We’re now realising what a slower life looks like. And quite frankly it scares us. We’re finding it hard to wean ourselves off the pace of life, and the computer in our pocket that gives us access to the whole world is proving to be a useful Methadone for the addicts that we are. The good news is that I think we’re seeing signs of people starting to slow down their brains to match the slow down in their bodies. What things will be take up again when this blows over? Who knows? 

We’re at the stage in which everyone is wondering what things will look like on the other side. That’s not to say we are out of the woods yet, but we might be past the halfway point.

As my wife Jill pointed out this morning, there will be a series of curves that will need to be flattened. The virus itself will need to have its curve flattened.  But the second curve that will trail in its wake will be the social and emotional destruction that is going to require huge levels of therapeutic intervention.

Already mental health bodies are calling on budding practitioners to ensure their qualifications are ready, and they’re also thinking of how to encourage recently retired psychologists back into the profession.

Somehow I don’t think we’re going to come out of our homes and back into our lives with a yelp of triumph. It will be more timid and broken than that. We’ve been giving furtive glances at passers-by on the street as if each of us is a miniature cruise ship just seething with viruses and death.

Here’s how I am seeing most of you at the moment when I join the supermarket queue:

All joking aside, we’re not going to get over that suspicion quickly. Things are happening in our minds all of the time, and it’s going to take time to unpick it all.

Already yesterday I got ticked off at the young woman in running gear who was lounging all over the countertop of the takeaway cafe, hand prints all over the glass, laughing and chatting all close up and personal to the staff. Ageism kicked in. “Young people – sheesh!” etc, etc.

Eventually she moved on and I ordered two brews of almost certain death that no doubt would have done a witch’s cauldron proud.

But what will be on the other side of the virus? What kind of culture do I wish to see killed off, apart from the virus, and instead of the people who it is destroying?  Here’s a few culture dishes I prepared earlier (after washing my hands)

1. The Culture Wars  And I don’t mean the viral culture in a petri dish. If ever there was a chance to kill off the most toxic thing that has hit our Western culture the past few decades, it is now. The culture wars have ensured that when we lean back on our collective resolve, we find it’s not so collective after all. We’re a fractured bunch, and we’ve brought that pretty much on ourselves. As I’ve said about pretty much everything these past weeks, You can only take out of the bank what you have put in.  If there’s no collective resolve then don’t think this will be our 1939-45.

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