Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 15 March 2020

Annette and Diane -I watched an episode of Netlix's "Dirty Money" called "Slumlord Millionaire" which was about Jared Kushner.. This is who is running our country now! Try to catch it if you can. Scary.....

WendyB:  Seems like all the generations are worried about the others - same with my UK family, the still-employed members are now working from home with the exception of my nephew's wife who manages a clinic. (!) But they're all fretting about my sister and BiL who are in a village in the middle of nowhere (Lincolnshire). Who had the root canal?  You or your daughter?   I guess the silver lining to the whiplash and concussion - hope no long-term consequences) is the new 'lush' car.;

bjane:  Thanks for the tip re the Kushner program.  I'll wait until I feel able to cope to watch that.  :What a ghastly cabal. Arghhh. 

California State Governor Newsom has just issued an order telling all California residents to stay home.  We can go out for groceries, meds, to walk a dog or for exercise..  Meanwhile our local library sent out an e-mail saying that it's putting out carts of books 'on the honor system' at the entrance for people to borrow (I'm assuming not the in-demand best-sellers) and the Santa Barbara Public Main Library, which has already organized kids and teens 'book and video bundles' for pick up, is now doing the same for adults.  Went for a walk this morning and did some social-distance chatting with my neighbor, who was born in 1940 in East Germany, lived her early years in very harsh conditions and is unfazed by most things including the current situation. She was working in her garden and we shared our usual whine about weeds, then I headed to Chaucer's Books (was wearing my nitrile gloves). where I bought just one book -  by Anne Hillerman, daughter of American Southwest writer Tony Hillerman, whose detective books are set in Navajo Country.. I was one of just three or four customers - it was wonderful to wander the store without having to squeeze past the usual crush of people.  Picked up a few groceries (no mad panic or lines but with shortages in all the predictable areas but still lots of fresh produce), came home and worked in the garden for a few hours.  Now I'm binge watching the third season of The Crown on Netflix.  I may break out the jigsaws in the next week or so....

Do take care everyone.

Hello ladies I am on at this ungodly hour as I have set alarm for 6am and of course I am awake hours before it’s due to go off. Daisy has an X-ray and nicest vet can’t due it till 2.30pm so needs to eat before 6.30am and no way could she spend all morning starving.
Annette it was youngest who had all the dental work. The hospital police and her work were brilliant after her accident.
Aloof eldest messaged saying her only hiccup with her Tesco order was Tetley tea bags and not her usual Yorkshire ones. Her partners daughter gets married in June ( or maybe not) will phone at weekend for update.
OK let’s see if I sneak in another 2 hours shut eye.

WendyB:  Hope Daisy is okay; thanks for clarifying dental details.  :-)  Hope you managed to sleep more.  I hate when that happens to me.

Morning all

thought you may enjoy... Click on Google today  in your browser(not this picture here) a little video before the details

Sorry I failed to check in yesterday. Will try later today - brain dead this morning after reading all the emails about what is closing and when - not to mention trying to keep up to date with info from OH and J at the same time - mental overload. I am printing out a lot of messages as I can't deal with it all in my head! BBL

Reading back, I don't think I need to try replies, we mostly seem to be enduring same circumstances re isolation and shopping. Most families seem to be in touch more than usual, which is a good outcome. So I shall proceed with our update.

J's acting Head decided on Tuesday afternoon that he could stay at home for my protection; Council statement yesterday confirmed this as policy. School is closing to normal attendance and activities from today, and will open for special provision next Thursday. J has some computer-based training courses to complete while he is home.

OH is not going any distance for shopping, and is using Tesco Seniors' hour for almost all our supplies. He is quite stressed - forgot he was supposed to be cooking main meal at lunchtime today, while he was panicking over an email from BT. I have said I will read aloud through the diary each mealtime, so he might know what he is doing between meals (Food is when we all come together, at a reasonable distance around the table). This afternoon he is cleaning the bathrooms before making a second attempt to give us dinner!

I am still trying to build a church magazine which will be distributed to all members and "friends" for April. I am having to change various contributions, leave out future dates and try to include some useful material for meditation etc, as well as some lighthearted content to cheer folk up. Life hasn't changed much for me, as I don't go out much in normal times, and I think I can maintain some sort of structure to the days. We agreed to have main meals at lunchtimes so afternoons are available for the garden during the fine weather.

Have heard again from Dau#2 that all the family north of us are well - all working from home except GDau-in-Law who is now a busy GP. In England, GDau#1 is helping with emergency arrangements in her school - not so much teaching sciences as "babysitting" vulnerable kids; GDau#2 is enjoying a long break from uni - supposed to be on a placement delivering babies after Easter - details awaited.

Hope everyone will keep well during this beastly thing, and we can go on encouraging one another!

I agree with OG that we are all enduring the same circumstances. Shopping is a horrendous experience, entailing more trips than usual, but I am finding a great difference in the way people are responding to official advice. Say no more!
I am glad to say, that amongst the selfishness, I have encountered some great acts of kindness from several people.

Morning all:  Turns out a lot of businesses are still open in spite of the 'stay at home' ruling.  I'm not sure where the line between 'critical' and 'non-critical' services is.  Went for a walk early and the hardware store was open and Michael's - an arts and crafts store - had a sign saying they were open (but maybe that was before Governor Newsom's announcement late yesterday).  

SunnyKate: I saw the Google thingy this morning.  :-))   Coming up with their (fairly regular) offbeat Home page logo must be a fun job for some techy types, with lots of comparatively obscure research involved....  How are you and yours doing?

OG:  Good for you that J will not have to go to work.  I was thinking - generally - about family members being obliged to spend more time than usual with each other right now and thinking it could be a challenge!  

Am wondering when we'll hear more from Lindybird; also how George and Forestboar are doing...