The weather is one of precious few subjects that’s important to us all, whether we live in Alberta or Zimbabwe. It’s also notable for its extremes, that seem to be growing increasingly frequent with climate change. Over the last week or so, we’ve been through two bouts of severe weather: last weekend we had gales, then overnight into Wednesday we had unusually heavy rainfall causing local flooding. This should have been just the time to turn to Apple’s Weather app, across iPhone, iPad and Mac.

Then on Thursday, as we sat looking at the prospects for the weekend ahead, Weather alerted us to not one but two severe weather warnings from the UK Met Office, the government agency responsible for weather forecasting, and one of the leading met organisations in the world.

We then viewed the warning in the Weather app.

There was no doubt in what we saw: a “significant threat to life or property” that required us to “take action immediately”. As our kitchen features large windows on two sides, we looked out quizzically. Compared to recent days, it was fine, there was no sign of heavy cloud let alone imminent rain, and winds were light. So we went on to look at further details using the link provided. There appeared to be no such warnings in force for any part of the UK.

However, the Met Office website isn’t always as up to date as the warnings pushed out by urgent alerts. So we viewed the alert source on EUMETNET’s Meteoalarm service.

Both severe weather warnings were just a test scenario, and not intended for “operational use”. The Weather app had cried wolf.

For the rest of that day, until midnight, those two warnings continued, on our iPhones, iPad and Macs. As it was Thanksgiving, there seemed little point in trying to contact Apple, whose staff were probably more concerned with turkey than torrential downpours.

It’s only a few weeks ago that the BBC’s weather site was forecasting hurricanes throughout much of the UK as the result of a ‘data problem’. That was more obviously absurd, as the predicted windspeeds were far in excess of anything ever experienced on planet earth.

Although I have other gripes about the Weather app, they pale into insignificance compared to that day it told us that there was a “significant threat to life or property” that required us to “take action immediately”, merely because it couldn’t tell a test from a real severe weather warning.

This year has seen many people throughout the world suffer in extreme weather, with their homes washed away by floods from rain of Biblical intensity, farmland and businesses destroyed, and far too many lives lost. Never have reliable weather forecasts been more important.

This is horribly reminiscent of what happened during the Covid pandemic with contact-tracing apps. Despite unprecedented collaboration between Google and Apple, and the best efforts of teams of engineers, most of the apps that could have helped control infection with the virus were rendered ineffective by political gaming and human greed.

It happened again with the destruction of Twitter, when numerous governmental agencies were driven away by the political aspirations of one man. That turned what had been the most effective worldwide emergency alert system, warning of everything from local travel disruption to weather catastrophes, into a channel for disinformation and hatred.

One way or another, it seems that we’re increasingly incapable of using the rich technologies that have been expertly engineered for our benefit, except in the pursuit of power and profit. Maybe someone in Apple will realise the importance of its Weather app, and refocus it for its role in extreme weather events, rather than nagging us to apply sun protection on overcast summer afternoons. And please never cry wolf again.

在昏天黑地的二十四小时后，抗原确诊了。

上个周五，2023年6月2日，我和往常一样搭乘地铁回龙岗。因为那天的各项工作都推进得还算比较顺利，所以六点四十五就从公司出来了，如果换乘比较顺利，预计九点就能回到家附近。那天没走原本常走的在福田换乘的路线，而是从岗厦北换到大运再换乘。筱烨之前展会每天来回跑这条线，她说如果顺利，可以节省 20 分钟。

晚上回到之后，因为小柒想和妈妈骑车来接我，于是我们在附近的一家茶餐厅汇合，顺便点了一份滑蛋牛肉饭和奶茶，作为我的晚餐。

然而，第二天我的嗓子就哑了。

周六一整天，我的嗓子都非常不舒服。一开始只是喉咙痒，后来有想要呕吐的感觉。我跟筱烨说这事的时候，我们还觉得，是不是前一晚吃的牛肉和奶茶导致的。

那天，筱烨跟合伙人一起去把暂放在宋院的衣服都拿回来，运回到仓库，所以周六也是我独自带娃的一天。因为身体不舒服，所以也没带上电脑去旁边坐着办公，转而在楼下刚开张的瑞幸咖啡里坐了两节课，看看克苏鲁漫画，刷刷社交平台。

直到周六晚上，除了嗓子痒和干呕，还没有别的症状。

周日早上，开始隐约感觉到轻微的头疼。

但因为感觉并不难受，和平时吹风受凉的头疼感觉差不多，也就不觉得有什么，因此中午照常骑车，一家三口去舞蹈室附近的餐厅吃饭。但在去的路上，我就开始觉察到不对劲了。头疼的感觉在下移，喉咙的瘙痒感也开始变成轻微疼痛并向上蔓延，最终汇合到耳朵里。在开车的途中，我明显感觉到耳朵开始疼了。

