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
