I'm afraid of shops. I haven't been to one for weeks.
Luckily grocery stores in my area have a delivery service called Instacart which will deliver an order of $35 or more for a small fee. Plus, being the US, tips are expected of course.
I have a very gregarious friend who lives alone in a nearby town and we have kept up our spirits by going on socially distanced, masked walks in a couple nature parks. We stop for bag lunches enjoyed at a distance.
Yesterday I left my village for the first time since before lockdown. I drove to the nearest town to stock up on stuff for our pets that aren't available in the village. Prior to that the North East Man had made two trips to the nearest town, one to bank cheques and one to collect antibiotics for our cat from the vet.
If you had told me eight weeks ago that we would manage to spend so long confined to the village, I don't think I would have believed it. We get a weekly fruit/veg/eggs box delivered from a farm ten miles away. The village has two mini supermarkets, an excellent butcher, a Post Office and a chemist. And that has been enough.
We do have a backlog of "stuff to do" once lockdown lifts - we have a pile of garden waste and another pile of cardboard and glass waiting for the tip in the nearest town to re-open. We need to replace a couple of lightbulbs, but the days are long enough that we can manage without. Meal planning has become an art form. I've been reading books from my "must-get-round-to" pile, rather than buying more books.
In our restricted world, reusable bags were banned for groceries for the first 2 months. You could take disposable paper bags and boxes from the store only. Presently as of the past week we can use our bags. We take everything out of them outside. Spray them with bleach solution (9:1 water:bleach) and leave them to dry. Which was to freeze the last 3 days. We had a goodly dump of snow again.
Been shopping at 7am every 10 days or so which is the over 65 years old time until 8am.
I woke up last night with a sour throat, stuffed nose, and feeling sick. Waiting for Dr's office to open. F#(*#*#*(((. I have been so careful, staying home mostly, wearing mask, washing hands. Scary
Good News maybe. I have no temperature so they will not do the test. So will guess for now it is just a bug or maybe even allergies. Yes Bishops Finger, I think it is an aware of the plague thing, other wise I would have not been at all concerned.
@Graven Image, I hope your good news stays good news!
Remember, a mask does not protect you from inhaling germs. It merely prevents the droplets you naturally exhale, and whatever they may be carrying, from traveling into the air around you.
Yes Miss Amanda I wear a mask to protect others. Never can understand all the protests about civil rights and not being forced to cover my face. Is it so hard to think of others?
(since we seem to agree that the 15 minute city idea has legs for a discussion I'm going to split the comments so far, and form a Purgatory thread as that's more appropriate than this thread. Bear with me a mo ...)
Heh, I haven't had donuts for ages either - I gave them as an example because they're a popular Asda item, and you can get raspberry filling, apple filling, cherry filling, toffee filling and custard filling. I've tried them all, but only when a bag of donuts was 10p in the reduced aisle, so I thought I might as well get a bargain!
And yes, I also find choice is an odd thing. In some ways, there is a lot of choice in Asda, but also it doesn't have the same choices as a butcher, or even as other supermarkets. I do tend to restrict my choice, usually, because I like to buy stuff from the reduced aisles, but equally that tends to lead to me trying all sorts of things I might never have tried. I do find, though, that I can live quite happily on a very simple diet of similar things, and sometimes the simplicity of that makes life easier and less overwhelming. Salads, fruit, nuts, yogurt, bread, chicken, cheese, stir fries - these tend to be my staples, and ingredients can be bought quite easily.
I've never bought spreadable butter. I buy a block of regular butter and keep it outside of the fridge, so it's not too hard. In winter it's hard, but I cut very thin slices of it to put on my bread.
I’m getting fed up of everyone being around. I’ve worked from home for 12 years so am very relaxed with that but I usually do it in an empty house. Now there are 4 adults (ish) here.
My husband is running his business from the lounge and has noisy meetings all day - I can no longer relax with a coffee there before working. But if I sit in the kitchen (my usual escape) I have to share the table with my 19 year old studying. If I sit in my tiny cramped study I can hear my fifteen year old gaming/shouting to his friends online. It’s all doing my head in. I want to do some rehabiliatory yoga this morning and will probably have to do it in the hallway.
I hadn’t noticed this all as much when I was unwell as I had other things on my mind but now I’m trying to get back to normal and live with the post-covid tachycardia and it all grates! Probably not helped because I now also feel hypomanic (I’m bipolar).
