It’s been two months since leaving gainful employment, and Dawnise says I’ve been much less grumpy.
On the other hand, I’ve found myself – for the first time in decades – thinking seriously about the rising risk of nuclear conflict. Unlike during the height of the Cold War, this time the nuclear powers are commanding aging arsenals, subject to decades of partial neglect, and one side gains significant advantage in convincing the rest of the world “he really would.”
And there’s a no shortage of grumpy down that well.
I’ve watched the Biden administrations’ choice to broadly share intelligence about Putin’s observed and anticipated actions with interest, and found the level of projected unity in the west’s response to Putin’s actions surprising.
And like many I’m inspired by the determination and poise of the Ukranian people and their leadership.
Organizations you already support may well be providing aid to those affected by the growing crisis – please help if you can. If you’re unsure how to help, Médecins Sans Frontières, International Medical Corps, International Rescue Committee, Unicef, World Central Kitchen, and many others would welcome your support.
Our trip back to Seattle to see my sister, and on to Florida to visit my parents and brother, at the end of January went well. We got to meet our nieces, spent some time with good friends, and managed it all without getting COVID.
And while COVID has continued to remind us that it’s still in the drivers seat – with case counts in the UK bouncing around like a Super Ball – my personal risk analysis has led me to treat the current variant like the Flu. I certainly don’t want it, but I don’t see a need to rearrange life around it either.
So over the past couple months we’ve been doing more things “around town.” Some theater, dinner with friends, occasional meet-ups at the pub, and Dawnise has snagged us tickets to a few QI tapings. We’ve even met a couple of our neighbors. All in all it’s been starting to feel like we actually live in London. And that’s a very welcome change indeed.
The news that New Zealand is accelerating reopening the border to visitors means we’ll be planning a trip to visit very dear friends we’ve not seen since they stopped over in London in late 2019, while emigrating from Seattle to Auckland. It’s at least months out, and there are still a million things that could go wrong, but I’m allowing myself a bit of hope and optimism.
I had breakfast with a former colleague some weeks back, and he pitched me on joining him at his new thing, and that catalyzed some thinking, and a handful of preliminary conversations, about what I might do next.
No news yet that fit to print, further bulletins as events warrant.