Week
four of lockdown begins 6 April 2020
Ian 6 April
2020
Hello Everyone
Am I the first to have received Boris's letter? It arrived
this morning and he must have posted it on his way into hospital, exhausted at
signing all 60,000,000 of them. I don't think it told us anything that we
didn't know already. And the Queen didn't follow his guidelines by leaving her London pad for her country home in Windsor
- should she step down like the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland
Anyway the Devil finds work for idle hands to do and I have
gathered a second sheaf of emails, sorted them, printed them off and posted
them to Peter with an invitation to write a personal report that I can keyboard
and add to the growing list. I have also used the opportunity to load them up
in weekly installments on the Supsliska blog. You can find them at:
Week 1, 16/03-22/03: https://supsliska.blogspot.com/2020 April supsliskans-in-lockdown-week-1-16-22.html
Week 2, 23/03-29/03: https://supsliska.blogspot.com/2020 April supsliskans-in-lockdown-week-2-23-29.html
Week 3, 30/03-05/04: https://supsliska.blogspot.com/2020 April supsliskans-in-lockdown-week-3-30-march.html
It was quite a job to get them into order and I may have
missed some and some may have even appeared twice. Please let me know if you
wish to make any corrections - or if you would prefer your contributions not to
appear. I feel they will serve as an interesting record of a once-in-a-lifetime
(we hope) event that has turned society upside down but also brought people
together. I have not included images and the links are not yet live.
Otherwise little to report. Our Close does not seem to have
been applauding, but the other day I applauded the postman from our kitchen
window as he delivered the post. He smiled and gave a thumbs-up. There have
also been military aircraft flying around over Exeter Exeter
Be good and obey Boris, everyone, Ian and Jill
Jane 6 April 2020
Excellent blogs, Ian. Very many thanks for doing
them.
Our building of 4 flats got 2 Boris envelopes this morning.
As the student tenants are not in residence we can have one each. "A
vital update from the Government". I think not.
Our Tesco has introduced a one way system with arrows up
one aisle and down the next. I never go up the fruit aisle first and had to
retrace my steps so spending twice the time in the shop. It seems I cannot
transfer money to younger son's account for his and granddaughter's birthdays
because I do not do online banking, and Sainsbury's have only self service
tills. As if isolation was not bad enough obstacles are being being
placed in the path of elderly luddites at every turn, and we cannot even buy
alcohol during shopping hours for the aged.
Still complaining and still well in the North!
Love to all, Jane
Janet 6 April
2020
Dear All
Thanks to Jane and Ian for latest contributions. I do feel
sorry for poor Boris and hope he will recover in a week or two. In defence of
Her Majesty, Ian, I would point out that all she has done is go home to a place
of relative safety, given she is still working hard at 92 years of age but is
none-the-less in the "vulnerable" category. Buckingham Palace Windsor Castle Windsor
Castle
Where the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland
I must admit that, before the lockdown started, we had envisaged day trips in our campervan where we would have our own on-board refreshments and toilet facilities and where we would just walk in National Trust gardens or on local beaches, keeping to social distancing rules, and hopefully not harming anyone but we have not done so once the request was made that we should all "stay at home". Instead we sit in the campervan in the garden, enjoying the view whilst eating our lunch and building up our strength for the weeding which needs to be done. We visit our grandchildren via Skype twice a week and chat to our neighbours by email or on the phone. And, actually, the time is passing quite pleasantly, or it is now that we have managed to get ourselves onto Sainsbury's list of "over-70's" which allows us one delivery per week, which is all we really need. Oh, and we have managed to get signed up for home delivery of our assorted prescription medicines. We used to collect them from the dispensary at the GP's surgery but that is the last place one wants to be going just now.
Best wishes to all for a Happy Easter. Love, Janet.
Ian 6 April 2020
Just to say that I wrote my email before I heard that Boris
had been taken into intensive care and that my remarks on the Queen and the
Scottish Chief Medical Officer were meant light-heartedly. I felt her message
came from the heart and her looking back to her first broadcast during the War
- before most of us were born - to be particularly moving. The scenes
from inside the intensive care units shown on the news this evening show that
we are living through times that are equally threatening and just as dangerous
to those on the front line as they were when we were fighting nazism rather
than Covid-19.
