I saw a photo of “I Viaggiatori” a sculpture by the artist Bruno Catalano, symbolizing the void created by leaving one’s country, one’s family, one’s people for another life. It made me think of the stories of the past when Spaniards went out into the world and left their families through need or for adventure and I wrote this poem about the void that people feel.
The space inside
We both see the same constellations
But you are far from here.
We both roast under the same sun.
But I am alone, my dear.
The moon smiles down on us
The stars glitter as we stare .
But you are not with me
And I am not there.
I am here toiling,
listening to the sounds
the rumble of machines,
Shouts in tongues abound
Laughter which hides
the pain of that hole.
Which lies inside our hearts,
the ache in our souls
we left our families
and our lands out of need.
to protect their futures
Or their mouths to feed
We found the solution
though not always the best.
For our breaking hearts
But our heads discarded the rest.
I write you letters
and imagine your voice .
I comfort myself in the labour
The drudgery of my choice.
Each exhausting task
is one day closer to you,
to my homeland, my bedrock,
seeing family anew
The empty space
will be open again.
To be filled with the joy
of our reunion.
This is what I tell myself.
To get me through the days.
It doesn’t matter if they lie
To stop us leaving when we say
Wait for me my darling
One day we can ease
our pain of isolation. To a brighter future we’ll have the keys.
Talking to one of my best friends we were discussing how it feels when your children grow up and go forward to live their lives. I was inspired to write this poem
Distance
Flying the nest to make one your own Now ours is empty, We sit here alone You plough your own furrow We taught you so well We’re happy you love life We tried to make sure you never fell Even if you did We always picked you up Of course we still would Your perennial backup
But you listened to our advice And collected skills and achievements We made ourselves redundant Surplus to requirements It’s a bitter sweet moment Now as we reflect in the sun We lose a child who needs us And gain a man of strength and fun
In the quiet of the day the tick tock so loud Even the clock misses you It feels like a dark cloud A new way of living Has to be found A different way of thinking As a future abounds
Remember if you ever have a moment of doubt Look up at the stars Where our love for you can be found Watching and thinking of you I will be looking at the same sun You make us so proud. Our amazing son.
I wrote this poem for my son and his bride on their wedding day.
A life together A love forever. We gather here. To smile and cheer. And wish you both a beautiful life. A life to share as man and wife.
Never forget who each of you is. Though IS becomes ARE you must still take and give I becomes WE whilst still YOU and I You will have a full life together with both laughter and sighs. never forget the summer in her eyes, the kindness in his smile, the wit in her replies
Even those rare times, we all sometimes bear. When laughter is hard to find, these things you too will share. But I know you will always emerge from such gloom Holding hands dancing together to life’s happiest tune. All that is left is to raise up a toast. We wish you the best of all things a life of light and hope
Here is green, blue and mountain high The colours shine their perfect hues The groomsmen strut the bridesmaids sigh As words of love exchanged with joy leave a tear soaked crowd looking on with pride rituals of sand and wine, garlands and verse Emotional mothers clutch at their purse The beautiful displays show how love abounds Hope is alive in a world which otherwise seems a cacophony of ugly sounds Love is still here Love is still pure Family is still precious Good fortune exists, that is sure. here the notes work together, like an orchestra playing masters old A perfect pitch and tempo of gold Before us stood a girl and boy Transformed before us to woman and man In this garden, green and lush Below the Mountain in Tepoztlán
Maracas shake and swoosh, umbrellas unfurl Ribbons catching in the breeze Children play, run and twirl The party starts, the guests all freeze for pictures, moments of diamonds shining captured in the breeze The food, the dancing Tequila and beautiful smiles so bright The party continues but the brightest lights Are laughing and spinning at the centre – Ale and Dan Showing us all what true love really is Below the Mountain in Tepoztlán
A poem by Pilar Gomez @redalphababe dedicated to Ale and Dan
This is the first time in a long time I felt I had something to say so here it is. I found 2021 was really just a continuation of 2020. More of the same. I am glad to see the back of it despite some goods things I have personally achieved this year. However, Covid and Brexit between them have really stopped progress for many and Covid, in particular, has masked some fundamental problems which are now holding back the British economy and society and still many people there have no idea really. Covid has caused European economies many issues too and Brexit has not been without costs for some EU based industries.
As bad as Brexit is and as bad as the global covid pandemic is, there is another epidemic which I have felt ever more gloomy about and which connects to these two things and may be around longer and with deeper and more harmful consequences. It is the web of misinformation which is rampant across all social media platforms across the world and in some of the national press even, and gleefully shared and promoted by far too many people.
I love popular science programmes on TV. There have been some fascinating ones about the world around us, about the universe, the stars etc. Presented by attractive, knowledgeable, engaging academics, at their best they fill us with a genuine desire to understand more and they certainly give me an appreciation of just how bloody hard this stuff is. Let’s say you watch the explanation of how a black hole forms, and whilst you are watching you feel like you understand what they are saying but only about 2 sentences actually stay in your head for more than 10 minutes. Try it, try watching an entire programme and then explain properly what you just saw in detail 10 minutes later to one of your friends. The fifty-minute show will be condensed down into the 2 or 3 points you can recall with any detail or comprehension. That’s not because we are stupid or poorly education, it is because most of us haven’t got the foundation of knowledge that these scientists have built working in science day after day, over a lifetime, nor do we have the time or inclination to get anywhere near building that foundation if we are not working in those areas and talking frequently to other knowledgeable people we can learn from. We have jobs, we have families, we have other commitments
So why on earth do people think they are suddenly pandemic experts because they read some blog by an ex weather forecaster who says it’s all a plot by Bill Gates. Why do they think someone whose credentials are related to psychotherapy is going to be absolutely right in direct contradiction to a scientific consensus of renowned virologists? How many peer-reviewed scientific papers has this person read? Do they understand them? Of course, they don’t, they have read a blog by someone who has picked out one or two things from a paper, removed all the context and presented a skewed and inaccurate or unevidenced conclusion. How is some Instagram celebrity more influential on medical matters than experts from WHO, people who have spent their careers dealing with epidemics around the world? Why should I, having spent years running a business and knowing every intricate detail of it, be cowed by a random on the internet who has never employed so much as a tea bag, telling me I am completely wrong over some detail on business, or some expected consequence of business-related government policies.
We have seen it again and again, one day the same accounts are supply chain experts, the next day the news shifts and they are experts on viruses, the next day they are experts on farming and fishing, the following day they are experts on 5g masts, wind farms, solar energy, racism and on and on and on. Really? These accounts claim to be ordinary people, it’s amazing they have time to do their ordinary job given the amount of reading they would have to do just to understand one of these things in depth. Of course, the suspicion is that many are not real and the accounts are created to bring fuel to the conversation, making it appear that some contentious idea is more popularly held than it is, the agenda being to therefore make it more popularly held. The public are being manipulated to the point that if the right celebrity stated that day was in fact night and the fact we can see the sun was a symptom of mass hysteria, there would be arguments breaking out all over the social media sites about this. The film “Don’t Look Up” on Netflix is a perfect satire of this alarming world we currently live in. I found it funny, because the people are so preposterous, and at the same time terrifying because I could actually imagine it happening for real and you could argue that it’s a very good allegory for the attitudes over climate change where there is still a minority unwilling to accept that there is anything wrong and behaviours must change in the face of overwhelming scientific consensus.
So, what can we do to battle this fake stuff? Well personally I try to ignore as many nonsense posts as I can. Life is too short to end up in bizarre circular unproductive Facebook arguments. We must all learn to scroll past more, me included. It’s the arguments which feed the algorithms which show us the nonsense even more.
Sometimes it’s hard to resist having a laugh at the more idiotic ideas though and I think humour and satire is probably a good tactic for debunking garbage, depending on who you are ridiculing. Best not to ridicule your uncle Albert directly if you want a reasonably peaceful socially distanced family get together but by all means share a satirical post which highlights the foolishness of the post he just shared. A couple of months ago some Q anon people turned up in Dallas claiming John F Kennedy was going to come back to life that day and take over the presidency then give it to Trump. I am not sure what they said once it became clear there was going to be nobody coming back from the dead that day. I wondered what their families said to them and did they not feel totally stupid? What was thanksgiving like in their house, pitying looks from Aunt Mabel whilst the teenage cousins sniggered at them in the corner? That’s the problem with false prophets, much like Boris Johnson’s government they rarely keep their promises and you are left high and dry trying to defend or reverse the position you had defended so staunchly.
We are not helped by leading politicians around the world, not so stupid fools who were underestimated at some point and therefore through complacency of sensible people, ended up leading entire countries and have embraced the idea of social media to peddle the false information and lies that feeds their followers. Populism has been thriving as these leaders have misused and manipulated the more direct connection that SM platforms give them along with the use of data to maximise this, to build rather dubious but lucrative power base. Let’s not forget the president of the United States even used Twitter and Facebook as, amongst other things, a means to question a democratic result and propagated the lie that the election was stolen through his fan base creating a violent fury amongst them. Here is the clearest example that the consequences of these things do not stop in the virtual world. If keyboard warriors remained just at their keyboard we wouldn’t have so much of a problem. The storming of the Capitol was beamed on TV screens everywhere and, to much of the world, was both terrifying and unfathomable. In the end US democracy was strong enough to hold despite the efforts which had been made and continue to be made by men and women of the far right to undermine it. In the UK and across Europe we most also hold back the attacks on our democracies and we cannot do that until we stop allowing ourselves to be manipulated by groundless unsourced online pulp fiction. We do have to take our voting responsibilities seriously. If you want sensible politicians who tell you the fundamental truth, that complex problems require complex solutions, you have to vote for them, you have to show support for them and vote for them and vote!
There have always been cults and small groups of people who believe crazy things but has there ever been more channels for them to spread their misinformation and has there ever been so many leaders of mainstream democracies willing to use these channels to further their own dodgy agendas. Media sites must stop paying lip service to all this and take responsibility for what is published on their channels just like any other magazine, newspaper, or book. Governments too must accept responsibility. There is a lot of political talk in Europe about how to deal with social media misuse, I sincerely hope it comes to something meaningful and look forward to seeing and thinking about the ideas that come through. Social Media, just like any other industry, will not regulate themselves effectively, they need some legislation of some kind to force them into behaving responsibly and mitigate against false information and maybe if the countries of the EU can get to grips with this successfully, other countries will follow the lead. Traditional press and TV media must play their part. In competition with online media sites, there is far too much clickbait used which feeds the Polarisation of Views Monster.
So, 2022, what do I want from you? Well like everyone else I want to see Covid going away for good. But just as much I want to see solutions to the social media paradox. There is so much good which comes from a digital world connecting people, so many benefits that we have all gained. Would we have got through the last 2 years without being able to connect remotely to each other for example? It would really be a massive negligence, criminal in fact, if our societies do not get to grips with the idea of mitigating against the misuse and abuse of social media perpetrated by powerful people with dubious agendas because in the end the rest of us will pay a very heavy price for their thirst for power.
I hope that people who are now so exercised by the Dominic Cummings affair can now understand why so many of us have been so passionately exercised about the EU referendum and everything Brexit related that has unfolded from that. Several excellent analyses I have seen from columnists as to why the majority of people are furious, have made the point about how personal this issue has been.
Everyone was expected to follow the Covid lockdown rules and they are, without doubt, difficult rules which divide family, which isolate people, which cause anxiety on many fronts, whether that is health, social or financial. To see a person with power allowed to justify his breach of the rules so publicly without so much as an apology then have him and his slightly fantastical explanations defended furiously by PM and cabinet ministers alike has not only made the government a national and sadly an international disgrace, but has touched people up and down this land at the most personal level, as they feel the pain of missing their children and grandchildren, or as they cope with their own childcare dilemmas without leaving home.
Their people have died alone, their frail elderly relatives are in care homes are maybe completely baffled as to why they are not getting visits from loved ones. Their houses and flats are crowded, and their children are climbing the walls. I read an article about young people going back to school in Spain as we ease out of lockdown, and the thing they found hardest was not being able to hug each other because of the social distancing rules. This lack of being able to show our normal affection for each other is a source of pain. Yet most people in Britain have followed the rules despite all these difficulties and temptations. The previous government advisers found to have breached their own recommendations resigned swiftly. Dominic Cummings instead held a personal roadshow in the Rose Garden and refused to admit he had done a single thing wrong and even let slip he has been making decisions for the Prime Minister without bothering him, a rather worrying revelation which hasn’t really been followed up by the press yet. Nobody every voted for Dominic Cummings. But he has done what they have all done since 2016 – doubled down again and again and got Boris Johnson and his mates to do the same.
