  • 10-13/03/20, Orlando (USA), Business trip (HIMSS)
  • 07-09/03/20, New York (USA), Personal trip (invited to cruise on the Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady Sea Trial Sailing)

Notice how one of them (cruise to French Polynesia for my birthday) was the trip of a lifetime. Just sayin’, i.e. FUCK.

But I do believe in the common good, and solidarity must prevail. Besides what I have been doing from my company, I’ll take this sacrifices as my personal contribution to everyone’s health :-) After all, a lot more people are having to sacrifice a lot more than a fabulous trip (their lives, their loved ones, their economic stability, their employment like my friend Marsha, their sanity, their relationships…), so who am I to complain?

There’s one thing I would like to complain about, though: why do Italians, Greeks, and Spaniards equate noise with happiness or recognition?

Noise is pollution. It negatively affects health. So the last thing we need during a pandemic is everyone on their balconies playing the guitar, singing, clapping, screaming… Is it so hard to remain quiet? Is it too unbearable to be at peace with yourself? We should mature as a society, and become more considerate of others.

Talking about being considerate of others, I don’t think making noise to recognize the work and sacrifice of healthcare workers is the way to go. How about, instead, we figure out ways to help them, by, I don’t know: following guidelines to prevent contagions, help them cope with things like childcare, lack of resources, a warm meal, etc?

Besides, how about SO many other collectives that are also busting their asses helping their fellow humans (customers or not) in this time of crisis like scientists, researchers, supermarket personnel, police, or people like my wife, cruise consultant (who has been non-stop fielding calls and emails requesting info, cancellations, and rebookings… for which she makes no money at all)?

Another reason to complain? Ignorant politicians, like Donald Trump or Boris Johnson, who disregard the advice of experts, and only care about the stock market. Their inactivity and ignorance is going to cause millions of unnecessary deaths (my friend Antonio Crimisi, senior manager of applied science at Amazon, has calculated that Boris Johnson’s “herd immunity” approach will mean the unnecessary death of 1 million UK residents). Let’s hope some day they are prosecuted for crimes against humanity.

Anyway, time to work on my garden, read a book, write a few essays (on new forms of computing, and the evolution of Bertrand Russell’s analysis of human motivation), and implement Eisenhower’s time management matrix. Finally time for myself! So don’t feel bad for me, there are many other places and situations where this could be and is devastating. For me, here…? It’s quite nice.