Supsliskans in lockdown, week 4, 6-12 April 2020

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 - a massive Hercules transport plan and a large helicopter. We thought they might be delivering medical supplies but the MoD stated that the Hercules was on a training exercise. The helicopter seemed to land in a nearby school playing field. They sounded all the louder after weeks of respite from aircraft using Exeter airport. The garden is now a quiet haven and we are able enjoy watching and listening to the birds. A pair of sparrows seem to be nesting very close to the house. I attach a couple of photographs, not to boast of our horticultural prowess but to show how the prettiest places are where nature has been allowed a free hand, with bluebells in the border and primroses on the lawn.

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 is more of an office than a home and is used for many semi-public occasions. Her "holiday homes" include Sandringham and Balmoral and, in fact, the Duke of Edinburgh flew back from Sandringham to be with her at Windsor Castle. We need them both to be kept as safe as possible. Plus, from inside Windsor Castle they are scarcely going to be potentially contaminating the locals with corona virus, which is the main reason people are being asked to stay put - to stop the potential spread of disease when they visit shops etc.

Where the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland went wrong was in (a) not following her own instructions, (b) going to check on her holiday home not once but twice, on consecutive weekends, and (c) having got there, not having stayed indoors and instead having gone out and mingled with the public.

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!

https://www.donaukurier.de/lokales/pfaffenhofen/Freier-Blick-in-den-Himmel-und-Zeit-mit-dem-Enkel-ueber-Skype;art600,4544562

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, a retired teacher of Irish origin and she wrote it this year. Pehaps she had the potato famine in mind, being also a time of great crisis in Ireland. The information given by Sylvia was not correct but it's a lovely text and has gone viral all round the globe.

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.

https://www.youtube.com/user/ntdiscovertheatre

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 today - but people are being very creative and inventive and the feeling is that we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

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. This has taken me back to looking at family history which makes a change from the Almanac/Notebook for 1644 which a friend and I have been working on for some years.

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

Supsliskans in lockdown: Week 3, 30 March – 5 April 2020

Sue 30 March 2020

Hi All

Very many thanks for sharing your news, coping strategies and jokes.  As quite a few days have gone by since you all wrote, I hope all continues well with you all.

NZ is now in lockdown, too, as from midnight last Wednesday, for 4 weeks with the option of extending that, following earlier self-isolation advice for the over 70s, the health compromised etc.   However because so many folk were still on the wrong island at the deadline and extra ferries had to sail to relieve the bottle-neck, the deadline had to be extended. Familiar story, the government is borrowing vast amounts of money to deal with the crisis; the new normal when it arrives will be vastly different from the old normal...

It will be interesting to see whether NZ's much smaller population, plus the approaching winter months make it easier to get compliance with the lockdown.   But I'm sure all countries have their fair share of idiots.   Perhaps, too, this country mostly has a little more respect (so far) for our PM than is the case elsewhere.

Our Australian cousins seem to be taking their time over measures - with all sorts of businesses and services taking a while to shutdown - how on earth would you keep 2 metres apart whilst having a haircut?

But our really good news is that our son, his wife and daughter managed to get back from Dublin last week-end - where they were in the middle of a 6 month sabbatical.    Of course they had to self isolate, but almost immediately were in lock-down, but al least they are in their own home whilst working from home and keeping a three-year-old amused.

As for us, our house is out in the country, where we are surrounded by dairy farms, so  the sights and sounds haven't really changed - tractors are still trundling past the gate and the milk-tanker hurtling by.

Margaret, I can't help feeling that if ever there was  a rainy day for which you will have been saving, this is it!   Best wishes with your stay in hospital and glad to hear I'm not the only Sudoku fan.

Anne - I hope all goes well with your foot.   I'm sorry, but I've slightly lost track of your ponies; do you still have Hal and Co to take into consideration in all of this?

Angela, we can't compete with Caspar, but we do have a family of rather endearing German  owls living in a hedge; they are a mixed blessing, nationally, as they are taking over the habitat of the local Ruru (or Morepork).

I hope your wrist is healing well, Lesley.   Yes, the story from hospitals over here is that they are still very quiet, with so much activity cancelled, but poised ready.

Loved the fridges story, Sylvia!

We have happy memories of Teesdale, Val, where we rented a Raby Estate holiday cottage at Marshes Gill near Harwood Beck for several years.

Many thanks for your news, Ian, and for the update on Peter; I hadn't realised he was so ill.

Glad Sark is coping well, Howard, long may it continue.

Good to catch up with you Janet, as always.

Are you sure it isn't the ice crystals that are protective, Tony, or do you take your Islay malt neat?

Lovely to have St Andrews and the flats to yourselves, Jane, must be quite a treat.

We've found a slot in the local online grocery delivery service this week which is great.  Although by going just after the supermarket opened last week, I felt very safe.  There would have been all of 6 shoppers, and everyone was well distanced; can't comment on the loo paper situation as I didn't check the loo paper aisle as we didn't need any; it's a pity the Guardian weekly is no longer on airmail paper as a fall-back option.

Very best wishes to you all - and keep well, Sue

Jane  30 March 2020

Dear All,

Good to get further news from you all. A grand idea, Ian, to put our news and comments on a blog. David is an inveterate snipper-out of newspaper articles on local topics and I rather regret not doing the same with the maps on the spread of the virus. But no doubt it will not be long before someone produces a book on the subject!

Life is not much changed for us in St Andrews - David at his laptop and me nagging that he should write up his research! The streets are so quiet that even the pigeons can walk down the middle of the road. I would rather go for a walk once a day than shop so went to Tesco again this morning for at least a week's supplies. It is open from 9-10 a.m. for the Elderly but the Scottish Government does not allow the purchase of alcohol before 10 o'clock. I was delighted to see a letter in the Dundee Courier last week from an Elderly who echoed my view of discrimination and asked why the rule cannot be relaxed temporarily. David needs his glass of sherry at lunchtime and its a glass of red for me in the evening to liven up the boring food which I am cooking at present!

Tesco still has little pots of daffodil bulbs in flower which I buy for the stair window ledge then plant out in the garden. Not sure why I am still buying them as there is no-one to see them but David and me. But the garden will be a sea of yellow next spring.