So hold on to that thought for a moment – why you are so angry? The Dominic Cummings/Boris Johnson partnership and their cabinet muppets are taking the mick, that’s how you feel, right? For some of us, all this is just a continuation of the fury we have felt at the egregious interference with our families and businesses and lives that Brexit represents since 2016. For us this has been personal for many reasons. We have been lied to constantly, we have had broken promises, our concerns have been ignored. You see, when government decisions have such a personal impact on the day to day lives of so many people and they are managed so badly, they cause division and make it impossible to forgive anything. The scale of anger over the “one rule for them aspect” jars because the lockdown has affected every single person directly. The scale of rage over Brexit and Brexit lies has been met with much apathy, indifference or irritation from the other half of the British public largely, I believe, because there are so many people who don’t think they will be affected. They don’t think it’s relevant to them.
Conversely, the rest of us have raged because we see the hypocrisy of the crowing about removing freedom of movement for a nation, and for us personally, by a bunch of politicians many of whom have sneakily got themselves a second EU passport or who’s financial position means they will always have freedom of movement. We have seen government ministers owning companies which have profited from the volatility of sterling through these long and terrible 5 years, a volatility caused by them, whilst many of us with small businesses contemplate the damage that leaving the EU represents to our life’s work.
For millions of us will be affected, have been affected in the most personal way by Brexit. People have already lost jobs, closed businesses, scrabbled around for new contracts. Our sense of identity has been assaulted; a part ripped from us. Families have been divided, children face a future having to choose between looking after elderly parents in one country or living with their spouses in another – forced to choose. EU citizens have been insulted and faced discrimination and xenophobia never faced before as they have been made to justify their presence on British shores. They are being made to pay extra for their access to medical treatment, in effect they are paying twice because they have a different passport.
Yes, I know you will point out that health and care workers are now exempted from the NHS surcharge, but really, it’s the worse kind of racism that attempts to make out that some foreigners are more useful than others. It’s really an extension of the “we didn’t mean you” attitude which is so offensive. The policy should be scrapped for all immigrants living and working in the UK permanently, regardless of where in the world they are from.
EU citizens who had a legitimate vote in the EU elections last year were denied a vote with no justification simply because the Brexit government has nothing but contempt for Europeans and didn’t care enough to sort out its voter registration systems. There is an attempt to hold the government to account for this disgraceful chapter by the way, and I would urge all of you who have professed to stand by the 3 Million to please support the 3 Million in this endeavour. The crowdfunder offers a tangible way to challenge the government through the courts since you won’t be able to vote them out until 2024/5. I have added the link at the bottom for this. Please share and help if you possibly can.
The scale of rage over Brexit has been met largely with indifference or irritation amongst the general public because there are so many people who don’t believe they will be affected. I am sorry to break the news, but whoever you are, you will be affected too at the end of 2020 when transition ends. You will all be affected. When the government is totally blasé about whether we will have a reasonable trade deal with the EU by the end of the year, why would you now unquestionably trust them that no-deal won’t be a problem in light of current government behaviour? If they can defend a bizarre story about driving to a castle to check your eyesight is okay, why would you believe them that we don’t need an extension to transition in the current circumstances. If you are dependent on meds imported from the EU to stay alive, why would you think it will all be hunky dory if negotiations fail on trading arrangements when one of the key architects added something to his blog after his regulation breach in order to present himself in a certain way in that performance, claiming he had warned about Covid before it all began? You don’t have to be a trade expert to know that no deal will present problems to supply chains. If a virus can cause challenges to supplies of all sorts of things, as it has done, so can a lack of trading arrangements.
If your job is hanging by a thread because your employers have used all their reserves to stay afloat with no income for months, why would you think after the economic shock of this Covid disaster is being worked out, that they will have anything left over to keep you in paid employment when their competitiveness and profitability is further slashed by no-deal consequences on their supply lines or when a deep recession removes discretionary spending from their customers pockets? If government can carry on with a recess of parliament during a massive global health crisis and emergency, the like of which we have never seen before in our lifetimes, what makes you think they won’t keep avoiding being held to account on absolutely everything with their massive majority and 5 years to the next election. They are taking you for mugs over Covid and Dominic Cummings, what on earth makes you think they aren’t taking us all for mugs over the refusal to request an extension and abandoning our trading relationships with our closest trading partners, neighbours and friends? In fact, what else are they taking you for mugs over?
