Zooming in the rain

My brain washed away this week

Do you find Zoom meetings tiring? Or is it just me?

I get a kind of cloudiness in my brain, after a while. I can read for hours - on Kindle or in a book - and write too, but somehow it’s the talk that gets to me. I am not a great talker, myself, and if I let it happen, an entire meeting can wash right over me. Not that I want it to; even when the subject matter is very engaging, it all blurs, suddenly.

Anyway, I have had a week of Zooming, which has had the effect of making it harder for me to concentrate on other things - like doing my Substack updates. Today, I got away from my computer for a couple of hours for a media event, and it was a relief. I think there has been a lot going on with everyone back at work, refocusing after the summer vacations. So now it’s “let’s have a meeting” and nine times out of ten it’s Zoom (or Google Meet, or similar platform).

This week, it has rained, dutifully and on time, every single afternoon. In fact you could set your clock by it. At around 1 pm a quiet muttering is heard in the hills, where the thunder begins, and the dogs get nervous. Then the garden darkens, and the rain begins - sometimes sputtering and short, at other times heavy and determined, as only tropical rain can be. Yes, ‘tis the season for storms.

Last night I talked for an hour or two on Zoom, all by myself. I gave a little presentation on the use of English online - blogging, social media, and the like. Fortunately the day’s rain had subsided, and my head was relatively clear again. In moderation, I decided, zooming is good - and often necessary, especially in the Caribbean where we are all sitting on different islands - whether we are in the path of the next tropical depression/storm/hurricane, or not.

It’s all “atmospherics,” I suppose.

Reflections in a muddy puddle in our yard.