A Peacock, Astrology Nonsense, Face Coverings

                                     Gender table turning

If your taxi was coming at 5.15am, what time would you get up? As I faced a long, tiring day, my calculation was that sleep was imperative, vanity was secondary, breakfast unpalatable.

The Toilet, 

Antoine Emile Plassan (1817-1903)

Photo Credit:The Cooper Gallery [CC BY-NC]

So I set my alarm for 5am. Enough time to shower, slap on a bit of make-up, pull on the smart outfit I’d carefully laid out, grab my pre-packed bag and let my hair dry “naturally” in the cab. Although not exactly “red carpet ready”, I wasn’t a fright.

My companion for the day, a well-groomed young man, was amazed by my 15-minute turnaround. He’d set his alarm a full hour before departure. Since he sports designer stubble and doesn’t need to shave, I wondered what he was doing. “Shower, skin-care, blow-dry and style my hair, check my clothes are OK…”

Truly the gender tables are turning.

(Janice Turner, The Times, 2019)

The gender tables are turning because of the antics of one peacock?

Astrology

Fortune Teller, 

Charles Wilda (1854-1907)

Photo Credit: City of London Corporation [CC BY-NC]

If you’re not one of the 17 million readers of astrologyzone.com or one of the users of the app of the same name, you may not have heard of Susan Miller – yet. But for any astrology-obsessed millennial, she is the queen of fortune telling, single-handedly responsible for fuelling their obsession with all things celestial.

…Back then, astrology had a more traditional, fusty image and was viewed more sceptically. Now perhaps it’s the need to find direction and spiritual meaning that has made a younger generation less cynical. So there are social networking apps, like Co-Star, which not only offer daily advice based on your birth chart, but also tell you how compatible your friendships are.

…Miller’s appeal is global yet her largest fanbase is in the UK – perhaps as a nation we are more attuned to our cosmic selves. On her website, the reading for my sign (Gemini) tells me that this month I will have a good day for love, a call about TV, but I will need to follow my intuition about work. I should also take my inspirations seriously because the universe is listening. The whole reading runs to seven pages.

It is easy to understand why millennials – a stressed out generation who have been told that everything has been ruined, from the housing industry to handshakes – are looking for answers from a higher authority on love, relationships and jobs, while still feeling unique. Handy then, that no two birth charts are the same.

There are, of course, sceptics. “People find it irresistible to make fun of things they don’t understand,” Miller says. “I would just like a scientist to study astrology or to have their chart read, or at least read one of my summaries.”

(The Observer, 2019)

                        You can fool some of the people all of the time…

Face Coverings in Schools

Germany 

While some German states have made face coverings mandatory at all times in schools, in others it has only been compulsory in hallways and playgrounds. More generally, schools across the country have tried to manage the risk of infection by keeping classes separate. 

France

Children in secondary schools will have to wear face coverings at all times when in school and in the playground...This is a change from recommendations in July that suggested face coverings for older children would only be necessary where 1-metre social distancing could not be managed and is a response to concerns from teaching unions about rising infections as the summer has gone on.

Belgium

When schools reopen on 1 September all children aged 12 and above and teachers will be required to wear masks.

Poland

It has said it will not mandate mask wearing for children in the classroom. It has said, however, that individual principals can decide to impose face coverings in school halls and locker rooms. Unlike some other countries, no temperature checks at the school gates will be introduced.

Denmark

One of the first western countries to reopen its schools in April, Denmark separated younger children into "micro-groups" of 12 known as "protective bubbles". With school starting times staggered and desks 2 metres apart, masks were not deemed necessary.

(Peter Beaumont, The Guardian, 2020) 

Spain

Children as young as six will be required to wear  masks during lessons.

Ireland

All students at post-primary level, apart from a few exceptions, will be required to wear face coverings in the classroom.

This seems to sum up Covid. Everybody wants to do the right thing but no one is sure what the right thing to do is.