David tells me that Bargain Hunt is on earlier than advertised so I am off to have my fix!

Love to you all, Jane

Sylvia 30 March 2020

Dear Sue, and Hello Everyone.

What a wonderful, uplifting email from you!  I have just come off the phone from someone who isn't coping well at all with isolation, but I hope I have managed to cheer her up a little. Life is what it is and we must make the most of what little control we have over our own lives.  I am switching between time in the garden and walking the local streets (not like that!) to get my exercise.  Gardening would have included mowing the lawn this week, now that the ground has dried out sufficiently after the recent floods, but in trying to start the electric mower, I discovered that it won't co-operate (cable nibbled by field-mice?).  So, Argos to the rescue, yet again, and a new mower will be delivered on Saturday.  Given that it is already like a hay field, it will be a gradual process to get it looking like a lawn again.

Although I did shop in Lidl on Friday, I'm not sure I should continue risking that, even if it is only once a week.  Getting an online shopping slot is impossible and anyway, my needs are not huge.  It's just the perishables such as milk, plain yoghurt, eggs and bread which I would rather not have to do without, given that my larder and freezer are always well-stocked, but thanks to a much younger member of our National Women's Register group, I have the option of placing an order with her to add these items to her weekly shop.  I had tried to place a weekly order with our local dairy, but understandably, they can't take on any new clients.

All of my family is well.  My son, Chris, sent me a picture on What'sApp this morning entitled "At least one shop is open and fully stocked".  It showed grandsons 3 and 4 (aged 8 and 5) with their pretend grocer's shop!  My daughter, Helen, co-manages an essential service and has been working more hours than usual.  The community centre normally provides daycare for two lots of vulnerable adults and they have to be looked after at home now. Marshalling the many volunteers who have stepped forward has been difficult because not all of them have the appropriate clearance. She thought this week would have been a bit easier as lots of things have now been put in place and she would have been able to work 3 days from home, but the other co-manager has had to go into self isolation, so the rota will have to be re-written.  Nothing is predictable at the moment.

I have a friend who should have been travelling to New Zealand on Wednesday to attend a great-niece’s wedding.  The wedding, in Queenstown, has been postponed, but I don't see him making it whenever it's re-scheduled.  I'm going to send him the part of your email, Sue, which details how NZ is coping.  It's my opinion that this government has been too slow to react to the crisis, but look on the bright side, we could be living in the US, where Trump knows so much better than anyone else how to deal with the situation!

My love to everyone, and stay well, Sylvia

Howard 30 March 2020

Really enjoying these emails. It is important to use whatever communication media are at our disposal. We are also trying to keep in touch with people living on their own.

I agree with Sylvia that the UK response (waffling Boris) has been poor. The South Koreans developed a plan after the last virus so they were prepared.

I remember libraries having a disaster plan for floods, fire etc.

Thought you might like a chuckle so I have attached an older persons view of technology. [Link to Two Ronnies sketch].

Howard

Ian 31 March 2020

Wonderful - but do any of you know this one? Most appropriate for librarians and an earlier shift in communications technology: Medieval helpdesk for the new technology of the codex book https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQ

Ian

Anne 31 March 2020

Oh Ian, that is so funny, especially in the original Norwegian, not that I speak Norwegian but it sounds even funnier!  I think I'll pass it on to my reading group, especially for those who have Kindles! Thanks also to Howard for his contribution as well. Corona is bringing so many people together, I love this aspect of the situation, keeping in touch so easily. Take care everyone, stay at home and stay healthy.

Margaret - extra special best wishes to you and hope you continue to make progress.

I had the stitches out of my foot this morning, all looking good.

Anne

Ian 1 April 2020

Dear Anne

Sorry to have had you in stitches again on the day you had the stitches removed from your foot!

I first came across the video several years back and I believe it has been remade, translated and adapted several times over. This, I believe is the first edition and I agree all the better for being in Norwegian.

We were amused by the Norwegian language when we were there on our travels with Modestine. Chicken is kylling (often written killing), stew is sodd, and there are other words that make a Norwegian menu sound very off-putting. We wondered for some time about skumbiler - sounds particularly revolting. It turns out that they are the equivalent of jelly babies, but in the shape of cars, the literal translation is foam cars. But it is a name that would appeal to the scatological minds of our grandchildren in Exeter. This reminds me that there is a picture of me with a tin of sodd on one of the blogs. Hold on a moment ... https://modestine.blogspot.com/2006/08/bergen-and-islands.html it comes at the end of this one. Read the text and you can get an idea of what life could be like before we were all locked up. Wide open spaces and plenty of room for social distancing.

Keep safe and well. Love from us both, Ian and Jill

Howard 1 April 2020

Dear All

Ian's musings about Norwegian reminds me of when Mandy was working in Sweden in the early 70s. I was still in Sheffield in PgSLIS so we wrote a lot and exchanged tapes.

I went over to see her in my Morris Minor van which was falling apart.

The loo rolls had in large lettering 'Dubbel Krapp' (not sure of the actual Swedish spelling after 50 years or so. Also I think there was an umlaut on the 'a' which held the key). It put a smile on our faces at the time. In a moment of madness we wondered whether some Swedes needed strong loo paper!

Best wishes, Howard

Pat  ‎31 March ‎2020

Hello everyone. Feel a bit out of touch, but I have loved reading all the messages and it is nice to reflect on the few things I can remember about our year together in Sheffield.(Not a lot!)

I have been isolating for over two weeks now, but am not alone as my son Howard aged 45 has come back from having been in Oz for 13 years. After a tragic time leaving him bankrupt and ill, he is back living here and hoping to make a new start in life.

He’s working as a delivery driver for Sainsbury’s as he doesn’t yet feel ready to apply for the big jobs again. At least he doesn’t bring any worries back home, although it is a bit front line at the present time.  Luckily I have plenty of room here and he has made himself a man cave in my cellar. Sounds unattractive but he has transformed the space with bed, settee, wardrobe, chest of drawers, rugs, and of course a big telly on the wall. He has been incredibly helpful, doing a load of gardening and he cooks most meals.

