Global Village - Storytelling Brings us Together

  Edited BY G P Kennedy Gul - A fishing harbor, Turkey  This week passed by so fast. Nothing has changed when I think about the last 7 days. It is cooler at night; the sun doesn’t burn during the day. Yesterday, it rained for the first time in 4 months. Birds will soon move to warmer places; we see that they are gathering together. It’s also a fishing season, there’s a small fishing harbor near us we hear boats are coming and going.   We don’t go to the beach to swim every day. Instead, we try to know local areas. We are now aware that we need to find alternatives to Istanbul. We already have a favorite place! We celebrated Mike’s 30th year in Turkey last night. We went to our usual local fish restaurant, of course, we brought our table cover, napkins, and some cutlery with us. I think this was our last meal out. I am really surprised that some people can eat comfortably in restaurants.  POLITICS. POLITICS  Domestic politics, as always, has a completely dif...

  Edited BY GP Kennedy Sally - London, UK - not loving 2020 so far   After the last few crazy weeks, I have had I am back in London and finally able to sit down and take a breath. But I can’t let my guard down, as the UK is one the verge on a nationwide second lockdown.  Some local lockdowns have already been happening including Manchester, where I was working, and Liverpool, where I was staying at my parents’ house, which was very worrying.  I just tried to be as safe as I possibly could.  Mask, hand washing, and sanitizing constantly through the working day.  Then clothes straight in the wash and jump in the shower before sitting down or touching James and the baby as soon as I got home from work.    Lockdown inevitably brings all the craziness with it so some people have already started to panic buy again, why, I don’t know as there is no talk of shops shutting down and I think/hope the shops would have learned what they need to stock...

 Edited BY G P Kennedy Simon - Perth, WA Hi Folks    Keeping it short and sweet today as we are off to our son’s soccer match shortly.    COVID-wise here in WA it’s the same old story, no change. The situation over East is looking a bit better which is good. No news on restrictions being lifted or borders being opened yet.     The kids are off school for 2 weeks so I’m having a bit of time off as well. It’s been a full-on year so far in lots of ways and it’s nice to just chill for a bit.    The other day both kids had a sleepover here with a friend each and the next day while my wife was at work I took all 4 of them onto the City to Kings Park for the day. Look it up, it's bigger than Central Park!  It was good fun and after fish and chips for lunch and 3 hours walking around all 4 of them fell asleep in the car like they were babies again.   Next week we are going away for 4 days about a 90- minute drive south ...

Edited BY G P Kennedy Ian and Minako - Tokyo, Japan Hello again from Tokyo, we are both well. The cicadas which screech incessantly throughout the summer are finally quietening down. They've been replaced by crickets that also make a constant sound but at least not so ear-piercingly annoying. It is warm enough for us to still be in T shirts and shorts but without the uncomfortable and exhausting heat and humidity. The daily average for new coronavirus cases is unchanged from last week at 171 in Tokyo, 23828 in total and there have been 390 deaths – an increase of 8 for the week. Nationally the daily average has dropped from 648 to 573 with 78061 in total and 1500 deaths. As announced some rules have been relaxed to allow more people to attend large sporting events, concerts etc.  There have been crowds of over 10,000 at recent football and baseball games. Restaurants and bars that were requested to close at 10pm can now stay open but apparently there has been little increase in...

Edited BY G P Kennedy Ellie - Milan, Italy Well, it has been two seasons now that this global malaise has been with us! I have often wondered, in the past months, what the lasting change has been. In Italy, the most interesting one to watch has been the separation of bodies. Or body space.  This has never been Italians' strong suit and, I am quite sure, has exacerbated the impact. Now people are negotiating space in a new way, but I don't think they have really changed their mindset. And because in-person communication has been disrupted, I am looking to see how people exchange information in other ways. For example, our next town over has a really interesting "civic temple" - a tradition that I will talk about at some other time, basically a small building, usually a former church, that displays ideas and images for non-religious veneration and contemplation.  For example, this temple mourns those residents who fell in WWI, has a drawing of a Syrian refugee mot...

