Things Change

You know, it's been only a few months since this virus spread across this little blue marble called our home planet, and it's changed our habits so quickly and suddenly - hasn't it?

Well, I wasn't here at my home when the new rules came into play, but almost as soon as I arrived home, I pulled my home into order, cleaned up my yard, organised myself into getting things working in such a way things needed to be looked at and working properly - and I also kept my distance with people.

However, the neighbour who butchered my poor little jade in the front yard - and caught the wrong end of my temper - has been doing nothing but bugging the crud out of me. They have been breaking rules about the isolation situation we're all supposed to be in. Three times in the past month, they've been either knocking on my door or trying to get me to talk to them, when I don't want a bar of them.
They don't seem to understand that they wrecked a part of my house which will take a very long time to recover - and this person even came over to my place again today and touched the plant they butchered saying 'it needs another trim' (or something along those lines) and I snapped at them to go away and leave me alone - and that I've told them many, many times to stay away from my house and stop stuffing with my things and my yard; that I've never wanted them to do anything with my place. They said they were 'looking out' for me, and were trying to keep and eye on my place - but no, they were not. This is the last straw and it's really not the way a neighbour should act if they want to be friends.
I ended up calling my Dad and asking him to help me; and he said that this neighbour is feeling guilty, and wants to mend fences - but I'm afraid it's too late. This person has done this once too many times to me, and with this virus around, I'm just way too jumpy to have somebody like this person around being so flippant and idiotic in my life. 

This is what has happened to us in our lives, isn't it? We have had to pick sides, pull away from people we really don't want in our lives and absolutely, physically keep our distance in every way possible so we can keep ourselves well. And the people who don't? Well, I don't know what to say about them. If they think it's something of a joke, that it's a conspiracy, that it's something the government has cooked up... I'm afraid to say but that's your opinion and yours alone. I'm not going to risk it - and really, if you're going to come near me, I'd like to say that you please keep your distance. 

Life isn't what it used to be... indeed it's not... and as we all adjust to this change in our lives, I think it is time we really did take care of ourselves. You see, my Dad told me the other day that when the Spanish Flu hit after WWI, it wasn't the first wave which killed a lot of people, it was the second. So, we have to be careful of the next wave which has yet to come. Take care of yourselves in the biggest possible way in the coming months, okay? 

Broken Computer

Well, I've been away for a bit, and there's been a good reason for it. My computer broke - again. And I called Super Geek - again.

But this time, they did not call me back. I called last Saturday, and they have - to date - not called me back to make another appointment. 

So, I went onto my phone and Googled around to find somebody who would fix my computer. And I found a guy in my local area, Peter, who worked from his own house, and fixing computers is all he did. He was his own boss and has been working on computers and laptops for over 15 years. And the reviews I read over my breakfast were fantastic!

I called him and chatted with him about the treatment I had from Super Geek and he was disgusted - and he bit his tongue about his own thoughts of what Super Geek were really. Then, he told me exactly what kind of company they were - and that their quality of computer company people have slid in recent years.  I was convinced that he was the best person I could trust my computer with... and so, on Wednesday morning, I unplugged everything from the tower in my office and took it in to him. 

While I was there, he took a look at my hard drive and said there was nothing wrong with it - except it was 80% full... and was it okay to wipe it? I said yes, that when the computer was working, I got everything I could off it and onto an external hard drive. He was impressed I had thought of that. I said that it took over 4 hours and most of my sleeping time at night, so I didn't mind staying up late, so long it got done - and well, in truth, I had my suspicions that the computer wasn't going to work the next day (which turned out to be right).

I left my computer with him from around 9:45am until around 1pm Wednesday, while I visited a friend of mine - the first time in over a month - and we had a take away coffee from our favourite coffee place. We enjoyed our time, and I went to check my mail and while I was at my local post office, I found Peter had texted me about the computer - that it was ready to pick up.
I dropped by and he talked to me for around 40 minutes about what he had done to it... and that it's ready to go. And you know, it's running so much better now it's got the right programs in it. He said that this old hard drive could run for another two or three years, otherwise, the rest of the computer is up-to-date.

But you know, that's computers for ya. They'll be working one day, and screwing up the next. I'm so happy I could get this fixed. But I do want my money back on what Super Geek didn't do for me. And I'll be looking into that soon.

It's Been Weird

I've had weirdness happen here at home on a daily basis of late. First off, the computer had it's turn of being sulky - yes, computers sulk if you don't use them. 

I spent 6 weeks away and my computer wasn't used, so it got a few little things wrong with it - and man did they turn out to be expensive things!

Well, this week, I went shopping for groceries, and then today I paid for my registration on the car - but only 6 months because things got expensive with the computer - and scored myself a credit/debit card from the post office, so I can buy things online. This will be handy for me when I want to buy something from Bunnings or Eckersleys and don't want to go in-store - instead I'll get it either send to my PO Box or delivered.

Anyway, I'm well... truly I am. 

When I go out, I make sure I don't go out for any longer than I need to. Today, I was out the door before 8am, to get something done for my car - and it was finished before 8:30am. They were great about it all. I got them to adjust the catch on the boot on my car too - as they had told me to bring the car in if it wasn't catching properly.
After I paid for that, and was gone - hopefully for the last time - I drove to my folks' house to sign some papers and email them back to a doctor for next week's appointment. He's calling me on the phone; instead of actually seeing me - which is the going thing at the moment with doctors. 

