Comedy of Errors

 I have been wondering what Shakespeare would have made of this pandemic. Probably nothing because he tended to steal other stories. He liked historical things that had already been written about. I can see the appeal of that. Once the dust has settled and everyone knows what they think about it, it’s much easier to be ‘right’ about the history. This, however, means that the truth of the situation for some people is never known.

The way I feel about things at the moment is that it has been a comedy of errors but who knows how that will be perceived when we are out the other side? 

Every day the government announces something that makes me ask, “Why?”. 

Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors contains the quote, “Every why hath a wherefore,” and I am spending far too much of my time trying to find the wherefore. In the play it’s a simple (haha Shakespeare comedies are never simple) case of mistaken identity and twins. It’s set in Ancient Greece and based on a story by Plautus. There are plays on words and metaphors that even Boris couldn’t think of.

It feels as though everything they try to do to make it better actually makes it worse. The less places people can go, the more they crowd into the spaces they can. Tell people they can’t socialise in their own town but can in the next town and they will move the virus about a bit more. Tape up two thirds of the chairs in the A&E waiting room and every time someone goes to the loo or for a blood test or to see a nurse or hand in a urine sample or get a new bowl to vomit into someone sits in their chair with no one to sanitise the seats in between. Make a test and trace app that drains a phone battery and gives random alerts when you haven’t left the house in four days and people will turn it off. Provide the police with details who have tested positive and people will be much less likely to confess who they have seen if that is against the law and could incur a huge fine. 

It’s all awful. I want to stop thinking about the wherfores.

I had a weekend where I tried very hard not to think. I went pumpkin picking and stocked up on things for my favourite time of year. I’ve always loved halloween. It’s pretty and orange and what’s not to like about celebrating the fact that humans make up stories to explain the unexplainable?

I haven’t quite got the hang of this Instagram thing.

We had a great time with lots of laughing. I was a little unstable and even more clumsy than usual. We decided to just watch the ladies pushing each other round in a wheelbarrow, as I fell over just trying to pick up a pumpkin. We took photos and I didn’t notice my camera lens was fogged up. This morning, however, my brain was back on the why?-cycle. 

I’m taking comfort from the fact that Comedy of Errors was one of Shakespeare’s shortest plays and hoping that’s a clue. It would be lovely if when we look back history won’t even think it worth a mention.