2022

It has been a slow start to 2022.

A sluggish awakening to the New Year.

Like an Escher print we are shuffling round and round.

Maybe a little different, as the infection is not killing as many, but worse because so many more people are directly affected, or infected.

It’s a, ‘Who invited him (it) to dinner?’

The guest that over-stayed its welcome.

The Waltzer that doesn’t stop.

I remember my first and last Waltzer. It was in Dundee.

You know those round chairs with a central wheel that spin inside a spinning-thing?

It was one of those.

In hindsight I am sure the guy (Carney as per Stephen King) thought he had been short-changed by a group of privileged students. If he had, it was not intentional.

He seemed to spin us too fast, maybe double-time, I don’t know if there is a standard for the spinning; certainly not the tempo anticipated of a waltz.

We felt like we were going to die.

When it eventually ended I remember lying on the grass dazed, shaking, close to tears. The lack of control, the voluntary nature of us stepping onto the device, the noise, the sun, even now, 30 years later it brings-back a nausea.

The Waltz today is Covid.

Spinning.

The news, the TV, the radio, work, everything is inundated with updates, information that is only subtly different to that which went before.

Caught in a horrible snare.

There are endless analogies.

It doesn’t help that it is winter and the days are short and the ground damp and cold.

It doesn’t help that I will be 50 this year and most certainly on a downward trajectory.

Looking back on 2021, this was the year I wrote the fewest blogs and had the lowest readership 12,000 versus my 2018 heyday of 22,000.

I am running-out of steam.

(And yes, I no longer have Freda).

As for the blog, there are the key elements – the older people, those living in care homes, the carers and families living with people who are living with dementia; I feel I have probably veered away from my original aspiration of writing about almonds and emotions – the intersection of fear and creativity, my thought of developing a narrative that would lead to some way to better understand what was happening in health and social care, to find a way-out, a solution to the failings.

I have just now (9/1/22 1030), after some clicking changed the name of the blog from ‘Almondemotion’ which, yes, has always been obscure to, ‘Dr Rod Kersh’s Blog (almondemotion)’ – I should perhaps drop the almonds, let’s see what happens.

I think perhaps after seven years of writing I might have anticipated had a broader readership – I know lots of the topics I cover are only relevant to a few, yet some I am sure are useful to a broader readership if I had some way to connect; not looking for viral status here, we have enough of that; that level of attention is not something I would ever want, just a little bit of acknowledgment;

You can only get so far when writing or thinking inside a box.

It isn’t all sorrow – I am halfway through Walter Isaacson’s biography of Leonardo.

If you haven’t read or listened, please consider.

I’ve always loved art, particularly when given the opportunity to understand the theory and ideas behind the drawings, paintings and sculptures.

Leonardo was far more than a painter, he gained a deep understanding of anatomy, maths, physics, sculpture, theatre, engineering, dentistry and philosophy.

Wikipedia describes him as a polymath.

I don’t think I have ever met a polymath.

Perhaps we (I) need an Renaissance to get us out of this?