You can blame ‘Dianna’ for this post.
You see, back on July the 16th, I wrote a post entitled ‘Dear Diary… 2020’.
Unlike many people, who believed this Covid thing was about over and soon we would all be dancing naked in the streets and shagg hugging random strangers, (at least I can print the word hugging), I did not believe any such thing.
You can read ‘Dear Diary 2020’ HERE and then come back when you are all caught up.
Okay, now your back I’ll carry on.
So, why do I say blame Dianna?
Because she added this comment to my original Dear Diary post, it reads,
“Please, please, please update this diary for us! Your humour here has us all chuckling and we all need that now.”
Except for this short comment, I have no idea who Dianna is, but I do know she has great taste in blogs, a marvellous sense of humour, and sounds like my kinda girl.
Thank you, Dianna.
So, I shall start this post, which I am calling it ‘Dear Diary 2020… Round two’, as that pretty much sums it up, and as this post starts off where we left the first, in July.
JULY
Let me take you back to July the 6th, something I neglected to say and something which was overlooked by just about everybody on the planet
This was the day CNN reported an outbreak of the bubonic plague in Mongolia.
Seriously. I kid you not. The world was focused on a strain of the flu, the warning the world could be overtaken by the Bubonic Plague, the same ‘Black Death’ that killed over 50 million people on its last visit seemed to pass us by.
I mean, what are a few boils and erupting pustules in comparison to a coronavirus sneeze?
So, nothing to worry about there then.
The UK announced it will suspend the extradition treaty with Hong Kong due to the controversial security law that was passed (or will be next month, August). Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab warned Beijing that the UK is watching and keeping track of the rights of Hong Kong citizens.
Okay, while this is a good thing, as many current Honk Kong Chinese were British citizens until 1997, I cannot see Beijing quaking an the knees knowing they are ‘being watched’ by the UK government… anyway, I don’t think the Chinese ministers have ever watched Cape Fear.
However, the most disturbing news was for Ireland, who may now have to reconsider their entire national identity.
It is now said Leprechauns originated in Italy rather than Ireland.
After a five-year study, researchers at Queen’s University Belfast and Cambridge University have concluded the word “leprechaun” originated in Ancient Rome. According to their findings, the Irish “leipreachan” comes from the Latin “lupercus”, the name of a Roman god in charge of protecting flocks and also his cheeky male followers.
Devastating!
AUGUST
A giant explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, On August 4, killed 135 people and injured another 5000. It was soon revealed the blast was caused by badly stored ammonium nitrate.
Why any peaceful country would want to hoard such a vast quantity of that chemical is… well… let’s just say, open to speculation.
The bit I loved… okay, that may sound harsh, but hay ho… is the warehouse in question was called ‘The Firecracker’ warehouse. (Once, allegedly, being a fireworks factory).
At least the building lived up to its name. No trading standards investigation needed on that count.
On August 9, protests in Belarus erupted after the election results came in.
Current President Alexander Lukashenko beat opposition candidate Sventia Tikhanovskya after receiving 80% of the votes.
Tikhanovskya refused to accept the election results, stating it was clear more people voted for him.
Hmmm… Sounds familiar…
cousins maybe?
A possible Russian link…
nah, never… can’t be…can it?
Oh… and this… it was reported that Kim Jong Un was in a coma, and the photos of him alive and well back in May were fake. The rumour also states his sister, Kim Yo Jong is geared up to be his successor.
Then Kim Jong Un appeared at a party meeting, warning North Korea about the dangers from the coronavirus pandemic and Typhoon Bavi.
North Korea has still not reported any coronavirus cases in the country and Kim Yo Jong is still geared up to be something… or not.
Now an incident of note; Workers at a service station between Horsham and Crawley, (UK,) have been threatened with toilet brush during what they described as a “slight misunderstanding” over social distancing in the bathrooms.
Police Inspector Darren Taylor said: “How the toilet brush became embroiled into the disturbance we really don’t know.”
Readers will be pleased to know he added, “The toilet brush has now been returned to its cubicle”.
I guess the lesson we take from this is, keep you space… unless you want a prickly object inserted into a place the sun don’t shine.
SEPTEMBER
Breaking world news on September 1 came from Canada, yes, you read that right, something actually happened in Canada.
It’s okay, I’ll wait until get a stiff drink and are sitting down…
It was reported a karaoke bar in Canada could face fines after at 30 coronavirus cases were linked to it. The bar announced they will close for a week and urge their patrons to get tested.
