So far this week I have cancelled a visit to the dental hygienist and the chiropractor, but I did go for what could be my last ever haircut!
Since I am an old chap, and my youngest son is still at school (until tonight, I think - he attends a school across the border, in Northumberland, otherwise he would already have been at home for a week), I am required to self-isolate. Interesting - we are not yet under full plague conditions, but it seems only a matter of time until such isolation will be a matter of legislation. Whatever, we decided we should have a go at this - at worst I should develop a few good habits, and see what it involves. I have moved into the attic here at Chateau Foy - there is a decent bedroom, and another room, officially titled the Dressing Room, which will serve me as a working and reading area - I have now installed a proper writing desk up there, for working and soldier-painting. I may have a lot of time on my hands, so I'll shift my activities upstairs as far as possible - let's see how this develops.
The desk is not much of a beauty, but it's solid, has a good working surface and plenty of storage for my paints and knick-knacks. It's carved oak, and I understand it dates from the 1930s.
Last night I watched one of my French DVDs up here - I've seen it before, but it's a goody. L'Homme du Train, starring Jean Rochefort and Johnny Hallyday. The film is supposed to be wryly comedic, I think, but its dominant theme seems to be failure, and the complicated pointlessness of life in general. Recommended for all that. One thing that seemed very odd - and it shows what a deep impression the COVID-19 publicity has made - was all the embracing and hand-shaking that goes on in the film - I kept thinking, "That's not a very good idea...", and then I would give myself a gentle slap (having washed my hands first, of course).
Anyway, I enjoyed it - thought-provoking.
I've received my WSS mounted colonels back from a re-paint after the varnish went horribly wrong last time, and they look very good, so I'll get them finished off and they can join their regiments - that will give me a first painting task for the new station up here in the roof!
A strange time. An exchange of emails with a friend produced some dark thoughts, wondering which of our friends and contemporaries might not make it through what is to come, but I prefer not to dwell on that. Things in the cities must be far worse, of course. Unusually, two apparent suicides near here yesterday - someone walked under a train at Prestonpans, and an Edinburgh restaurateur has gone missing - he may have jumped off the cliffs into the sea here - the Police are looking for him. That does bring it home - a lot of people must be in a desperate situation.
I can only wish everyone all the best, and hope that the situation becomes clearer. One thing I really don't know, for example, is how long it takes for an unknown package to cease being potentially infectious. I read somewhere that the virus in water droplets will only live for 12 hours without a new host, but I have no idea whether that is true. My parcel of WSS officers arrived this morning - I had a feeling I should leave it for a day before I opened it - in the end I opened it and washed my hands thoroughly, binning the packaging.
That's the sort of thing that would be helpful to know. If we don't get official information, the dreaded social media will come up with something more exciting - recent scares about the potentially lethal hazards of ibuprofen were fake news, apparently. There's a good opportunity for people to behave sensibly for a change - that would be useful.
Certainly no harm in letting non perishable packages "sit" for a day or two; I have some flags coming from Spain, and they are definitely going to be quarantined for a few days after arrival.
ReplyDeleteThank you Peter - that is useful and much appreciated.
DeleteHave had to cancel tomorrow's game as, like many wargamers I suspect, several of us are in 'high risk' categories, i.e. old farts with medical problems, but I am cheered my the way people are pulling together and adapting to circumstances. Our local corner shop and chippy have started doing free deliveries to the elderly, for example.
ReplyDeleteMy local pub 'The Cottage of Content', ever on the ball, says it will re-open after the Boers have been defeated.
That's brilliant - love it - makes me very proud. It's a pity they won't be able to interrupt the music hall shows with the latest news, though. Maybe on-screen text during the re-runs of 1998 Eastenders shows will be just as good. The Last of the Summer Wine must surely be due another repeat as well, not to mention Fools and Horses. Sundays will be just like the war - mother cooking the dry pasta ration for lunch, the kids busy sticking flags in a big map, at opposite ends of the room.
DeleteHow is this different to normal?
DeleteGlad to hear you have an opportunity to prepare your quarantine facility Tony. Make sure you have a good stock of palatable liquids - purely for medicinal purposes - and keep your pecker up.
ReplyDelete“Things in the cities must be far worse”. Indeed they are we are reduced to using paella rice instead of Arborio rice in risotto. Imagine the scene if you can.
"...and keep your pecker up."
DeleteWhat? This phrase must have a completely different meaning in "English" English! I almost fell out of my chair with laughter.
