Days of Corona (3)

First, I should note that relatively I am having an easy time in these strange days: I am fully employed (albeit working from home) so I don't have any of the monetary worries that a million other Israelis have, and I live on a kibbutz which in this respect is a very safe place to be. I don't even have to leave the house as we can order from the local mini-market via the Internet, and the kibbutz teenagers make deliveries.

Yesterday was even stranger than usual: at 5:30 am, the outside temperature was 25°C, so I took the dog for her morning walk wearing only a t-shirt and trousers. By lunchtime the outside temperature had reached 32.2°C and inside was getting hot too, so I turned on the air-conditioner, initially forgetting that it was still set to heat. After a few minutes I realised my mistake and set the air-conditioner to cool; soon the lounge reached a respectable 26°C. A few hours later I suddenly realised that I was getting cold: the outside temperature had suddenly dropped to 27°C, so I turned off the air-conditioner and opened all the windows.

I received - via DHL - a package sent from iHerb; unless my memory is playing me tricks, I ordered this last Saturday evening, so it arrived in just under eight days. As the kibbutz gate is closed, I had to call the guard to tell him that the DHL truck was on its way to me and that it should be let in. When I went to throw the carton in the carton rubbish bin, I noticed that the only other carton in the bin was also from iHerb; I wonder who it was. Maybe we can make a joint order next time.

Over the past few days, I have read some interesting books. The Le Carré biography was initially interesting but became less so, the further that I progressed: like his novels, the earlier ones were better than the later ones. Another book was 'The Undoing project' by Michael Lewis, which is about the two Israeli psychologists Danny Kahneman and the late Amos Tversky. I've read some of the material in other contexts, primarily Nobel prize winner Kahneman in his book 'Thinking fast and slow', which I have never finished. The only reason that Tversky didn't share the Nobel was that he died prior to it being awarded to Kahneman. I'm now in the middle of a book called 'The signal and the noise' by Nate Silver about predictions. I'm also rereading 'The Great Influenza' by John Barry which is about the Spanish flu epidemic after the end of the First World War. There should be lesson there for today.

I have just read that the British PM, Boris Johnson, has been hospitalised.