week 48 or something
May. 14th, 2020 04:58![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
keilissOkay, let's try a repost. DW and I are not friends tonight and my patience is thin with it.
Been quiet because I haven't really had much to say. Not like life has been busy/interesting/marginally different to how it looked last week, though at least this one was a bit different so it's as good a time as any to try and get back into posting. I apologise for last time, I went into a Depression and didn't reply to comments and anyone who knows me knows that isn't my usual style.
And wow, the post is long enough to go under a cut.
We are in our 48th week of lockdown and not much has changed - turns out level 4 is just level 5 lite. A few more industries are open, we are allowed to buy winter clothing at last, along with the groceries and pharmacy visits, and we can now exercise between 06.00 to 09.00 which is annoyingly early plus it's not really light down here in Cape Town till around 07.00.
There are still no alcohol or tobacco sales. The smokers are furious and ready to start a revolution, and SA Breweries almost had to dump an unimaginable amount of beer which they couldn't move because of the restrictions on transporting alcohol --- the relevant department saw sense at the last minute. Not that there aren't cigarettes or alcohol. You can get anything if you have the money. Am hoping those restrictions get stepped back now, the drinkers will survive but the smokers are at the drug or food stage. The business community has had enough and is making Trump-like noises, they need the economy to open NOW. They are getting the media on their side so we are hearing expert epidemiological opinion from people who are not necessarily epidemiologists, expert or otherwise. They don't seem to get that government will do what government will do.
Tonight Cyril came on the TV after quite an absence to tell us that at the end of the month he would be moving us up to level 3 (alcohol and cigarettes, that's all anybody really cared about) ..... except the national hotspots. Guess where the highest concentration of Covid-19 is found? Cape Town. Guess where I live? So --- business as usual unless a miracle happens. At least J will be going back to work, though as they're only allowed to open at 30% capacity no one knows how that's going to look.
Wish I could tell you what fascinating things I've been doing but it's a short and boring list really. The reading, watching tv series part of my brain switched right off a couple of weeks ago and no amount of effort will get it to switch back on. I think I just have to let it alone and give it time. Currently I knit a bit, I bake a bit, I work on a puzzle a bit and I colour by numbers on my phone. What, me, art? Hahaha. I finally wrote a little today --- I cannot believe how hard it was to get started. Partly it's the whole 'writing in a vacuum' thing - I feel very distant from fandom atm. The SWG discord gave me a sense of community but every so often online you run into someone who is harmless but has a personality that is like chalk on a blackboard to you, and if you can't blank them into white noise (I've only ever blocked the truly toxic) it's best to just disengage for a while (electronic social distancing?). I look at the convos, but I feel like an outsider.
I've come to the conclusion that I do not function well in confinement. I did finally manage to cancel an old old data contract today (I have been trying for months) and after a week the glitch in my bank account re the payment for online delivery (two deductions) eventually cleared, so I guess I'll count them as victories.
It was the older grandbaby's third birthday yesterday (Tuesday). Her dad's family always do quite fancy parties for the littlies, but she had the ultimate do-it-yourself birthday --- family picnic downstairs in the little garden at the back of the flats, complete with the couple of balloons J managed to persuade the stationary shop to sell him even though they were not on the permitted list, party boxes for her and her sister, a proper big-girl spa by mommy --- foot spa, facial, pale pink nails, lipstick --- home made cards, and an illegal car ride to see Grandma and Grandpa outside their gate for around fifteen minutes where she got homemade peanut butter biscuits (Grandpa) and a copy of Frozen with instructions to return the flash drive (Grandma).
The girls had to stay in the car because it was cold plus there are guinea fowl on the open field opposite the flats and M didn't trust them not to try and run across the road to see them. As it was, the window had to stay half up because Gia kept trying to fling herself out. No sense of personal danger. Just totally surreal - late afternoon, overcast skies, cold autumn day, guinea fowl making their dreadful squeaky wheel noises and four masked adults huddling apart and regularly forgetting how far 1.5 m really is.
It was not your average birthday but I swear she had a better time than she would have at a fancy, unicorn-themed party. Other residents took photographs of them outside picnicking and the lady on the third floor above them gave her a Catwoman figurine -- inspired choice! Unicorn Princess Shiloh was dressed by herself, looking most fetching in fairy skirt, leggings, denim jacket and rather smart golden crown. Not shown is the mask, which is black - kind of junior ninja. She is an awesome little person, understands social distancing, not touching, and that there are Bad Germs but they'll go eventually. Old, old, soul.
Shi bday2
Excuse the smudged lipstick.
(Heh, I thought M's phone was better than this)
Also - DW crossposting = broken and DW cut = also broken. They have had long enough to get that site to work properly, for pete's sake.
Been quiet because I haven't really had much to say. Not like life has been busy/interesting/marginally different to how it looked last week, though at least this one was a bit different so it's as good a time as any to try and get back into posting. I apologise for last time, I went into a Depression and didn't reply to comments and anyone who knows me knows that isn't my usual style.
And wow, the post is long enough to go under a cut.