I’m quite enjoying this incarceration and feel privileged to have a big garden and not to have to employ a gardener anymore with my son doing the heavy stuff. My other two children live in Bristol also, so it’s good to have them all in the same town. One 9 year old grandson too, who wants to play for Manchester City! I miss making sausage rolls with him and playing chess, Monopoly and Connect 4 but he videos me from his house which I like. My other two grandchildren are still in Oz and much older - 21 and 23.

Health wise I’ve had a few probs like knee replacements and currently I’m waiting pirate-like for a 2nd cataract op. Going around with one eye closed to do reading. Holiday-wise I am booked to go to the Isle of Man with a group at the end of Sept, but who knows? Also on hold are day trips that I organise for the Friends of Bristol Museums. Oh well, it reduces the stress to have a break from it. It’s good to be getting on at last with reducing the pile if books that are always waiting to be read and usually being added to. The novel I’m currently reading has a strange title: “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens. It’s really good. Set in swamp land of the North Carolina coast. It’s a real mixture- murder mystery. coming of age saga and a celebration of nature. Has anyone else heard of it? I love finding a book that really clicks.

Well, there’s a brief synopsis of life in BS9. I’m in the very vulnerable group because I’m on an immunosuppressant for a liver disease I got 7 years ago because I was on an antibiotic for too long. It gave me lung and liver damage! The lungs are better but I have to take this pill for life to prevent my immune system attacking my liver. I’ve got what is called auto-immune hepatitis. There - and I set out not to mention health. Sorry.

I’ll end there and wish that everyone avoids this dreaded lurgy and we come out better people at the end. Every chance I think. Certainly makes you appreciate life.

Love and best wishes, Pat

Jane 31 March 2020

Dear All,

I have much enjoyed all the contributions. My own offering is below, but I can also forward a 32 page Pandemic Risk Analysis dated 2012 - in German, sent by a German friend - and a description of the virus, why soap works but vodka doesn't and other apparently genuine information which I had not read before. This last was sent by our friend in St John's Newfoundland who has just found in his archives a telegram in code, with a transcription in English, sent to my paternal grandfather's shipping business which is further proof that he was a rumrunner during Prohibition. That may spur me to tackle another neglected job, sorting the family history boxes.

But for now it is back to transcription of 17th century letters, notes and lists of troopers.

Love, Jane

Forwarded to Jane:

"Where are we going Piglet?" asked Pooh.

"We need to get supplies," said Piglet. "For the Coronavirus"

"Ahh," said Pooh, nodding in understanding. "Things like bread, milk, cough mixture, tissues and cat litter even though we don't have a cat?"

Piglet did a little laugh, and a sort of leap and bit of a cough. "No," said Piglet. "No, those aren't the sort of supplies we need at all! What we need are family sized bags of chocolate buttons, massive toblerone, jelly babies and crunchies and a freezer full of stuffed crust pizzas, and all of the Prosecco that we can possibly carry, so that when we get quarantined we won't mind it even slightly. THOSE are supplies."

All of a sudden, Pooh thought that the idea of coronavirus didn't seem quite so bad, and actually, getting quarantined with Piglet and their supplies really didn't sound such a terrible thing after all. "Oh Piglet," said Pooh. "I really do think you are a very wise animal."

As they walked along they spotted Eeyore stood by a stream watching the sticks float by.....

“Hello Eeyore.” Said Pooh, “we’re off to buy supplies to sit out the quarantine, would you like to come?”

“No thank you.” Said Eeyore “I’m just going to stand here, look at the stream and contemplate the Economic impact of a media induced panic that several companies are projecting folding straight out of Brexit. Also the NHS being brought to its knees by a huge panic, and the social impact of people distrusting others because they look or are associated with China. People are dumb.”

“Well that’s sad.” Said Pooh “I much prefer getting shitfaced and eating Pizza.”

“The ironic thing.” Smiled Eeyore is that Panic induces the Stress Response, and the first thing the stress response does is switch off the immune system.”

“Huh.” Said Pooh. “why would the media do that.”

“I don’t know.” Said Eeyore “I just watch sticks.”

Margaret 1 April 2020

Having so enjoyed reading all your messages it's time for me to put little finger to smartphone. Easier said than done! I have rather long fingers which make it a bit difficult. How I miss my computer with proper keyboard.

Well. I am now into my 9th week at st Luke's. I must by now becoming institutionalised. The care is very good as is the food and I can look forward to meals. We have an Australian chef who believes that good whole food freshly cooked is an important part of the therapy. Most of the things that helped to define a day - physio., hairdresser, activities etc. Have been stopped so I often wonder what day it is.

The rheumatologist wants me to stay here so funds are having to be found to foot the fees. But there is not a lot else to spend my money on! Apart from all the direct debits.

Last week I managed to persuade two of the activities staff to wheel me out into the garden - wonderful! To breathe a bit of free air and see the spring flowers. It is tended by a lady whose sun was nursed here until he died. That makes it rather special - and she knows what she is doing having trained at waterperry gardens.

I miss my visitors but several of us chat on the phone regularly. I am even in remote touch with Rowland close. One morning one of my neighbours happened to open her front door at the same time as someone opposite so distancing themselves by 2 metres they had a little chat. Word spread and now each morning at 10.30am between 10 and 15 of them emerge carefully keeping a distance of 2 metres. About 6 kms away I am thinking of them!

Surreal though life has become all sorts of signs of community spirit are emerging.

So bye for now and hope we can keep the very special supliska network going until our next reunion. Please forgive all typing errors. A cup of nice home made tomato soup has just arrived!

With all good wishes, Margaret

Anne 1  April 2020

Hello everyone

I am so enjoying all the messages and stories going around. Surely one of the great positive aspects of this crisis is the increased communication between various groups of family and friends.

A big "Hallo" to Pat and just to say that Where the Crawdads sing is our next book group read, discussion meeting planned for 3rd May, willl it take place? Who knows. However this book is now my bedtime reading and I'm only up to page 62 but am finding it very enjoyable. I had to look in my Times atlas to find the swamps of North Carolina but the map is not on such a large scale so one has to imagine them.

Sylvia, I loved your quote written about the Irish potato famine, do you know what text/book it comes from? It is indeed very apposite.