No Jon, I believe the cheeky devil is airing a little double-entendre here - in fact, since it is low on subtlety (though relatively high on amusement value, in compensation), it maybe only rates a one-and-a-half entendre. Same meaning over here!
DeleteReally gentlemen. Can’t a chap use innocent phrases without causing tittering? I merely meant ‘keep your e....’ oh!
DeleteNay - I fear that the language has been corrupted forever. There is very little we can say or write now which will not have the whole class giggling fit to bust.
DeleteSince the tone has now been lowered, I'll take the opportunity to trundle out a classic joke-that-we-no-longer-tell...
A girl walked into a cocktail bar and asked the barman for a Double Entendre, so he gave her one.
Ah - you've heard it before? Never mind.
By the way - my quarantine facility? Just a minute, there - it's the rest of world that's in quarantine, not me - I am going to arrange for everyone else to be issued with handbells, so I can hear them coming. Interesting philosophical question - if I put a fence around my lawn, I have, at my own expense, fenced in the whole of the rest of the world. Depends where you stand.
DeleteHave 'panic' bought more brushes, paint and glue ! , I have LOTS and LOTS of figures to paint , so no more of them needed , living rurally I walk the dog ever day using common sense {in short supply as ever} and am reminded of the old Chinese(?) curse "may you live in interesting times"
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean that in future we will be faced by bare shelves in the craft shop, and limited to three brushes in one purchase? Take care - always stay a block away from anyone you meet.
DeleteThat’s a rather nice desk Tony...
ReplyDeleteI may take a chance to do some sculpting during my forced isolation...
Full sized figures using some of the two and a half tons of toilet roll I have hidden in my cellar ...
All the best. Aly
I'm not sure about this, but I think stockpiling is probably OK as long as you're not using it for the reasons everyone else does. There can't be that many sculptors you're depriving, you'd think?
DeleteCertainly, I was limited to three of these desks.
In passing, a shop in Dunbar was named-and-shamed on the local community Facebook page this week - they were selling £5 bags of toilet rolls (which they'd bought from Costco, I guess) for £19 - good British business instinct, I would say - time for a lecture from someone on the power of the markets. I was brought up with many tales of the black markets in Liverpool during WW2 - it is rumoured that some of the supplies which came into the Port of Liverpool for the US Army may actually have reached their official destination. The risks were high - anyone found profiteering was likely to get a hefty beating, which sounds like worthy public vigilantism, though it might have been rival profiteers. I have some inherited guilt here - when my granddad died in 1954, my mother was among the duaghters-in-law who cleaned up his house ready for sale. They found a false back wall in the cupboard under the stairs, behind which was a mass of American tinned goods dating back 10 years.
There was all sorts of stuff - tinned peaches, bananas, egg powder, cookies, coffee, all sorts. All waste, of course. They opened a tin of bananas, out of interest - contained just an evil, black liquid. Not profiteering, I guess, just stockpiling. My Uncle Harold was the office manager for Clan Lines at the docks, of course - there must have been lots of it about...
Supplementary throw-away on the (loose) topic of very old tins of food - I was discussing with my wife my recollection of the period when my mother was still living in her own house - circa 2015, I guess. A magnificent lady named Pat used to come in for 3 hours a day - it was a private arrangement - she was an ex-Council care worker who had (in theory) taken early retirement because of back problems - she used to visit my mother 7 days a week - she cleaned, washed, ironed and she was a fabulous cook. Mind you, we paid her rather a lot more than she'd have earned working for the Council. One day I was helping her to sort out my mum's kitchen cupboards - we found a tin of Heinz lentil soup with a use-by date of 1997, which means it must already have been well-out of date when my parents moved up here - they must have brought it with them.
DeleteI said to Pat at the time, "What on Earth did we do before we had use-by dates on everything?", and she said, "We served Branston Pickle with everything."
If this makes no sense to you, don't worry about it, but I never quite got that idea out of my head. It also brings to mind that my Great Uncle Alf used to consume gallons of "Daddy's" brand sauce - he got into the habit when he was in the army, since most of the meat they got there was pretty much rancid. Also, of course, he was a heavy smoker, and couldn't actually taste anything.
Yum.
A lovely spot from which to observe the end of civilisation! ;-) More seriously, all the best to you. I hope you get plenty of reading and soldier painting in, and that you are not obliged to be isolated for too long.
ReplyDelete