Not an island
Mar. 17th, 2020 07:50 pmIt's the speed at which things have shifted, I think, that makes me feel like a character in a John Wyndham novel: as if I slept through the meteor shower, and woke to find everyone blind and the triffids arriving.
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durham_rambler is advised to self-isolate for twelve weeks: he has gone out to a meeting to discuss how the organisation can proceed without further meetings - and a similar emergency meeting scheduled for Monday has been cancelled as the venue has been closed. I don't know which I find more stressful, trying to make decisions, or having them taken out of my hands.
My e-mail is full of cancellations, some of them more encouraging than not: the Ramblers' Association, for example, calls off all group walks, but confirms that "The advice from the government is that you can continue to walk outside (staying a safe distance from others), unless you are showing symptoms." - not that not showing symptoms certifies you non-infectious, but I'm trying to keep the tone non-apocalyptic here.
Nonetheless, for the record: last week I placed an online order with Ocado. They have only recently started to deliver here, this was my second order, they have sent me some time-limited vouchers, so an order was called for. I placed the order last Wednesday, and had to wait four days for delivery instead of the udual one or two; by now, GirlBear is being told that it will take three weeks to deliver to her elderly mother in Suffolk: that's a metric of some sort. My order would have included toilet rolls, because that's something it's concenient to order in bulk and have delivered, but both recycled options were out of stock, and settling for non-recycled would have felt like panic buying. Instead we called in at the Traidcraft shop in St Nic's in the Marketplace, and had no trouble buying a 4-pack there. Online shopping is a useful stopgap, but I hope the real shops will survive. In which spirit, I hope I will be able to stock up on vegetables at the monthly Farmers' Market on Thursday. Further ahead I have not succeeded in thinking.
People on my Reading page are posting photographs of spring flowers in sunshine. People are gathering to tell stories. People are sharing how their new not-quite-routines, and their survival stratagems, or just reporting that they have survived a day of homeschooling. Grouchy, uplifting, comforting or just there, I'm grateful for all of them.
radiantfracture puts it beautifully: "It is good to see your names and read your words; this fine company, at least, is not forbidden."
durham_rambler is advised to self-isolate for twelve weeks: he has gone out to a meeting to discuss how the organisation can proceed without further meetings - and a similar emergency meeting scheduled for Monday has been cancelled as the venue has been closed. I don't know which I find more stressful, trying to make decisions, or having them taken out of my hands.My e-mail is full of cancellations, some of them more encouraging than not: the Ramblers' Association, for example, calls off all group walks, but confirms that "The advice from the government is that you can continue to walk outside (staying a safe distance from others), unless you are showing symptoms." - not that not showing symptoms certifies you non-infectious, but I'm trying to keep the tone non-apocalyptic here.
Nonetheless, for the record: last week I placed an online order with Ocado. They have only recently started to deliver here, this was my second order, they have sent me some time-limited vouchers, so an order was called for. I placed the order last Wednesday, and had to wait four days for delivery instead of the udual one or two; by now, GirlBear is being told that it will take three weeks to deliver to her elderly mother in Suffolk: that's a metric of some sort. My order would have included toilet rolls, because that's something it's concenient to order in bulk and have delivered, but both recycled options were out of stock, and settling for non-recycled would have felt like panic buying. Instead we called in at the Traidcraft shop in St Nic's in the Marketplace, and had no trouble buying a 4-pack there. Online shopping is a useful stopgap, but I hope the real shops will survive. In which spirit, I hope I will be able to stock up on vegetables at the monthly Farmers' Market on Thursday. Further ahead I have not succeeded in thinking.
People on my Reading page are posting photographs of spring flowers in sunshine. People are gathering to tell stories. People are sharing how their new not-quite-routines, and their survival stratagems, or just reporting that they have survived a day of homeschooling. Grouchy, uplifting, comforting or just there, I'm grateful for all of them.
radiantfracture puts it beautifully: "It is good to see your names and read your words; this fine company, at least, is not forbidden."
