Rosetinted

After 5 days of working from home/isolation I am prone to think about 'Home', the television adaption of JG Ballard's Enormous Space, back when channels could be unashamedly creative with their programme listing. It has been a while since I last saw 'Home', and I can still feel the impact it had. Some films leave behind a physical impact, I am still unable to step over a worm on a rainy pavement thanks to David Lynch's Eraserhead.  I was, an unashamed lover of anything JG Ballard and have read a number of his brutal tales. I heard his voice as an indictment on the banality of suburban living and his half step away from reality leaves me with a feeling of horror so much stronger than any complete fantasy world. I imagine a mind like Ballard's as a natural product of the strange suburban childhood dichotomy:  where Santa, Jesus and the Tooth Fairy are equal truths and where oddities and curiosities are shielded from eyes as 'not nice' and 'don'...

In the game of Rona-geddon, I am finally OUT. I have been asked to self-isolate due to contact with another Ronageddon victim. I am hoping that they stay safe and well. In fact, if any of my  'rona afflicted friends read this, be well, be safe and drink lots of herbal tea with a splash of honey.  So, now I have to face the one thing I have been dreading since the beginning of this fiasco - I have to a) work from home and b) not leave the house for 14 days. This is not my first rodeo, many years ago I contracted measles and suffered quite significantly. I was advised by the doctor to sit in a darkened room and not to leave the house or mix with others for 14 days. Of course the first few days were not an issue, it was a significant enough illness to leave my head on a pillow for a number of days. Eventually, I set up the high backed, green, nylon- clad chair next to the t.v, with the piano stool as a foot stool and watched countless episodes of: 'Wait 'till your father gets ...