 Edited BY G P Kennedy Gul - Istanbul, Turkey CALM DAYS Our days are very calm, we are living the same routine every day and we’re actually forgetting what day of the week it is. We swim, walk, pick seasonal fruits from the trees. We’re spending more time at home lately because it’s cool in the evenings. Nobody stumbles on anyone nowadays because everyone is afraid of each other. We still endlessly remind those who forget to wear their masks.  BLAME THE PUBLIC While some countries are entering the second wave of Coronavirus, the first wave never ended in Turkey. Some places are in local lockdowns after the government introduced new measures last week. We’re very concerned with the sharp rise in infection rates. The President blamed the public again saying people have not complied with the rules. Sorry for going to work Mr. President, sorry for using public transport, Mr. President. I can’t see the end in all this until the government starts doing the right thing.  The ...

Edited BY G P Kennedy Sally - London, UK   I’m back at work this week for 3 days so another short post from me I’m afraid as I work 13 hour days in the studio then 1.5 hours travel each side so I am super tired also Friday last week was my uncle's funeral. It’s the first funeral I have attended during the lockdown and it was really weird.  We had to wear a mask from arrival at the crematorium. The rule is only 30 people are allowed to attend but that side of the family is only small so there were just 9 of us. Usually, the crematorium is one funeral in, one funeral out but we were the only ones there.    The chairs in the room are all one meter apart but because we are from the same family we were allowed to move them closer.  The service was very short as we aren’t a religious family and my uncle was the kind of person who wouldn’t have wanted a fuss.  After the service, we went back to my parents' house for a cup of tea and cake.  There had been a ne...

Edited BY G P Kennedy                           Tassy - Karachi, Pakistan The week that went by was probably the most normal it has been since February this year. I was thrilled to be busy with in-person classes at my studio. My parents returned back from their month-long visit to London to visit my sister.   My husband was on a work trip to Dubai and he returned back the same day.  I visited a restaurant in Karachi for the first time since they reopened after the lockdown began in the middle of March.  I was a little surprised to see that it was actually difficult to get reservations at many of my favorite restaurants. I guess spacing out tables means there are fewer people they can accommodate. The restaurant was buzzing even though we got the last seating at 10 30 pm.  I was happy to see that SOPs were being followed in the restaurant I visited with all waiters wearing masks, and most customers...

 Edited BY G P Kennedy Sally, the Baby, and James - London, UK  I am writing this is a rush after spending the last 4 days camping in Wales so we could socially distance visit the ‘in-laws’.  The weather was quite nice 17 or 18 degrees in the day but pretty cold at night so camping was probably not the best idea in September.  Wales has just made it mandatory from Monday that masks must be worn in all shops, this is something that James and I are use to as its been the norm in England for a while now.  In fact on Saturday we went for a stroll in a seaside town in Wales and I felt pretty uncomfortable as it was super crowded and not a lot of social distancing was going on but I guess that is something that the Welsh will have to get use to pretty quickly.  The infection rate (R) rate is back above 1 in the UK and there is talk of a second lockdown happening as there is in other places around the world but hey our government couldn’t organize a piss up in a b...

 Edited BY G P Kennedy          Ian & Minako – Tokyo, Japan  Hello again from a cooler Tokyo, we are both well, the temperatures are a bit lower and more bearable especially at night. In fact, last night was our first without any air-conditioning for ages; just open windows giving a fresh air breeze!  The daily average for new coronavirus cases is currently 171 in Tokyo, 22857 in total and there have been 382 deaths.  Nationally the daily average is 648 with 75206 in total and 1441 deaths.  So the figures are still on a slow downward trend here, it's shocking and worrying to see the steep rise in cases in other parts of the world such as the UK, France, and India.  From next week some rules are being relaxed to allow more people to attend large sporting events, concerts, etc. And the measures to discourage late-night eating and drinking in restaurants will be loosened.  We feel more relaxed about traveling, not a lot but go...