A workshop of manufacturing I do not need

The making of obscure goods

I need to step out of this factory manufacturing goods of no description and without any purpose, yet the machines churn, the conveyor belts are in motion, with an end-to-end process fully engaged, the inputs nebulous and the outputs vacuous, what a quandary of automation on my hands, for I am the factory manager.

To unravel this conundrum, I cannot shut down that factory, for there are orders that could be placed for which the tooling can be recalibrated to make something not just of value, but of significance beyond what I might use to share with others.

The same plant has served markets proximate and distant, but a moment of distraction has set in place some disorder, the cost of realignment needs minimising and then time to readjust should by all means to shortened.

A malcontent of discontent

What ails us is simple, external factors that impose limitations that we can either absorb and bear to much operational disruption, ignore and face the consequences further down the line, or take into consideration, making allowances for some drift, but not letting it impact the schedule of activities for which other orders have been properly processed.

The factory is my mind and the manufacturing is the array of thought processes that course through my thoughts and thinking especially around this pandemic and the mishandling of it by my government. The lockdown affects me, but I can get on with my life in general, shopping, exercise and work continue in earnest.

There is no social activity, I cannot meet friends, and travel is prohibited if I was not in South Africa with my partner a month ago, I will not have met any of my friends for literally a year, apart from one who is in my social bubble because he lives in my city.

Briskly manufacturing no consent

I watch the frenetic activity to contain the virus, having lost the trust of the public and the ability to persuade us of a greater cause, they impose hefty fines on a whim and we roll over allowing this travesty as if they are testing how far we can be squeezed by their egregious abuse of power.

We do need to get a hold of this pandemic, but I am governed by consent, that consent is wearing thin as the rank incompetence of this government looms so large that it is impossible not to see where the problem is. Like I said before, the issue is not the South Africa strain of the virus, especially after the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine was found not to be as effective against that strain.

Blog - The CoVID-19 mutations are not the problem

Testing our docility

The South African strain has been the bogeyman and rationale for the imposition of a more stringent lockdown, but the prevalent and dominant strain in the UK is homegrown from Kent. All the restrictions and quarantine measures being put into play now, if they had been imposed 3 months ago when South Africa did, or 6 months ago when rather we were enticed to Eat Out to Help Out, we would not have suffered the death toll of over 110,000 of which half happened in the last quarter of a year and we probably would have eased many of the lockdown measures and be on the path to a semblance of normalcy.

Dare I suggest we tried for this a year ago before it took any hold and we would be filling stadiums attending concerts like they are now in New Zealand, but we played with lives to save the economy and now, both lives and the economy are in peril, compounded by Brexit. It is not a matter of hindsight, time and again, the signs of what to do were there, but the government prevaricated, and procrastinated wishing bluster and bombast will save the day. It did not.

I guess my question is, what will it take for the people to say enough because it seems they will get away with anything and everything if at one point we cannot hold anyone or someone responsible and accountable for the negligence of leadership and the unprecedented trammelling of our liberties by reason of the ineptitude and infirmity of leadership. Closing the strange goods line for the day.