Stay safe, Ian
Janet 7 April 2020
Dear Ian
Thanks. And thank you for the photos. You
clearly live in warmer climes - our bluebells do not come till after the
daffodils and only a few of the daffodils in our garden are in bloom as yet,
though we do have wallflowers and forget-me-knots out, as well as forsythia and
apple blossom. But it is the rhubarb which has needed the most weeding and I have
a little robin who comes to watch for the worms and keep me company whilst I
work.
Best wishes. Janet.
Lesley 07 April 2020
Thank you Ian for sharing your new perspective. Our
daughter, a respiratory consultant, now treats only Covid-19 patients dressed
in a ‘space-type’ head suit...our daily anxiety is palpable.
Take care everyone, Lesley
Anne 07 April 2020
Dear all,
The local paper has published my translation of the poem Sylvia sent, it
was in the paper today. I am sending a (long!!) link so that those of
you who read German can see it. A friend texted me this morning thanking
me and saying she was sending it on to her sister!
Ein Gedicht bewegt die Menschen: Anne Fishburn aus
Rohrbach ist zurzeit in engem Kontakt mit ehemaligen Kommilitonen in
Großbritannien, schreibt sie uns. "Eine Freundin hat neulich einen Text in
die Gruppe gepostet, den ich sehr passend zu dieser Zeit, die wir alle jetzt
durchlaufen, empfand." Er wurde von Kitty O'Meara geschrieben, pensionierte
irische Lehrerin in den USA. Im Netz wurde das Gedicht auf verschiedenen
Kanälen bereits oft geteilt, in einem Medieninterview sagt die Autorin, wie
glücklich sie darüber ist, den Menschen während der Pandemie Trost spenden zu
können. Fishburn hat das Gedicht übersetzt:
Und
die Leute blieben daheim. Und lasen Bücher, und hörten zu, und entspannten
sich, und trainierten, und schafften Kunst, und spielten, und lernten neue Wege
des Seins, und waren still. Und horchten tiefer. Einige meditierten, einige
beteten, einige tanzten,
Und die Leute fingen an, anders zu denken.Und die Leute
wurden geheilt. Und, in Abwesenheit der Leute, die auf ignorante, gefährliche,
gedankenlose und herzlose Art leben, fing die Erde an zu heilen.
Und als die Gefahr vorbei war, und die Leute wieder
zusammenkamen, trauerten sie um ihre Verluste und trafen neue Entscheidungen,
und träumten neue Bilder und schafften eine neue Art zu leben und die Erde ganz
zu heilen, so wie sie auch geheilt wurden.
Keep safe and sane, Anne
Janet 7 April 2020
Yes, Anne, this is a lovely translation, and the poem is
very pertinent to our current situation. But, Sylvia, I don't see how the
(lovely) poem can be a response to the potato famine - people would have been
starving to death, rather than simply dealing with enforced isolation, and
hence in no mood for anything like singing and dancing - I think it must be a
response to some sort of other epidemic.
Best wishes to all and let's hope they can reopen the city
parks for the flat-dwellers. maybe they could introduce some sort of queuing
system, as per the supermarkets, to help avoid overcrowding and concomitant
contagion, or at least arrange to "police" them to ensure social
distancing. Janet.
Anne 7 April 2020
Hi
Janet and all
I
should explain that this poem is in response to this epidemic.
The author is alive and hopefully well in USA Ireland
Anne
Angela 08
April 2020
Hello Sylvia
I shouldn't worry too much. Since you sent the poem I
have seen it a few times and it is always attributed to the Irish Famine,
though just recently, additional notes are appearing that it is actually more
recent. You are right that it is such a beautiful and relevant piece that it
stands on its own. I shall be sending it to our botanical art group following a
request for something uplifting, so thank you again.
I walked to Cley beach yesterday morning, it is just down
the road so I wasn't breaking any rules, and for the first time ever I had it
completely to myself! The beach road is closed to cars and the bird hides are
also closed. The last time this happened was during the 2013 flood.
Hope everyone is keeping well. Love, Angela
Janet 8/April 2020
Dear Sylvia and Ange, and All
Yes, thank you Sylvia, it was really good of you to send
the poem, whatever its provenance. I know how difficult it can be to find the
correct attribution for poems or quotations one comes across whilst browsing.
The below is a poem I came across recently that I find
uplifting - and a useful reminder to look on the bright side whenever possible
- but whose provenance I do not know.
Poem (for a happy life)
Count your garden by the flowers,
Never by the leaves that fall;
Count your days by golden hours,
Don’t remember clouds at all.
Count your night by stars, not shadows,
Count your years with smiles, not tears.
Count your blessings, not your troubles,
Count your age by friends, not years!
Love, Janet.
Sue 9 April 2020
Hi All
I'm really glad we are all connected, and
especially glad you've joined in Pat. Good to have company
now that the pace of the outbreak is changing.
I've been sharing so many of your links
and attachments, and raising a smile with friends, especially with the Ronnie
Corbett sketch and the help-desk video, so very many thanks to you
all. I'll be sending the Christopher Robin one to my most
pessimistic relative - an Edinburgh accountant
now resident in the US
In exchange, here's a garden tour link
that you may enjoy - I'm especially thinking of you here, Margaret, for those
days when you can't get out into the garden at St
Luke's. 5 Gorgeous Gardens You Can (Virtually) Tour From Home
Out here in the colonies, we are grateful
to the National Theatre for letting us see their productions on film at a
cinema, so I was impressed that they have made some of their films available
via youtube for short periods. If you are missing your trips
to live theatre, you might like the link. I can definitely
recommend the Twelfth Night (perhaps like me you studied it at school) which I
saw not so very long ago.
Needless to say our NZ Minister of Health
has proved as much of a liability as health leaders elsewhere, breaking his own
rules about exercising close to home. Saved from the chop as supposedly
having some institutional knowledge that might be of use. The Easter
week-end, as elsewhere, will be a big test as far as complying with the
lockdown is concerned, with so many being tempted to head out to their baches (
holiday homes).
So the Easter advice from NZ is
"Stay home, eat chocolate, wash your hands" - which seems fair enough
to me -
Stay well all of you, Sue
Sylvia 9 April 2020
I also love the fact that Jacinda Ardern has announced
that the Easter Bunny's role has been deemed an essential service, although
with his own family to care for, he might not be able to visit as many homes as
usual. This gives a let-out for any family which might not have been able
to get hold of Easter eggs. My daughter's first thought, when supplies of
basic goods became scarce, was not for toilet rolls or pasta, but for Easter
eggs. That's my girl!!
Stay well, everyone, Sylvia
Anne 9 April 2020
Hi everyone, thanks, Sue for your latest news and links.
I am missing the direct transmissions from the Royal Opera House which come
even to my local cinema and I love them! I also love the advice to eat chocolate.
When Ray was alive there was always chocolate in the house. He would eat a
whole bar of Lindt milk chocolate for breakfast. Yesterday a neighbour offered
to shop for me. After all the rice and salad meals I've been preparing I had a
sudden craving for something sweet and asked her to bring me, along with other
items, 2 bars of Ritter Sport chocolate. After she had delivered them I
polished off one of them straight off - the joghurt one! No Easter eggs or
bunnies however.
I hope you will all manage to celebrate Easter in a
satisfactory way, it will be different - I should have been flying to Manchester
God bless, Anne
Pat 9 April 2020
My son Howard is shopping in Aldi for a friend and her
elderly aunt today. He’s bought me some plants, having no idea what they
are(!)- but equally good if it is in stock he’s getting my favourite chocolate
which is dark with hazelnuts - the make is Choceur. Naughty but nice! He’s been
given 12 weeks off with pay because of living with me, the vulnerable one. He
can hardly believe his luck and today got straight on to a big job of opening
up my garden by chopping down some bushes.
I’ll try to send a before and after pic. [Three
pictures sent: Going, going, gone!]