I had the stitches taken out of my foot yesterday but will be hobbling around for some weeks yet.

A lovely sunny day but cold. Looking forward to the next contributions,

Love, Anne

Sylvia 1 April 2020

Dear Pat, and everyone,

How lovely to hear from you and to know that you are as well as can be expected.  It was good to have an update on your news. It's sad that your son has had to leave Oz, and sadder that he's had to leave his children behind, but it must be a real comfort to have him with you.

As you will be aware, I've been sending round various emails which I hope have been making people smile.  This one isn't in that category, but I think is very poignant and thought-provoking.

It was written in 1869, apparently in response to the Irish potato famine:

And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently. And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal. And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.

Anne 2 April 2020

Dear Sylvia and all

I really liked the poem you sent and decided to translate into German and submit it to our local newspaper which is running a column for items to cheer people up. I wanted to find out more about the author so googled Kitty O'Meara and found out she  is a retired Irish teacher living in USA and apparently these lines have gone viral all round the world but in a nicer way than Covid-19! So the text was not written in 1869 but this year but no doubt she also had the Irish potato famine in mind when she wrote it.

Anyway, I have sent it in to the paper, I know the journalist who is organising this so maybe she'll publish it! If not, it has kept me occupied this morning!

Anne

Janet 2 April 2020

Dear All

On the Today programme on Radio 4 they mentioned a Science programme for children aged 7 to 11 being streamed by the Royal Institution (RIGB) on Facebook at 2 pm on Thursdays, with a view to keeping them happily occupied during what must be stressful times for them and their parents. There is actually a link to the RIGB website where you can see the video whenever, and as often as, you like as follows:

https://www.rigb.org/families/experimental/balloon-car-racers

Today's programme was about making racing cars. All you need are some balloons, some drinking straws, some masking tape, some recycled kebab skewers, some milk carton tops (for the wheels) and a piece of stout cardboard - eg from some packaging. It's fun for grown-ups, too.

We plan to make these alongside our grandchildren, with them making them in front of their computer screen and us doing the same, during our next Skype session. There's a new idea every week. Enjoy!

Best wishes. Janet.

Lesley Sage 2 April 2020

Thanks, Janet. Just watched this having a cuppa after our walk in the glen - really great so sent the link to Mike & Beth for their children.

All for now but enjoying the sharing.  Stay well and get well those of us who are a bit 'handicapped' at the moment! My plaster due off on April 20th.

Warm wishes to all, Lesley

Janet 2 April 2020

Dear Lesley

Glad you enjoyed it. There's a fun one with spaghetti (dry!) and marshmallows, too. Good luck with your ankle and good to know your stitches are out, Anne, and Margaret that you are coping with your extended hospital stay. Thank goodness for gardens to keep all the rest of us busy. In Switzerland they re-opened the garden centres for two weeks, just enough to allow some drive-through collection of vegetable seedlings. The authorities were, rightly, persuaded that it was all in aid of keeping the nation fed. But they are generally in a much stricter lock-down than we are - the children can't even go out for a social-distanced bike ride, let alone a walk.

My daughter works for a Swiss pharmaceutical company (currently from home, like almost everyone else) and they are putting a huge effort into finding solutions for all this. One of their projects has reached the clinical trials stage and is for medication to reduce the lung inflammation that some folk experience. I believe this involves some prescription drugs originally developed for treating rheumatoid arthritis - which therefore  have already received safety approval and just need further trials to confirm efficacy in treating corona virus patients. This is not a means of preventing corona virus in the first place - there are other projects aimed at that - but of helping to mitigate its otherwise devastating effects.

Best wishes. Janet.

Angela 3 April 2020

Hello Lesley and all other SUPSLISKANS

It is so cheering to hear from so many people, all with our different experiences of these strange times.

I do hope your wrist is healing Lesley and that your foot soon gets better Ann and that Margaret continues her improvement. It was great to hear from Pat, it must be good to have your son with you.

Ian's Medieval Help Desk clip is just superb. I have forwarded it to so many people now, including, as Ann has done, to my Book Group. Thanks Janet for the activities clip. I will pass it on to our family.

Life in Norfolk proceeds as ever. The beach car park and nearby parking areas are now all cordoned off now to deter 'casual visitors', but you can still walk there if you want more exercise. This closure wouldn't however have deterred  the 'Llandudno goats'. You may have seen  the story on national news about a herd of 122 Kashmiri goats who normally live on the Great Orme, a headland in Llandudno, my home town,  who have taken advantage of the deserted town in lock down by coming down from  the mountain to feast on hedges and garden plants.  They are descended from a pair of goats originally given to Queen Victoria who was clearly not amused by them and set them free on the Orme!

We are continuing our local walks and shopping excursions to the nearby Spar and Budgens, complete with rubber gloves left over from my reflexology work.   Some of the small, local food shops are doing deliveries which is very handy for people who are housebound. We are still trying to be useful helping a few of our older neighbours, but many of them have been  well organised with online shopping for  some time before the virus and are offering  to share their orders with younger neighbours!

Helping a neighbour the other day with her very old mobile phone did reach near 'Monty Python' levels. It involved working at a distance in the garden  wearing  the regulatory rubber gloves, phoning her husband on the land line for her  mobile number which was kept inside her phone book and finally interpreting instructions written out by her cleaning lady which were a bit burnt round the edges as her husband had insisted on sterilising  the piece of paper by putting it in the bottom oven of the Aga. Life in Cley is never dull!   

Photos of the now famous goats are attached. They do seem to be almost obeying 'social distancing' in the second one!

Keep well and keep the news coming. Much love, Angela

Pat 3 April 2020

OMG Angela re the goats! A sight to behold.

I have sympathy with your experience of the old neighbour’s phone. My poor son has been steadily hounded by a friend of mine who has an ancient mobile and computer and refuses to change. She asked him to help with downloading Zoom and all manner of other things. He’s no expert and offered his spare IPhone that he used in Australia. It would have made his advice easier to communicate but she would not budge. It’s a 4G model and would have suited her, but she has a fear of 5G so would not accept it despite his arguments and offer of a fairly up to date phone. In payment for the hours he spent helping her remotely she made him some flapjacks which he does not like! So guess who’s eating them? Having said that I’m going to YouTube now for my daily exercising with Joe Wicks.