What… you want more, sorry, that’s it.
After all, we are talking about Canada here.
BHM… Black Hair matters, no really… On September 8, protests in South Africa erupted after a controversial TREsemme advertisement was shown on Television.
The controversial advertisement compared black hair to blond, calling the blond hair ‘normal’ while saying the black hair was ‘frizzy and dull.’
The company has apologized for the advertisement and suspended all employees involved in publishing it.
So, the little man, who was most probably following orders, gets it; while the corporate marches on regardless.
(Get me, sounding all political and socialist.)
Anyway, the SH-1-T hit the proverbial fan regarding Coronavirus, when it was reported the daily Covid cases in Europe reached a record high. Lebanon’s coronavirus cases skyrocketed. Spanish officials urged the city of Madrid to enforce stricter restrictions or face serious risks.
Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau announced that the country is already experiencing its second wave of the virus. Israel passed a law banning mass protests during lockdown. Australia was sued by a consumer rights groups for the COVID-19 outbreak that occurred at the Tyrol ski resort, Ischgl. It was reported Belgium is at risk of becoming overwhelmed by coronavirus cases.
The Czech Republic faced a whole country lockdown, as the area has the most number of cases on the entire continent. France and Germany are inflicting stricter coronavirus guidelines after a rise in cases. Portugal announced new restrictions, implementing a curfew.
Chinese officials began a controversial emergency vaccine program administering emergency vaccines to hundreds of thousands of people before the vaccine has gone through safe clinical trials.
I want to say something funny or controversial here, but, to be honest, I am lost for words.
Let’s finish the month with this…
A sex shop in the US is offering female customers free red, white, and blue vibrators if they pledge to vote in the (then) upcoming White House election.
The ‘Erotique adult store’ in Montana says it wants to, “Make America orgasm again”, and is giving away 2,200 vibrators in a promotion dubbed The Great American Orgasm.
The sex toys are accompanied by an American flag sticker that states: “I came and I voted.”
Sorry if I mention this too late for you to take advantage of their generosity. (Dianna?)
OCTOBER
British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, warned it could be a difficult winter for the nation (United Kingdom). Now, I am unsure if he is referring to the Covid situation, has advanced knowledge of the weather forecasts, or expects our estranged uncle, the one we never speak of, to come visiting?
I suppose much depends on if, when, and how restricted our lockdown measures are.
Who knows?
This is bad, an abortion ruling in Poland led to nationwide protests. The controversial ruling banned nearly all abortions except those in the case of rape, incest, or risk to the mother’s health.
While, in the US of America… (It could only happen in the States), a man in Illinois has kept a half-eaten sandwich the then-vice President, Richard Nixon, from September 1960. Steve Jenne, then a teenager, grabbed the sandwich when Nixon visited his hometown.
“I looked around and thought, if no one else was going to take it, I am going to take it’”, he said.
Jenne has since written a book about the sandwich and been interviewed about it on The Tonight Show.
What… a book and an appearance… now that takes the biscuit…
See what I did there… biscuit (cookie in American)… sandwich… food, eats, snacks… NO, oh forget it.
NOVEMBER
I’m not going to mention anything that’s happening right now, as I will leave scope for a third part of these Dear Diary posts. (If Dianna like this one too?)
Oh, except this one thing…
Scientists in Australia have discovered no signs of alien life after searching more than 10 million solar systems.
The research team used a gigantic telescope in the Western Australian outback to perform the vast search, which they dubbed ‘looking for ET‘.
“We found no technosignatures – no sign of intelligent life,” one of the scientists said.
So, while 2020 still has some surprises in store for us, Alien invasion does not seem to be one of them.
However, they have not ruled out a Zombie apocalypse 2020 https://amzn.to/3nogJMw, a Giant Asteroid collision , or Artificial Intelligence becoming self-aware… think Skynet/Terminator?
So, there is still time for 2020 to out with a bang… Literally… in a literal sense.
I’ll leave you with one more thing to mull over…
Australian scientists claim they have proven time travel is mathematically possible, by reconciling Albert Einstein’s famous theory of general relativity and the grandfather paradox.
Germain Tobar, who led the research at the University of Queensland, said a time traveller could theoretically go back in time to kill the first person infected by Covid-19 and thus prevent the pandemic.
OK… Hands up… Who want’s that job?
Ramblings from a Writer's Mind 