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I live in the center of London, and where I am, its gone really dead.
All of the bars and restaurants and cinemas and theaters are shut.
Most offices are shut, with everybody working from home.
The entire planet has suddenly got wise of the idea of vegetables being good for you.
In the U.K., Boris Johnson took a very timid approach to the shutdown.
Like many other people, I have elderly relatives, and elderly people that I work with.
For that reason alone, I thought,Ah, yeah, Im going to stay in.
I dont know how that stops without them actually shutting down the beaches and the house parties.
I suspect an even tougher shutdown is coming in the U.K.
The first things that went in a serious way were cinemas and theaters and live gigs.
That happened a week before the restaurants, and bars, and pubs.
Its a big deal for them to close Disneyland Tokyo.
In a weird way, those things are good because they make people take notice.
The entire industry is in the same boat.
I asked him the Friday before, Are you guys actually going to start on Monday?
He said, Apparently so.
And then I texted him on Monday, Whats happening?
He replies, Im on a flight back to L.A. Ive been reading lots of articles online saying, This is it, this is the end of exhibition.
I spent six months, or 18 months, sitting at home watching different streaming services.
Im just going to keep doing that.
I feel like live music and theater and cinema might actually have a boom after this.
I have definitely been disappearing into a lot of movies.
Even before the lockdown, I was spending more time at home in the evening.
My girlfriend is Swedish, so Ive been watching a lot of Swedish film, which has been delightful.
Some things Im seeing again, like the films of Roy Andersson, who I adore.
And Id seen a number of Ingmar Bergman films, but I certainly hadnt seen them all.
I had that Criterion box set and had not cracked into it.
Ive also been watching quite a few British films, especially wartime or postwar ones.
In the last week Ive watchedIt Always Rains on Sunday, an Ealing movie, directed by Robert Hamer.
I also watchedMinistry of Fear, the Fritz Lang movie.
Ive seen a couple of Graham Greene things recently.
I watchedWent the Day Well?,directed by Cavalcanti.
And the other day I got up at 6 in the morning and just started watching Charlie ChaplinsThe Circus.
It was a lovely thing to do.
I would get sent that meme every day.
And we went out to the pubs.
And you want to say, Yeah, but this isnt the Blitz.
Coronavirus isnt going to shell us from above, were going to give it to each other.Weare the enemy.
So Simon and Nick actually concocted a video telling people to not go to the fucking pub.
We can never be funny again.
And then strangely, it started to feel more urgent than it ever had.
So I wonder, on the other side of this, what kind of stories were going to make.
It is weird now having written two apocalyptic comedies.
They were completely deserted, so my zombie fantasies just took over.
And now the irony is its like that every day now.
Every day is a Sunday morning.