@redalphababe
To help right a wrong against our EU27 friends and family who were #deniedmyvote, please follow this link HERE
To sign a petition requesting the extension of transition until the Covid crisis is over please follow the link HERE
We find ourselves in a house in a small village outside Huercal Overa in Almeria at a time of great crisis. There was a chain of events and decisions unconnected with Coronavirus which brought us here, but that story is for another time and another letter. The Covid-19 crisis has been growing in Europe and across the world. We moved into this house on the 4th March. I have watched with great concern and fear for you, my dear friends, as I see the British government struggling to get to grips with the issue and keep up with the speed of response that is absolutely required to flatten the curve as per the WHO advice.
View from the Back
At the time of writing, the Covid-19 stats in Spain stand at 33,089 total cases with 2206 deaths and 3355 cases recovered. On the 1st of March, just before we got the keys for this house, there were only 228 cases which were concentrated mainly in and around Madrid. Now as of the 21st March, there are cases in every region though Madrid continues to suffer the most. The press is full of sad stories. A young policeman died having contracted the virus on duty. The virus swamping a nursing home and the stream of ambulances to remove the dead captured on camera. YouTube is full of videos of enthusiastic dancers, silly jokes, singing on balconies and daily cheers for doctors and nurses but this is all a way to cope with the constant anxiety of not being in control and having an invisible enemy that might be carried by you home from the supermarket which could kill your mother or grandfather. I think its probably more stressful to do nothing productive than to be doing something in these strange, horrible days.
The Covid-19 stats in Spain to date
Just before the Spanish government agreed the details of a state of emergency on the 15th March, there had been 200 deaths. There was great concern because that weekend, knowing lockdown was coming, people from Madrid travelled to the coasts to their second homes after restrictions were placed in their region. A similar thing happened in Italy. Now, I suspect many Spaniards and Italians, if asked, would regret that lockdown had not been put in place earlier as the news flashes in every day with the rising numbers of sick and dead and we see images of conference centres turning into hospitals with ICU beds.
Watching the UK news yesterday with people going on day trips having been advised to practice social distancing puts me in mind of this same thing but I wonder whether I too would have had a more complacent attitude had I not been here watching the UK through the prism of a lockdown in a country that is 2 weeks ahead of the UK in experience of the Covid-19 curve. It’s certainly surreal, I can tell you that.
But Boris Johnson and his government have done a grave disservice to their country by being dragged kicking and screaming to the point where clear communication and INSTRUCTION is what is need in order to not only flatten the curve but keep health professionals as safe as possible in treating this terrible virus. The UK have wasted so much time, they could have had measures in place a week ago starting in much better shape than Spain in terms of case numbers. WHO report there is no shortage of testing resources either despite hints to the contrary by British politicians.
Basically in Spanish lockdown, all unnecessary movement is removed. The only shops allowed to stay open to the public are food shops, pharmacies, paper shops and kiosks, pet food supplies and hairdressers. People may travel to work. Home deliveries are allowed so online companies can continue and home delivery from takeaways is allowed. You can walk your dog but if you do stay close to your home. A man was fined for walking his dog 3km away from his house. If you are on the street it must only be for the purposes of going to a shop for food, medicine, work, walking a dog or going home. All libraries, bars, museums etc are closed so many people cannot go to work because their place of work is closed anyway. Those who can home work are doing so. You cannot go for a run or a cycle ride. Only one person allowed in a car unless accompanying someone who needs help through disability etc. The lockdown is visibly enforced by police forces and the army. Streets are disinefected from morning until night. The disinfecting truck actually came past us today even though we are in a little village. The mantra of #QuedateEnCasa #StayAtHome is seen on tv and news and on social media. The Government is using social media well to get information out about the virus and the Prime Minister and others are on TV everyday with updates.
