London – Day 17 of lockdown

Blue glove discarded in the street

Grocery shopping, or how I like to think of it, running the gauntlet. In these times, rather than heading straight to my high street, I take the back streets. It’s calmer, fewer people, less time having to jump onto roads or jump into bushes. Yep, I’m taking my social distancing seriously.

Standing in the queue, it was a longish queue on a not very wide footpath, a couple walked past. The man was looking at the queue ‘This is how the government wants to control people’. Her response, ‘Don’t worry about it’. OK, not everyone gets it.

But it is a faff. I managed to get most of what I wanted. No eggs on the shelf. Shopping done, get to my front door, enter, shoes off and then up to my kitchen where I put my bags down, wash my hands, wipe down everything I’ve bought, wash my hands. Then with wipes, I carry the stuff I picked up for neighbours down the stairs, shoes on again, and then deliver to their doors. Again more hand washing when I come in. Wipe down where my bags had been. Wash hands again.

Today I managed to get a couple of extra items to two sets of neighbours. One let on that if needed, she knows an ‘egg supplier’.

I managed a walk through Dulwich Park. Got some work done. On the work front, I could’ve done more but very much finding I have good days and not so good days. I’m not beating myself up about it.

And the numbers keep growing. Another 881 recorded deaths in the UK by 9am this morning, bringing the total to 7,978. But it’s likely there have been many more deaths with some time lags in reporting and the figures only take into account those that die in hospital. I’m really not looking forward to the update from the Office of National Statistics next week that will include figures for those who died in care homes or at home due to this bloody virus.

On a slightly more positive note, it seems that social distancing and lockdown are having an impact. It’s early days. The Prime Minister remains in hospital and indications are that his health is improving.

There remains little clarity on when the lockdown will be lifted or how it might be staged. I do know that hairdressers will be extremely popular!

So that’s it for Day 17. Stay safe, stay well, and stay home!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *