Merry X’mas?! during Covid-19🎅🎈

🎅🎈 Merry X’mas? !

The deadline for the end of the Brexit transition period is 31 December; however, European life is generally bound together universally by Christmas.

Yet there is more than that, all the European countries are currently suffering from the coronavirus pandemic, then outside the UK parts decided to isolate Britain before this Christmas as a new variant of the Covid-19 virus spreads rapidly in London and Southeast England. Therefore, we are suggested to have a merry 'little' Christmas by Boris Johnson's warning. No boxing day today, and everyone needs to stay safe and healthy, ideally at home. 

Although Covid-19 has posed a great deal of challenges in many aspects of life, and I did not dare to take risks to return home, I have received some gifts from people surrounded me. These gifts made this Christmas not that cold. 

Greetings from my neighbour

Gift package from schoolmates

Gift from my landlord

Gift package from the University

Interestingly, Kate Fox once said, ‘Snow is thus always excellent conversation-fodder, but it is only universally welcomed if it falls at Christmas, which it almost never does.’ However, this weird year we have witnessed snow came to visit York on Christmas. I didn’t see its falling in person, but here is some white X'mas evidence. 

(North Yorkshire moors: Source:@northyorkswx; HMGoverment)

疫情期間聖誕快樂?!

英國脫歐過渡期結束的截止日期是12月31日；儘管如此,歐洲生活普遍地會因聖誕節綁在一起。 

不僅如此，整個歐洲目前都遭受了冠狀病毒大流行的困擾，但是之後在英國以外的部分決定在聖誕節前隔離英國，因為Covid-19病毒的新變種在倫敦和英格蘭東南部迅速傳播，因此Boris Johnson(英國首相)的警告建議我們度過一個快樂的“小”聖誕節。今天沒有開禮日，每個人都需要保持安全和健康，最好是待在家中。 

儘管Covid-19在生活的許多方面都使人面對很多挑戰，而且我不敢冒險回到家，但是我收到了周圍人的一些禮物。這些禮物使這個聖誕節沒那麼冷。 

有趣的是，英國社會學家凱特·福克斯（Kate Fox）曾經說過：“因此，雪永遠是最棒的對話話題，但只有在聖誕節降雪時，雪才受到普遍歡迎，而這幾乎是從來沒有發生過。”但是，這一詭異的年，我們目睹了雪在聖誕降臨了約克。我本身沒看到它的降落，但這有些證據。

 

 

 

Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire

The second national lockdown in the UK was ended on December 2 although stricter tiers on the way in some areas. I have longing for an outing for so long so I decided to have a one-day trip nearby my city.  By the time I was looking for a 2021 Yorkshire calendar, some pretty photos taken in some places were thus put on my trip list. Among them, a small town in West Yorkshire--Hebden Bridge, has been named ‘the greatest town in Europe’.

With my curiosity, I took one-hour train to there on this Thursday. As this Thursday was not a sunny day, on my way to Hebden Bridge, there are only few people on the train; however, considering travelling safety during this ongoing pandemic, one prominent rule and three principals have to bear in mind and put them into practice to halt the spread of Covid-19: physical social distancing and “Hands. Face. Space”.

British Airway’s High Life magazine named Hebden Bridge as ‘one of the world’s funkiest towns’ in terms of its welcoming atmosphere, quirkiness and creativity. It is also a place where can be termed as the lesbian capital of the UK. As the scholar Richard Florida observes, a city with more tolerance, diversity and equality is more appealing to certain groups to migrate to live and work.

As daytime becomes shorter in the winter, I planned to walk along the picturesque Rochdale Canal, which runs through the heart of Hebden Bridge, and arrived at the National Trust site: Hardcastle Crags.

Autumn is said to be a best time to visit Hardcastle Crags, and it is not too late to explore the maple beauty and enjoy the wildlife. The walking routes are muddy due to continuous rain in this week. ‘Why don’t you wear boots?’ I was asked by a local resident when we encounter, also her dog. The muddy footpaths cannot stop me in any way and finally I reached Hardcastle Crags by 4 pm, almost the end of the daytime. 

Sometimes conquering challenges could add more fun and excitement to the trip. For a small example, I brought with a Coca-Cola and expected to enjoy it when I finished my walking, however, I found I did not have a bottle opener...I originally want to give up, while some film scenarios came to my mind, from Rambo in the jungle to Leonardo DiCaprio’s The Revenant. Finally, I used one of my keys to pull the bottle cap, and ended today's nature hiking journey with a special tasty drinking.

A night view of Hebden Bridge.

 Hebden Bridge 之旅

英國第2次封鎖已於12月2日結束，但在某些地區採取了更為嚴格的措施。我已渴望出遊很久，所以我決定在我的城市近郊進行一日遊。當我正在尋找約克2021年曆時，一些在有些地方拍攝的漂亮照片因此被列入了我的旅行清單。其中, Hebden Bridge是西約克郡的一個小鎮，被譽為“歐洲最偉大的小鎮”。出於好奇，我在這個星期四搭了一個小時的火車去那裡。

由於這個星期四不是晴天，所以在去Hebden Bridge的路上，火車上的人很少。但是，考慮到在這一持續疫情大流行期間的旅行安全，必須牢記一項重要的規則和三項原則，並付諸實踐以防止Covid-19的傳播：身體上的社交距離和“手”。面對。空間”。

英國航空公司的《高尚生活》雜誌以其宜人的氛圍，古怪和創造力將Hebden Bridge評為“世界上最時髦的城鎮之一”。它也是可以被稱為英國女同性戀首都的地方。正如學者Richard Florida所觀察到的那樣，一個具有容忍度，多樣性和平等性更高的城市對於某些群體遷移到生活和工作會更具吸引力。

隨著冬天的白天越來越短，我計劃沿著風景如畫的羅奇代爾運河漫步，該運河穿過Hebden Bridge的中心，並到達了國家信託基金會的所在地：Hardcastle Crags。

據說秋天是參觀Hardcastle Crags的最佳時機，探索楓樹之美和享受野生動植物還為時不晚。由於本週持續降雨，步行路線很泥濘。 “你為什麼不穿靴子？”當地居民在我們相遇，還有她的狗,時問我。泥濘的小徑無法阻擋我，最終我在下午4點左右到達Hardcastle Crags，幾乎是白天快結束了的時刻。

有時，征服挑戰可以為旅途增添更多樂趣和刺激。舉個小例子，我帶著可口可樂，並希望在我走完路後可以享用，但是，我發現我沒有帶開瓶器……我本來想放棄的，一些電影場景出現在我腦海, 從叢林中的Rambo到Leonardo DiCaprio的《 The Revenant》；最後，我用我的一把鑰匙拉起了瓶蓋，使我能夠以一種特別美味的飲料圓滿結束今天的自然徒步之旅。

The reality of working from home (WFH)💻

Good news from the government, saying a vaccine against Covid-19 could be ready by Christmas, while it does not mean the coronavirus pandemic will magically all of a sudden go away. Working from home perhaps is an ongoing new lifestyle, which is encouraged by many companies and are welcomed by many people. 

(Source: YouGov Survey)

However, there were many people, including women and men, calling in to the Talk Radio Show to complain they miss their workplace and the commute time from work. A single woman working in the law field said that she felt lonely and alone WFH and missed the old days working with other colleagues in the office. Nevertheless, another male worker said the lack of the split between ‘economic’ and ‘social’ life drove him crazy. 

Mature capitalist societies are marked by a split between ‘work’ and ‘life’ spheres. It is actually a new historical development in the human society. When dating back to the era of traditional economy, the total work is organised by a peasant household with different roles assigned to different family members, such as mother for caring child and father for producing materials (Pain, et al., 2014).  

Although we are now living in modern economic society, many women still take more responsibility of house work; now women might be happier with WFM as they can work from home in a more flexible way to deal with both job duty and household chores; while men may be thus sometimes engage in these household chores so that they eager to back to their office to avoid feeling guilty for this still-existing-gender-inequality between career men and women. And space matters, as some people also complained that not every house is suitable for WFH, and many have to work in the kitchen as they don’t have a working space at home.

A survey conducted by Henley Centre (1994) reported that people in Britain spend nearly 40 per cent of their time on leisure than they do at work (only about 15 per cent in waged work). Now if you work from home, the time for work and leisure might has been mixed together. As a result, due to the work-life imbalanced, the people who called in to the Talk Show thus claimed that WFM has influenced their mental health.

 Reference

Pain, R., Gough, J., Mowl, G., Barke, M., MacFarlene, R., & Fuller, D. (2014). Introducing social geographies. Routledge.

'I work from home, always' (source:Babe’s original film poster)

在家工作（WFH）的現實面

政府的好消息是，針對Covid-19的疫苗可能會在聖誕節前準備好，但這並不意味著冠狀病毒大流行會突然消失。在家工作可能是一種持續的新生活方式，這受到許多公司的鼓勵並受到許多人的歡迎。

但是，有很多人，包括男女，都打電話到廣播電台脫口秀，抱怨他們想念工作場所和下班時間。一名在法律領域工作的單身女性說，她在家工作孤單而且孤獨，想念過去與辦公室其他同事一起工作的日子。然而，另一位男性工人表示，“經濟”生活與“社會”生活之間缺乏分隔使他發瘋。

成熟的資本主義社會的特性是“工作”和“生活”領域的分裂。這實際上是人類社會的新歷史發展。追溯到傳統經濟時代，整個工作是由一個農民家庭來組織的，他們被分配給不同的家庭成員以不同的角色，例如母親照顧孩子，父親生產物料。

儘管我們現在生活在現代經濟社會中，但許多婦女仍然承擔著更多的家務勞動；現在，婦女可能更喜歡在家工作，因為她們可以在家中以更靈活的方式工作，以同時處理工作職責和家務。因此，男性有時可能也會要從事這些家務事，因此他們渴望回到自己的辦公室以避免因職業男女之間的這種還存在的不平等而感到內罪惡感。空間也很重要,有些人抱怨並不是每間房子都適合在家工作,許多人不得不在廚房工作，因為他們在家中沒有工作空間。

亨利中心（Henley Center，1994）進行的一項調查表明，英國人花在閒暇的時間是40%比花在工作上多（從事有薪工作僅花15％）。 現在，如果您在家工作，上班時間和休閒時間可能就混在一起。 結果，由於工作生活不平衡，call in到廣播談話性節目的他們都聲稱工作在家影響了他們的心理健康。

結果，由於工作生活不平衡，他們倆都聲稱在家工作影響了他們的心理健康。

A virtual tour of the magical Diagon Alley in Harry Potter: the Shambles street

England has joined other nations in Europe with a second nationwide lockdown starting in the early November and lasting at least four weeks. Prime minister Boris Johnson told Sky News, ‘We are going to review it on the 2nd of December’; he added, ‘There is a constant struggle and balance which the government has to take between lives and livelihoods’. 

Empty street during lockdown

As Christmas Is coming soon, this second lockdown is believed to be a good intention for the happy family reunion. Many stores are forced to close again, and customers are told to shop Christmas gifts earlier online because Royal Mail service has become slower than before during COVID-19 pandemic. 

X'mas lights are on

Many airlines have changed the way they run business; for example, Australia's Qantas offered "sightseeing" flights over Antarctica while an airline in Taiwan hosted ‘a flight to no-where’ on its Hello Kitty-themed plane. Thai Airways launched special flights that fly over 99 holy sites in Thailand, building on the "flights to nowhere" craze. I was also invited by Hurtigruten Cruise to have a ‘Deep Dive Into the Hurtigruten Onboard Experience’ on 20 November. 

