It took two months for the previous blog post – about upcoming conferences and the possibility to meet at these conferences! – to become completely obsolete. I was sent home from work on March 13, when we had a major plumbing issue and had to close the institute for cleaning and sanitization. That was a Friday, and on my way back from work in the early afternoon I noticed the gradual spread of – well, panic is too strong a word but at least precautionary measures I had never seen in my life and never expected to see in my own neighbourhood. Face masks, gloves, signs explaining why the shop counter would be desinfected between each client.
I haven’t been back in my normal workplace since then. That was two months ago. My colleagues who need to do lab work are only now starting to get back to speed. We still only allow one person per office or one person per bench in the lab, and each lab has a separate team for morning/afternoon or separate weekday shifts.
It also took two months for me to reach a point where I was able to do more than think I should try to take up blogging again. That doesn’t have so much to do with Covid-19 induced constraints (they don’t affect me much negatively, or at least that is what I like to belive!) as with the fact that we had a major grant deadline on April 30, which had me coordinating one application, being co-PI on two and involved in a third. Grant application periods are always challenging, they leave no time to think about other things, and they require a week or more to recover from the intense work and pressure as well as catching up on all that had to be left until after the deadline.
That is where we are now. Let’s see where that will take Animalogues. I really should have the time to write now, and many reasons to do so. I’m enjoying the renewed digital contact with the animal welfare and applied ethology research community through a Slack space, and hope that I can capitalize on that inspiration.
Animalogues 