On the Bias

I live in Barcelona. By order of the central government, the only establishments in the entire country that are open to the general public are food stores and pharmacies. No one is to be on the streets except to go to work, to buy food or medical supplies, or to provide essential services. Doctors and nurses who have retired within the last 15 years may be called back into service (to give phone consults, I presume). A council of government ministers is empowered to issue further orders as necessary. Last night at 10.00 everyone threw open their windows and applauded to show appreciation for health care workers. As I stood on my balcony applauding into the night, I looked over at the people applauding across the street and said to Best Beloved, “There’s no traffic noise from down below any more. Within a week we’ll be chatting with those people across the street. Within two weeks, we’ll be friends.”

Holding you close in my thoughts, @DragonFaerie. I'm so sorry for your terrible loss.

I’m sorry, but in those photos that Lunera posted, is that a rotisserie wedged into an alcove? The house has ten thousand square feet and it’s shoved into a niche? Four kitchens in this place and it’s is not in a single one of them, but instead is at the edge of a huge glossy floor where its nearest neighbor is a ping pong table? This remodel is so bizarre, it’s disorienting: an architectual version of Citrus & Gatorade.

Chiming in a bit late, but as someone who mostly lurks, I wanted to say there’s a group of posters whose comments I always look forward to, and it includes you, @Jynnan tonnix.

Holding you very close in my thoughts, Arwen.

Where are they, in a fallout shelter?

I’m so sorry, @Arwen, I didn’t mean to imply that chemo isn’t rough or to discount your experience. What I was trying to get at was what I found so offensive about Cathy’s tweet: that in implying that her chemo was an impediment to her survival rather than a cause of it, she implied that her doctors were harming her rather than healing her, and that she would have been better off if she had never consulted them at all. But perhaps I’ve only put my foot deeper into my mouth!

So Cathy says she considers herself a “chemo survivor.” In other words, she’s announcing that the awful thing that happened to her, the thing she is so relieved have survived, isn’t the cancer that nearly killed her but the chemo that helped to save her life. What a horrible thing to say.

Delurking, @Arwen, to say that I'm keeping you close in my thoughts.

Nothing says romantic like eating facing a wall.