January 1, 2021 - Experiments in Living

The UK got Brexit and the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine this week, and Portland got Cocktails to Go!

Opponents of Brexit said that Britain could not diverge from EU rules and also trade freely with the EU – that Britain could not have its cake and eat it too - but Boris Johnson begged to differ:  “That has turned out not to be true,” the prime minister said. “I want you to see that this is a cakist treaty.”

A cakist treaty and a cocktail with which you can stroll the streets! It all sounds reminiscent of New Orleans, somehow, where my naïve Oregonian eyes were shocked, years ago, to see x-rated neckties and streetside daiquiri machines that looked like a row of colorful dryers in a laundromat.

No, wait. I think that whole strolling-the-streets thing may be a misapprehension on my part. Looks like we get to order a cocktail of 3 oz., to go WITH a food order, delivered to our door by one of those DoorDash type outfits. (I tried to sign up for GrubHub in order to get bagels and lox from one of my local fave spots, and I annoyed the GrubHub app so badly that I can’t even sign in any more. I am dead to GrubHub. Fine. I will find another way.)

In the UK, I noticed, it is generally called “The Oxford vaccine.” Understandably so.  And I understand why they are going to try delaying the second dose of vaccine in order to get a first dose into more people. The case rate is exploding, and first doses show an impact pretty swiftly. We don’t actually know the sweet spot for vaccine booster shots: three weeks? Eight? Twelve?

My father was a research scientist, and listening to him, I got used to the idea of science advancing understanding both when experiments work, and when they don’t. He was a big believer in the controlled study, and also in trying something to see what happened. It’s amazing to see these principles playing out in real time, in the real world, during a real crisis - but it’s been like this since the beginning of the pandemic.

Oregon’s cocktails-to-go dispensation will sunset 60 days after the governor’s emergency order expires. It’s meant to keep restaurants and bars afloat, and, I suppose incidentally, to cheer the rest of us up.

In our house, we started 2021 with a whisky tasting session over WhatsApp. I can’t recommend this for anyone who likes to Accomplish Things on the first day of the year, but I’m not complaining. Happy New Year, all.