Day Seventy - People, Neighbours and Nephews

There are some people on my walk who I see regularly. Almost every day. I called them my waving friends or my remote friends. Of course we're not really friends at all. But it will be interesting to see if there's any connection at all when this lockdown is over.

One lady is Oriental in origin. Sometimes she's on her own and sometimes she's with a much older man. At the start of lockdown when it was colder he used to be dressed up warmly and walk with a stick. But I've noticed that now it's hotter he hasn't got the stick anymore and he wears his shorts, bless his heart. I can't quite figure the relationship. She is very careful to maintain the social distance from me which makes me think she's taking the whole lockdown seriously. So that makes me think they must be from the same household. I'm wondering if perhaps he is her adoptive father or something like that. I find it interesting to imagine these people and what their lives are. Maybe I could write a book of short stories about them. They always wave to me. Actually she says, 'good morning', he waves.

Then there is a lady of indeterminate age. Because whatever the weather she wears a dark coloured raincoat and a cloche type hat and sunglasses. So I can't see her face or her hair colour. I've no idea if she's young or old. I think she is very anxious and she is obsessive about maintaining a social distance. I think she really appreciates me because she knows I do too. So she's taken to giving me a little wave in the mornings. I think she's probably like me and lives alone and is finding the isolation of lockdown pretty tough. But her apparel makes me wonder whether she has another kind of problem. She wears the dark classes whatever the weather. And a hat too. So I wonder if maybe she's been ill and her immune system is compromised? And that's why she is so careful to stay away from everybody.

Another lady is probably closer to my age, maybe a little older. I have seen her before around town. She actually reminds me of the parent of a child I used to teach who was awkward, difficult and uncooperative, the parent, not the child! So I've been a little bit cautious in case they're related! The first time we interacted was when she was the only person to observe social distancing and I was so pleased I did a thumbs up at her and she was startled. But she did do a thumbs up back. We've thumbs upped a few times but now it's dwindled to a mere wave. She now weighs a light pink, summer coat in deference to the weather! See I notice these things!

My stalker seems to have disappeared. Thank goodness. Not even sure he really was stalking me, it was just odd. He allowed his dog to dictate everywhere he went and if that meant no social distancing then so be it. So I was trying to give him a wide berth. There is another dog walker an older, heavier man with a little Yorkshire terrier. They do look a mismatched pair! He walks very slowly and I'm wondering if he has some physical problems. He never makes any attempt to maintain a social distance. And I think he thinks I'm totally weird for doing so but he always waves to me.

They are my "regulars"! It's been quite interesting over the weeks to see how people have failed to maintain their regimes. The pooping pooch is no longer in evidence. Maybe someone had a word about the crap everywhere. The couple of ladies who started off lockdown enthusiastically jogging for a few metres, then stopping, then doing some elaborate stretches. then jogging a little bit more, then stretching again, full lycra overload! Haven't seen them for weeks. A mother and small son who cycled all along the pathways even though cycling is prohibited, fully donned with face-masks but actually not prepared to get out of anybody's way. They were regular several days for a couple of weeks I would think.  No sign of them now.

It's a curious thing that the people I see most frequently are not my friends or my family but complete strangers. The most social interaction I have is to wave at people whose names I don't know.

I can see the lockdown ending. Visibly around me. My next door neighbours have friends in this afternoon. They're all sitting in the garden. But the two friends don't appear to be the minimum 2 m apart. The rot sets in. I wonder how much of it is due to Dominic Cummings? My sister and I are wondering if we have excessive paranoia. And maybe we shouldn't get so exasperated with other people. She reckons we were raised to be terrified of everything. She is right to a large degree. But it's not always easy to change your mindset even though you know it's folly.

Something else that struck me this week. My next door neighbours the other side have a daily paper delivered. Sometimes by a paperboy, sometimes by a chap in a van. But a daily paper is relevant to that day only so how do you sanitise a newspaper? Unless you don't read it for two or three days. I think it's unlikely that they do that. It's the Daily Mail too. How do I know this? Previously when they've gone on holiday I have kept an eye on the house and fed their fish. One year they texted me in alarm because they realised they'd forgotten to cancel the paper. I used to go in each day and take it out of the letterbox and put it on the table.

I think my nephew had strep throat. But evidently he's feeling better today and his temperature has gone down. I don't know how the sore throat in COVID-19 manifests itself. So I still think we need to keep an eye on things. He may have had the virus and recovered quickly as youngsters do. But that doesn't mean he hasn't passed it on to his mum and even my brother. The next couple of weeks will tell.

Since seventy is something of a round and auspicious number I decided to go back to day one of this whole journal. Makes me chuckle now when I think of how I felt then and how I feel now. But that really was the point of doing it. To look at how myself and others might be affected. But that's hard to judge because I don't really see other people. Telephone conversations are not as productive as face-to-face. On a lighter note the other interesting thing from day one is that after buying the Assam team on a peculiar impulse I actually rather enjoy it and I've subsequently bought more. It is now my preferred blend of tea. So if there's been anything to good to come out of this it is my penchant for Assam tea!