The last bits of our summer holiday were spent in London. Even though I had been in the city many times before, it is only the second time I’m there for leisure (if you count a 6 hour stint 9 years ago) and was the first for my wife.
The main reason to go was to attend a concert by Café Tacuba, but we also walked a lot around the city and caught up with some good friends. The photos, as usual, are in Flickr.
The WHO has raised its alert status to level 4. There have been over 2,300 cases in Mexico now, 700 still in hospital, 150 deceased. There are confirmed cases in Spain and Scotland, and closer to home suspected cases in Belgium, Sweden, Norway & Denmark. To make matters even worse, there was an earthquake in Mexico City today, although there is no reports of damages.
Although Mexicans are now starting to sound worried, some still cope by joking. Some people commented that the earthquake was basically another way of sneezing, and the influenza song now has a video. People are still staying home, following the instructions of the government, and the school shutdown has been expanded nationwide. If you speak Spanish, the Mexican Presidency has live video coverage of the situation here.
Roman Catholic masses were cancelled throughout the city, museums were closed and football matches were played behind close doors (my team, Chivas, tied) to avoid the creation of crowds. People have been generally very calm from what I understand, stayed home and there is no panic shopping, but the streets are rather empty for a city of over 20 million people (some pictures here). If you understand Spanish, a great chronicle of the past two days can be found here and here. The city is not afraid, and people still make fun of the situation from time to time.
Video rentals and video stores were doing brisk business yesterday, and schools are closed until May 6th (May 1st and 5th are holidays anyway). Military personnel have been handling masks around the city and now everybody is bracing themselves for tomorrow: will people go to work or will they home office (those who can)?
The Finnish media have complained about the slow Mexican response to the outbreak, but they seem to ignore that even the National University (UNAM) doesn’t have the equipment needed to distinguish this new virus from its old, previously known cousins and with the normal flu season just ending, there was no cause for concern. On the other hand the World Health Organisation has praised the Mexican response.
There are confirmed cases in Mexico, the US, Canada and New Zealand, and suspected cases in France, Spain, UK & Israel (map here). Deaths have only happened in Mexico, and even there two thirds of the 1200 cases have already been released from hospital. According to some information in the Mexican media, vaccines don’t work, but antivirals such as Tamiflu do. Airports haven’t been closed, but there is more stringent screening in Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan from passengers coming over from North America.
There are two different hypothesis of the origin of the virus: one points to it having started in a farm in Texas and then crossed over to the border, the other one points to farms in Perote, Veracruz, Mexico. None has been confirmed.
If you want to know more in real time, you can follow @Veratect and @zolliker (in Spanish) on Twitter.
In Finland you will find two nationwide tabloids: Iltalehti & Ilta-Sanomat. The Ilta-rags share a similar tone with their Mexican and British cousins, focusing on the main page on issues that are really not that serious.
The main difference I find between the local versions and others is also their focus on, how can I say it, jealousy. Not only will there be endless features on the Tax circus every year around tax retrun time, but also continuing coverage of the financial dealings of “celebrities” and other individuals.
This envy-as-a-social-phenomenon is something I hadn’t given much thought to unil I read Juoksuhaudentie, a novel about the Finnish dream of having a house of your own. The chapters where we see what the neighbours think about the main characters are quite chillng, as not only they disapprove completely, but express it freely and want to make their lives more miserable.
This kind of attitude is something that I tried to get rid of, as in certain circles where I grew up it can be quite common. I know in the case of a novel it’s just fiction, but are people really like that? Maybe it’s just human nature…
This week I learned that two of my classmates from high school in northern Greater Mexico City are also in a relationship with Finnish girls and both are also living abroad. That got me thinking about how many of the guys and gals I used to go to school with back then are also overseas, and the sample is quite broad.
I’m not particularly surprised of this development given that we were educated as the so-called NAFTA generation learning English (and sometimes other languages) from childhood, and given a broader view of the world than people before us (I remember attending lessons on economics, global affairs, the stock market and compared history of North America at that time).
What sets us apart from those before us I think, is not that some of us would go abroad, but that we would not concentrate in the United States as before. In my sister’s high school class (she is only a few years older than me) most of those who are working abroad are doing so in the US (a couple here and there in Europe, but it’s a minority), whereas with us the geographic dispersion is much broader: I have classmates in Mexico, and all over the US, true, but also in Canada, Spain, Sweden, Germany, Australia, France, Brazil, UK and I believe even a couple in China. Moreover, many of them who are back in Mexico also have international experience, either as students or during their careers.
I’m sure that this is partly due to American immigration regulations after 9/11, but I believe it also has something to do with many of us wanting to see what else was out there. I wonder if the Institute for Mexicans Abroad will start tapping this kind of talent network too, as many of us are working for institutions like e.g. Shell, Nokia, Microsoft, ESA or Volvo or studying at recognised institutions all over the place. Maybe we should learn something from what the Indians and the Chinese are doing by taking advantage of their expatriates, instead of complaining about the brain drain?
Regardless, it’s good to see that most of them in Mexico or wherever they may be are doing well.
May I have some culture with my commute, please.
Seen in a recent trip to London.
Of all the cities I’ve been, London still feels the most global in outlook of them all… as cheesy as this London tourism advert might be.
Is worse than in some "third world" countries I know. I was there the fatidic day of the opening of Heathrow's Terminal 5, but fortunately in another section of the airport so wasn't affected.
However, my Heathrow Express train from Paddington was delayed for almost an hour, as the thing just decided to stop dead in the beginning of the journey (but outside the station). Since I've already experienced quite a few problems in the tube during previous trips, I really wonder when (if ever) they will get their act together. I'm just amazed by the rivers of money flushed down the toilet because of downtime…
I was in London again for a business trip this week. In this day and age, you can travel from Helsinki, have a full day of meetings and be back on the same day.
Even though we may complain about how hard it is to get visas when needed, the amount of security checkpoints and the time it takes to get from one place to another, I am certainly of the opinion that the fact that we can travel over 2000 kilometres and still have a productive day is pretty much a miracle (as tired as it might get you).
Back here. But at least there's good weather.
