It's been a while now I know. I haven't been well and I still don't feel I'm quite back to normal, whatever normal may be. And I've been very down. But today for the first time in weeks I managed my full walk. Of course it stays dark much later in the morning now so I'm leaving later and there are more people about. But I saw a wonderful sunrise this morning.
Sadly Google in their wisdom have changed the interface of Blogger, the platform I use to create my blog and it isn't as flexible as the old one so my motivation to blog is further reduced. It's a shame because I liked the structure creating a daily blog post added to my day.
With the recent easing of lockdown I tried to be braver. I went in the car with my sister to the cemetery. We both wore face masks. We had all the windows open. I sat in the back of the car behind the front passenger seat. It was weird. It was the first time I had been in a car since February/March time. I felt a little emotional. I was expecting to see big changes everywhere but of course there weren't! When I had to go to the chemist to pick up my prescription I went to some shops! My first stop was Grange the health food store. I was horrified because they've changed their practice of having tables outside and serving you on the pavement. You now have to go in the shop. None of the staff had face masks. And I felt very anxious. The proprietor sensed my anxiety and offered to fetch my shopping for me as I had prepared a list that I've done in the last two or three times I've been there. But it's put me off going. By contrast the chemist was very well organised arrows and lines everywhere. The staff wearing face masks . And the staff also policing people who decided they wouldn't follow the social distancing lines and the arrows around the store which I found very reassuring. I then went to the shop called the refill station. Will you can buy loose goods. You can take your own containers and fill them. Or you could before COVID-19. They do particularly nice breakfast cereal (what is it with me and breakfast cereals?) that I haven't had since February/March time. They had been serving at the door. But when I stood in the door that day it was business as normal. No facemasks on the staff and you could bring your own containers again. Finally I went to the greengrocers. They had an area of the road barriered off so that you could wait and social distance. Only two people allowed in the shop at once. I felt a little more confident there and there was a Perspex screen up at the till. I got cherries and strawberries.
But, I hear you ask, why am I still so concerned? Lockdown has been easing. Businesses have been starting to get back to normal. Restaurants open. Pubs are open. Exercise classes in full swing. Schools open. Public transport trying to run as normal. I'll tell you why. Because infections are on the rise to the tune of several thousand a day. And if that's not cause for concern I don't know what is. Am I surprised? No, I'm not. I foresaw this happening. The government have now put a limit on the number of people who can meet together, either indoors or out, socially, just six. That comes into force on Monday. So people are going manic this weekend trying to get their gatherings of up to 30 all done before Monday. Infections are mostly amongst the younger age groups. Older people like myself are still being very very careful. Sadly I can't see much changing I think we are headed for some pretty tough times. People are already saying Christmas is cancelled.
When I started this blog I never dreamed that I'd still be doing it in September. I don't know what I really believed but I thought we might be able to get a handle on this. And I think we might have done had the government acted more swiftly. And if people could actually just stop; think, look at the bigger picture, make some sacrifices ,show some self-discipline, summon some self-control and actually think beyond their own self absorbed selves. We might have been able to deal with this. Many people are still holding out for a vaccine. I was on the phone to a friend of mine in the States who is a retired doctor and he said vaccines can take years to develop. Effective vaccines that is. And our local hospital has stopped taking covid patients. So everybody is saying, ah there are no coronavirus patients in our hospital. No virus here. No, that's because they're taking them all to another hospital in the next town. It's a bugger's muddle and no mistake.
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