Keep all news coming. Still waiting for Boris’s letter and the one from NHS England that says I should hibernate for 12 weeks. Ah well ......back to taking up the rug for a general bounce around..

Stay well and happy everyone, Pat

Val 3 April 2020

Hello Everyone,

The mobile phone story is beyond hilarious, Angela!!! The goats are lovely! We’ve got lambs just appearing in the field beside our garden which lifts the spirits too. Cannot believe how many jobs there are around the house that need doing! Keep safe all of you & special good wishes to all of you recovering from injury/operations/illness.

Love, Val

Jane 3 April 2020

Interesting, Pat, to hear that you have not received Boris' letter. We expect it each day and each day are disappointed . . . What a waste of money, for if people have not got the message of distancing etc by now, they are not likely to read a letter from our Dear Leader. And by the time we do get it, the information is likely to be out of date anyway. But you do not have the excitement of seeing Our Nicola on television each day. We in Scotland get a double dose of Government Alarm & Despondency.

Now to email an elderly French acquaintance in St Pierre et Miquelon (the little island off the south coast of Newfoundland) who has sent photos of the deep snow in front of her house. My French dictionary is at the ready.

Love to all, Jane

Sylvia 3 April ‎2020

Hi Everyone,

I am still alive and well, but struggling to keep up with all the emails which bombard my inbox minute on minute.  (Interesting that my spell-check doesn't recognise the word "inbox"!)  Not that I don't appreciate them all, so please don't stop.

Has anyone received Boris's letter?  I'm guessing that since he's ill, he hasn't been able to sign and send them out!!  Alternatively, as Jane says, the letters are obviously never going to be up to date and will constantly have to be amended before they can be sent out.

The current situation seems to be bringing out the best in people.  A much younger friend will be shopping on my behalf this weekend and the local butcher is delivering not just meat, but milk, eggs, bread, potatoes etc., etc. and there's no delivery charge.  Thank goodness too for WhatApp, Skype, Zoom and everything else which keeps us in touch with our loved ones.

My exercise consists of a mixture of gardening, going for a walk locally and running (i.e. walking quickly) up and down stairs until I'm out of breath.  I feel for those who are trapped in accommodation with no access to the outside.

Stay well everyone and much love, Sylvia

Margaret 4 April 2020

Dear everyone

Not much to report from St Luke's.  No visitors allowed for the last couple of weeks and I do miss those one to  one chats and the  contact with the outside world.

Yesterday one of the physios offered to take me out into the garden. It is tended by a woman in memory of her son who was involved in an accident and nursed here until he died so rather special. She manages to maintain a sequence of flowers and shrubs throughout the year .  It gives a lot of pleasure to us all.  When the physio arrived I was sitting in my lovely reclining chair. It is activated by a remote control device. The latter refused to work so I was trapped in the chair . How to get out?  Ever resourceful 2 nurses got the hoist and hoisted me and into the wheelchair for  the physio to take me into the garden. The spring  flowers are really looking lovely.

I am back in the chair again today as the maintenance chap did eventually manage to mend the remote control device. But no physios in today so no garden trip!

I am appreciating all supsliskan contributions so keep it up.

It is very reassuring to hear about all the positive things that are happening at this rather surreal time. A sense of community is emerging in all sorts of places.

With love from Margaret

Janet 4 April 2020

Dear Margaret (and Everyone)

Thanks so much for all your news. Lots of amusing anecdotes to brighten our days.

No letters from Boris received here, either, but we did each receive a text from the government (gov.UK/corona virus) at about 9.30 am on 24th March telling us to "Stay at home. Protect the NHS. Save lives.". so maybe that was it?

If you haven't already seen it, another nice example of community is this clip of people coming out at 11 am daily on a street in Frodsham (called Springbourne, up at the top end, so a bit of a community in its own right) to show off their dance moves (all from a safe distance, of course).

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8175337/amp/Neighbours-moves-daily-distance-dance-street-coronavirus-lockdown.html

One other example of how well people can cope on their own if they have to is the BBC TV series "Win the Wildreness: Alaska". It's on iPlayer for another week at least and well worth watching. We missed it first time round but our son told us how much he and my daughter-in-law (who are keen cycle backpackers and motorhomers, so appreciative of self-sufficient life-styles) had enjoyed it. We were totally hooked from day 1 and watched every episode, one per night, for a week.

Love, Janet.

PS Today's Tesco delivery brought us a whole 32 pack of toilet rolls - as a "substitute" for the 24 pack we had been hoping for. What joy! So often our eagerly anticipate toilet roll delivery has ended up being "out of stock" by the time the order actually arrives. So maybe the supply chain has finally caught up. One can make do with alternatives for most things but this has been a tough one. We have been saving every newspaper "just in case".

Supsliskans in lockdown: Week 2, 23-29 March 2020

Val  24 March 2020

Hello from another wonderful place to self-isolate as some of you can visualise!

Glad you are all making the most of the time, though hopefully Margaret, Anne, Lesley & Peter will be back to full strength soon.

Beautiful weather & a garden neglected through family commitments the last couple of years, plus mundane housework call.

Chris’s work obviously at a standstill with Prague, Berlin, Tbilisi & Hamburg off, but Chicago completed a couple of weeks ago……..although at 75, he should perhaps slow down a bit!!

He will be behind his computer working much of the time with a long walk a day……we are very lucky to be surrounded by fields, moorlands & the River Tees.

The huge downside, of course is the grandchildren, Victoria’s two who are 9 & 7 & Charlotte’s who is 9 months. It is Hermione whose development is going to change the most rapidly & it’s going to be especially hard for Charlotte as I have been staying there most weeks since her birth as Kieron is in the Navy.  All of them are in York.

More worrying is Roger who lives in Central London & has an IT company who need to keep all clients up & running.

Thank goodness for social media!!  Zoom has been set up today & WhatsApp is always red hot!!

We are all very fortunate to have pensions/income so are hopefully not going to suffer in that respect & also our own resources to fall back on.

