Working at the Global Humanitarian Forum today, providing the live streams, was fun as some interesting conversations took place.
Among the people present we had Micheline Calmy Rey, Kofi Annan, the writer of the wikonomics book (which I have as an audio book and haven’t finished yet), Nik Gowing, and a few more interesting people.
Whilst I was working I didn’t have time to listen to the discussions that were taking place but they ranged from new media and communication to providing funds for organisations and the aspects to be taken into account, managing displacement, demographic dynamics and many more topics.
We’ll be streaming quite a few more lives during the course of tomorrow so if you’re interested in humanitarian subjects visit Global Humanitarian Forum for more information. The live streams can be found by following the Launch Live video link provided on the site.
I have just three kilometres to go before I reach the Activity goal of walking 298.8 kilometres in a month. Reaching the goal in and of itself is relatively easy. What makes it a challenge is doing it during a pandemic when you need to keep a safe distance from everyone. Some days I got tired of avoiding people so I felt like giving up but I kept at it and now I know I will succeed.
298.8 kilometres is shorter than the distance you cover for the Via Alpina from Lichtenstein to Montreux on the Via Alpina. I didn’t have much vertical travel walking locally but I did get to know the local countryside better. I’ve explored even more variants than over the last two years.
I avoided the shops entirely today. I know they will be busy and that it will be impossible to avoid people. It’s not worth the frustration. During COVID-19 as a single person you have all of the pressures of society without any of the advantages.
It’s a fantastic time for couples. Imagine being with your loved one 24 hours a day, imagine not having to see each other’s friends. It’s like a couple’s retreat or a honeymoon but rather than lasting for a weekend, or a week it’s lasting for up to a few months. Such a rare and privileged position to be in. I’d have found it so good when I was in relationships not to have to go out and see their friends sometimes.
During my walk I saw this sign from a theatre along one of my routes. I also saw that the Barbecue and Flammenkuche place is still going. I’d like to think that rather than ordinary life being frozen as Chappate joked in one of his cartoons life has been reset and now it’s time to adapt to a new way of being.
If we’re lucky enough not to be trapped at home then this is the time when we invent new careers, new way of doing things. We can be early adopters and alpha testers of a new model. If I wanted I could eat Hamburgers and Flammenkuche and I could even have some flowers to go with the meal. Of course, I’d do it in solitude for now.
Solitude is not hard. It’s not having opportunities to have more that’s hard. A woman said “I’m feeling lonely on twitter, I lost six followers” and an army of men started following her and suddenly she had a crowd. By then I had unfollowed. I want to be a conversation, not a statistic.
I should prepare dinner now. The sun is setting and I’m terrible at eating at a reasonable time at the moment. The meal is quick to prepare anyway.
A few weeks ago the Siberian winter came to keep us company and this provided a great opportunity to go out and take pictures of ice sculptures. Any object was appropriate and the wind and water did the rest.
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Looks like a hardship assignment!