What would you do if a virulent pandemic, a human strain of H5N1, was known to be spreading around the world as fast as the common cold? Would you go to work, to college, shopping even? Would you send your kids to school, go to a football match, to the cinema?
How would you take stock of the situation, what would your survival plan be? …comments?
July 12, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Dan, the local postman, had walked in, sneezed and, looking like ‘death warmed up’, ordered a pint. His need was not particularly a drink, just to be in his former, comfortable, familiar surroundings. As he fumbled in his trouser pocket for change, he promptly collapsed on the floor frothing at the mouth, he gurgled a bit, had a last struggle for air, a last gasp for life as he knew it and, much to the consternation of his audience, passed on, so to speak.
Everyone in the pub looked at this poor collapsed mortal lying on the floor in front of them, and for an instance, all in the bar were united, just for a fleeting, timeless second. To them, he wasn’t ‘Dan the postman’ anymore; he was infection, Bird Flu, contamination, death.
Can you hear silence? The pubs occupants did, or rather perceived it. They felt the awesome emptiness of it. Its void of nothingness, a nothingness of pure thought, pure cold calculation, from a fear. A fear gained from a moment of terrible revelation of consequence.
July 12, 2008 at 3:29 pm
And thus, this is how pandemics start; an unassuming, calm, silent, unwelcome introduction.
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As you sat there, feeling safe in your ‘little castle’ your little house, watching the news reports, feeling glad that you escaped the spreading epidemic; both you and thousands like you, would be unwittingly entertaining an unwanted host.
You might even be reflecting on your excellent forward thinking. How you cunningly grabbed stores from your supermarket, filled up with petrol. How you grasped your alcohol or tobacco supplies for a few weeks and then battened down the hatches to ride out the storm.
What you did not see, or could possibly have realised in your haste to survive, was that unheard cough whilst filling your supermarket trolley, that faint half hidden sneeze, while you paid the garage attendant for your fuel, that sweaty, clingy hand that gave you change in the off-licence. That phlegm-contaminated door you pushed open in your deliberations to gather your hoard and return to your safe little haven. Then there was that inadvertent sneeze, straight in your face, all over your cleverly conceived, safe, protective, face mask. But what you did not understand about human anatomy was the breeding grounds, the receptors, those lovely warm moist eyes, those watery lachrymal glands which indirectly led to your Eustachian tubes deep in your head.
At first you might notice a mild headache, with your eyes stinging slightly after each sneeze, and then you would start to shiver a little, suddenly you would start to shiver a lot. You would go to bed and hide under your warm duvet. The trouble is it isn’t warm any more. Five duvets on you would not be warn enough, as you curled up and shook, while cold sweat emanating from every pour in your shaking body.
Then delirium will overtake your consciousness. At those times you managed to come around to reality, your head would be aching, your chest aching, your whole body racked with pain. You would be feeling weak and feeble and, at that time, that most miserable time of almost continual suffering, you would know in your heart, that death was fast approaching and your fate was inevitable. It would be just a matter of time and for some, after all they were going through, it would be most welcome.
what would your survival plan be? …comments?
July 21, 2008 at 7:01 pm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/21/pandemic.warning
(cut and paste)
As usual, what is to be expected, the government plays down the reality of the situation. REMEMBER THIS (minister letting daughter eat burger) “there is no danger from eating beef!” CJD quietly spreads. ‘An estimated 75.000 dying from a bird flu pandemic.‘ Quoted by a minister, seems awfully conservative to me! 50.000.000 died from it in 1918 AND, there was no package holidays, no driving to work across the country, no congested supermarkets, cinema’s airports full of frustrated passenger etc …Are his advisors kissing the proverbial to placate or does he have the real facts and is doing the same to us? I am not plugging my book but it just may help you survive when the proverbial ‘hit’s the fan…’
Comments?
October 9, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Is there anybody out there?