Due to a cancellation of my work 
today I decided to start myself-isolation. I have had phone calls from all my relatives pleading that I do not go to work, just in case. As it happened the BJ decided that from Friday, all schools will be closed forever… or until the coronavirus is exterminated.
Peer pressure not only put me in self-isolation, it also made me go to the shops. The lack of toilet paper had made the news, so I took my neighbour with me to Lidl only to find lines of empty shelves, and most essentials gone! I managed to find soya milk and the last 4 toilet rolls. No porridge! So, we carried on in our mission to Sainsburys and managed to get two packs each of porridge. They were restricting such items to two per person. The scenery there was that of an even bigger end of the world.
The streets were packed when I went on my final bit of shopping at Holland’s and Barretts to get some brown rice. Panic shopping did not seem to have arrived there. But when I tried to get a herb called Andro… something, which is supposed to help with viruses, none was to be found anywhere. I tried online only to find it all gone or at exorbitant prices. The place I buy my vitamins from is closed up due to high demand.
Two months ago, I decided we needed a freezer, but did not buy one. What a mistake, tried today, all gone! None in any shop or online.
My friend is bedridden with the vid19, two days now and getting worse. High fever sore throat. I am worried about her.
It is almost funny if seriously tragic.
Someone posted on Facebook that since the Corona, there has been 1 million tons of CO2 less per day emitted into the atmosphere and it made me think that the earth is having a response to humans – a fever, let’s say – a way of saving itself. Or is it all a plan to make us all change our tune. There was never going to be possible to convince people not to travel, not commute, change their lifestyle to save the planet. I do like a conspiracy, so I am wondering if this is all part of a bigger new world order. Either by plan or by chance.
I may not get any money for the next months, and it worries me. I am hoping this will change but I am trying not to let it get me down.
We are now really in the same boat.
Till tomorrow.
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COVID self isolation diary 28 March 2020-day 10
Things have changed quite considerably since day one. We have now nearly 600 dead in the UK and the BJ has now requested that no one leave the house unless they are going to work (if your work cannot be done from home!), if you’re a health or social worker, if your shopping and for one exercise a day. Everyone should stick to a social distancing protocol.
Two of my friends has had the Corona virus. They both recovered after 5 days. Yesterday, another, came down with it. And her niece. Let’s hope she will be ok. She was unwell at a birthday party we attended. She said she had a cold, but to be safe I changed seats so I wouldn’t be next to her. I am glad I did that. In any case it was on the 7th of march- 21 days seems enough time to have developed the symptoms if she had it by then.
I am staying in most of the time. My flatmate is still working. But I think she is being very safe. I hope so. Her family is very worried. They keep on phoning and calling her an ‘idjit’ for carrying on. The whole world is in quarantine. Some places more than others. In Italy more than 7000 people have died. Spain is also bad. By now china has bypassed its peak and apparently no more new case have been showing up in the last week and they have closed their make-shift hospitals.
Trump and the Brazilian president have come out with their usual stupidity and urged everyone to carry on as normal cause it’s only going to kill ‘the weak and old’ and they don’t care about them. Some other people have joined in the stupidity bandwagon. I guess it needs a certain amount of IQ to understand that the sheer number of deaths would create a problem of its own and that if no-one goes out for a few weeks the virus slows down considerably as there is no contagion.
Social media seems to be the life saver of the situation. My WhatsApp group is non-stop jokes and Facebook has allowed a lot of people to express themselves online. It is amusing!
I’ve volunteered to teach someone online. It hasn’t happened yet but let’s see. I’ve already had to do lots of preparation and will have to do more as I haven’t taughtthe subject in a while. Other than that, I have done tonnes of laundry and lovely breakfasts.
Over the weekend people were just ignoring the government advice for social distancing. It was mothers’day and they had stopped the schools on Friday, so everyone just thought it was holidays… They had to clamp down and there is a chance that the army will be on the streets as of the weekend. Hopefully it will not get to that. There is a lot of criticism on BJ’s approach and they reckon England will be following Italy in the next couple of weeks. I think he is being very demagogue and following the public opinion. Time will tell if it will backfire or not. They are opening a new hospital in the Excell centre to add to the necessary beds.
