Global Cases 472,529
Global Deaths 18,890
UK Cases 9529
UK Deaths 465
Woke at 4am again today. Early, but not as early as 2am!
Went through some emails, to try and distract my mind from COVID-19, and discovered one from Ocado (our online grocery delivery service), saying that they were back in business, but with a few changes and restrictions.
I decided to have a go at placing an order, after hearing about accounts of people breaching social distancing rules in our local Tesco Express.
I was placed in an electronic queue for less than 5 minutes, then I was in! New rules state only one order a week and only one interaction – that is, no facility to go back in and modify your order once it has been placed. I didn’t have a list to hand, in bed at 4am, but placed an order for a few essentials and a few treats that I couldn’t carry from our local shop, such as cans of diet coke. When I came to check out, around 50% of what I had ordered came up as “out of stock” but I was still happy!
The only delivery slot I could find was 9.30 to 10.30 the same night! Exciting!
Got up then and did a bit of writing until around 9am, when M had scheduled an isolation exercise session. He had promised a little circuit training session but had changed his mind and gone for yoga instead. I arrived in the kitchen, sorry yoga studio, to find mats laid out on the floor, gentle music playing in the background, a waterfall image on the TV and glasses of iced water on the counter. You have to love him! But I hate yoga!
Putting the lid firmly on the can of my swelling negativity, I stood on my mat and awaited my first instruction. It was ok I suppose. I have arthritis in both my shoulders and the left one was replaced about 8 years ago, when I was in my early 50’s, so it was a painful experience, but I gritted my teeth and got on with as best as I could.
I spent the rest of the morning at my desk for the first time in weeks. Today I did some work on a biographical project. On behalf of her mother, I’m writing the story of a girl who was severely brain damaged at birth and is now in her early 30’s. Her mum is a fellow writer but was struggling to write the story herself as she was too emotionally invested in it. It’s a story of love and loss, legal and physical battles and strength and sheer determination. I hope to finish and publish it before the end of the year.
It was another lovely sunny day and the neighbours were out again in their car park. This time, as well as their deck chairs, they had a little table laid out with a picnic to go along with their wine and beer. It does make you think about how hard this must be for people in apartments without a garden or balcony. Good for them for making the best of the situation!
My 4am start eventually caught up with me and I took a nap for the rest of the afternoon.
M went out for a bike ride while I slept.
He cooked tonight. The last of our Mindful Chef meals for the week, stuffed peppers. Yum! I think we’re drinking more than we would usually. Well I am. M has to be careful as if he gets dehydrated it makes his chest worse. I opened a bottle of pink prosecco telling myself that it was lower in alcohol than most of the alternatives in the house.
After dinner we watched some TV until the Ocado order arrived. Whoho!
Receiving a food delivery isn’t without it’s own challenges. The food has been handled by who knows how many people, as well as the delivery driver himself. But, its got to be safer that being jostled by covidiots in Tesco, hasn’t it? It sounds ridiculous, but after I put the shopping away, I wiped down everything I had touched with disinfectant and washed my hands. I also suggested to M that we don’t touch any of it until the following day. Overkill? I just don’t know, but, as they say, better safe than sorry.
The main news today was as follows:
The response to requests for volunteers to help the NHS was amazing. Over 400,000 people have signed up and they are still coming!
Lots of stories and videos of workers crowded into tubes trains sparked a discussion about who should be going to work and who shouldn’t. The construction industry has been the subject of particular scrutiny after videos of building site workers crowding into canteens on their lunch breaks, were posted on social media.
The guidance is to work at home if you can, and only travel if absolutely necessary. Lots of people on zero hours contracts and contractors are in a confusing limbo at the moment. If they don’t work they won’t get paid, and the government still haven’t sorted out a satisfactory way of helping the self-employed. Apparently that will be announced tomorrow. We will await this with interest, as all of our own work has pretty much stopped dead and we have no income from the business coming in for the foreseeable future. We do have our pensions, so we won’t starve, and we paid off our mortgage a few years ago, so we’ll always have a roof over our heads.
There has been some panic buying of beer and wine and off-licenses have been added to the list of essential retailers! What does that say about us as a society?
Prince Charles has tested positive but only has mild symptoms. This has prompted some outrage around that fact that he got tested when nobody else can! Apparently, they’re working on that too. When they initially went for the “herd immunity” approach they decided not to test anyone unless they were admitted to hospital. However, when they back-tracked on that they failed to increase the testing as well.
The UK is at the bottom of the pile as far as testing is concerned. They say they are increasing the numbers of tests done, but anyone I know who has requested a test has been refused. Key workers are arguing that if they develop symptoms, however mild, they can’t work unless they know for sure whether they have the virus or not. There is also talk about an antibody test that will tell you if you have had the virus and developed some immunity to it – that would be really helpful when we start to descend the other side of the curve. But, we haven’t reached the peak yet!
Finally, a local guy posted on Facebook asking whether, or not, he should organise a retirement do on the village green for one of his employees who is retiring next week. He was proposing that a few people took chairs and drinks down and sat on the green 2 metres apart. When I read it I was sure it was a wind-up. Apparently he was deadly serious. He’s a really nice guy and I’m sure he meant well, but it’s safe to say he was shot down in flames.
jswritingservices.com 