We’re writing this early and it is to notify you all of the suspension of this blog. The reason for our monthly writings is to talk about, and photo-display, our travels – the point of which is now moot.
A month ago we wrote of returning from our Hamburg, Copenhagen and Cologne trip and as the world knows, everything changed quickly since. G wanted to add pictures of our empty streets but I veto’d the idea since there are multiple pictures online of empty spaces now. What we will do is insert what we sent to friends and family, as this tragedy unfolded:
Upon returning from our trip, the virus was increasingly hitting the news. G and I could see the trajectory even then. We had a tense, long, two day conversation upon our return about whether we should move back to the US, since it was coming quickly. If we did, we knew we’d never return. It boiled down to where we would be comfortable getting sick and perhaps, losing the battle. We don’t know anyone yet where we would be moving to in the US once we are done here in France and Europe; our relatives wouldn’t be able to visit us anyway and our health care is as good here as the states. So we stayed. And we self-quarantined immediately before it was suggested. That was only four weeks ago.
We gave away our Opera House tickets for the season to avoid clusters in closed settings. We stocked the pantry, filled the freezer with frozen vegetables, fish and meats. I mused that we haven’t had a frozen vegetable since living in the states. We‘ve cleaned our place thoroughly. The few times we have gone out, we washed and sanitized our hands up to our elbows and faces as soon as we hit the door. Wiped down our electronics, wallet contents, keys and sanitized our shopping bags. I haven’t left the apartment since our last train trip and won’t unless it’s an emergency – G has left twice to the corner store for eggs and such (we haven’t found frozen eggbeaters here).
We made ONE trip that we had to, to Brussels. We needed some legal US documents notarized, and when you’re out of the US, that is the only method available. Not a trip we wanted to make, but no choice. We went to Brussels instead of Paris because Paris had no open appointments March to mid-April, which now are unavailable, and we grabbed a last minute cancellation in Brussels. Belgium closed the borders the day after we were there.
We read that the virus destroys lung tissue. That it has the ability to live days on some surfaces. Masks do little to nothing for prevention, hand washing beats sanitizer – sanitizer works next. Young people are surviving because they can regenerate lung tissue, which according to medical officials looks like ground glass, but some can’t even do that. Older people can’t regenerate it at all. And people like me are sitting ducks. I’ve scarred lungs from many bouts of pneumonia. You get it once and it has a railroad station built to enter your lungs every time you get a cold.
We aren’t panicking here. No one we’ve seen has. Well, most – we do see online about the US hoarding of toilet paper and panic buying. Saw too, online a fist fight in an Australian Walmart over toilet paper. Also read about some idiots believing that ingesting liquid silver and bleach combinations touted on the Internet would work. Then there are the fools who have gone to the beaches for spring break because no “flu” was going to keep them from partying. We keep a constant eye on the news, both US and globally, and daily the picture shifts.
In a three-week span, France first banned public events, then closed schools, universities, bars, restaurants and non-essential shops. Grocery stores and pharmacies are still operational at this writing. We are currently on a 15-day lock down which began on March 17, which is expected to be extended. Everyone is homebound. You need a certificate to be on the street – which you print online – that includes your destination, reason, date and signature. The fines are steep for ignoring the restrictions. The streets are empty except for bicycle food delivery guys.
What do you do when quarantined? Well, we’ve been working on those small projects you never get around to doing. I might actually finish a scarf I’ve been knitting off-and-on for the past 4 years. Got time now. Been reading a lot, doing mending, watching movies. Poking again at learning French – without a tutor- because we’re not off somewhere or distracted. Humor is our favorite daily accessory and our sense of adventure is still thriving, albeit in tighter quarters. G has gotten into cooking – made a delicious almond flour bread last week and then a coconut flour bread the other day. We learned how to make peanut butter, which was fun. I’m trying ‘best recipes with frozen vegetables.’ Oh – and we did try an experiment of leaving a plastic cutting board on a hot stove plate. While highly entertaining, it did the poor cutting board no good. We had to release it into the recycle with fond farewells. We do have our regular indoor routines too, of course.
But we’re healthy and as protected as we can be.
We’ve checked in with people we know, online and locally. Our neighbors here have offered to run errands for us, since we are ‘THE’ elderly folks of the building, which we were quite touched by. G video chats every week with his family and I chat with mine as well. I suggest everyone do the same with your own. Make it a regular scheduled time over coffee, wine or your choice. We chat about nothing important, as most family conversations over dinner go. But it’s good to see their faces and hear their laughter. And in this time of lockdown, it helps them too.
So that’s how we decided what we did when this blew up, and how we are prepared for the time. My dad always said, “Prepare for the worst, hope for the best” and that pretty much sums up our approach. Always has.
Protect yourselves and family as well as you can and just as important, keep the fear at bay. It’s all you can do and we know you can do it very well. It’s a job that we all can do. I know that we’ve all been affected in so many ways by this, and I’m sure we will discover as time proceeds, other unlikely areas as to how this has impacted everyone’s lives.
In the meantime, stay safe, stay healthy. Make calls to your loved ones.
oh, and pull out that old ‘How to Tango’ video. Why not?
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