Today was the first day of working from home due to the Corona virus. It was okay, considering.
I did try to brighten things up a bit by lighting a wax candle. I also made a cup of tea, since our team usually gets tea together every morning. What can I say. Traditions never die.
Behind that is a decorative rack Marco and I purchased from Xenos a while back. Visible in the photo are souvenirs from various trips. From the top left is an mini Eiffel tower, an Indy car, a Disney photo frame (of which only the frame legs are visible, a souvenir from Tokyo’s Ghibli museum, a Boston trail coaster, and a just barely visible souvenir Guinness mug… mini size.)
At 19:00 this evening the Dutch prime minister gave a nationally televised speech. An English summary can be found at DutchNews.nl. He admits that a lot of people in this country will get the virus over the coming months, but that the key is to ‘flatten the curve’ (npr.org) so that the healthcare system is not overloaded. He discussed the possibility of locking down the entire country, but said this would take months if not a year to take effect, and that the virus would probably come back after the country was re-opened. Not to mention the economic ramifications…
The rest of the speech reminded people to follow advice even if you were young and health, and to take care of those are you.
Oh, and the last time a Dutch prime minister directly addressed the Netherlands on television was in 1973 during the oil crisis. I find that a bit surprising, but these are weird times indeed.
Life in the Hague 