I did very well out of Covid – plenty of time off with pay and found the whole thing relaxing and productive. Others had a very different experience.
Here’s a few thoughts that go beyond the NHS and teachers. Not saying that they aren’t heroes, but they do have a habit of telling us how hard they work, even in non-pandemic times and seem to have a well-tuned PR machine.
Bin men. Out is all weathers taking rubbish away. Take the bin men away for a month and you’d start to see rats in the streets and the breakdown of society.
Shop assistants. A couple of my sisters in law were in ASDA all through the pandemic, putting up with abuse from the public, risking infection every day and keeping us fed.
Bus drivers – several died from Covid as they kept our transport system going so people could get to work. Their deaths passed mostly unreported.
Postmen. Another profession that suffered Covid casualties but kept going through thick and thin. People were quarantining mail during lockdown because they were afraid of it bringing in germs, but the posties had to handle thousands of items a day. After the first lockdown, when we did close, they kept our eBay business going.
Street cleaners, meals on wheels, power workers, farm workers, police, firemen, railway staff. I’m afraid that I can’r even start to list everyone, because there are so many people who get taken for granted and I’m bound to have forgotten someone.
So, to all the people out there who kept the country running and didn’t get a proper thank you, I assure you I am grateful.
Finally, care workers. Not going to labour the point, but underpaid and unappreciated are words that definitely apply.
A lovely post, Simon.
A fine post, Quercus. There are so many who keep the wheels turning who are not appreciated, or underappreciated. Thank you for noting that here.
I was amazed by how mnay people wee on the list when I started, and I’m sure I’ve missed some off.
Well said, Quercus. A fine, balancing, post. The care workers working in the community, working for exploitative agencies now those services have all been privatised and sacrificed to profit, would also be on my list
Yes, we would be lost without them.
I got out of Social Services in 1986 when I could see which way it was going
Wise move.
The fact is that we are all in the same boat and need everyone to keep pulling together if we are not be shipwrecked. The trouble is that lots of people think that money will get them out of the boat (by space rocket for instance) and there lots of other people with their heads so far up their fundaments that they can’t see that the boat needs to stop heading for the rocks pretty soon.
Since the space trips I have been making a mental list of people I would send . . .
I’ve got a little list, they never would be missed.
Precisely!
A lovely post, Simon. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for people to go to work every day, dealing with the public filing through and just hoping the germs didn’t stick. I am so thankful they kept going to their job as the grocery stores and post office, etc. We couldn’t have survived without them.
No, it was a worrying reminder that we rely on so0 many people to make our lives work properly.
So very true.
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And the essential workers should never have to put up the rabble who disregard advice and who believe the radical weirdos.
True. We have a customer who works for the police as a civilian, some of the people they have to put up with would push me to the edge. They had one who refused to stop a party and tapped his watch, telling them that his watch cost more than the fine he was going to get for the party (£10,0000). In ay just world he would still be breaking rocks to teach him some humility.
Absolutely! The people that keep things running, day in and day out, at great risk to themselves and usually for lousy pay. Hats off!
Exactly. 🙂