Thanks to Covid-19…

  • Companies have discovered that working from home and video conferencing are viable business options, saving time and expense.
  • School kids have lost the fear of speaking in front of a video camera and have learned to make sensible use of computers. They’ve also come to appreciate school!
  • We are enjoying beautiful walks on our doorsteps and discovering great places to take a holiday in our own countries.
  • Neighbours are noticing each other more, sharing things and offering each other practical help.
  • We’ve survived quite well without exotic South American fruit and all those cheap Asian gadgets and clothes.
  • Reading has proved to be a lot of fun – even to the grandchildren via Zoom.
  • Cycling has often turned out to be a more efficient way to get from A to B – as well as being good for our health.
  • The air has got a lot cleaner and there have been far fewer road accidents.
  • We’ve managed to catch up on some of the things we’d wanted to do but never found time for.

I’m sure you can come up with some more side benefits of this crisis. Leave a comment below.

Ein einzigartiges Familiendrama

Der Duft von bitteren Orangen, von Claire Hajaj

5 Stars

Wer Eltern hatte oder selber eine Familie, der weiss, dass es früher oder später zu Meinungsdifferenzen, Spannungen oder sogar Konflikte innerhalb der Familie kommen kann. Wie, aber, wenn sprachliche, religiöse, kulturelle und vor allem ethnische Faktoren mitspielen? Oder kriegerische Auseinandersetzungen zwischen den Herkunftsvölkern?

“Unsere Familien werden niemals akzeptieren, dass wir zusammen sind.”

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Sixty years later…

For some months I have acted as a senior classroom assistant – one morning per week – in the fourth class (mainly 10-year olds) of the little village school where I live. What a shock for an old man like me!

The printed T-shirts and hotpants, alternating with fashionable tops and ripped jeans were no surprise. But what had happened to the uniform? Even the teacher was casually dressed.

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The Peregrine’s Odyssey by Michael Kleinfall

During the first 20 years of the second century AD, Gaius Segusiavus Peregrinus is torque-bearer of the Gallic clan based near Lugdunum (Lyons). As master of the family’s cereal and luxury goods shipping enterprise, he constantly roams Mare Nostrum, visiting the trading posts in Ostia (Rome), Carthago, Alexandria, Antiochia and Ephesos. His faithful wife Fionna delights him whenever he is back at the Villa of the Three Crows, but his sons and nephew disappoint him. Will anyone prove worthy of inheriting the family torque when he dies?

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“They’re all just lazy parasites!”

AFP. Refugees landing on Lesbos. Not Tariq.

“Jurj?” the rebel fighter read from Tariq’s friend’s ID. “Then you’re a Christian!” And with that he shot his brains out. That was the final trigger. Tariq had to flee. To Europe. And arrange for his family to join him.

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Climate change won’t affect us. So why strike?

The Trump generation – including me – won’t be around when London and Houston sink. Along with Jakarta, Manila, Shanghai and half of the Netherlands. Nor when the last wild polar bear and Atlantic puffin has died because of habitat loss.

And the Greta generation have time to adapt to the changing climate without too much inconvenience: relocate to higher ground, stop holidaying in the Canary Isles, consume less meat, wear thick pullovers in winter and drive electric cars. In fact they will even benefit from new developments in sustainable energy sources and environment-friendly technology.

So what’s the fuss?

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Winter of the World by Ken Follett

Another masterpiece of passion and insight!

We experience the suspense and tragedy of WWII through the eyes of the offspring of the people we came to know in Fall of Giants, the first book in the Century Trilogy. These children grow up into realistic, passionate characters who travel the world, engage in devious pursuits and fall in love.

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No Longers Strangers? by Javed Masih

If you want the salutary facts – necessarily subjective but certainly typical – about what a refugee family experiences after arriving in Europe from a vastly different geographic and cultural background, this will fill you in.

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These kids I like, who climate strike!

The glaciers are disappearing!

#ClimateStrike #Zürich Was that a nod from heaven that it rained … and rained in Zürich yesterday? It didn’t discourage 12,000 people – mainly school kids and young people, joining hundreds of thousands worldwide – to take to the streets. They protested against the thoughtless pollution which is disrupting the world’s climate and provoking extreme weather conditions. It’s especially the developing nations that suffer, although they aren’t even the ones who are primarily responsible.

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