Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 15 March 2020

Pat : I was somewhat dismayed to hear that over 70's would not be allowed out for several months. It seems a little drastic. Scotland seems to have a more reasonable plan. Reducing social interaction.
I will go food shopping tomorrow (if there is anything left on the shelves!) I will have to start hoarding now if we are not to be allowed out to shop for provisions.
I saw a scary video clip of a woman in China being followed by a drone, as she returned to her house. I do not want that to happen to me!

Heather and OG; OH is slowly recovering, but still gets very tired.

Hello all. Yes, do hope Lindybird and OH will be able to get home.

All this talk about the over 70's staying at home, this is one that will keep going if possible. Mind you if Church gatherings are cancelled then we follow guidelines. We have already called our Women's meeting off as the choir who was coming to entertain us are made up of elderly gentlemen and they feel its too great a risk. Apart from paying papers, picking up medication and going to the library we don't get out much. What really annoys me is people panic buying. I just about got in for home delivery next Friday with one slot available 10-11 am and just managed to get a pack of loo rolls. Virtually all gone even online. Also pasta. Have done a shopping list for the week after and managed to get in at my usual slot of 11-12 so pleased about that . Apparently they won't take bags back now until further notice and are not allowed in the house mind you I do get the delivery bloke to put it in the garage.
What a todo this coronavirus has become.
Not sure whether funeral will go ahead or whether we will be getting away to Scotland - will have to wait and see what the operator says.

Keep safe and well all.

If shopping counts, OG, then I will have to reduce to three expeditions a week! My bank account will like that...
I don't go anywhere else on a regular basis. But are we looking at weekly or monthly? I'm afraid that I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing!

Morning all:  

Heather/all:  Our local Y has restricted some classes, but I've giving it a miss today and probably for the near future, but wish I had some hand weights here at home.  Yoga teacher has disinfected her home studio and assigned her (very few anyway) attendees our own props, but I take my own anyway.   We are getting daily e-mails from the City updating us on developments:  There's one confirmed case in the north county and five students from the local uni under mandatory quarantine having 'come into contact' with someone who tested positive down in San Diego.  The state Governor has told all oldies to stay home and - among other things - has asked restaurants to cut their capacity in half in furtherance of 'social distancing.'  The number of people who will suffer economic fallout from this is mind-boggling.    Meanwhile, at this rate, I may as well just paint the whole house myself given all the at-home time!  Not really, though I may break out the folding table and the jigsaws.  On the bright side, our wonderful independent book store is waiving delivery charges for folks who don't want to go out more than necessary.  And at least we can go for walks - if it would just stop raining. Other than all that, everything is fine.  :-)

AQ:  I read that some supermarkets Down Under are instituting special shopping hours for oldies....

I watched the debate between Bernie and Joe last night - the best yet  - without an audience applauding or muttering (and candidates and moderators at a good social distance).  Can we dream that it will set a precedent? 

Hello, all. Went shopping today - only for my regular weekly needs. No bananas, no grapes, no oranges, not a single piece of fresh meat or poultry, no tinned food at all, hardly any potatoes (got the last bag of jacket potatoes - what's life without a jacket potato?!?!?!?), no loo rolls, no chemists stuff, no bread, almost no cereals. I wonder how people are going to cope when this thing reaches its head in about six weeks? Met a young mum with two girls under ten - she was saying, 'What am I going to feed to my kids?' One of the girls said, 'Some people are so selfish' - and I had to agree with everything she said. She refuses to lower her standards and panic buy (not that there's anything left!!) - and I agree with that as well. With care, I can probably last for about three weeks, but they are talking about seniors staying at home for twelve weeks or more … A sign in the supermarket read, 'Due to unprecedented demand, we are limiting every item in the store to four units per person to allow everyone to have what they need'. Well, that's obviously far too late, as the shelves are already empty! I would certainly have bought four tins of tomatoes, four bananas, four oranges ... but that horse has bolted. It all reflects very badly indeed on the British public.

I'm cross - can you guess?

PAT - that is so awful, especially re fresh fruit etc - I wonder how much of that will get wasted? Certainly not as bad as that up here. One case has been reported locally in Dumfries, but hasn't reached the national statistics yet.

PatO:  That's shocking actually..... I'm listening to BBC Four's PM program and one lady called in and said they should institute rationing as they did after the war....

PAT - my son in Shropshire says much the same. Here, it seems to depend on which supermarket you go to.. I've always kept a good store cupboard ( thanks to my Mum who as soon as she opened something, replaced it and taught me to do the same) but obviously need to buy fresh food. 

Daughter#2 decided to phone the elderly this evening. Looks like she will be mostly working from home now.

We have decided that due to my impaired immunity I should isolate so far as I can, so I have asked Home Angels not to send my cleaner until further notice. OH will only be out and about when necessary, but J will continue working so long as the Academy is still open. The whole thing will not make much difference to me as I rarely go out anyway. OH will shop at Morrisons in Dumfries tomorrow as planned - just a normal scheduled trip.