Amongst the many jokes and videos, someone posted this on WhatsApp and I think it’s worth mentioning:
“On hearing ill rumour that Londoners may soon be urged into their lodgings by Her Majesty’s men, I looked upon the street to see a gaggle of striplings making fair merry, and no doubt spreading the plague well about. Not a care had these rogues for the health of their elders!” Samuel Pepys Diaries – London 1664.
I have never read so I don’t know if it is a real quote, but it would not surprise me at all, as this is how the streets were in the weekend and even Monday. The supermarket was so full on both Sundays past, that I went in and out, not risking being infected by the crowds, despite my mask!
Oh yes, the shopping madness continues with vigour. Waitrose and Sainsbury’s are totally depleted. I have not been able to order vitamins online as the site I normally buy from, have shut down their website for lack of stock. Having said that they are now controlling how much a person can buy and I was even able to buy some paracetamol on the chemist. And the local shops are full of vegetables. Which is what we eat mostly anyhow.
I think people are starting to take this serious now as some of their friends and family are falling ill. Everyone says it is awful! Even if you don’t need hospitalization. I went for a cycle yesterday and the streets were incredibly empty. All the shops bar the bank, were closed.
The BJ has still not come out with a plan to finance the self-employed and zero hours contract. But one of the companies has told me they will pay the Statutory sick pay. Better than nothing. This may change as some of the self-employed people are carrying on working as they cannot afford not to. People are more scared of losing their jobs than dying!
This evening we had a celebration of for the NHS and support workers. Everyone went out to the street to clap for them and obviously post it on social media! I mean I do take my hat for them as, if just the carnage in hospital was not enough, they are having to do it with no proper protective clothing or without knowing if they have the virus as there aren’t enough equipment.
On the positive side. It is nice to have time to do gardening and catch up with people I haven’t spoken to in a long time. So far, I have not being able to even start on my plans for cleaning the house. It is quite nice not to have to meet anyone. It suits my social phobia. Also, the air is so much cleaner. The sky is blue, the noise level has dropped. The planet will thank for years. I don’t think humanity would slow down at its own steam, so in a very bizarre turn, there may be something good coming out of this. May be people will finally understand that certain professions deserve more respect and that money is pretty useless in a situation like this. And maybe people will work from home from now on leaving the public transport for people who cannot. Who knows!
That is all for now
Lets’ hope we survive this one!
Till the next time.
CoVid19 House arrest diary
1st April 2020 - day 15
We are now in a house arrest. What started as a voluntary option and recommendation for people to stay at home, has now become law. The Corona Bill was passed by the house of parliament on Thursday and from my understanding it is now just waiting the royal Rubber stamp. But it doesn’t matter. It’s already in. Nobody protested, nobody new!
The bill takes away a lot of our human rights and it has been sneaked in under our noses. In fact people agree with it.
From my understanding, and I am not going to lie, I have not read it, the authorities now have the right to imprison anyone who is not doing what they are meant to do. We should not be leaving our houses for anything other than food shopping, working, where it’s essential and one exercise a day… Some police forces have taken this in a very draconian way and are fining people for going for walks in the mountains and one woman was arrested for not explaining where she was going… Its bad. Really bad.
It’s unexplainable! Most people were already staying at home, so there was no need for this. It makes me feel very unsafe. It makes me feel confined and it makes me feel like getting out of the house. Where before I was quite happy to be in, now I am anxious and unsettled.
Sunday I did nothing but eat
So… the conspiracies abound. Since the Corona Bill I am very prone to believe this is all orchestrated. Or someone is taking advantage of the situation to create a new world order. To control people and make people disappear without a trace. They have even made cremation without people’s consent allowed. Only one coroner to sign a death certificate! Illegal to refuse treatment or to provide body samples. It is really scary.
I am glad not to be young at the moment. It must be awful to be starting your life under those circumstances.
Lots of people have died, but I won’t go into the numbers as they are too depressing. Although the percentage of death is impossible to be calculated as they don’t have efficient tests or enough of them, so it is all guess work. It may be that no extra people are dying at all. Or it could be 10%. Your guess is as good as mine.
On the positive side, it is spring! And they have approved payment of 80% for zero hours contracted people. Yay! Hopefully I will be getting some pay. God knows when or how much.