Take care everyone. Love, Pat
Jane 9 April
2020
That's a big garden, Pat, and looking good.
Thanks again to you all for the emails -
and poems. I am going to send Anne's translation to my German Konversation
group which we hoped to continue in the garden suitably isolated. But of
course that could not happen in 'lockdown' - and anyway it has been much too
cold to sit out, with a sneaky wind even when the sun shines.
Today I managed the self-service till in
Sainsbury's! - with the lad standing well behind me to remind me to put scanned
items in the bagging area. I still have banking to sort out. When the lockdown
started David and I worried about how to get cash as I was going to the Post
Office after the Clydesdale branch in town closed last August (holes in the
wall terrify me since I first used one on my own about 20 years ago and the
machine ate my card). We have not used cash for over 3 weeks! Lockdown is a
great way to save money - no books bought since it started and our only
indulgence has been some decent wine delivered by a local merchant.
Today I should have had laser treatment on
the eye which has suffered 'capular hazing' since a cataract operation several
years ago. I was doubtful about that operation when the apprentice surgeon said
'oh dear' halfway through, was told to carry on by the consultant and then he
took over. But much relief to get a call a week ago to say the laser treatment
had been cancelled. Perhaps it will get done one day. David and I both have one
good eye and one bad, fortunately different eyes, so if we walk with the good
ones together we manage quite well!
When we go for our morning walk we meet
several other 'elderlies' and exchange greetings even if we do not know them.
Joggers and the young, we notice, just carry on regardless, often in twos and
threes, wrapped up in their own conversations and looking neither right nor
left. So much for the helpful young!
My contact in Newfoundland has been going
through his archive while isolating in St John's, and finding more evidence of
my paternal grandfather's rum-running (or rather whisky-running) activities
during Prohibition. At one point there 750,000 cases of assorted alcohol in
warehouses in St Pierre et Miquelon, including
24 varieties of Scotch whisky, priced from $22.50 - $8, for the runners to
buy and ship to the coast of America
Time for lunch!
Take care all of you, and love from Jane
Sylvia 9 April 2020
What a lovely big garden, Pat. The reduction of the
shrub(s?) has really opened up that area. My garden is more pocket
handkerchief sized, but with far fewer commitments at the moment, I'm managing
to make it look more respectable, especially since my new lawn mower arrived on
Saturday. My only regret is that I didn't take a photo of the lawn when
it was at its height (about 4 inches) for a "before and after".
18 months ago, I planted 100 spring bulbs in a fairly small area and it's
looking quite jolly now even though it's still early for some of them.
I'm waiting for the delivery of some bee friendly seeds which I ordered via 38
Degrees. I'm told they're on their way. I'm hoping they will
provide more colour once the last of the bulbs finish flowering in
May.
I'm sure you'll get the hang of debit cards soon, Jane,
and if you take a deep breath and launch into online banking, you'll even be
able to transfer money, so that you don't have to handle cash at the
moment. I do prefer to use cash under normal circumstances, but at the
moment it's safer not to. Although I envy you your life in St. Andrews on the whole, you've reminded me of one of
the downsides, - the much colder weather. It's almost been too warm to
garden here and I'm sure it's even warmer for Pat, Tony, Ian and Howard!
I'm off to do my daily dose of gardening.
Love to all and stay well, Sylvia
Sylvia 10 April 2020
Dear All,
If nothing else positive comes out of this surreal
situation, keeping in closer touch with friends has to be a big plus.
After nearly a month of full time work and more, my
daughter Helen, who normally works only 20 hours a week, has a long weekend
off, so they have decided to go camping. Unfortunately, they can't get
their campervan into the back garden, so they will be camping on their lawn in
their 4-man tent. I'm really looking forward to hearing about their
"adventures". Having What'sApp'd with my son, Chris, this
morning I've discovered that the two older boys have built a den in their main
room and plan to sleep in it tonight. At 8 and 5, I'm not sure how long
they will last in it, but again, I'm curious to hear how it went.
It's made me wonder how inventive other families are
being over this long weekend.
Love to all and stay well, Sylvia
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