Expanding boundaries

The lockdown has been eased and we are allowed to drive out. We broke our enforced retreat by visiting Thetford Forest, with a flask of coffee and a packet of biscuits. It was a warm, clear day and the roads and woods were crowded, but we found a less crowded spot and could walk the dogs in isolation.

Getting back, we had a message from our friends Robin and Yvonne, whom we haven't seen for many weeks. They had read of our recent interest in art, so wanted to bring round an art set they had in their attic. It had belonged to Robin's mother, Grannie Jan, who died a few years ago aged over a hundred. She was a good artist, and this set comprises her table-top easel and an old wooden box filled with brushes and oil paints. I don't know how old they are, but they are still fluid and were clearly top quality. There were also a number of art books on learning to paint, but I think it will be a long time before I am ready for oils.

 Adding to the conspiracy theories about Corona virus is a variation on the theme of the careless, filthy Chinese, spreading it from their wet meat market. The next phase was to acuse the Chinese of accidently losing it from their laboratory, where they were performing research on it. However, this virus is so virulant and pervasive that it is acting more like a bio-weapon.

The theory therefore is that it wasn't just released from the Wuhan laboratory accidently, but was designed and deliberately created there as a bio-weapon. The Chinese, so the theory goes, were hoping to develop a vaccine for their own people so they could release the virus safely in the rest of the world. The fact that it did escape was presumably more cock up than design, but the overall effect has been the same. Certainly, if they were designing it, they would select strains that survive best in the USA, while being less virulent among Asian peoples. In those terms, they have certainly succeeded.  The way the disease has progressed in the USA compared to China, with total destruction of the US economy and loss of jobs, means that China may be propelled to the top super-power in terms of GDP and production. They couldn't have planned it better.