This week Monday, there were 60 extra 5G satellites launched into the atmosphere. They were visible in the night sky as a train of bright lights. Another very spooky story. The whole of London is being dug for the fibre installations for 5G. Very quickly and efficiently. No Consultation, research on the effects on people or anything. All they want, it seems is to be able to monitor people everywhere anytime. Again, very scary.
Control, control, control. It may, however backfire. Humans don’t like control.
Watch the space.
CoVid19 House arrest diary
17th April 2020 day 30
Last night I dreamt I was in a huge palace. I lived there. Prince Charles was there and so was my friend and her son… The boy was swimming in an outside freshwater swimming pool. Very pleasant dream, though I have no clue what it meant. I called her and we had a good chat about it and everything else.
It seems that apart from the shops being closed, people are getting used to the lockdown. Or used to ignoring it. I’ve been going for walks in the parks and there are people laying in the grass, groups of people chatting, children running inside shops, kisses being shared. The police seem to only harass the most vulnerable, like the black man seating in the bench in Primrose. Although today a van filled with policemen breaking the isolation rules, stopped at this building site to tell the builder he was not meant to be working! He got it sorted as he only has one person working at the place.
There have been thousands of Corona related deaths around the world by now. The UK has a mortality rate of 206 per million people, which is quite high compared to other countries who locked down earlier at the beginning of the epidemics. Portugal has a death rate of 6p per million people. BJ Caught it and is in leave of absence after a spell in the intensive care. Prince Charles has also had it, but it was mild, apparently. There has been outrage at the fact that they have been tested and some of the NHS staff has no access to the test. But as it turned out and I may have previously mentioned, the tests are not reliable with a80% chance of false positives. There are many theories about the disease itself: It is a systemic disease that stops the blood from absorbing oxygen; the respirators are causing more harm than good; The virus can survive up to 9 days in the sole of the shoes and travel 4 meters when people speak or is it 2 meters… We are still following the routine of masks, wash hands face etc, change shoes, clothes, wiping food as it gets in. But sometimes I do get worried about it.
Last weekend was Easter. Very little celebration. I did however do the best roast dinner I have ever done. Even though the kitchen was in a state as we had decided to decorate, but could not get all the materials
I have heard from the company I work for regarding the furlough workers payment last Friday. It looks like I will definitely get some money.
So, to add to this week’s stress, last night I found out that afriend who has been sick for a long time, has finally died. Yes. Another one has bitten the dust! It was a real shame, but she was never going to survive the cancer and she was really unwell for the last 2 months. I got really upset. Mostly because it is such a bad time to die. Considering she was such a public phenomenon, as she fundraised for treatment and other health alternatives, her funeral will be attended only by her family due to the isolation rules. I would have liked to be able to have a proper send off and say my goodbye to her. She was a warrior and an inspiration. It also made me remember all my dead, which are mounting up into quite a hill… I missed my mum and my best friend.
I have been speaking less with people, going back to the usual every so often phone calls as it seems some people are not coping at all with having to deal with themselves. Some are still working from home, which is a blessing as they would have properly cracked by now. God knows how it would have been otherwise. Others have manicured their garden. Yesterday, a friend, who has his routine to a tee, sent me videos of planes arriving in different airports!!! I called him to free him from his boredom.
Today I went to the supermarket for the second time since it all began. They have put a security guard at the garage, so I had to queue. I only stayed because the queue was quite small. The shelves are full again, thank god for that!
Well this it for now. The blossom is out, the sun is gone and we have just been put on another 3 weeks quarantine. I keep you posted.
CoVid-19 quarantine diary 26 April
As one day meshes into the next
I have finally heard from the company I work for, regarding the furlough application, and it has now been sent. Now, I’ve got to wait and hope that HMRC approves and pays. God Knows when. I don’t miss work at all. I realise, I miss using my brain and I quite like having to think on my feet. As a result of not doing so and the considerable reduction in exercise and increased levels of worries, I have been having some moments of anxiety. The thought of this going on forever, the worry about getting it, the money worries, have crept on me at occasions. So, I have been trying to keep busy. I have done some of the sewing I needed to do, I have started fixing things in the house, I started listening to a fabulous book online – Inferior – which happens to be quite infuriating. It deals with the fact that women have, over and over, been surpassed in science and maths and pretty much everywhere due to this intrinsic sexism of our society. The author’s experience, Angela Saini, is very similar to mine. Having excelled in maths in school and not turning that into a career due to the difficulties imposed the academic institutions. Very interesting indeed! I have gone for walks, although my back is really hurting lately. Nothing I can do about it at the moment as all hospitals are dealing with CoVid only.
