Corona Cavern

[JanieB]

I had plans for today. But this is the first day I've felt totally miserable and isolated. I was having a cuppa just before the 11am silence when I heard someone playing reveille. So I went outside. Most of the street were listening, then we had the silence..... followed by the most awful DIY noise from a close neighour. It went on for 4 s0dding hours. I checked our local council site and it was lawful. It was, however, very inconsiderate. When neighbours have been doing noisy DIY in the past I just accept it and if it really annoys me I go out somewhere to get some relief from it. I can't do that at the moment. There should be similar rules to the temporary ones re bonfires during this pandemic as those who are shielding can't escape.

I love cooking, but today I don't feel like it, but i need to eat. I want to go to a pub or restaurant and be fed and not have to cook and clear up afterwards. Not keen on the local takeaways who are actually delivering.

[Nicos]

* passes Janie a mug of tea as it's waaay to early for anything stronger!
Hang on in the Janie -things will get a bit easier once lockdown eases. Well -that's my hope at least .

I went out a couple of days ago to do our 3rd shop in nearly 8 weeks (no home deliveries here available)
I was masked up, scarf, glasses, gloves, disinfectant....only to see loads of peeps not wearing masks or gloves, picking stuff up and putting them back, pushing past me to get to things -it was rediculously stressful, so much so I just stopped shopping, went to the till and came home without half the stuff I really wanted.
Both my OH and I are 'at risk' so I'm absolutely not prepared to expose us to anything even though the risk levels in our area are (at the moment) significantly lower.

I'd love to know where the caring society is -I thought/ hoped all this crisis would bring out the best in people, and it probably has in many cases, but the selfish, quickfix , here now , can't be bothered, me me peeps always seem to spoil things.

* passes other mugs of tea to those who could do with one....

[Snoop Puss]

Big hugs, Janie and Nicos. It's amazing how thoughtless and how selfish some people can be, whereas others are completely the opposite. I'm really lucky, Mr Snoop does all our shopping. He's the most at-risk here, but prefers to be in control and to know what the risks encountered were. After all, if I were to catch it, he would probably get it off me. But he always comes back totally stressed out. I've only been out once in all this time, and that was only to the chemist's. But I was so relieved to get back in the car to come home.

[Containergardener]

Oh dear ((group hug))
I think the whole situation is getting to people now (alot of us) and then social time being disrupted on here too isnt helping.
OH goes in the shops for me , but then we have been doing this for 2years wih the sanitizer and being careful due to my immune suppression.
Keep smiling as my dad would say .

[Bren In Pots]

Must have been stressful for you Nicos, there's always some who think the rules don't apply to them.

[JanieB]

It didn’t end there. Some halfwitted moron decided to light a very smoky, smelly bonfire. On a sticky evening I had to shut all the doors and windows. The smell is still lingering this morning.

I realised last night that I haven’t physically touched another human being for 8 1/2 weeks. I’m not devoid of human company but sometimes I’d like a hug. There should have been 3 family get togethers and a trip to London during that time. Not to mention Fridays in the pub, drinks at a friends house and walking the dogs, especially along the river path.

In a way Joanna Lumley was right when she said Boarding School sort of prepares you for lockdown, but at least I was with fellow pupils in incarceration and I got to go home at the weekends.

Like you Nicos, I did have to nip to the supermarket near the start of this and couldn’t believe how people didn’t think social distancing applied to them. I also broke cover to go to Screwfix and to the DIY shop. Both of those are easy walking distance.

I know it’s not forever and I’m better off than a lot of people. Yesterday just got to me, it’s the feeling of total impotence when there is something going on that you can’t do anything about. I probably annoy other people too.

Thankyou for your virtual hugs.

[Nicos]

I think we are all having ups and downs Janie.
yup it's been a long time....and it's just not knowing about the future isn't it?
Its easy to 'see' others and think things are going well for them when in fact they too could be struggling.
As you say, virtual hugs and smiles aren't hard to give but real ones are even better.

We just need to get through it and support each other the best we can. Thank goodness we all have our gardening to help keep us sane eh? ( bonfire smoke or not ...How unsociable of them!)

Our lockdown is being eased as from this Monday and I'm just really looking forward to being allowed out on my bike!
I'd normally be swimming 3 times a week by now and I'm really going to miss doing that for the next few months.

