RANDOM JOTTINGS

A blog about music, sports, theatre and rants

Long time blogger just moved to wordpress. Love music, theatre, movies, sport (tennis and cricket) and cooking. Two great daughters, two great granddaughters.

Random Virus – I am prepared..

Now before I get into rant or flippant mode I wish to make it quite clear that I am not dismissing the Corona-virus as a passing matter of no import. No, it is very serious indeed and we have to be sensible and take precautions. BUT I refuse to panic. I really do even though my daughter telephoned this week to see if I was ok 81552B0D-C727-412B-82DE-20134459008Bas "you are in the danger category mum". Well ta very much daughter dear. She wanted to check if I had enough groceries and was my freezer full etc and could I manage.  I asked her when in her entire life has she known her mother have no food in the house and no meals in the freezer and why did she now assume I was in my dotage and living off baked beans?

OK she meant it kindly I know.

So what to do? As far as I am concerned I am Keeping Calm and Carrying On. I am meeting friends, I am going out, I went into town to Fenwicks for a facial the other day and lovely Linda who looks after me said Sod it gave me a kiss as I was leaving and also shook hands.

The Premier League over here has banned players from shaking hands in the tunnel before they run on the pitch to play which is without doubt the daftest thing I have heard in a long time. As one writer in a paper said this morning:

"In a bid to slow the spread of coronavirus, the Premier League authorities have forbidden footballers from shaking hands before a match. Obviously the players will still be tackling each other, rolling around in the mud together, spitting on the pitch, kissing and hugging after they score a goal, and spending 90 minutes in close proximity to a tightly packed crowd of 60,000 people. But as long as the players don’t shake hands, everyone should be fine."

Mad.

Now before we left the EU (gosh that sounds wonderful – you know how I feel about the EU so forgive me) we had Project Fear. Planes would be grounded, there would be lorries queued for miles as they tried to get through the Channel Tunnel, there would be no medicines, the seas would run dry, there would be a plague of frogs blah blah and lo and behold Nothing Happened.  We had people stockpiling food and dried goods in their cellers and stocking up on loo rolls.  If they still have this stuff squirrelled away they will be feeling very superior now as panic buying has set in.

The two main staples that seem to be vanishing at the speed of light are loo rolls and pasta. Pasta? I can understand loo rolls vanishing as it is something that we need and use all the time, but pasta?  I cannot think if you are ill having twenty bags of fusilli in your cupboard is going to help you. And yes I know it is in case you have to isolate yourself and need to have food in the cupboard but even so…

I promised Helen I would be sensible and not do anything daft (not that I ever do at least I don't think so) so I have decided to Get Ready.  I did a supermarket shop this morning but bought my usual stuff though with extra ingredients this weekend as tomorrow is my monthly batch cook day where I load up the freezer with casseroles etc.  The only thing I did buy was, yes you have guessed it, toilet rolls. This is pure common sense and I will work my way through them though as I live on my own I reckon it will take a while.  (A Face Book friend told me this morning that she knows a guy who works at Tesco and the cunning swine are putting out all the expensive loo rolls for sale first. Every little helps is their catch phrase and they are living up to it).

But the most important thing of all – if I am in self isolation have I Enough Books to Read? Buggar pasta I dare not run out of books. No need to panic Elaine take a gander at your Kindle wherein reside some 300 books half of which are waiting to be read. Look at your To Be Read pile in the corner of your living room, there are at least another 50 there and then should desperation really set in and you have to re-read you have shelves full of Dickens, Austen, Trollope, Wharton, von Arnim and enough Agatha Christie, Sayers and Ngaio Marsh to last you for all eternity (I should not use that phrase really I could be tempting fate)

And then of course there are all those progs on Amazon Prime and Netflix which you really really need to catch up on. Then I have the entire Fred and Ginger oeuvre on DVD which will keep me happy and make me dance round the living room…Heaven I'm in Heaven…

Then all my MGM musicals on Dvd – Carousel, Oklahoma, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Calamity Jane, Singing in the Rain (I have the entire Gene Kelly oeuvre as well).

Finally, I have taken delivery of these this week and so I think I can safely say that I am Prepared for All Eventualities

F48170CC-D465-4D19-B6C0-ED62CFBEE5F6
F48170CC-D465-4D19-B6C0-ED62CFBEE5F6

OK Bring it on

Stay well everybody because joking apart I would not wish this horrid virus on me or anybody else.

