Being an accounting of the recent and continuing pandemic and its various circumstances, from the perspective of an inhabitant of the regions lately called the Lost Quarter. Dates unknown.

Day Six Hundred Ninety Five

The occupation of the Dominion capital continues into its second week. It is incredible and utterly baffling that this has been allowed to continue as long as it has, even as the numbers of protesters in the capital dwindle. Those who remain have dug themselves in and the police seem indifferent to enforcing the law. There were protests in all the major cities of the Dominion over the weekend, all of which were easily managed by local authorities, which only leads to more questions about how the gong show in the capital has been allowed to fester.

Here in these parts, the blockade at the border continues, again with dwindling numbers of the fervent, again with the police declining to act. There are further blockades at other border crossings, which have resulted in factory closures and loss of work, which the protesters claim to be their key motivator for protesting. Too many people have lost too much, they claim as they put the trade of an entire nation at risk. All mandates must end before they will stop.

Conservative political parties have decided they must cater to these protesters. In the capital they have made appearances at the rallies and encouraged the protesters to see their action through to its end. Here they have utterly caved into their demands, revoking the inoculation mandate and promising to remove all further quarantine restrictions by the end of the month. This as we have just reached the peak of hospitalizations resulting from the latest guise of the Grippe Reborn. Our premier is desperate, the base of his support is those rural parts of the province who have largely been against any of quarantine protocols and also where the majority of the protesters have been drawn from.

Despite this craven surrender the protesters remain at their blockade at the border. They will return here this weekend as well. Ending all the quarantine protocols will not be enough for them. Even ceasing to give out the inoculations, which they view as some conspiratorial plot, would not be enough. There is nothing that will satisfy them. The protest is its own end. They want to scream and complain and be heard. They want to stand in opposition, to be heroes fighting the good fight. Their anger is incoherent if ones looks at what they are demanding, but understandable once you realize they are against admitting that the Dread Lord has changed anything. They do not want to admit we all have so little control over our lives, that all our existences are contingent on others. The past where they could pretend that was so is gone and they want its return.