We are in our 48th week of lockdown and not much has changed - turns out level 4 is just level 5 lite. A few more industries are open, we are allowed to buy winter clothing at last, along with the groceries and pharmacy visits, and we can now exercise between 06.00 to 09.00 which is annoyingly early plus it's not really light down here in Cape Town till around 07.00.
There are still no alcohol or tobacco sales. The smokers are furious and ready to start a revolution, and SA Breweries almost had to dump an unimaginable amount of beer which they couldn't move because of the restrictions on transporting alcohol --- the relevant department saw sense at the last minute. Not that there aren't cigarettes or alcohol. You can get anything if you have the money. Am hoping those restrictions get stepped back now, the drinkers will survive but the smokers are at the drug or food stage. The business community has had enough and is making Trump-like noises, they need the economy to open NOW. They are getting the media on their side so we are hearing expert epidemiological opinion from people who are not necessarily epidemiologists, expert or otherwise. They don't seem to get that government will do what government will do.
Tonight Cyril came on the TV after quite an absence to tell us that at the end of the month he would be moving us up to level 3 (alcohol and cigarettes, that's all anybody really cared about) ..... except the national hotspots. Guess where the highest concentration of Covid-19 is found? Cape Town. Guess where I live? So --- business as usual unless a miracle happens. At least J will be going back to work, though as they're only allowed to open at 30% capacity no one knows how that's going to look.
Wish I could tell you what fascinating things I've been doing but it's a short and boring list really. The reading, watching tv series part of my brain switched right off a couple of weeks ago and no amount of effort will get it to switch back on. I think I just have to let it alone and give it time. Currently I knit a bit, I bake a bit, I work on a puzzle a bit and I colour by numbers on my phone. What, me, art? Hahaha. I finally wrote a little today --- I cannot believe how hard it was to get started. Partly it's the whole 'writing in a vacuum' thing - I feel very distant from fandom atm. The SWG discord gave me a sense of community but every so often online you run into someone who is harmless but has a personality that is like chalk on a blackboard to you, and if you can't blank them into white noise (I've only ever blocked the truly toxic) it's best to just disengage for a while (electronic social distancing?). I look at the convos, but I feel like an outsider.
I've come to the conclusion that I do not function well in confinement. I did finally manage to cancel an old old data contract today (I have been trying for months) and after a week the glitch in my bank account re the payment for online delivery (two deductions) eventually cleared, so I guess I'll count them as victories.
It was the older grandbaby's third birthday yesterday (Tuesday). Her dad's family always do quite fancy parties for the littlies, but she had the ultimate do-it-yourself birthday --- family picnic downstairs in the little garden at the back of the flats, complete with the couple of balloons J managed to persuade the stationary shop to sell him even though they were not on the permitted list, party boxes for her and her sister, a proper big-girl spa by mommy --- foot spa, facial, pale pink nails, lipstick --- home made cards, and an illegal car ride to see Grandma and Grandpa outside their gate for around fifteen minutes where she got homemade peanut butter biscuits (Grandpa) and a copy of Frozen with instructions to return the flash drive (Grandma).
The girls had to stay in the car because it was cold plus there are guinea fowl on the open field opposite the flats and M didn't trust them not to try and run across the road to see them. As it was, the window had to stay half up because Gia kept trying to fling herself out. No sense of personal danger. Just totally surreal - late afternoon, overcast skies, cold autumn day, guinea fowl making their dreadful squeaky wheel noises and four masked adults huddling apart and regularly forgetting how far 1.5 m really is.
It was not your average birthday but I swear she had a better time than she would have at a fancy, unicorn-themed party. Other residents took photographs of them outside picnicking and the lady on the third floor above them gave her a Catwoman figurine -- inspired choice! Unicorn Princess Shiloh was dressed by herself, looking most fetching in fairy skirt, leggings, denim jacket and rather smart golden crown. Not shown is the mask, which is black - kind of junior ninja. She is an awesome little person, understands social distancing, not touching, and that there are Bad Germs but they'll go eventually. Old, old, soul.
Shi bday2Excuse the smudged lipstick.
(Heh, I thought M's phone was better than this)
Also - DW crossposting = broken and DW cut = also broken. They have had long enough to get that site to work properly, for pete's sake.
no subject
Date: 2020-05-14 05:02 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-05-14 07:06 (UTC)I do know what you mean about the brain going into a kind of closet and refusing to come out. I have been writing, because I have to for work too so that has a knock-on effect, but I am not in the ‘zone’. It’s just a really odd time and I think a lot of brain-work and energy is going into handling it.
no subject
Date: 2020-05-14 14:43 (UTC)I am writing and writing. tRump has forced me to move into fantasyland to keep from jumping off the roof!
no subject
Date: 2020-05-14 20:05 (UTC)It's only in the past couple of weeks that I've been able to start reading and be enthused about writing again.
I heard on the radio earlier that there's a petition circulating to allow the community pools to open at the end of the month. Why?! It's practically impossible to do safely right now. But there are too many people who believe we've beaten this thing because it hasn't been bad here.
The crossposting failure is likely LJ's fault because of something new they did; DW knows about the problem.
no subject
Date: 2020-05-15 08:00 (UTC)Beautiful babies though. Lovely photos. XX