In the main I see overwhelming support for these measures. There are many who I think really feel it is their civic duty to protect their families and neighbours and most especially their precious health services. Health care started off well-resourced here and yet hospitals are nevertheless stretched and in the hotspots threaten to be overwhelmed. Of course health care workers constantly in contact with the virus are heavily at risk and many have become sick themselves so making it even more difficult to manage the numbers of critical patients. There was a report of a convention centre being turned into a hospital and private beds have been requisitioned by government. I think everyone here understands now, a week after lockdown, the absolute necessity of buying time. Time for the science to help and the medical provision to be increased. In my area there has been very little evidence of infection but looking at the local Spanish chat pages, support is still strong for the measures. The initial 15 days of lockdown are to be extended to a further 15 days, all opposition parties are in agreement.
It may seem odd for me of all people, someone who has fought tooth and nail to preserve our freedom of movement as a right these last four years, to now be in total agreement with the current lockdown enforced with police presence, but the way I see it, a virus is no respecter of any politics. We really are all in it together although physically we must be apart and we must work together not only to make it through this unprecedented health crisis but protect our way of life afterwards. This virus does threaten the old and those with other conditions the most, but nobody is completely safe, and the health care professionals are also at great risk because of the amount of the virus they will be exposed to as the numbers of ill patients increase. The economic shock this crisis is presenting is another thing which we will continue to need to work together to resolve. The burden will be on everyone to help ease the pain we will continue to feel as we pay the price for flattening the curve.
Although borders are being closed and restrictions on movement imposed here, it has to remain an international collaboration by the science community and by Governments and by Business if they have facilities they can offer to help us come out of the other side of this intact. Here Spanish shoe factories and other fashion manufacturing facilities are repurposing their machines to make masks and other protective equipment to donate to hospitals and police, private hospital beds have been requisitioned for public use and China have donated protective equipment. The EU have created a scheme for members to buy extra ventilators and Italy have had Chinese doctors flying over to help them get through this crisis. Its heartening to see these stories of friendship and human connection.
Yet in contrast I see the UK government has been so slow to heed the advice based on real experience and actual deaths elsewhere. its like watching a tractor in slow motion rolling towards the edge of an abyss The whole disastrous herd immunity modelling nonsense was interpreted by many as carry on as you are as far as I can make out. The lack of clarity and INSTRUCTION on social distancing measures is just dreadful. UK Please listen. Your friends over here are screaming at you to stay at home. The UK had a head start they could have used to impose even a partial lockdown a week ago. instead I see pictures of crammed supermarkets and crowded tube stations and I fear for the stats that will be announced in the coming weeks in those daily news conferences led by a man who looks like he would rather be on the surface of Mars than in front of that microphone.
Childrens playground sealed off in a deserted Huercal Overa
UK schools are finally shut but not shut yet parents are taking their children to playgrounds. Please just stop. STAY AT HOME. Every day of lockdown you all suffer now is 2 days less in the future and will save lives. In these extraordinary times, making vague recommendations allowing people to choose to do the right things just won’t work. The public are not experts. There will always be disagreement about what is essential travel, who is a key worker. For that reason clear decisions on these questions and then firm instruction is what people need even if it is not what they want. It’s hard but it buys scientists and health services precious time. The scientific consensus around the world is clear on what the strategy should be. We must for a short time lay aside our personal preoccupations as individuals and think what we can do for the community.
So please, listen to other countries. Stay at Home as much as you can to weather this storm. Protect your families and stay safe.
ps. I have seen that the government is putting through an emergency bill grabbing power for up to two years. Neither Spain nor France as far as I know have seen the need to put this 2-year date on their legislation. Spain has used an existing ability in its written constitution to call a state of emergency, but it only lasts for 15 days and must be renewed by agreement in parliament every 15 days. This is as it should be. The state should have no ability to impose such serious measures on people’s liberty for any length of time without consent and regular review and scrutiny. Without that protection lies the path to temptation by men big on ego and miniscule of heart to make themselves the defacto crown prince. Indeed I have to ask the question why would a government who can’t even bring themselves to order pubs to shut down across the country in order to protect pensioners feel they need emergency legislation allowing amongst other things the detention of “sick” foreign people which lasts for 2 years especially when there is already existing legislation to use in an emergency? Odd that.
pps. The British government must now accept that a brexit extension MUST be agreed for at least a year. European (including the UK) energies must remain on fighting covid-19 and recovering from the economic shock it is causing and the havoc it will continue to cause. If our small businesses survive (and believe me its going to be hit and miss whether we will still have a business on the other side of this nightmare), having to then battle through Brexit nonsense in the same year is just going to kill us off once and for all.
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