Diary Of A Stay At Home, V

Self-Quarantine Day 17: Monday, 30th March, 2020

It has been a few days since the last update, and things have continued in much the same fashion, with a couple of unfortunate trips out, and much stress around dog walking and food deliveries. This whole 'two metre' guideline seems extremely simplistic. If people breathe out droplets, aren't they still going to be there for other people to walk through, or is there some kind of fast dispersion and nullification effect from being outside? Is it the wind? Does that mean calm days are more dangerous for being outside? It's a mystery to me. In a few short weeks there are going to be far too many people wandering around to ever walk the quadruped of terror anywhere but the garden. The mystery of whether open car windows are dangerous continues to be a mystery... as does the safety of food deliveries. I mean, those packages are being breathed on by several batches of people, right? Is it paranoia? Is it?

It would be easy to get paranoid in this situation. There might be six more months of this to go, or more, and everything that comes into the house is suspect, including me. There is no relief. It will probably be better when everyone is not sick, though. There are coughs, and now sneezes, and my chest is still tight, and I'm still not convinced we haven't already had the Mighty Virus, but it's impossible to tell. MAss home testing can't come quickly enough.

What does a day consist of at this stage of the lockdown? At the moment, we begin with getting up, which is traditional. Some people like to get down instead of getting up, but that's too much like work or jive. Then there's catching up on the turn-based games on BoardGameArena, breakfast, a ceremonial television episode with the parents, and then divergence from pattern. On Tuesday, there are a couple of students, on another day there's a food delivery, and on others nothing really happens but a little preparation. That has to change. Something has to fill those days. After the deviation, out with the dog, a game with parents, maybe another television episode, more game turns on the website, a ceremonial e-mail or two, and then to sleep. Or as close to sleep as is possible.

It all feels very sad. Television will have to be our saviour for now.

O.