The first of a series of weeks that likely will get filled with increasingly stranger things. We were at home of course, as were most people. Except for a walk every day, to get some fresh air and sunlight. I expect stronger isolation measures somewhere in the coming week, based on the fact that so many people ignored social distancing during the sunny weekend. Unless, and it’s a big if, the slightly lower jump in new cases (the day to day ratio fell below 1) is not just a one-off low due to less testing, but due to the ‘no handshake’ rules put in place earlier, to be followed by the stricter measures before last week. Then the spreading might be moving to a slower pace (it’s doubling every 4 days now).

This week I

• Worked with colleagues and clients to find a new mode of working
• Discussed longer term impact for our company, as well as the NGO I chair, to define measures to be taken
• Worked on documenting our work for a province in the shape of check lists and tutorials
• Discussed terms of service for sharing data from a province with a third party supplier
• Discussed biodiversity datasets to potentially publish for a province
• Had our monthly all hands meeting, this time in Zoom and without group dinner
• Spent an awful lot of time in video conference calls, up to the point I felt I didn’t do any work but talk
• Spent a lot of time with Y now she’s at home all week
• Worked on the EU High Value Datasets study, albeit less speedy and effectively than I wanted
• Took a walk with E and Y in the sun (and very chilly wind) in a remote spot in the woods, that E figured out on a map as potentially devoid of people. That was mostly true. Unpaved roads do keep people away it seems 😉
• Ended the week feeling restless.

The set-up for working at home, much the same as it has been for years, yet with a different feel to it.