I’ve stopped listening to the news. It is the same lack of information and incompetence from the government. No protective equipment, no ventilators, no testing. This week the Government has determined that it will test one hundred thousand people. Primary care workers and essential staff. I am not sure if I will do it, as the information I have on the tests is that it is completely useless and I am not sure what I would do with the results…
Yesterday was my flatmate’s birthday. We had a good party on our own. I made a carrot cake and breakfast. We got takeaway dinner. It was nice. We had a bit of a dance. Her best friend came by and sat on the steps in the front. It was probably one of the best parties. It was nice not to have people around. Am I reverting to my antisocial self?
In the USA, Trump advised people to inject disinfectant to cure the virus! Mad times indeed. BJ is still recovering. Left the boat to sink without him.
Other than going into number of deaths and the politics of it all I have nothing to add.
Over and out.
CoVid- 19 isolation diary 3- MAY 2020
So what! said the Brazilian president. People die. Inject disinfectant in the vein, said the American President. Be prepared to lose loved ones said the British prime minister. Meanwhile people are dying in droves in those countries, where in countries run by sensible, sensitive rules, the numbers are much smaller. New Zealand is doing very well, so is Canada and Portugal. More than 200.000 dead, 28.000 in the UK alone.
I checked those numbers just now so I could include in the diary, but I am still avoiding all news. It doesn’t improve my life in any sense of the word. I have relaxed into my idle existence. Slowly going through the list of things I have promised to do when I had time. Now I do, no excuses! I’ve tidied the books (a bit), because I was looking for one in particular. I clean a bit of the house each day. I’ve been doing the tasks that are so boring, you really need to be in the right frame of mind. I may even do accounts next. Since yesterday, though, everything I tried doing went to pot. I started backing up my computer when the external hard drive when kaput. I cleaned the coffee machine, only to turn it on and create a short circuit. There was sparkle, smoke and the smell of burnt rubber. It made me very sad, as I do love my coffee first thing in the morning. And it is a lovely coffee maker… it may be possible to fix it. Who knows?So, I think the message is to just sit back and not do any of those things.
I am doing my voluntary teaching, twice a week. Its good fun, as I have time to go through what my student wants to do and prepare stuff in advance. It also stretches my brain a bit as I have not done it for a while. Next week I am enrolled in a number of day courses online.
Ah, by the way, I got some money paid as part of the furlough scheme. At least I don’t have to worry about that much. It was really keeping me up.
I have been keeping in touch with my aunt,who is in total isolation. Also, people that are also out of work. It is nice to catch up with people. I will miss that when we go back.
This week has been awful weather
Today after 2 days at home I went for a long cycle around the park. It was a great exercise. The day was radiantand there were tonnes of people walking around. I kept my mask at all time. Feeling really conscious after one of my friends gave me a real telling off for going out. She had the coronavirus and said it was awful. Touch and go for day or two.
I am concerned my flatmate is not taking this serious enough. She keeps on having people come to the door. And this week I went to the shops to arrive home and find one of her friends in the kitchen… Seriously.Do people have no sense at all!
Overall, it is all good, but I feel a bit aimless as it is impossible to make plans at the moment.
I started reading a book called Sapiens. Very good. It describes how we came all the way from monkeys to the mess we madeof the world. There are some really interesting concepts and thoughts. One the things It mentions that I found quite interesting is the fact that we humans rose to the top of the food chain too quickly. Normally an animal would have to evolve to get to the top. We used tools and did it a fraction of time. This led to other animals not having time to adapt to the change. Another concept was that wheat domesticated us and not the other way around, since human’s life did not improve with farming. You really can see what lead to our consumerism society.
Well. I will keep updating this diary until this is over. If it is ever over! as I can see that some things will change forever. Let’s hope for the better.