Here in London we’re back to living by the rule of six. And what a joy it is, just to see real faces chugging ale and chatting nonsense in all their three-dimensional glory.
It makes me wonder if there are other rules of six out there that we should live by. Six days of work, one day of rest? Or better still, the other way round? No meetings with more than six people in them? No eating after 6pm – or drinking before then?
We are keen to hear from all Upsiders about the rules of six that they live their life by. To get the ball rolling, here are some of mine:
• Don’t have more than six of anything on any given day, other than maybe peas.
• Find six things to be grateful for, or wonder at, every day.
• Every six years, you’ll find you have changed into someone slightly different. Go with it.
• Do not purchase anything that comes in a pack of six or more*. Your marginal utility from the sixth item will be negligible and besides, one of them will be bruised, bent or otherwise disappointing. (*Apart from some TV series, eggs and shuttlecocks.)
• Take six full nose breaths in and out before you fire off that uppity email/snap that snappy response/yell at a difficult child. Then don’t.
• Never make lists with six items in them. You’ll run out of ideas.
So what are your rules of six? Do let us know.
Otherwise, this week we very much enjoyed these six pieces (actually there are only five, as you’re not allowed to make lists with six items in them, see above):
• Net gains: ocean plastics recycled into new roads. Three-minute read
• How to fix the US inequality gap. Two-minute read
• The joys of the end of lockdown. 90-second read
• …and the return of the wedding. Two-minute service
• What it took to shift a very, very large boat. A whole week
Lucky numbers
Twenty years after the Netherlands became the first nation to allow same-sex marriages, they are now legal in 29 countries around the world.
More than 54% of the UK have antibodies against coronavirus, according to the Office for National Statistics.
What we liked
When will I hug you again? When will we share precious cuddles? The Globe and Mail seeks answers to this most human of questions.
This seems quite current: the disposable mask designed to let 1,000 flowers bloom. (It was designed by a woman from the Netherlands, who thus could be described as a Dutch masker).
And we salute this Reuters Institute piece by my former colleague Laura Oliver on the potential for solutions journalism in the global South.
What we heard
Emily Shaw wrote in from Whitstable, south-east England:
We have been encouraged by the anecdotal boom in people out litter picking in our area.
Lots seen out and about, and the local hardware shop keeps selling out of litter-pickers! Inspired, I took on the challenge with my four-month-old son Alfie of litter picking every day in March for ClientEarth. We’re often joined by a friend for our daily walk, and it has made them more satisfying and productive. We raised more than £500. This just shows how seeing others out picking has inspired us and sent a ripple of positive action through our community!
Meanwhile, back on the theme of lockdown reading, Markus Riedel got in touch from the Erzgebirge, on the German-Czech border:
Dear authors of the “The Upside” newsletter,
In your newsletter from 19 March you asked readers: “What books would you recommend from your own lockdown reading?” Here is my recommendation: James Suzman 2019: “Affluence Without Abundance: What We Can Learn from the World’s Most Successful Civilisation”. It’s an exciting book about the Ju/’hoansi, the most famous group of Bushmen in Namibia, their dramatic recent history, how others misunderstand them and what conclusions we could probably draw for our understanding of economics.
While Romola Madsen in Minneapolis had a different perspective:
I really struggle to get through books because of the major depression and anxiety I live with. Audiobooks too often present a situation of waiting for the other shoe to drop so I prefer the printed page when I do read. I love books and was a bookworm growing up, wearing out the batteries in every flashlight/torch in the house so I could keep reading after lights out. Now I read about books and recommend books to family and friends so I have a mostly vicarious relationship with books. I adore the library and manage to read parts of books from time to time. Reading to each other helps me to get through a few books a year.
This last year I got the series of Babylon Berlin books for my mother. Also, The Lost Pianos of Siberia. Owls of the Eastern Ice has been an eye opener for me as I believe I often look like a Blakiston’s fish owl when I wake up in the morning. We reread the hair-raising children’s book by Laura Ingalls Wilder called The Long Winter about some serious cold weather. In spite of the racism against Native Americans, it bears repeating because we are losing the cold our plants and animals have evolved to live in. It’s also a good reminder that the olden days were not simpler at all.
Where was the Upside?
On the courses, courts and other cauldrons of outdoor sport up and down England.
And for those who hate the great outdoors, there was hours of fun puzzling over the Turing challenge, launched to coincide with the scientist and codebreaker being commemorated on the new British £50 note.
