How was your day? (Random off topic chat)

Today was my first day at work after quite an absence. The office was quiet with folk sitting two desks apart. I have received a letter stating that as a social worker I have a right to travel and tramp across London.

Dashed 200 yards down the road to my aunt & uncle's house to collect groceries (they managed to get a Tesco delivery!) wrapped up like I was about to commit a bank robbery. Washed all the food with bleach. I guess this is the new normal.

Dropped some groceries off at in laws house and had a lovely chat at a safe distance. Also OH and I took the opportunity to have a walk in the empty field near their house. It felt so good to be out! Then had a delicious Indian takeaway.

A friend of mine said they were planning to go and visit/stay with their other half for a few days before starting a night shift at a supermarket. I really don't want to start an argument in the friendship or tell two people they shouldn't be together but I did text pretty casually/politely to ask whether they think it's a good idea. I hope it was the right thing to do, it was just playing on my mind.

You are right

After an exhausting day at work walked to the bus stop which is the start of the route. No one on the bus and I am convinced the driver saw me hobbling along. Got within touching distance of the bus and he pulls away. Goes about 50 yards, stops and as I start walking towards it he pulls away again. Hope he found it funny.
It meant I then had to wait for the next one and then missed my train by 2 minutes and had to wait 30 mins for the next one.
Got a cup of tea and a crumpet now so I'm slightly less angry.

On Friday evening two weeks ago my adult son (22) phoned from the station to say he was walking home and was 99% sure he had Coronavirus. He works in a NHS hospital in S.London in a managerial role, sharing telephones and office equipment, and spends about 3 hours a day travelling on public transport so was inevitably high risk. He told us what he and we needed to do and after a bit of a panic we started the self isolation. Fortunately we have plenty of food and drink in freezers and cupboards so no problems there though a friend of my son's did get some milk and fresh fruit for us.

My son has got off lightly although any doubts whether he actually had it were not removed until he said he could no longer taste or smell anything. He's fine now and returning to work on Monday.

I've only left the house for a few 20 minute walks very late at night to the nearest post box as I've been selling some DVDs on eBay after watching them. Nobody around at 11pm and I can walk in the middle of a usually busy road. Apart from that I've just been reading more books, watching more television, films and You Tube, listening to (and buying online) more CDs, eating more snacks especially chocolate, drinking more coffee, sleeping more and playing more Candy Crush. I've even involved myself in planning and preparing our evening meal which I've seldom done before !

I have to admit I quickly adapted into this different way of living and currently have no desire to go anywhere even if I were allowed to. As someone who previously went to the theatre an average of 5 days a week and rarely spent a day entirely at home I'm surprised that I'm not missing my former lifestyle at all. I feel a bit guilty that I'm actually enjoying my life when there's so much suffering and tragedy in the world - but I am.

A whirlwind today for sure. I'd been doing so well this week but today it turned to anger over something which should be so trivial in the grand scheme of things. The realisation that things won't get back to normal, and that a new normal will emerge.

Deeply unimpressed to see that 2 doors down are entertaining visitors in their back garden. That's their second lot that I've seen since the start of the lockdown. What's the point of some of us shutting ourselves up for weeks if other people are happily socialising?

Remember it is overall behaviour that counts...so some people will be great at this (you) and others will be useless. It will still have an effect as will make network smaller....so they probably do modelling assuming some people will be rubbish at it. Try not to waste energy on it and give yourself a pat on the back for all of the network that you personally are shutting down  

I think we have a duty to try to enjoy ourselves. Anything that keeps us entertained without requiring contact with others is a Good Thing. Time for a rant, I think, because nobody should feel guilty.

This is a virus; we will defeat it by staying away from other people and cutting off its routes of infection. It is not a punishment from the gods for being too happy; we will not defeat it by being miserable.

There are an awful lot of sanctimonious people at the moment — many of them, unfortunately, in positions of authority — who seem to think that if they see people finding ways to enjoy themselves while staying away from others then they have to stamp it out. "You seem to be having fun. Not on my watch, you won't." I'm thinking here of the police who saw people out in the country miles away from anyone else and said they should be back in the city in close proximity to all the other people, and the cantankerous idiots who said that shops shouldn't sell Easter eggs because they're not essential. People need to be able to keep their spirits up in order to endure this isolation, and if that means getting away from home for a couple of hours or adding chocolate alongside their vegetables or perfume alongside their toothpaste so they can feel like they have some measure of control over their lives and feel good about themselves then that makes it essential, dammit. And spending a little on luxuries not only helps people's mental health but also keeps more money flowing through the economy and more people in work and reduces the drain on the government's resources.

The biggest problem we face right now is puritanical hair-shirt-wearing killjoys who seem to have lost sight of what the actual objective is. The only objective that matters is minimising contact with others. Anyone who goes beyond that is actively harming us all.