Au reservoir.

 

Posted in

22 responses to “Random Virus – I am prepared..”

  1. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    Yes it is Erika. My daughter in Sydney said that her company has just recruited over 700 people in the last few days to stack shelves and keep everything moving. People who have lost jobs and who are suffering financial difficulties have all taken these jobs, plus backpackers etc as it does two things (1) they earn money and (2) are keeping the country going.
    Supermarkets here are closing their coffee shops, delis etc and all those staff are now being utilised to be shelf stackers etc

    Reply
  2. Erika W. Avatar
    Erika W.

    My daughter works for a large American chain of stores which include grocery departments. The problem of empty shelves is caused by panic buying. The warehouses are full but there is a lack of transport vehicles to keep refilling the stores. Now her stores are closing one day a week to help restock. I imagine it is the same in the UK ?

    Reply
  3. Helen Avatar
    Helen

    Of course, you do need flour….anyone know where it’s all gone? why loo rolls and flour, I ask myself? Plenty of milk and butter and vegetables (in our lucky area), just no flour or loo paper. Very odd.

    Reply
  4. Erika W. Avatar
    Erika W.

    For years now we have had toilet seat bidets attached to our lavatories. Much more hygienic and saves on paper. My American husband was a quick convert after original doubtfulness.
    Over here they cost ca $110 and presumably would be about the same in the UK?

    Reply
  5. Helen Avatar
    Helen

    Don’t forget that pasta itself is dead easy to make. You just need a pasta machine or an energetic friend to roll it out.

    Reply
  6. Erika W. Avatar
    Erika W.

    I understand the rush on pasta, we live at the edge of large areas of originally Italian immigrants to the US in New Jersey and North Delaware–most of whom wouldn’t be caught dead buying ready-made sauces. Even I, with no Italian blood, quickly learnt how to make a handful of sauces and they do taste so much better than the canned!

    Reply
  7. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    You are right!!

    Reply
  8. Helen Avatar
    Helen

    My husband has just pointed out that as all us over sixties are going to fall off our perches, it’s lucky we had the Brexit vote when we did. lol!

    Reply
  9. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    Yes hand sanitisers here are being sold for astronomical sums. Soap and water for heaven’s sake. And with the stock market crashing you can bet there are canny people buying like mad and waiting for the shares to go back up and will make a huge profit.
    My daughter called from Oz this morning and said that the supermarkets are being stripped bare and her local Woollies has stepped in and stopped it. Good for them. Oz has more reason to worry as they are so close to the China mainland and do huge amounts of trade with them. She is coming over in the summer and is coming via Dubai as her company has banned all travel through East Asia. If she went via Singapore she would not be allowed back into Australia so she is being sensible.
    I have just watched Boris on the TV (not on the BBC who will have an interviewer ready to diss him) and he strikes me as being in control of things – so far!

    Reply
  10. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    This constant harping on the young during Brexit made me cross as it appears a lot of young people did not even know there was to be a referendum! And many of them did not bother to vote so I have no sympathy t all. The BBC should bear in mind, instead of chasing after young viewers, that the vast majority of those who watch the BBC are over 50 and make sure they cater to us instead of treating us like morons.
    I shall be glad to see the back of H and M today quite frankly.

    Reply
  11. Helen Avatar
    Helen

    Needless to say my husband works for the government! mind you, I suppose it’s true to say that pupils and teachers ‘hot-desk’ all day everyday….
    Like you,I have had just about enough of the BBC and look forward to NOT subscribing to it when they lose the poll tax, sorry, licence fee. They simply don’t cater for people like me. Not entirely sure who they do cater for, actually; every time I turn on Politics Live and see Grace Blakeley representing the ‘young’ I recall that she’s largely privately educated, studied PPE at Oxford and, at age 27, has a great job in the media and ask myself which young she’s actually representing. I felt the same way about Brexit when so many people were saying how important it was for the young. Well, once again, which young exactly? maybe some of the 50% who go to university but not the 50& who don’t and whose views are rarely heard.
    Re the Markles, I just hope that once they go, they stay gone and don’t keep popping back to undermine William and Kate whom they’ve left to pick up the pieces.

    Reply
  12. Erika W. Avatar
    Erika W.

