Kindly Yours

  A Baker's Dozen of non-Covid  Significant Risk and Opportunity Themes We Face in 2021 - in no particular order. 1.    The Pace of Healing of Divisiveness and Polarisation in the USA. 2.     The low interest rate environment impacting on macroeconomic policy, fiscal management, investment options and personal financing. 3.    Life after Brexit in Britain. 4.    How China, Russia, America, Japan and Europe make their next moves on the chess board. 5.    Trying to rebounce the dynamics of international travel. 6.     Rising use of AI and the evolving transformation of consumer experience. 7.     Oligopolistic business  ownership in technology, health, social media, energy, transport, resource extraction and agricultural sectors. 8.     Compromised and hidden relationships in managing a nation's key assets and strategic parameters. 9.      Changes in the evolving nature of financial currency, market value chains, banking and trading mechanisms. 10.   Continued transform

  15 January 2021 - It is said, in Los Angeles County, California, that a person dies of Covid 19 every eight minutes. The quality and effectiveness of your political leaders in decision making inevitably affects your life, even if you do everything otherwise possible, especially in an epidemic. The reality at ground level is at best inconvenience.  Worse are the long term negative effects suffered by Covid 19 survivors, the battered impact on front line and public service workers and the raging number of fatalities as various strains of the latest Coronavirus rampage throughout so many communities. "Out of control" is being unable to cope with an overstrained health support system, the decimation of prospects and hope, the lingering imposition of uncertainty,   unnecessary Covid leakage opportunities, politicisation prioritised over other requirements and headless chicken reaction when contact tracing is no longer viable. And yes, mass vaccination and roll out issues may

  Eating out since Covid 19 emerged has changed the related flavour, experience and satisfaction - and I am not talking  about the food. For starters, we are not even sure if the place is open, when we want to go visit.  Many outlets no longer make it a disciplined effort to update on websites their opening hours or when they do close, due to some 24 hour given notice of lockdown authorised by people external to the hospitality industry. If we then arrive at the venue of an open cafe, restaurant or pop up outlet, we most likely see eager customers patiently lining up outside the door. They are not in queue to purchase tickets for a good gig (that is rare now) or a fantastic physical reality sale ( online is so convenient now, except for  possible hiccups in the  parcel collection process). Instead we are subject to mindfulness about social distancing requirements - that ever changing rule on how many square metres we have to be from the nearest human being, or group of strangers als

 An Indian Ocean coastal sunset. The foreshore at Sorrento, one of my favourite parts of Perth WA. Trail walking rewards you in the Woop Woop. The shallow waters at Shark Bay give you a fascinating discovery, if you look close up enough. Noon at Carnarvon, with palm trees along the promenade. At least I knew definitely where I was, in a land so vast. Where the marine sports lovers gather - Exmouth Peninsula, north west of WA. Sand so finely grained, waters so pure. No, they are not lining up to wee. Waiting for the dolphins at Monkey Mia. I was not going to climb that, just looking.

 

Today I dropped by to see a person who always smiled instinctively upon seeing me.  Behind both our facemasks, there is yet no barrier, as our hearts can willingly read each other’s.   We did not have to see each other often, but when we do, we left each other with an inner glow in each of us.  Behind the easy conversation was an affirmation of the friendship, through times hard, easy and neutral.    You instinctively know when there is an instant connection with some individuals we are fortunate enough to come across, in this journey of life.   This connection cannot be whittled, despite we being significantly barred from travel for no fault of our own.    The year past – 2020 to be precise – had seen our individual and community lives thrown around raggedly at times by external forces, some unwittingly, others manipulative and overall layered with a necessary or unnecessary uncertainty, imbued with their true colours in all hues of impact.   There were times of incompetent political