Day One Hundred and Fifty - Sweaty Betty at your service

Lordy, I don’t know I’ve never known the likes of this heat. Unless it’s my age playing tricks with my memory again. I’ve sweated buckets today. And drank half my body weight in H2O it seems.
No walk this morning first thing because I want to try and get a little more sleep. Heats knocked the stuffing out of me and made me feel a little bit off-colour. Then I start panicking and think I’ve got coronavirus.

It was my food delivery day. This particular driver delivers before 630. So I was very glad that I was here to get the stuff in. I don’t want it nicked off the doorstep. It’s also rubbish day. Once that was all done I decided to go to the health food store nice and early because I was getting low on cereal. It’s always interesting. I feel like an outcast. Because there am I trying to maintain a social distance and wearing my face mask. All around me everybody is behaving normally. I had quite an interesting conversation with the girl in the store though. Or I should say outside the store. You still can’t go into the shop. They serve from behind two tables just outside the shop. But because I know exactly what I want I prepare a list and hand it to whoever is serving that day.  It makes it much easier And they do seem to appreciate the effort. But the girl was saying that people are divided into still taking the pandemic situation seriously and those who are determined to get back to normal and pay it little mind. But it does seem to be older people who are the ones taking it more seriously. Younger people are the ones  inclined to get on with life and not bother with any of the measures that I still think should be in place.

Other than  that it’s been a very lethargic day. It really is too hot to do anything. The moment you start you just pour with sweat. I did finish a book. And I’ve done some more writing. So I’m pleased with that. I played the game with my friend and we communicated via WhatsApp but she’s gone very quiet on me. I’m really not sure what to do. I don’t want to be a nuisance but if she doesn’t wanna talk to me then I will respect that. I hope she knows I care. And this time next week, as long as they don’t change the date again, she will be in hospital.

My head is in a weird place. I feel so strange so much of the time. I feel if I’m living some kind of surreal existence and I’m actually the only person around in the world. Even though I see others going by my window there’s so much distance between us that it’s almost as if they don’t exist. Today I tried to analyse exactly what the difference is between now and pre-lockdown. On Wednesday I would’ve done very similar things. My veg delivery would still have gone ahead. Rubbish would still have needed to be put outside. I would’ve gone to my yoga class and perhaps interact socially with the teacher and other members of the class. Then I would’ve come home and been here just as I am today. But it would’ve felt so different. Very often I only went out once a day just as I do now. Okay, I had the freedom of choosing whenever I liked. But I still spent a great deal of time at home and I didn’t feel as trapped and isolated as I do now.

My dear friend who does my feet has had a terrible shock. Her dog lost his hearing and when they took him to the vets they suspected a brain tumour! So the poor little fellow has had to undergo all manner of tests and scans. But the good news is that it’s not a brain tumour. They’ve discovered from an MRI that he has deep inner ear infections in both ears. So he’s on a course of antibiotics which should do the trick. But they’ve been worried sick about him. Pets are wonderful but they do give you sleepless nights at times.

In wider news the country is in recession. No surprise there surely? It seemed inevitable from the moment businesses were required to close down. But, how do we get out of it? Are we paying the price for being this acquisitive, consumerist, money driven society? Lockdown might have given us an opportunity to re-explore old values and redefine some different perspectives, exam on what’s really important in life. I don’t think people have grasped that opportunity with as much enthusiasm as they could’ve done.