Oh, and I have my end of year doctorate submission to write.
And breathe...then go for a walk.
Oh, and my bipolar disorder is managed using self-taught cognitive behavioural therapy techniques. This generally involves having a strictly organised and scheduled timetable and avoiding overstimulation to prevent mania, including too much social interaction. There is definitely too much social interaction going on! (Odd thing to complain about with the current social distancing, I know).
I’ll stop moaning now I’ve got it off my chest.
Heh, I haven't had donuts for ages either - I gave them as an example because they're a popular Asda item, and you can get raspberry filling, apple filling, cherry filling, toffee filling and custard filling. I've tried them all, but only when a bag of donuts was 10p in the reduced aisle, so I thought I might as well get a bargain!
Doughnuts are one of my weaknesses. Jam only though. Chocolate ones aren't great, apple an utter disappointment and custard ones are made from Satan squeezing his acne.
There's no need; innovation for innovation's sake. Jam ftw.
I can take or leave doughnuts but custard is the nectar of heaven! I will have to have some today; my husband is on a baking streak so I’ll get him to make a steamed jam pudding to accompany it.
Battling on with balancing post-viral syndrome, hypomania and work/studies, and planning for the week ahead. I think I will try to do some writing in the garden for a change of scene, even if it does mean having to draft things out on the iPad.
Church in an hour, must get the bread and wine out. I quite like meeting up virtually with everyone as I get put in a break out room every week and chat to a wider variety of people than I would normally (I sometimes find the huge crowd at real church difficult to navigate). Actually, virtual church quite suits me at the moment due to my fatigue and tachycardia; I would find a trad service exhausting.
We have only had 8 cases in our community all who had been out of the county to catch it. All recovered Now three people left the county on Mother's Day and attended an unapproved by state and county guide lines church service where everyone was singing and guess what we now have three new cases in the county? Stay home people, stay away from crowds people, Do not sing in a non ventilated room people.
I confess I'm finding the prospect of no singing in churches particularly depressing. Although I haven't been going to church since I moved back to Scotland, I had intended to see whether there was a choir that would have me, and the thought that such a thing might never happen fills me with sadness.
I confess I'm finding the prospect of no singing in churches particularly depressing. Although I haven't been going to church since I moved back to Scotland, I had intended to see whether there was a choir that would have me, and the thought that such a thing might never happen fills me with sadness.
Yes, I agree...but we live in hope (do we not?) that the situation will, one day, improve, so that singing will once again be permitted. Possibly not this year, I'm afraid, so I guess that'll put paid to (live) Carol Services and the like...
I am coming to think it's the accumulation of small things that you can't remedy that sinks the spirits.
I have a chipped tooth (and consequent sore mouth). A principal kitchen cupboard door has to be opened carefully, since it is hanging by one hinge. The bedside lamp bulb has gone and the replacement is a mile and a half walk away. There is a silt of items for the dump/recycling in the hall but no way of getting them there. I either have a glut of fresh food from the rare grocery delivery, or a scarcity.
But if I weren't bothered by small problems, I would be bothered by larger ones, so there is that.
I can't tell you adequately what a lovely day we had yesterday (other than an appalling scramble in L*dl in Monmouth*) One way and another we managed to source loose tea, wholemeal flour AND yeast, among other things, for D & L the elderly neighbours up the road. When we walked up to the butcher's, L was sitting outside her back door in her wheelchair, soaking up the sun - it was the first time she'd been outside for months**. And D had managed to get the plumbing bits and was repairing the drains (he's 80, btw).
The elderly lady who lives next door to the butcher's came out while we were getting our meat, and waited outside; and the butcher had flour! if not wholemeal. He's been waiting seven weeks for it. One of the reasons, apart from the excellence of his meat, that we go there is because he stocks all this sort of thing, and if we want him to go on doing it we need to support him.
On our walk home we saw that the florist was open so we bought flowers, for the same reason.
And Every Single Soul was socially-distancing, smiling, wishing us a good day - I really began to feel that there would be a 'normal' to get back to, one day.
*we are allowed to travel to Wales to do our shopping!
** A propos of the posts on the Aging Parents thread, they have had no-one in the house since lockdown. While D can go out to walk the dog, the levels of deprivation of human contact for poor L must have been devastating.
Mrs. S, thanking Him for all these small mercies, and the sunshine
There was concern here that the lock down would lead to a jump in suicides, This has not happened, although calls to crisis lines have increased.
When I read the article I was relieved, but on thinking about it further I remembered that a similar thing happened during the quakes here. It was only afterwards that numbers went up - possibly related to dealing with insurance and the Earthquake Commission.
I vaguely remember having read somewhere that a similar thing happened during the war.
O the sheer relief of seeing the streets once more littered with the remnants of the roving repasts, that we knew and loved in the Dear Dead Days, beyond Recall!
O the sheer intellectual activity caused by the need to find out exactly what sort of life-form contributed to the McMeal (or even the McBox)!
It caused traffic jams when it opened here. It was drive through only. One dude started queuing at 5 am and others weren't far behind.
Our library opened on a Friday, and despite my civilised decision to wait until Monday when the kids were back a school, I found myself in the library by mid-day Friday. But it was so weird I only stayed half an hour of the 2 allotted. I've been back since and it was easier.
Drive-thrus have been open for the duration here in SoCal as long as restaurants follow health guidelines. Competition has been cutthroat- deals, deals, deals! But McDonald's still screws up everything. It behooves you to check the contents of your purchase before you leave the parking lot. A friend ordered a strawberry/banana smoothie; she almost got a ice slushie. The final straw was when she received a half raw quarter pounder.
The final straw was when she received a half raw quarter pounder.
Drive-throughs have been open here (NC) as well, and many places have allowed you to go in to order (with appropriate distancing and no sitting). Starting tomorrow at 5:00 pm, restaurants can open for indoor service at reduced capacity. We’ll see how that goes.
Likewise in Arizona. The only drive-thru I have patronized is Dairy Queen. They also let you go inside to order, but not to occupy tables. Even though Arizona has reopened, Dairy Queen has not yet opened up their tables, nor have several other fast-food places.
The one exception is my neighborhood Quiznos, where I like to go for lunch sometimes. They have opened up, but they also have tables outside, which is where I sit when I go there. In another month the Phoenix climate will be too hot for that, though.
Sad, but full marks to all those who turned out to pay their respects, and still observed the restrictions.
Our former churchwarden died a couple of weeks ago (not Covid-19 related, AFAIK), but it won't be possible to have the full Funeral Mass in church, as he would no doubt have wished.
I hope that, if it has to be a minimalist funeral at the crematorium, some at least of us will be able to line up outside as Boogie describes.
One of my neighbours died (not Covid-related) and we all lined up at 2m intervals on Wednesday. I only saw my section of the street, but I believe there were dozens of people, probably over a hundred, over the mile long route out of the village. As we're only supposed to be out for exercise anyone who was on the pavement was supposed to be dressed casually, but we were in our front garden, so could wear our funeral blacks.
The hardest part was seeing my next door neighbour breaking down alone in her garden, and no-one being able to give her a hug.
I've seen quite a few Facebook posts about people attending friends' funerals virtually, via Zoom, as only very close family members are permitted to attend. I'd not heard of lining up at 2m intervals, but these were not religious funerals, I don't think - or at least, the people weren't churchgoers, so there would be no church attendance.
There have been suggestions (on Facebook at least) that we return to old norms, and whenever a hearse goes down the street for everyone to stand as it passes, taking off any hats being worn etc. Even if the deceased is unknown, recognising that a lot of the family won't be able to be their to mourn, the community can stand in and show our respects. I don't know how widely that suggestion has been taken up.
Well, there's fast food and there's fast food. McDonalds? I'll pass. Can't remember the last time I ate there.
But there are some other burger places, particurly the locals or smaller chains, that are quite good. And I can't say how much I'd love some Bojangles fried chicken right now. Alas, I've had none since heart surgery in January.
But there are some other burger places, particularly the locals or smaller chains, that are quite good.
In-N-Out Burger, and Five Guys, come to mind. The former also serves the best fries that can be found anywhere -- never frozen -- made fresh from whole potatoes freshly sliced before your eyes.
The latter also serves up all the free peanuts in the shell that you care to consume while you're waiting for your order to come out, although their fries are mushy and, to my taste, undercooked. I once asked the manager of our local Five Guys, whom I happen to know socially, if he would leave them in the fryer a little longer for me, and he said no, that company policy wouldn't allow it.
But there are some other burger places, particularly the locals or smaller chains, that are quite good.
In-N-Out Burger, and Five Guys, come to mind. The former also serves the best fries that can be found anywhere -- never frozen -- made fresh from whole potatoes freshly sliced before your eyes.
The latter also serves up all the free peanuts in the shell that you care to consume while you're waiting for your order to come out, although their fries are mushy and, to my taste, undercooked. I once asked the manager of our local Five Guys, whom I happen to know socially, if he would leave them in the fryer a little longer for me, and he said no, that company policy wouldn't allow it.
Interesting. The Five Guy fries here are usually really good, and not mushy.
We don't have In-N-Out here, I'm afraid. I hear good things. But we have some other good places.
Comments
Luckily grocery stores in my area have a delivery service called Instacart which will deliver an order of $35 or more for a small fee. Plus, being the US, tips are expected of course.
I have a very gregarious friend who lives alone in a nearby town and we have kept up our spirits by going on socially distanced, masked walks in a couple nature parks. We stop for bag lunches enjoyed at a distance.
If you had told me eight weeks ago that we would manage to spend so long confined to the village, I don't think I would have believed it. We get a weekly fruit/veg/eggs box delivered from a farm ten miles away. The village has two mini supermarkets, an excellent butcher, a Post Office and a chemist. And that has been enough.
We do have a backlog of "stuff to do" once lockdown lifts - we have a pile of garden waste and another pile of cardboard and glass waiting for the tip in the nearest town to re-open. We need to replace a couple of lightbulbs, but the days are long enough that we can manage without. Meal planning has become an art form. I've been reading books from my "must-get-round-to" pile, rather than buying more books.
It's been interesting.
Been shopping at 7am every 10 days or so which is the over 65 years old time until 8am.
Oh, my God... I am so sorry, so very sorry...
Hope & pray it's not what you fear...
I daresay there's still Other Stuff™ going around.
Are there more such bugs than usual, I wonder, or does it seem that there are, because we are all so aware of The Plague?
Remember, a mask does not protect you from inhaling germs. It merely prevents the droplets you naturally exhale, and whatever they may be carrying, from traveling into the air around you.
{{{ @Graven Image }}} Feel better quickly!
And yes, I also find choice is an odd thing. In some ways, there is a lot of choice in Asda, but also it doesn't have the same choices as a butcher, or even as other supermarkets. I do tend to restrict my choice, usually, because I like to buy stuff from the reduced aisles, but equally that tends to lead to me trying all sorts of things I might never have tried. I do find, though, that I can live quite happily on a very simple diet of similar things, and sometimes the simplicity of that makes life easier and less overwhelming. Salads, fruit, nuts, yogurt, bread, chicken, cheese, stir fries - these tend to be my staples, and ingredients can be bought quite easily.
I've never bought spreadable butter. I buy a block of regular butter and keep it outside of the fridge, so it's not too hard. In winter it's hard, but I cut very thin slices of it to put on my bread.
My husband is running his business from the lounge and has noisy meetings all day - I can no longer relax with a coffee there before working. But if I sit in the kitchen (my usual escape) I have to share the table with my 19 year old studying. If I sit in my tiny cramped study I can hear my fifteen year old gaming/shouting to his friends online. It’s all doing my head in. I want to do some rehabiliatory yoga this morning and will probably have to do it in the hallway.
I hadn’t noticed this all as much when I was unwell as I had other things on my mind but now I’m trying to get back to normal and live with the post-covid tachycardia and it all grates! Probably not helped because I now also feel hypomanic (I’m bipolar).
Oh, and I have my end of year doctorate submission to write.
And breathe...then go for a walk.
I’ll stop moaning now I’ve got it off my chest.
Doughnuts are one of my weaknesses. Jam only though. Chocolate ones aren't great, apple an utter disappointment and custard ones are made from Satan squeezing his acne.
There's no need; innovation for innovation's sake. Jam ftw.
Battling on with balancing post-viral syndrome, hypomania and work/studies, and planning for the week ahead. I think I will try to do some writing in the garden for a change of scene, even if it does mean having to draft things out on the iPad.
Church in an hour, must get the bread and wine out. I quite like meeting up virtually with everyone as I get put in a break out room every week and chat to a wider variety of people than I would normally (I sometimes find the huge crowd at real church difficult to navigate). Actually, virtual church quite suits me at the moment due to my fatigue and tachycardia; I would find a trad service exhausting.