后来因为小柒吃多了导致腹疼，所以没上课就回来了。但是，回来的路上我就感觉头疼和肌肉酸软的感觉愈发明显，整个人都很不对劲。

回到家后，小柒上了个厕所就好了，但我就「啪」地一声躺下，一口气从两三点昏睡到了晚上八点。醒来后，筱烨给我做了一碗热腾腾的胡椒汤面，光是闻着气味，身体就通畅了，我感觉自己恢复过来了。因此，还跟她和儿子下楼溜了一会儿狗。等儿子睡着后，我们还一起看了梁朝伟的新电影《無名》，一点半左右才去睡。

但半夜开始就不对劲了，身上一会儿冷一会儿热的。

早上我其实六七点就迷迷糊糊地醒了，但是因为身上觉得酸疼的同时，还一阵冷一阵热，实在起不来，就继续躺着睡。小柒上学前，我还起来上了个厕所。因为小腹下缘很疼，我开始以为是肠道胀气，但排完晨便之后，并没有一丝好转。我大概想到，应该是肌肉的酸疼。

筱烨问我要不要去医院，我说我浑身疼，动不了。于是我继续躺着，她下楼去药房买了一些药，也和药房聊了一下症状，她们说：

“应该是复阳了。”

之后就是一直迷迷糊糊地睡，期间她给我吃过两次药，喝了两三次热水，整理并绑扎了一次头发。余下的时间里，我记得的就只有浑身一会儿发冷、一会儿发热，一会儿盖被子、一会儿踢开，身上肌肉的疼痛感让我一直辗转翻侧，难有一刻安宁。不知道什么时候，我瞥见一眼右手手臂上绿豆大的汗珠，就把睡衣的衣袖往前一拉，眼一闭、被子一拉，又接着昏睡过去。这么昏天黑地的，一直持续到下午三四点。

我醒来后，喝了一碗紫菜蛋花汤，终于觉得身上舒服些了。

喝完汤，想起筱烨转述药房的人说是复阳的话，我就趁有精神，做了一次抗原检测。

一看结果，好嘛，居然真的是复阳了！距离第一次，也就间隔了五个多月。

此刻是周一（2023年6月5日）晚上七点五十分，截止到我写下以上这些记录，目前身上的疼痛和酸胀感已经大部分消失，但仍有浑身乏力、嗓子干痒和咳嗽的症状。

但从自己的感受上来看，大体应该是快要过去了。

周二（6月6月）补充：

下腹两侧肌肉还是疼，疼一天了！

并且，一直连打喷嚏。

周三（6月7月）补充：

味觉又没了！并且，没有什么食欲。

今晚洗完头后，慢悠悠地吹了可能有十来二十分钟才把头发吹干。我几乎已经习惯了，把洗头吹头的这四十分钟当作一段冥想的时间。虽然不是真的冥想，但这一段必须专心致志的时间，是挺难得的完全沉浸在一件单独的事情中的时间，说是冥想也勉强说得过去。

忽然想来，我似乎没有在博客记录过我蓄发的事情。本来打算等到捐发完成之后再完整写一写的，但既然今天想起来，就先简单记录一下吧。

这事最开始，其实是由于疫情封控，那段时间很多理发店都关门了，或者当我有空想去剪发时，他们正好被关门。于是，时间一久，头发就长了。

如果要算明确的起点，那就是 2020 年 10 月头。

那会儿我爸刚查出来肝癌，我就索性剃了个圆寸，方便过去医院照顾他。主要是圆寸洗头方便，擦一下就完事。谁知道后来理个头发那么难呢。

这样算下来，从圆寸开始就没有再剪过头发了，还有两个月就满四年。

后来眼看着头发越来越长，开始借筱烨的发箍来打理，慢慢就发现了，我这一头硬头发，反而是长了比短了更好打理。早上出门不用梳头，不用发油发蜡，出差也不用发愁，这简直就是太适合我了。于是，就索性留起来了。

再后来，实在是长了，但又总拿不定主意做成什么样的造型，就顺势蓄着了。因此也学会了使用发簪，这是我从未想过要掌握的技术。

偶然间，筱烨了解到一些公益机构收头发给白血病儿童做假发，我们就把这件事当作一个要完成的目标了。我也开始时不时关注机构的信息，看看什么时候开始收。这一等又是一年多过去了，今年的活动也还没开始。

前段时间还有位记者找我采访过捐发这事，也不知道他后来写出来了没。

上周开始，尝试用运动健身的方式来对抗抑郁。让教练作为外部因素，来打破原本的圈圈，确实是个挺不错的开始。肌肉练得如何还不能说，但运动过后的一段时间里，人确实是正常了一点。

好多待办的事情，我得一件一件来。

最近，深圳的天上常常堆满了这些大白棉花。阳光用干脆利落的刻刀，在石膏上快速切出了空气的体积。每每抬头看见这一幕，总觉得有天使在关照。