Coronavirus chat

[Carole]

How is every-one faring.  I guess we are lucky to have a hobby that can be done in isolation, and we have had a few clear nights recently.

We had a street coffee morning today which was a roaring success.  Loads of neighbours out in the street (keeping socially distant), some of whom had never met or spoken before, cakes being handed round (from a distance).

Then right in the middle of it all the dustmen arrived to take the cardboard (first time it has been collected in weeks), they were offered cakes and clapped as they left the street which really pleased them and they left giving the Royal Wave.

We are doing the same again on Friday next = VE day and making a Victory Europe theme.

Carole

[MarkS]

The community spirit in your street sounds great!

My daughter, future son-in-law, 4yr old and 3month baby moved in with us a few weeks ago until the end of the crisis.  She has a medical condition and needed the extra support.  So there are 3 of us working from home during the week!

This weekend should have been his stag do (they get married in July).  Hopefully the wedding will still go ahead - maybe with just 2 witnesses in a registry Office - who knows?  The reception will almost certainly be cancelled.

We deliver food to my 85 year old parents in Ashford so they don't need to leave their house.  The local pub delivers take-away food to us!  But most nights we cook.

We spent last weekend round the pool and I've had many nights in the observatory recently, so we really can't complain.  I suppose, embarrassingly, the lockdown has brought its own joy.

However, I'm looking forward to getting back to normal - whatever the new normal will be.

Mark

[Hugh]

Love the neighbourhood spirit Carole!    Our 8pm Thursday tributes to the NHS have helped establish a new rapport between neighbours which was probably lacking.

Nice to be a family group in these strange times Mark!

We are just ending week 6 in lock down and are being well supplied via our eldest son and family who are 10 minutes away and had previously established regular Ocado deliveries ~ so we piggy-back our needs on them.  Through friends we have discovered a local florist that delivers fruit and veg every Friday (random so always a surprise as to what we get) and that Cote restaurant will deliver ~ so have had a couple of deliveries from them to make a change!

Zoom has enabled us to keep well connected to our friends and several regular meetings have now been established ~ along with the odd family quiz night (it's amazing how many of those are going on)!  We are walking everyday for an hour and have, after pressure from Elaine, now included some senior Zumba via Cindy on Youtube a couple of times a week ~ as a result I've lost 5 pounds.

I've a feeling we are in this for the long run (older group) but am optomistic of the treatments and vaccines proving useful at some point.  Chatting to Sue today she reported info (I think via Rose) of two 80'ish ladies who had both been recently hopitalised (through heart and fall) who when tested had both been positive but both asymptomatic ~ so not the death knell it might seem for all over 70!

I'm doing some articles for TOAST which has been quite fun ~ and George Cran will welcome anyone's inputs!

Keep well, wash those hands and clear skies to all.

Hugh

[Carole]

That's such a shame when weddings get cancelled, 2 witnesses in a registry office will never be the same.
But having extended family with you and a swimming pool must make the incarceration much more bearable.  Is this the daughter who lives in Bromley?

Great that you've lost some weight Hugh.

As regards ourselves, we put ourselves into 98% isolation a week before the official lock down so we are now 7 1/2 weeks in.  When I say 98%, Adrian still collects his daily newspaper (wearing a mask and socially distancing) and picks up any odd items we have run out of from a small corner shop with hand and mask washing when he gets home. 

We were walking the dog self distancing until 2 - 3 weeks ago but it got a bit worrying if she decided to run off and play with a dog the other side of the field having to go after her while trying to keep our distance, so we stopped going and playing with her in the garden instead.  Then a leaflet came through the door offering help including dog walking, so a very nice family of a mum and 3 children take her out alternate days.  After our exhilarating street coffee morning today and the nice weather, I actually decided to have a go at taking her out again myself today.

We managed to get in quite early with Tesco home deliveries which I was thinking about doing anyway, and have bookings until the end of May, but it's really difficult trying to get new slots, and much working out of a strategy to co-incide with Tesco updating the slots is involved.  Our daughter gets us things like prescriptions etc and she is currently using our car as we are not using it.

Been doing a lot of sewing - not only masks but a couple of tops I had been meaning to make for some time and had never got around to, but have run out of sewing now, plus I do the monthly magazine for Adrian's Theatre club (a bit like Toast).

Facetiming and Whatsapping the grandchildren. 

I agree with you Hugh,

I've a feeling we are in this for the long run

, I am not sure I will feel safe going out again until they have a vaccine available. 

Carole