    I am laughing over pasta. Here in the US it is lavatory paper and hand disinfectant so far. It reminds me of when a hurricane threatens here on the East Coast. The stores are full of people frantically buying bread and milk and bottled water. We do fill a few large containers with tap water but that is it. We have enough basic canned foods in the house always; canned tomatoes, fruits, corn and various beans. If no food and water are available for more than a month we will have driven inland anyway!
    My husband noticed that price gouging has already begun; little bottles of hand isinfectant are costing $60 at the local super market and they are selling! What is wrong with soap and water?

    Reply
  13. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    Oh the Millennium Bug!! I remember everyone on New Year’s Eve in 1999 waiting for the sky to fall in.

    Reply
  14. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    Well you are right to take precautions Margaret and I am not belittling those in any way who have underlying health problems as it seems they are the most at risk. So I hope all goes well with you and your husband. I come from a long line of tough women who seem to have robust health and I hope that I have inherited that gene. My mum who died aged 96 was on no medication at all when she died, of old age nothing else, and so far touch wood I have nothing serious wrong with me. Let us hope it stays that way.
    And I remember Eartha Kitt!! I actually met her back in the eighties when my then husband was in a show with her. She was delightful

    Reply
  15. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    Helen you have a right to worry, albeit a slight one, I have none at the moment, I live on my own and spend a lot of time on my own which I enjoy but this week I have nothing in the diary and, apart from a foray tomorrow morning to get a pint of milk, intend to stay indoors all week. Not because I am panicking but it makes sense at the moment and I have lots to occupy me and my mind.
    I have read in some papers that hotdesking is going to be put on hold – let us face it – not exactly hygenic at the best of times.
    I do not watch the news on TV and defo not the BBC I gave up on that about twenty years ago and read papers online instead. The Telegraph is going overboard as is the Mail. I dislike the Guardian but read it for balance and they seem to be striking the right note. So far
    And waving goodbye to the Duke and Duchess of Markle will be a joy quite frankly.
    Take care

    Reply
  16. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    Good point. The aisles of sauces and tinned tomatoes etc were virtually untouched. I am bemused by the whole thing I must say.

    Reply
  17. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    I will bear that in mind!!!

    Reply
  18. Margaret Powling Avatar
    Margaret Powling

    PS You are right. Who in hell’s name would want pasta? Regarding the EU and the panic of leaving it – which has so far prove groundless – it was the same, if you remember for the millennium, when they thought the world might end (well, computers would crash!) It was just another day at the office, wasn’t it!

    Reply
  19. Margaret Powling Avatar
    Margaret Powling

    I have been ever so slightly concerned as husband here is 84, Elaine, plus being heart condition, diabetic (although not taking any drugs for this), and prostate cancer. As well as being male, this puts him in the high risk zone, ditto myself with compromised immune system due to my breast cancer when I had lymph glands removed. But we’re just trying to carry on as normal, but being sensible. Not kissy-kissy with people, having our food delivered from Waitrose, which we’ve been having since last June when our local Waitrose shut up shop, and washing our hands when we come in from wherever – but we’ve always done that anyway. There are more cases in Torbay, where we live, than anywhere else in the UK right now, so naturally we are a little anxious, but all we can do is proceed with caution (as in the Eartha Kitt song of the 1950s! But who remembers dear Eartha with her earthy voice!)
    Margaret P

    Reply
  20. Helen Avatar
    Helen

    I have a slight worry in my mind because my husband’s in his seventies and still working in a large building (500+ people) where everyone hotdesks. He also has diabetes. I’m in my sixties and asthmatic. However, I do think the media (BBC,I’m talking to you) have gone absolutely bananas over this. You can’t help but think that after all the drama of Brexit and Megxit (if she ever goes: whatever possessed the Queen to let them have a ‘farewell tour’?) they’re just desperate for something, anything to fill up the airways.
    I share your feelings about the EU and can’t WAIT for the end of the year when we’ll finally be rid of them. Unless of course this virus holds things up, which God forbid….

    Reply
  21. Debbie Avatar
    Debbie

    I too am both amused and bemused by the pasta issue. But what baffles me more is there is no concomitant shortage / rationing of jars of ready-made pasta sauces to go with it………..
    Now far be it for me to malign the cooking skills of the UK populace – but what do they intend to put on it? If they’re quarantined they won’t be going out for fresh veg or cream or eggs or meat….
    Jus’ sayin’

    Reply
  22. Jane Avatar
    Jane

    Dear Elaine, You are still ‘transititioning out of the EU’ – wait until 2021 and then the sky will fall in!! Keep safe in these uncertain times. xx

    Reply

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