Keep safe all of you! Love, Val x

PS  Islay malt excellent, Tony, but trumped by Campbeltown malt!!

Sylvia 25 March 2020

This is actually something which has happened to me over the last few days.

A Tale of Two Fridges

Last Friday my fridge started making strange noises and then decided to go into overdrive. There was obviously something wrong with the thermostat as I couldn’t reduce the temperature and some items were nearly frozen. On Saturday, I decided that I had no option but to order a new fridge. Argos seemed my best bet, but they couldn’t deliver until Tuesday.

Fortunately, I had a spare (as you do!) in that when I moved into this house nearly 13 years ago, I had been offered a washing machine and a fridge by the vendor. The washing machine went to family when theirs died, but the fridge has sat in my garage, being used only a couple of times when my other fridge was full to bursting. On Monday, I transferred everything and cleaned the broken fridge thoroughly as instructed, since I was paying to have it taken away.

THEN, everything changed because of Boris’s edict that we had to stay in and that movements would be restricted. Although I was telling myself that the new fridge would still be delivered, I spent a sleepless night worrying that it wouldn’t. I worked out how I could allow the delivery men (note men and plural, but see below) into the house and maintain the 2 metre distancing while they removed the old fridge and installed the new one. So, when the phone rang to tell me what time to expect delivery, I was mightily relieved until I was told that no one would be coming over the threshold and that if I wanted the old fridge to be taken away, I would have to get it outside.

I had about 20 minutes between that call and the delivery, but by some super-human effort, I managed it. The next thing I knew, someone was knocking on the front door. For those of you who don’t know, I have two doors at the front – one the official front door, and the other a door leading to a passageway between the house and the garage, outside which I had left the fridge. On opening that door, I realised that the fridge had gone and a young girl of about 20 in Argos uniform was approaching. She took one look at me (75 years old and now only 5ft. tall) and said “My God! How did you manage to get the fridge outside?” We laughed and I said that my main worry now was how to get the new fridge in, but she told me that it would be less of a problem since it was boxed and had straps and she would put it inside the door for me. When I said that would be fine, since the kitchen door was only a couple of feet away, she said she would enter, if I kept my distance, and put it inside the kitchen door. She reappeared with the fridge balanced on her shoulder like a sack of potatoes!! and did as she had promised. By this time, I was near to tears, I was so grateful. As she said, she was stronger than she looked, although she might have had help to remove the old fridge from the bloke, also in Argos uniform, standing with her at the back of the delivery vehicle before they left… or maybe not!

So, the new fridge is in situ and doing its thing, which is just as well, because the garage fridge is now playing up.

These little acts of kindness, while maintaining distancing as instructed, are what will see us through this stressful time.I'm well and managing to keep busy - for now!  The garden looks better than it has in a long time and the grandchildren are asking for various bits of information from my and my parents' past, which is giving me great pleasure to provide.  What'sApp is coming into its own.

Ian - by all means pass on everything to Peter, by whatever means you deem appropriate.

Stay well, everyone, Sylvia

Supsliskans in lockdown: Week 1, 16-22 March 2020

Little did Sue guess the avalanche of emails she would unleash when she asked from the other side of the globe how we were surviving the Covid-19 lockdown in Britain. That first week, which already seems so long ago, was one when public life gradually closed down. On 15 March all Supsliskans, being over 70, were told to self-isolate. On 16 March the general public were advised to avoid non-essential travel, on 20 March it was announced that eating places and gyms would close,  and full lockdown was announced on 20 March with schools closing to all but the children of essential works from 27 March. This new unreality became the norm with an upheaval comparable to the War but this time with the front line in hospitals with NHS staff risking their lives fighting an invisible enemy. These pages record some of the experiences of the class of '67 as recorded in the emails that they exchanged. 

Sue 19 March 2020

Hi Supsliskans

Very best wishes to you all in the current health emergency. Stay safe and well.

Kind regards, Sue

Jane 19 March 2020

You have beaten me to it, Sue! I was about to email greetings from a deserted St Andrews to Supliskans and find out how everyone is.

We are alone in our building. David is glued to his laptop continuing with research while I miss meeting friends for coffee and gossip  just like friends who have academic husbands. We manage a walk to the harbour each afternoon, and the garden will be empty soon if I continue with destructive gardening. We were supposed to meet all the family in Amsterdam for my significant birthday in May but the boys did not get themselves organised so fortunately nothing needs cancellation .

So hope you are all well. We will have a reunion when the panic is over!

Love,

Jane

Tony ‎20 March 2020

And best wishes from Sussex, where we too are keeping our distance, apart from the necessary and depressing trips to the supermarkets. We do have a village store about 50 yards away which makes things a little easier.

I escaped Bewdley with its Severn floods (and a visit from Boris) to a damp and squelchy Sussex where the combination of heavy clay soil and incessant rain has made golf, and country walks, fairly impossible. We do however have the Downs Link about half a mile from the house which is a converted rail line stretching from Surrey to the Channel. Good for getting the daily paces in, but a little monotonous in doing the same stretch each day.

I'm placing great faith in the restorative powers of the phenols in Islay malt to get though the current crisis. I found a glorious bottle on our Islay visit last Autumn.

Take care everyone, Tony

Margaret 20 March 2020

Another network setup - good.! I in particular appreciate it as I am in hospital. On my 7th week at St Luke's. I came in for pain management and an MRI revealed a fractured vertebra. Two days after being admitted I had an attack of pseudo gout. That is female equivalent of male gout but different crystals - not uric acid - and a dose of steroids soon cleared it up.

I am being very well looked after here and advised by my rheumatologist to stay until I am better rather than go home and depend on a package of carers. It means digging into capital but worth it. Friends have been so good visiting but from today are banned. The daily sudoku helps.!

