The previous week was quite interesting because Simon brought his new girlfriend home on the night that Frances brought her boyfriend Ashok to stay!! I was quite worried about food for all these people because I have been counting the calories and now have a bad relationship with food and cooking. So they had to have pizzas. Ashok and F stayed on the sofa-bed because we have a small house. Stan's girlfriend turns out to be a nurse in a private hospital. Frances, revising, kept checking her phone for news as she said her exams might not go ahead. The next day they were postponed until some time in the future. The 5th years could not take their exams either but were being drafted to help in the stricken hospitals where more experienced staff were self-isolating or had fallen ill. Flo wondered when her 4th-year cohort would be called in to help.
(My friend Susan emailed out of the blue about the desperate situation for doctors and nurses, turns out she fears she won't survive. Nobody over 55 to be given an ITU bed. She is also very fearful for her daughter, a cancer nurse, although Bim does her job dressed in a condom suit every day, so she's very lucky! )
Ashok's exams were also postponed so he could not say when he would graduate. They worked for a day or so and then gave up and started getting restless. Simon was working from home so they were a little group of three watching movies and doing exercises together - I took them out to The Anglers for lunch one day, Hampton Court (still open) the next and then they took themselves out. S can't really stand working from home and is going crazy. Girlfriend (Megan) came back at the weekend - we all find her very easy to like. Now her private hospital is to be co-opted by the gvt and is to cope with Covid as well. She is pleased! She told us of more COVID fatalities (3 in Royal Hosp Guildford) and in Frimley.
Ashley left his school, and hurriedly – hardly any time for goodbyes, everyone unprepared. He has to prepare 2 weeks of online teaching for the girls, then that’s it. 3 boxes of files on the floor. Job at another school fell through due to the fact that the girls are all at home.
Allotment - I cut the kale down and froze it all, made potato and kale soup, manured the ground. I dug over another bed preparing for potatoes and other roots. I finished the AGM minutes and sent them to the committee. I planted a few trays of seeds. We have had the first few stalks of rhubarb. Ordered strawberry and raspberry plants that haven't been delivered yet. The allotment shop went into overdrive at the weekend - we took £600 in 4 hours, and that on small purchases. Had rules in place - one customer in the shop at a time - but a lot of people tried to ignore it. We are all very slow at getting the message. I was thrilled by the take, but I know we can't keep the shop open any longer. We sold out of stable manure and I ordered some more the next day and was surprised that they were still delivering orders as this is not essential business.
Frances went with Ashok to Southampton on Tuesday, Ashok packed his stuff then they both went to Brum, she and her stuff came home yesterday with her dad. More boxes of stuff on the floor. Then she got the message to start work soon in a Birmingham hospital in some capacity, which she wants to do. She won’t be put anywhere near COVID patients (but some of them have it but don’t know it). She has made us all a colour-coded timetable consisting of yoga, work, lunch, rest, exercise, work, artistic time, and dinner.
On the news, we saw that large numbers of people had gone to the seaside for the day and congregated in amusement arcades and on the promenade, which seemed crazy because the guidelines are to stay 2 metres away from anyone who doesn't live with you, and avoid crowds. We knew the rules were going to have to be stricter and clearer - a lock-down.
Husband is learning the programmes to interact with his students online - give online lessons - there was a conference call with a bunch of teachers the other evening and they were all trying to figure out the right approach to online teaching.
I met Ros at the allotments - she is a retired doctor. She said she had had the call to go in and help the NHS, but she felt, as a child psychologist, she couldn't help much, so had refused.
Had an awful shock when Pippa G said the lock-down might include the allotments, and therefore she was putting her potatoes in! I went home and fetched my potatoes and S and F, who were bored, and instructed them on potato planting in the twilight. We also put in a line of strawberries that Bonnie from the plot behind had dug up and left in front of my hut. Everything was dry because it has been so sunny, and needed watering, so I got them doing that too.
The next day we took Frances to Euston in the car, because we had seen pictures of commuters on the tube absolutely squashed together and not following the guidelines because they couldn't, and they felt they must get to work. I gave Frances some medical gloves to wear on public transport. She took back the pasta she had brought only a couple of days before and some of the potatoes. She had been quite annoyed with us for shopping in small quantities and frequently instead of shopping in bulk at intervals. She is a terrifying critic of our behaviour! She had just settled a problem she had back at her house and in a way, I felt she had come home just so that she could handle that problem from a distance, and having had the confrontation that was necessary, she was free to return to where her real life is. In Hammersmith we saw a lot of people out walking in the street, mainly going into food shops, but passing by each other quite closely. However, there was not much traffic and the trip to and from Euston was easy.
Went to Waitrose for a big shop - this food should last the week, although S is consoling himself for boredom by constantly raiding the fridge. Waited in a queue stretching around the car park, in nice weather. Felt rather alienated by standing so far apart from anyone. Eventually, I found the shop had stocked up with eggs and they were still there, I took 18 which is more than I would usually take, but I could not replenish my tins of chickpeas and tomatoes. No problem as I had more. Interesting though that everyone wants those things that keep. Had to stand well back from the tills in a queue - I regretted not taking the self-checkout gun. Chatted with the girl on the checkout -a student just back from university. I felt very reassured that young people make good recoveries from COVID-19, but on that very day a 21-year old died from it.
The lock-down did not include allotments, and Michael Gove said that allotments were a healthy outdoor activity which they are, and it's not necessary to get close to anyone, but the problem is that our allotments are very exposed to the public and we lock the gates with a combination lock. Yesterday the committee spent nearly all the day composing an email to all members about keeping the site secure but taking great care when using the lock - wear gloves if you can and wash your hands afterwards but not in the water tanks. We have only one tap for washing and it's right up the other end from my gate. I have some medical gloves so I am OK. However, in spite of the very involved instructions we sent to our members, the gate had been left unlocked with the code showing on three occasions. The Treasurer said that we should take the locks off the gates or we might be responsible for killing someone. I sort-of agreed with him. I feel very worried about this. I could have sent the email but I am not the Secretary anymore - Leila is. So I looked at the site and found I could have given Leila the powers to send emails to everyone but I didn't!! I said it was up to the Treasurer because he has always set the site up for usage before and I didn't want to tread on his toes. I wondered if they would have a big fight - locks vs no locks - but if they did I didn't know about it, and eventually, Leila sent the email about locking being the priority, but wear gloves, take hand sanitizer and wash hands, etc.
Met my friend C at the allotments and told her that a young woman had complained to Tony about us being on other people's plots and standing too close together. (That was the day before when we went to the allotment shop and weighed out bags of Growmore and Potato Fertilizer.) We stood a long way apart but were able to chat. She is still tutoring! People still want their kids tutored although the exams have been cancelled until some unknown time.
Frances started working at the QE hospital yesterday, clerking work in the haematology department. Although she was told it would be paid work she now doesn't know whether she'll be paid or not. It is disorganised at the moment.
The government is making a 4,000-bed hospital at the Excel Centre in London. A construction worker posted a film showing the size of it - empty at present. it will take far longer than they say. (a week).
A and S went to the hut yesterday and started cleaning and throwing out rubbish there, which was well overdue, and they stacked up chairs in the bedroom. I am still hoping to have a party there on 26th July, although I know I shall probably have to cancel I think this summer would be a great time to do more than necessary repairs to the hut, but to actually improve the decor.
I need to move some of the spuds F put in the other evening because they are in the wrong bed - they are in the onion bed but right now I am going to go for a sort of run. My daily exercise while the weather is so nice.
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