Yes, I agree...but we live in hope (do we not?) that the situation will, one day, improve, so that singing will once again be permitted. Possibly not this year, I'm afraid, so I guess that'll put paid to (live) Carol Services and the like...
I have a chipped tooth (and consequent sore mouth). A principal kitchen cupboard door has to be opened carefully, since it is hanging by one hinge. The bedside lamp bulb has gone and the replacement is a mile and a half walk away. There is a silt of items for the dump/recycling in the hall but no way of getting them there. I either have a glut of fresh food from the rare grocery delivery, or a scarcity.
But if I weren't bothered by small problems, I would be bothered by larger ones, so there is that.
The elderly lady who lives next door to the butcher's came out while we were getting our meat, and waited outside; and the butcher had flour! if not wholemeal. He's been waiting seven weeks for it. One of the reasons, apart from the excellence of his meat, that we go there is because he stocks all this sort of thing, and if we want him to go on doing it we need to support him.
On our walk home we saw that the florist was open so we bought flowers, for the same reason.
And Every Single Soul was socially-distancing, smiling, wishing us a good day - I really began to feel that there would be a 'normal' to get back to, one day.
*we are allowed to travel to Wales to do our shopping!
** A propos of the posts on the Aging Parents thread, they have had no-one in the house since lockdown. While D can go out to walk the dog, the levels of deprivation of human contact for poor L must have been devastating.
Mrs. S, thanking Him for all these small mercies, and the sunshine
IYSWIM.
Many people appear to be adjusting to The New Normal fairly well, but I imagine that for some it must still be like Hell on Earth...
When I read the article I was relieved, but on thinking about it further I remembered that a similar thing happened during the quakes here. It was only afterwards that numbers went up - possibly related to dealing with insurance and the Earthquake Commission.
I vaguely remember having read somewhere that a similar thing happened during the war.
The lockdown is obviously OVER!
McDONALDS ARE OPEN AGAIN!!!!!!!
O the sheer relief of seeing the streets once more littered with the remnants of the roving repasts, that we knew and loved in the Dear Dead Days, beyond Recall!
O the sheer intellectual activity caused by the need to find out exactly what sort of life-form contributed to the McMeal (or even the McBox)!
Our library opened on a Friday, and despite my civilised decision to wait until Monday when the kids were back a school, I found myself in the library by mid-day Friday. But it was so weird I only stayed half an hour of the 2 allotted. I've been back since and it was easier.
Drive-throughs have been open here (NC) as well, and many places have allowed you to go in to order (with appropriate distancing and no sitting). Starting tomorrow at 5:00 pm, restaurants can open for indoor service at reduced capacity. We’ll see how that goes.
The one exception is my neighborhood Quiznos, where I like to go for lunch sometimes. They have opened up, but they also have tables outside, which is where I sit when I go there. In another month the Phoenix climate will be too hot for that, though.
All the church members who could be there lined the road at 2m distances as the hearse passed. It was moving and sad.
Afterwards we stood and chatted at 2m distances. Strange but nice to see people off a screen for a change.
Our former churchwarden died a couple of weeks ago (not Covid-19 related, AFAIK), but it won't be possible to have the full Funeral Mass in church, as he would no doubt have wished.
I hope that, if it has to be a minimalist funeral at the crematorium, some at least of us will be able to line up outside as Boogie describes.
The hardest part was seeing my next door neighbour breaking down alone in her garden, and no-one being able to give her a hug.
But there are some other burger places, particurly the locals or smaller chains, that are quite good. And I can't say how much I'd love some Bojangles fried chicken right now. Alas, I've had none since heart surgery in January.
In-N-Out Burger, and Five Guys, come to mind. The former also serves the best fries that can be found anywhere -- never frozen -- made fresh from whole potatoes freshly sliced before your eyes.
The latter also serves up all the free peanuts in the shell that you care to consume while you're waiting for your order to come out, although their fries are mushy and, to my taste, undercooked. I once asked the manager of our local Five Guys, whom I happen to know socially, if he would leave them in the fryer a little longer for me, and he said no, that company policy wouldn't allow it.
We don't have In-N-Out here, I'm afraid. I hear good things. But we have some other good places.