Lessons from History?

Today's BBC website contains a short piece reminding us of comparisons between the present lockdown and the outbreak of typhoid in Aberdeen in 1964.  During that outbreak 500 people were quarantined in hospital and the city was effectively isolated from the rest of the UK - or to be correct even more isolated for Aberdeen has always been semi-detached.

Fantasy Bob lived through the typhoid epidemic - it occurred as he neared the end of his stellar primary school career.  The truth is that, serious though it was, there is no real comparison with today's emergency   In the end the measures taken (which seemed extreme at the time) ensured that there were not deaths.  But the memory lives long in the Aberdonian psyche.  An obsession for washing hands that is reinforced in the current situation.  He will make no cracks about the Aberdonian propensity for social distancing or self-isolating.

Readers who have been misguided enough to have stuck with this blog over the years may recall FB's postings from a few years ago in which he describes his experience of the outbreak.

New readers (as if) might find them of interest.  They can be found on the links below.  Cricketers need not despair unduly - there appear to be some references to FB's early cricketing career and the 1964 season in the second posting.

https://fantasybob.blogspot.com/2014/04/an-epidemic-part-1.html

https://fantasybob.blogspot.com/2014/05/an-epidemic-part-2.html