A friend who works in the field of basic education tells me she has recently noticed an interesting change in the homes she visits. (In the course of her duties she often visits the homes of pupils.)
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, she says, the houses she visits have become increasingly dirty and unhygienic.
It’s none of her professional business, she admits, but when she visits homes these days she can’t help noticing dust and dirt piling up on window sills and shelves, bread crumbs and chocolate wrappers scattered on floors, carpet fluff lurking in corners, unwashed dishes in the kitchen and so on.
She wonders whether this is a direct result of “Covid caution”.
Are people becoming scared to invite chars and cleaners from different social backgrounds into their homes for fear they’ll bring the dreaded virus with them?
Or are more people working from home and too busy to spend time scrubbing and sweeping?
Are children spending more school time at home and creating “normal” child mess in their wake?
Whatever the reason – or reasons – may be, it’s clear the pandemic is changing our lives in many ways.
Maybe it’s time we thought seriously about employing more, rather than less, household help to cope with the increased daily occupancy of our homes.
We might do this, of course, if it weren’t for the Covid virus threat involved.
This may be the time to reconsider introducing some sort of officially recognised Covid passport.
I’m not suggesting vaccination should be compulsory in this age where we regard freedom of choice to be a basic human right, but it might serve to make job-seeking a little safer.
“I will pay you to come and clean my house, but only if you can show me you’ve been full vaccinated.” Surely that’s no more heavy-handed than demanding that applicants for the position of chauffeur should possess a driving licence.
The trouble is that the human mind is such a devious and cunning device that wherever Covid passports have been introduced they’ve created huge industries producing forged Covid passports.
Honestly, I sometimes wonder whether the human race actually wants to survive.
Last Laugh
A man walked into a florist’s shop and said: “I want to buy a nice bunch of flowers.”
“What kind would you like?” asked the florist.
“I’m not really sure,” the man said.
“Well, maybe I can help you,” said the florist.
“What exactly have you done?”
* "Tavern of the Seas" is a column written in the Cape Argus by David Biggs. Biggs can be contacted at [email protected]
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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