Isolation

Wild garlic in the garden

We are pretty much staying in.  Maybe a walk to get milk or potatoes, not much more. 

Things are settling down, in many ways. The shock of isolating has died down, though the implications are only just dawning on a lot of people. Glib reassurances or instructions from No 10 are pretty thin: stay home - but supermarkets are not accepting more online shopping requests and even those won’t happen till mid April; some deliveries are being cancelled by email at 30 mins notice, despite being lists for gluten-free or other dietary necessities, etc. etc.    Freelances and self-employed still have no reassurance about their pay.  Barclays is the first bank to announce it will delay charging higher rates for overdrafts… they will suspend charges till the end of April.   The Prince of Wales has corona virus - mildly. Our Tesco has painted yellow lines in the queueing area, and you can only go in when someone comes out. (That was being imposed in Malta ten days ago - we are so far behind).  

A doctor in S Wales (anaesthetist) has invented a simple ventilator - may help enough to stop people needing to go into ICU.  He and an engineering firm in Ammanford are making 100 a day.  The government says (do we believe them?) that test kits will be available soon.....

We have been to the allotment, to dig (exercise), and plant beans and peas. Lots more digging to be done - hard work but satisfying.   Today we started a clearup in the garden. Looks much better and I did feel better too for being active.   Andrew’s paints etc instantly spread around as he is in midflow for work in the downstairs loo, but my craving for empty and lovely spaces is sacrificed.   Laundry drying on the line. Cold air, bright sun, blue sky.   Collared doves unphased by us walking round when they are on on the roof of the summerhouse, or on the rose arch.

Thoughts swirl around - we may be dead, very soon.   What can we do?  Lots of things IN the house, not much outside. What we have done, we have done. What we have neglected, we have neglected. We can review our Wills, and make a list of access codes etc ready should that be needed.  Someone rang yesterday offering legal services: power of attorney, life assurance, etc etc.   

We have tempted lots of people to use zoom for online conferencing - works pretty well once they get the hang of it. I have been trying to persuade them to try for years, and only now they are doing it. 

We talk to Nicole, our lodger… she is part of our household and eats with us many nights a week. She goes to her studio across the road (while it’s open). Otherwise she has her room and the corridor and bathroom…. limited space. I am very aware how lucky we are in our spacious house - so many rooms, the cellars, the garden.  We have resources, and I fear many do not.   In the garden clear-up, I find I have lots more small plants I can bring on, and maybe put for sale outside … clears space for me, may raise a few quid. 

Laughs help a lot: the dancing parrots, the man standing in his shower as if in the tube, the dog being walked off a balcony on a long lead….. 

My anger at the leadership is not assuaged by their recent more effective pronouncements. They are still not addressing the financial worries of so many people, nor giving any kind of confidence in forward planning. It is still confused and confusing, and reactive.   Their weaselly mendacious spiv behaviour has not gone away. We still face Brexit and sell-off of the NHS, and giving way to Trump’s horrendous trade-deals…. nothing being said about that.  There is very little sense of Cabinet responsibility, or understanding. They are still cheats and in it only for what they gain from it all. No sense of public service…. remarkably, people are starting to say they admire them. A terrible mistake.