Editor’s Note

When I set out to write this week’s column, I promised myself I wouldn’t mention the “c” word, the “l” word or the “z” word. I lied. It’s been about seven weeks since “lockdown” started — there, I said it — and while that feels like an absolute age, this new normal is also very new. So we have a conundrum — we’re sick of reading, talking and listening to stories and opinions about the coronavirus / Covid-19 / the dreaded “c” word, and yet no other news is as relevant.

And as for the “z” word — if we can’t complain about Zoom, is life really worth living?

Through it all though, it amazes me how a sense of humour seems to come to the rescue when things are feeling impossibly dire. We have it in droves in this country. Heck, some of our politicians are also our best comedians. Jackson’s vibrator quip, Cyril’s ninja turtle impersonation and elbow dance, Nkosazana’s zol speech — they’ve all managed, even if it’s inadvertently, to give us a little light and levity in these dark times.

Meme-fatigue is starting to be a real thing, but the memes have brought us some amusing neologisms, like “coronadose”, an overdose of bad news from consuming too much media, which can result in panicdemic, and “covidiot”, also known as “lockclown” — usually an A-lister so self-involved as to be blind to the idea that sometimes it’s just better not to speak. Madonna has emerged as one with her “Covid — the great equaliser” comments, Trump is a nobrainer, and yet, so far, singer Bryan Adams has taken the cake. He took to several social media channels to say: “Tonight was supposed to be the beginning of a tenancy of gigs at the Royal Albert Hall but thanks to some f***ing bateating, wet-market-animal selling, virus-making greedy bastards, the whole world is now on hold … My message to them, other than thanks a f***ing lot, is go vegan.”

Bet he won’t be playing any gigs in China, then, when this is all over.