Do keep in touch. Best wishes, Margaret

Anne 20 March 2020

Thank you Sue, Jane and Tony and best wishes to you all. Somehow one feels the need for communication even more. I have just been listening to a press conference by the Bavarian State. Our President Markus Söder has just announced a curfew for 2 weeks as from midnight tonight - people can go to work if their workplaces are still functioning, they can go shopping and go for a walk (with or without dog) but it's really to curb those stupid people, unfortunately many young people who have been holding Corona parties etc. The schools have been closed for a week now so I suppose they are feeling bored, though they are supposed to be doing school work at home. There are fortunately others who are more concerned and are out in the fields helping the hop farmers and the asparagus growers as their foreign workers can't come now. All this doesn't really concern me at the moment as I was operated on my left foot on Tuesday (hallux ,bent toes ...) and am more or less confined to the house anyway. I think I was only able to get the slot for the op because some of the clinic's foreign clients - Russians, Arabians, were not able to come!

This can also only be good for the environment - fewer flights, less traffic, fewer people around . We can only wait and see. My Easter trip to UK has been cancelled but of course I'm hoping that the planned trip to York end of August can still take place. So, take care everyone and stay healthy,

Love, Anne

Howard 20 March 2020

Hi everyone

Good to hear from everyone. Things are quite well organised on our little island. Food deliveries organised and toilet rolls in  the shops!  I was in Tenerife in Feb and left just before the lock downs started. Have been self isolating and now still being really careful and hardly going out. Anyone coming to the Bailiwick has to self isolate for two weeks whether they have symptoms or not. One wonders how long it will go on - hopefully not into 2021. We must try to keep safe and look forward to our  next get together.

Best wishes, Howard

Sylvia 20 March 2020

Hi Everyone,

I'm not usually late in responding to SUPSLISKA emails, but I've actually been doing things outside the house today for the first time since Monday.  Friday is my usual shopping day and I'm delighted to report that the shoppers in Hereford Lidl were very controlled and reasonable.  I had my usual shopping list, plus a couple of things I had genuinely run out of, and managed to get everything other than eggs, which I could manage without, so didn't try anywhere else.  As I was turning into my drive, my neighbours opposite were also returning home, so we exchanged pleasantries and on hearing that I hadn't got eggs, they turned up with 3 "spare" ones!  So now, I have my weekly shop and am hoping that things continue in that very civilised and generous vein.

Other things which are keeping me occupied are work sent to me by the Record Office, which I can do on my computer.  It will at least stop the brain from atrophying completely.  There had been a plan to set up a virtual choir this afternoon, since we can't attend rehearsals, but the system crashed.  No doubt it will take off soon, and it will be another enjoyable thing to look forward to.  Unfortunately, my volunteer driving has had to stop, as much for the sake of the old and vulnerable clients as for me.

Howard, it looks as though any plans to visit you again will have to be put on hold, as will another proposed trip, to Nuremberg.  Our walking group had booked another holiday in Patterdale, Ullswater, in early June.  That, I'm sure will have to be cancelled, but we'll have to wait for the hotel to do so before we can claim for the £50 deposit on insurance.

Anne, I hope your op. has been a success and that you will find walking easier as a result.

Margaret, Ange emailed me a couple of days ago with the latest update. I will ring you soon.

Sue, a lovely article in the Guardian online today spoke of a heroic taxi driver rescuing fledgling Hutton's shearwater chicks from the streets of Kaikoura.

Everyone else, stay well and positive. Love, Sylvia

Angela 20 March 2020

Hello Everyone

It is great to hear from so many  people and glad to hear that everyone is generally OK.

I hope your foot heals soon Anne and that you carry on making  good progress Margaret - I will continue to keep in touch.

We are hunkered down in Norfolk and feel very fortunate to have sea views, beaches and marshes so near. We had excellent views of a nearly pure white Barn Owl from the house the other day. He is appropriately named 'Casper'! We are keeping to ourselves here and helping elderly neighbours where needed, but have had to come to terms with the fact that we are now well into that category ourselves too! We miss seeing the family in Ealing but are thankful for phone and internet links.

So far, our food supplies are OK. We have a Tesco in Sheringham which seemed fairly well stocked  on Monday, but we will probably use the 'oldies' slots in future. We have a nice Deli and a   smokery in Cley village plus a Spar in Blakeney, so I am sure we won't starve!

I have lots of 'projects' all waiting for just this sort of enforced time at home, family histories, botanical painting  and the eternal 'sorting of papers', so no shortage of things to do. We will  unfortunately have to miss a family funeral in Devon in 2 week's time. Leo's sister died at the weekend, not unexpectedly, but with increased social isolation, and other family members in the 'seriously at risk' category, we feel it would be too great a risk all round to go.  Apparently online link ups for ceremonies are now becoming increasingly used, so the answer may lie in that direction.

Leo would agree with Tony on the   excellent medicinal effect of a good malt! I attach a photo of another suggestion for a drink for our times!

Looking  forward to keeping in touch. Very best wishes to everyone for good health and good cheer! Love, Angela

Janet 20 March 2020

Dear All

Many thanks to Sue for starting this off. It's really good to hear from everyone.

We are managing fine as we always buy a lot of stuff in ready for visits from our children and growing (but healthy) grandchildren and then have all kinds of frozen stuff, tinned goods and dry goods left over which we try to gradually work through before their next visit, so that it's not out of date. They were due to visit for Easter but now won't be coming, so we are Skypeing regularly instead. A propos of Ange's idea for a Quarantini I suggest that people who like that sort of thing arrange a suitable time and then have a virtual cocktail party by Skype. We did that for our eldest grandson's 16th birthday - not a cocktail party but a birthday cake with candles. We each put a cake with candles in front of the camera, lit the candles, sang Happy Birthday, then blew out the candles and ate the cake as if we were all sitting at the same table. Works for us!

Another thing people might consider for funerals is to agree to have a Service of Thanksgiving at some future date, once all this is over. It's lovely to have a get together to celebrate someone's life and share memories, even if they are no longer there. They wouldn't be anyway, except as a kindly spirit looking on from above, and that spirit might be glad to see all their friends gathered together in that way.

I agree it's hard to know how to help "elderly" neighbours when we neither want to pass bugs on to them nor catch any ourselves, so we have resorted to just phoning people for a chat and to check they have enough of what they need. So far everyone we have asked is OK but there is a general problem with getting a supermarket delivery slot round here and we have only managed to get the occasional "click and collect" slot, which is OK for us but we feel we have to check in case anyone needs us to collect an order for them. No shortage of eggs round here as we are surrounded by farms, luckily, but there is a dearth of loo rolls. We may end up having to use our stocks of brightly coloured paper napkins if the situation continues.