Just need to keep very positive and smile....lots of smiles and cuddling of pets if we have them !

[mothhawk]

Perhaps it won't be too long before we can all have a real hug.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOLcskCHFQghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOLcskCHFQg

[Nicos]

^^^ ha!....that just made me think of toddlers with green 'candles' dribbling from their noses!!!!!!!

yeh -everyone needs hugs.

Its going to be strange in France cos normally there are bisous ( cheek to cheek kisses) for everyone you know for the first time you see them each day. ( Including between male best friends and family members) It'll be interesting to see how this kisses nation is going to adapt!

[JanieB]

I had my T3sc0s pot luck delivered yesterday. Most of it was what I'd ordered with a few anomalies. The loo cleaner i chose was marked out of stock with a suggestion of the same but lemon flavoured so I agreed with the change, I got both Same with the bleach. I didn't need 2 of either. I got all of the extra ingredients for my cassoulet bar the most important one, goose fat. Not mentioned on the list and I can't believe it's suddenly got so popular that its out of stock. So do i take a chance tomorrow and go to our wonderful local butcher, or stay safe and shielded and wait until I can get it somewhere else online.

[burnie]

Our deliveries from the same shop have been quite good, next week we have one from More reasons for a change, we use both of the outlets normally and as we are shielding too, we just adjust our meals to what is available. I'm hopeful we might start to get some garden produce to add in the next couple of weeks, so far it's just Radish and Mustard and Cress, but looks like we may get some strawberries from the greenhouse. We have only been to the chemist and the Croft for eggs and tatties down the road, I'm missing fresh fish and foraging at this time.

[JanieB]

Oh good, not. Not only am I incarcerated but I cant get my prescription. My doctors surgery is 5 miles away and their only allied pharmacy is 2 doors away from them. My last two lots of medication were picked up for me and no-one told me that my script had run out. They've now changed the order to collection time from 2 days to 4 days. So 4 days is a Sunday and 5 days is a Bank Holiday. And I have to find someone willing to collect it for me. The surgeries only suggestion was to send them a stamped, addressed envelope. Um, that means I have to break my shielded status to post the thing. I know i can't be the only one of their patients in this position.

Surely it can't be beyond the surgery's (rural area) capability to have all the local pharmacies approved to dispense their prescriptions.

[JanieB]

Me again. I’ve now spent nearly 10 weeks cooking for myself. I love cooking but sometimes I want something that someone else has cooked. So I’ve tried to order takeaways (that are delivered). They want cash. I have a few coins around but not enough cash to pay for a takeaway. Also, I have to pay for my painkillers so when the local volunteers pick my meds up I have to pay for them.

I have to break cover, I have no choice. My 2 options are the ATM at Tesc0’s, or the Post Office. I could go to Tesc0’s in the middle of the night armed with gloves etc or the PO during the day and hope for the best.

I’m not supposed to go anywhere but there seems to be no alternative.

[Mark_Riga]

Me again. I’ve now spent nearly 10 weeks cooking for myself. I love cooking but sometimes I want something that someone else has cooked. So I’ve tried to order takeaways (that are delivered). They want cash. I have a few coins around but not enough cash to pay for a takeaway. Also, I have to pay for my painkillers so when the local volunteers pick my meds up I have to pay for them.

I have to break cover, I have no choice. My 2 options are the ATM at Tesc0’s, or the Post Office. I could go to Tesc0’s in the middle of the night armed with gloves etc or the PO during the day and hope for the best.

I’m not supposed to go anywhere but there seems to be no alternative.

If you do internet banking, we have paid volunteers directly into their bank accounts and they have been happy with this. You could see if any of the takeaway people will allow this rather than a card payment.

[DWSmith]

What bothers me at the moment is that states' governors are relaxing their safeguards here and in our state the number of cases and fatalities are still increasing day after day. It makes no sense to me.

Another thing that troubles me is that the hospital where SWMBO works has so many COVID 19 patients that they're not doing elective surgeries. My wife's team, and many other teams at the hospital, have had their working hours and pay cut in half.

There isn't a vaccine for the common cold and there are some COVID viruses that cause colds. I'm wondering if there will ever be a vaccine for this COVID 19. Better treatments for the patients may be the best we'll ever see.