or: Bellybutton gazing during a lockdown

This will be a toilet paper free post in sympathy with all those who have been unable to buy any.

Instead, it will be a post about some random thoughts. Much like my usual posts….

The hello kisses to work colleagues, family and friends as well as farewell handshakes and hand taps had already stopped. As an Australian in a former French colony, this was by far easier for me to adjust to than when I arrived and having to kiss virtual strangers hello.

I’ve been getting a bit more comfortable with that however anyone that has known me for a significant amount of time already knows that I’m not much of a touchy-feely person unless I haven’t seen someone for a while and know them well. Even then it can be a bit of a stretch at times!

I’ve explained to my colleagues here that our “new” way of greeting is the normal way for me and they seem a little surprised that not everyone kisses their colleagues and many of their clients hello each day. It gives me a bit of a giggle to think about the reactions of my Japanese, HK and Australian-based teams over the years had I been doing this.

Slowly, slowly I will adapt but not I need this virus to go away otherwise it will undo all the hard work that time has been able to give to me.

Now on Day 3 of Lockdown Mauritius and I have been thinking about a few things, namely
1) how long does it take for a turtle to break a habit?
2) is it possible that Diogenes the Cynic was the inspiration for Oscar the Grouch?

Since some of you are either already in Lockdown or are heading into one, I thought I’d share my findings so you can ponder something else.

1) Turtle habits

Depending on which study you read, humans take 21 days to just about a year to break a habit depending on what method is chosen.

Turtles on the other hand, no-one knows so this sounds a bit similar to the combined results of the human studies.

I’ve been thinking about this since many of the fishermen and local hotels in this area take tourists out in their boats at a set time each day to feed the turtles near the start of the barrier reef. I think there are three main turtles that come to them for feeding and the tourists then swim with the turtles, touch them, feed them and take videos and photos.

This is lousy on so many levels.

I’m not sure what they are feeding the turtles though I’m fairly sure it’s not what they eat in the wild. This has implications for their digestion.

Touching a turtle could be causing damage to the turtle through various bacteria and germs that the snorkelers have on them.

I’m also not sure if these turtles are now reliant on people for food or if they still remember how to get it and where to get it themselves since they have been fed by humans for so long.

And that’s why I’m wondering how long it takes a turtle to create a new habit.

As no-one is feeding the turtles at the moment, where are they going and have they remembered how to find food and what it is they are really meant to be eating?

If they do this for long enough, will they stop coming back to the place where they are fed by people?

Humans aren’t meant to be feeding the turtles here however the government has enough other things to legislate for (I think this is already illegal though) and enforcing this is also difficult as the fishermen in particular need the income.

2) Diogenes and Oscar the Grouch

I’ve been reading Sapiens: A brief history of humankind and am finding it very interesting. 

Diogenes they Cynic is mentioned and it also said he lived in a barrel. This then had me thinking about Oscar living in a garbage can.

Their attitudes seem to be similar too so I started to wonder if Oscar was based on Diogenes.

He’s not.

He was meant to represent a different opinion to the mainstream and his name was based on a guy that ran a restaurant that Jim Henson liked to go to.

I can’t help but wonder though if Jim was familiar with Diogenes and unintentionally gave Oscar some of the similar characteristics.

So, three days down and eleven more to go (at this stage).

I wonder what else I’m going to end up contemplating!

Thanks to Powderfinger for the title to this post. They have just released a Deluxe Edition of The Internationalist!