Lovely to hear everyone's news. Very best wishes to all. Janet.

Ian 21 March 2020 

Hello Supsliskans

Well, we are finding out what everyone is doing while confined - keeping in touch by email and by phone, and I must pick up the pen (ifI can find where I put it) and write letters to those who are unconnected, like Peter Miles. Other ideas from you as well, tidying and sorting (filling our digital and actual waste bins), gardening like Jane, transcribing records like Sylvia, family history, arts and crafts etc will help fill our time. We are really a very fortunate bunch without the worries of lost jobs and the threat of homelessness but also separated from family who might need our help. Like Anne I hope that some good may come of it and people will rethink how society works and the impact we are having on our finite planet. Global interconnectivity and over-population have helped in the spread and we must try to ensure that communities are more self-sufficient, globally, nationally and locally. I have read reports that in China more lives have been saved by the lower pollution levels than have been lost through Covid-19. Perhaps that is a message for us.

As for us, we are isolated at home in Exeter, fortunate in having a large garden which is already looking much neater with vegetables planted out - and we will be there to look after them this spring rather than gadding about Europe in Modestine. Our sole excursions are for shopping (no panic buying for us as we were already well stocked with most things), taking shopping to Jill's sister Julie in Topsham (a pleasant four mile bike ride away along the canal banks) or walks by the river or in other green spaces while we are still allowed to do this. We no longer collect the grandchildren from school or go out to the Devon Heritage Centre for research. Meetings of the Exeter Civic Society, the Exeter University Club and other groups we belong to have been cancelled. Like Angela we too have funerals of friends and work colleagues we will not be able to attend. In our neighbourhood a self-help network has been set up by a retired medic (who has just been called back by the NHS) largely run through Whatsapp which is not among our social networks but we have lined to that all the same.

The sole exception to our geriatric isolation this week was on Friday 20th, the unveiling of a blue plaque by the Civic Society to Sabine Baring-Gould. This was a much diminished event for which a recital of folk songs and exhibition of books and manuscripts had already been cancelled. The programme had already been prepared and twenty organisations and individuals had been involved, the American descendant who was to unveil it had her flight cancelled but at the unveiling another descendant of SBG just happened to be passing our little group assembled in front of his birthplace, so she was enlisted to pull the cover off, much to her surprise and delight.

Our trip to Europe in April was due to include visits to libraries and archives with the widow of our friend Alain to present copies of the dictionary of book trade personnel in Lower Normandy 1701-1789 to libraries and archives in Caen where he had worked or researched. He died in 1996 and the finished work, edited and extended by me with help from Jean-Dominique Mellot of the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris  was only published in January. Genevieve was to present them on her own but now this too has been cancelled with the general lock-down in France.

We wish Anne and Margaret well after their hospital experiences and hope that our enforced  "social distancing" will be diminished well before the end of the year, but it does make Fishburn Tours to York uncertain this year, Anne. We hoped to be upthat way visiting Neil in Beverley but even that is uncertain with government strategy to lengthen the isolation in waves to avoid spikes which could overwhelm the NHS.

Interesting times - appropriate in a way that it forms part of an ancient Chinese curse. Not that I join Trump in referring to Covid-19 as "the Chinese virus because it comes from China". What a chump!

Stay safe all of you, Ian and Jill

Lesley 21 March 2020

Hello from a wonderful place to self isolate!

Echo all the reflective thinking and hopes of good that could come out of the current situation....and, for those of you not offended by swearing, I'm sharing this link sent to me a friend of many, many years:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hks6Nq7g6P4 Honest Government Ad: Coronavirus: Flatten The Curve. [A satirical announcement taking a dig at Donald Trump's handling of Covid-19 or the "Chinese virus" as he prefers to call it].

I'm sure you too are kicking and sreaming against the label of 'elderly'....which, of course, I've made full use of when it suits me (Senior Citizen Railcard and Bus Pass to name just two) but this is my limit!

Beth, our daughter, a respiratory consultant, is clearly at the forefront of all the planning & preparation; the hospital here in Inverness (Raigmore) serves all the Highlands & Islands (with smaller hospitals across the region) and I have found it interesting that the very small amount she ever talks about work, has not been tinged with anger, frustration or anxiety at the NHS as it was on occasions in London.   We shall FaceTime tomorrow morning, so she may share more; there are 6 known cases (at last night) in the whole region and, 'from gossip in the glen' one is in isolation in Raigmore. Beth had shared their 'capacity had doubled from two to four beds'!  She seemed quite relaxed at the state of things last weekend...just waiting for whatever will be thrown at them; she is relieved government is asking people not to travel to the Highlands to self isolate as, without tourists and incomers for outdoor events, staff and resources can/should cope...the influx of visitors strains capacities even in normal times.

Please forgive any typos...I broke my right wrist just over a week ago on my fifth game of curling, when someone came from behind me just as I was bending down to make my 'slider shoe' safe with its rubber 'kipper'!!!  Great shame as have been enjoying the new challenge to my spatial awareness and balance!  anyway, all matches stopped now until next season in Sept.  Pat, having had plenty of practice at domestics over this past nine years, has slipped into role very easily, especially as there is no anxiety of an unknown outcome this time - just a process to be waded through!

Warmest wishes everyone, Lesley

Jane  21 March 2020

Good to hear from you all and know that you are coping. As we are. But it is quite surreal here in St Andrews.  We decided to take a walk in town, up South Street from the flat and back down  Market Street (calling into Tesco to buy the last large loaf of bread). Apart from less crowded streets and some shops and all 60 eating places closed, one would not have known that there was a pandemic. People were wandering around as usual, blocking the path of those with a purpose, and queuing 2 and 3 deep outside the 'gelateria' as usual. Sometimes small tubs of surplus vanilla are given away. I think it was a hot chocolate drink today - more appropriate in the icy wind. If I give up on reading papers and watching news  I  could imagine all is normal - and we are saving money by not being able to go anywhere since we are dependent on unsafe public transport. So the Watkinsons are happy - for the moment!

Love to all, Jane