(Source: EVA Airways)

Although a vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech can prevent more than 90% of people from getting Covid-19, according to the news report, we have seen business is getting creative, people are changing the way they live. Most importantly, new skills have to be learnt in different occupations, especially the use of technology to fit peoples' entertainment needs. 

As such, I seize this second lockdown opportunity to film a virtual tour of Harry Potter- the Shambles street at York (the magical Diagon Alley in Harry Potter) in a chilly, raining and dark night. Fans now do not need to come over York, just imagine that Harry Potter with his invisible cloak is discovering his unknown adventure. 🌟

(Muggles who can’t go to the real Diagon Alley are welcomed to enjoy this video).

哈利波特神奇的斜角巷虛擬之旅

英格蘭已與歐洲其他國家一同在11月初開始了第二次全國封鎖，至少會持續四個星期。首相Boris Johnson告訴《天空新聞》：“我們將在12月2日對其進行檢視”；他補充說，“政府必須在生命和生計之間不斷進行掙扎並保持平衡”。 

由於聖誕節快到了，人們相信這是出於好意為了幸福的家庭團圓。許多商店被迫再次關閉，顧客並且被告知要早點在線購買聖誕節禮物，因為在COVID-19大流行期間，皇家郵政服務的速度比以前慢。 

許多航空公司已經改變了經營方式。例如，澳大利亞的澳航（Qantas）提供了在自己陸地的“觀光”航班，而台灣的一家航空公司以凱蒂貓（Hello Kitty）為主題的飛機上進行了“偽出國”。泰國航空以“偽出國”的熱潮為基礎，啟動了飛往泰國99個聖地的特殊航班。我還應Hurtigruten Cruise的邀請，於11月20日參加了“深入了解Hurtigruten船上體驗”活動。 

根據新聞報導，儘管輝瑞和BioNTech研發的疫苗可以阻止90％以上的人感染Covid-19，但我們已經看到商業模式在不斷創新，人們正在改變他們的生活方式。最重要的是，必須在不同的職業中學習新技能，尤其是使用科技技術來滿足人們的娛樂需求。 

因此,粉絲不用來York了,我抓住第二次封鎖的機會在一個寒冷，下雨和漆黑的夜晚拍攝了一支哈利波特虛擬影片-約克的肉舖街（=哈利波特神奇的斜角巷）。 想像哈利·波特披著隱形披風正在發掘他未知的冒險。

（歡迎那些不能去真正的斜角巷的麻瓜們欣賞這段影片）。

Halloween weekend👻💀

Sunrise and sunset have been about one hour earlier since 25 Oct than the day before, which means the Summer is over and the Winter is approaching soon.

This weekend is ‘Hallows' Evening’ (Halloween), which can be dated back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (a pagan religious festival). Its connotations include the end of Summer, the harvest and the beginning of the dark and cold weather. It is to some extent associated with human death. 

During the transition of the light and the dark—on the night before the new year, the ancient Celtic believes that the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead turned blurred. Therefore, people celebrate Halloween in a spooky way by putting on ghost costumes, surrounding with candlelight and creepy carving pumpkins. For Children, it is about the right time to ‘trick-or-treating’ and enjoy eating sweets for a good reason. 

Getting into the Halloween spirit and say hello to this maple Autumn.

自從10月25日以來，日出和日落比前一天早了大約一小時，這意味著夏天已結束了而冬天快到了。 

這個週末是“萬聖節”之夜（萬聖節），其歷史可以追溯到古老的凱爾特人薩姆海因節（異教宗教節日）。 它的含義包括夏天的結束，秋收以及黑暗和寒冷天氣的開始，在某種程度上與人的死亡有關。 

在光明與黑暗的過渡中，在新的一年的前一天晚上，古老的凱爾特人相信生與死世界之間的界限變得模糊。因此，人們穿著鬼衣，圍著燭光和令人毛骨悚然的雕刻南瓜來鬼怪地慶祝萬聖節。對於兒童來說，正是個有充份理由“搗蛋”和享受糖果的好時機。 

融入萬聖節氛圍，並向這個楓葉秋天打招呼。