The Eleventh Hour
By David Kirtley
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New outbreaks occur,
In Leicester and Oldham.
Manchester and Glasgow return towards lockdown,
Now Leeds is at risk, and Birmingham again!
Is there anywhere safe in this country?
They’re bringing it back from Greece,
A few people caught it on the plane coming back.
So quarantines are back on again.
First the outbreak was around Barcelona,
but the whole of Spain was made a destination subject to quarantine upon return to the UK,
The government has spoiled the foreign travel industry,
just as it was beginning to get started again!
‘When is the government going to allow the economy to get moving again?’
I hear them cry.
‘When can the kids go back to school?
It’s been a long time since the virus outbreak calmed.
It’s high time the teachers stopped making excuses about the virus still being out there.
They just want longer holidays from the kids.’
They opened the pubs and restaurants before they made us all wear facemasks in the shops for the first time!
At least face masks gave us the confidence to get a little closer without being coughed or breathed on.
We’ve got it beaten, said the government,
but we need to track and trace to stop any outbreaks which may occur.
Restart the economy, but continue to observe the distancing rules and wear facemasks.
Many events happened since Dominic Cummings little trip was publicized,
to make us feel it doesn’t matter any more!
Black Lives Matter supporters demonstrating in the streets,
veterans obliged to defend our monuments and statues in London.
Half the nation have had a holiday in caravan parks and even hotels,
and quite a few did make it back to the beaches abroad, if only for a while.
But unfortunately we are finding now at the eleventh hour,
The number of cases is rising dramatically in many places,
Driven by the need of the young and youthful to restart their social lives.
Gatherings spill out of pubs onto crowded streets,
youths ignore the social distancing rules.
‘It don’t apply to me,’ they say.
‘It ain’t gonna happen to me.’
‘The virus is gone. It probably never happened in the first place.
It’s just the government trying to control us, or soften us up for some hidden scheme they’re not telling us about.’
‘The virus is getting less dangerous! The young can’t catch it anyway, and even if they do they won’t get the symptoms and they fight it off really quick. So there’s nothing to worry about, we won’t die.’
Oh yeah, but what about your mother and father,
your grandad and grandma, your aunty and uncle,
and those people amongst your family and friends who have diabetes or asthma,
or underlying health problems of all sorts?
It could be your doctor, or your nurses in the hospital?
Hopefully the bus drivers are protected now,
They weren’t before!
Will they survive if you throw your party or go to visit them?
Have you thought about them?
Have you stopped to think?
Do you give a damn about them?
Do you want to roll the dice and see who lives, who dies and who gets ill,
for the next week or month , or maybe for the rest of your life?
It might not be someone else,
it might even be you, at this eleventh hour.
And all this might have been saved if we had all just continued taking it a little more seriously.
Could it be that our younger generations will be our killers?
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Comments
Aye, David
'eat out to help out' - cafes and pubs crammed - roll on one month and a new surge in cases...
I stay indoors and keep my distance - who (apart from family) is worth dying for?
Rick.
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Hi David,
Hi David,
I just found this piece of writing. Being at home doesn't bother me at all, especially now both me and my partner are retired. I have my writing and reading, go for walks around the local streets with my partner and basically just chill out playing scrabble and listening to our favourite music.
I know it must be horrible for the young, they're loosing a part of their lives they'll never get back.
I just thank goodness that when I was young, even into my forties and fifties life was so much easier than it is now.
I have a strong feeling that this virus is going to be around for longer than we think, which is sadly a part of our lives for now. But at least we're not at war which would be a real horror.
Your piece certainly inspired my thoughts.
Jenny.
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