Jack fails again – so the Wednesday post is stumbling into Thursday – –

With no sign of the pandemic easing any time soon, I continue to remain mostly housebound with only a two weekly run to the recycling station with our garbage to break the monotony. Although actually it’s not the least bit monotonous! The old saying is that ‘nature abhors a vacuum’ and so I have found that getting our bedraggled vegetable garden into shape and keeping the veggies watered takes up a fair bit of time.

Of course once the crop is in it has to be stored, eaten or canned, and that’s also proved interesting. First were the initial lot of peas (eaten of course), then the onions (hanging up in the garage), while all along I’m picking tomatoes as they ripen (eaten and canned). The potatoes were a no show but we have kale, carrots and beets. Walnuts too of course!

The aim is partly to avoid the need to spend time in shops and partly to become as self-sufficient as possible. We have a limited number of friends that we feel safe interacting with as we’re confident in their understanding of the protocols required to stay safe. Luckily they also have home grown produce so we can barter too.

We have relaxed our strict weekly cleaning of floors and surfaces a bit, but when Wendy comes in from delivering PPE or shopping, her clothes go straight into the washing machine, she has a shower and I bleach mop the floor and wipe her phone and car key.

The hardest thing is not being able to freely socialize with all our friends –

A close one is recovering from cancer surgery right now and in order to spend a day visiting him we will be in quarantine for two weeks beforehand as the last thing he needs is Covid 19 as well.

While we are taking this seriously and adjusting our lives accordingly we constantly see examples of folk doing the exact opposite. The motor cycle gathering in Sturges, the gospel singing event at Breaks Park and shoppers here in Wytheville – none making any attempt to wear masks or socially distance. Colleges and schools are being pressured to reopen so that parents can be levered back to work. Already there are new outbreaks that have resulted in colleges closing again and sending students back home where there will surely be more spikes.

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But what probably bothers me most are the poor souls living in inner city apartments with no yards or gardens but who are doing their best to stay healthy.

Meanwhile we discover that Trump has admitted to downplaying the seriousness of this, which no doubt plays well in in this part of America, as the picture above amply demonstrates!

What I guess we’re all praying for now is a vaccine, but even with one, I doubt whether we’ll get back to what used to be ‘normal’!