As you can see, I am still alive and in fact we are really OK here at home.
Our garden has never looked better after all the time that we have spent in it. This week, the weather has turned a bit cooler so we have spent more time indoors.
I am still missing contact with friends although methods other than personal contact have become reasonable substitutes – FaceTime with family, phone calls with friends and a Zoom meeting with members of my Probus Club. Each month somewhere between twelve and twenty people with whom I worked at Control Data Corporation nearly 40 years ago get together for lunch of pizza and red wine. This week we plan to do the same from home over Zoom. I already have my pizza in the freezer ready to go.
I caught up with our postie during the week while he was delivering our mail. He is a nice bloke, Darren is his name. Underneath his motorbike helmet he has a shaved head and he has a large bushy red beard. I always think of him as having his head on upside down.
Our family are well. David, in Perth, continues to be busy minding his two little boys while Yuki works. Cathy in Melbourne works as a doctor in a specialist geriatric hospital but they will soon be taking Covid19 cases. We pray for her health and safety. Schools currently have their term holidays but they will not open for next term so our grand kids will all be learning from home.
Jill and I had our big day of the week yesterday when we went shopping again. Three stores this time – Bunnings DYI store for some light bulbs, Officeworks for printer ink and Woolworths for groceries. It felt like we were on a big adventure. We have found that shoppers at the supermarket are very polite – maximising distance between others and giving way to others when pushing their trolleys. Our pantry is now stocked for another week. Paper towels and toilet paper are back in reasonable supply (with strict purchasing limits of one pack per customer) although pasta and flour was still in short supply. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that we also visited the Dan Murphy’s liquor shop to buy some wine and that was also limited to 12 bottles per customer.
As we have been indoors for more time this week, we have spent a more time cooking although I think that we have really been eating pretty well. On Good Friday, Jill made some hot cross buns but mistakenly used some very old yeast that we had in the cupboard for ages. The buns turned out more like hot cross cookies but they still taste delicious. I made some very tasty fish pie out of Jamie Oliver’s Five Ingredients cookbook for dinner. Yesterday, I made a big pot of cabbage soup. At least, that’s what the recipe called it, but it really is more like a chicken and vegetable soup. I have also found a new photo sharing website called YouPic and have uploaded a few of my better photos. You can see them here: https://youpic.com/photographer/brucewilson3/
All the women in this family are worried about how long this situation is going to continue. Both Jill and Cathy have a great concern about . . .their hair! (Obviously hair is very important to women). They had an appointment for a hair-do the day after the hairdresser closed their salon. They’re concerned about grey hairs showing through and are even worried that granddaughter Violet (nine years of age) will have grey hair before this is crisis is all over.
Being at home like this is a real test of one’s marriage. I find that I am married to the same woman as this comedian that I found on YouTube. Click on his picture to see what he says about marriage. Thankfully, I learned these lessons some years ago.
We had a hint of the possible duration of this crisis on the news last night. Australia’s borders are currently closed and I heard our Chief Medical Officer say that he couldn’t envisage Australians being able to travel overseas before the end of the year! There go another couple of travel plans out the window! I see that Donald Trump still wants everything in America to go back to normal in May. Good luck with that!
Apart from a quiet week and filling in time at home, I have still been able to go for a walk around our local park. I have found a combination of tracks that give me a distance of 3 km so I will try to do that at least three times each week.
Right now, I’m going to get out a paintbrush and patch up a couple of spots that need doing.
I had a great laugh watching the comedian you found Bruce. I am sure we all will survive this crisis Bruce even if we at the end have perfectly maintained properties, learned and used more recipes, have cleaned out or made good use of all ingredients in our pantries, have chatted at length and at distance with our families and friends, have cut our alcohol intake, have more grey hairs showing than we want.
Will we survive with greater understanding of our immediate communities, with greater concerns for the welfare of all, have dropped the I (me) emphasis on our activities and perceived rights, take delight in the beauty of the world around us because we now take time to enjoy the simple things again?
Will we now use our imagination to solve problems and not wait for someone or something else to provide all answers? Will we be better people? I truly hope so.