Then, I was off to the post office to pay for the rego on my car, and get the credit/debit card I mentioned, and then I was checked my mail at the post office at Slacks Creek and then I headed home. 

Once home, I showered, stripped my bed and put my sheets in to wash. Man, am I tired! Two days in a row, I've gotten up before 7am and have been out the door just about 7:30am... and I'm home before 10am. It's a busy week too, with my gas bill to pay, laundry, washing up to get done, the rest of my Christmas lights going up, the garden to look at, and the hope of mowing my lawn this weekend. 

Isolation in this day an age means not going out for coffee with a friend, not hugging your parents when you don't live with them, keeping yourself active and lifting weights at home, and making sure you do everything at right. Today, I forgot my mask - and I felt awful about it. 

But the computer's working again, and that's a good thing. It was a small thing which got it going, and once the people at Super Geek and I figured out what was going with it, it was all good. Now, I have the time to save up for some things around the place... but I am doing some serious work on my garden. Yeah, isolation makes you want to make your yard pretty so you have somewhere to be. 

Well, I hope you're going okay in your isolation situation wherever you may be. So, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here.

Keeping Yourself Sane

In these weird-ass times, it's important to keep yourself sane. It's difficult to sleep, hard to get something to eat which you'll want to eat, and it's even more difficult to get motivated in the mornings. Yes, you just don't want to get out of bed anymore; thinking there's no point in getting up - because there's nothing to do, nowhere to go and not much point in getting out of bed until 1pm.

Well, I'm afraid to tell you this, if you keep doing that to yourself, you will actually put your system at risk of catching this virus and you will get sick.

If you think that sounds negative, well, I don't mean to be - it's the truth about being depressed and also being mentally exhausted. We are all feeling this right now and it's a matter of doing a few things which will put you onto a more normal keel.

Get to bed and get up at your regular times.

I know that sounds like a no-brainer, but there's you out there who are going to bed a midnight and getting out of bed at 2pm and then complaining you have no energy and don't want to get out of your pajamas and you're sitting around watching television all day or sitting around surfing the net all day on your phone. This is not healthy... and what's worse for you is to call up for take-away and have those 'zero-contact' delivery show up. I'm telling you right now, there's no such thing as zero-contact. They have to make your food, right? Well, they're touching it there... make it yourself.

And speaking of which: 

Get in and cook your meals yourself.

Cooking is the great equaliser. You will find out what kind of cook you are when it comes down to it. Are you the gourmet where you have a herb garden outside in the greenhouse? Or are you the baked beans on toast cook? Well, after a while the baked beans on toast will get very old - and believe me, it'll get old very quickly. 

Organise yourself

Organise your day as though you're going out to work. Yes, this is a good way of getting in and working from home, or making it as though you are. We all have a lot of time on our hands now. And there's no better time to get in and take a good look at where your house is at than now. Have you got too many books? Have you got clothes that no longer fit (or you haven't worn in over a year?), are you looking at furniture which you're sick of. Now is the time to look at your finances and start to save up for the new furniture, put away anything you don't want to donate when we're allowed to donate again, and it's time to get in and start looking at how you want your house to look and feel.
This will be a great time to learn new things as well. Get in and work on your garden. Learn how to cook that meal your Grandmother used to cook for those family gatherings you've always wanted to know how to cook. Read that series of books you've had in your bookcase - now it the time because we all have the time.

Get dressed, Show Up.

Yes... that's the ticket! You get up at 7am every morning, get your butt into some every day clothes (no not those boxer shorts you wore yesterday - real clothes from your wardrobe, and not a Halloween costume) and you show up in your kitchen and actually make yourself something to eat, a cup of coffee and look outside. You may be on complete lock down where you're not allowed outside at all, or you can go out into the garden, but you have to get your ass out of bed, out of your pajamas and into your life. 

We're all feeling really ... blah... right now. And it's because we can't see each other, we can't hug our parents or our loved ones. We can't take our friends out to lunch and have a good gossip about everything. But this isn't forever; and we will get through this. And while we're putting up with the crap hand we've been dealt, we can all stand together (at the social distance of 1.5m) and get it that life will go on. 
So, take care of yourself. Get in and work on that great American/Australian/life-long novel/series of paintings/lot of music - whatever you've been meaning to get into - and chill out. I've always been told that my house is my castle... and you know? It's true. And for those of you who are not treating your house as your castle - as your retreat - you're seeing it all wrong. You're seeing your house as a prison, a halfway house, instead of the place you escape to get away from the world. This is how we must see our houses right now - they are our castles, not prisons. We're not trapped at home, we're safe in our castles. 

Social Distancing

Yesterday, I went out to do my grocery shopping; and I got up at 5:30am to do it. I decided to take advantage of the early trading hours for people on a pension and disability pension - and I mean, why not? I could get some things for myself which aren't normally there. 

So, I arrived half an hour early and was one of the first in line with one other lady, who looked like she was stretching for a marathon. No, seriously, she did. I think she had been there another half hour before me; so her feet may have been sore. I wiped down my trolley with a disinfected wipe and gave her one and she asked if I had gloves - unfortunately I didn't. So, she went out to her car and got 2 freezer bags for me. How nice was that?

Well, the doors opened as the crowd gathered at 7am and we all walked in calmly showing our pension cards and the first place I went to was the toilet paper... there were 3 of them left. One guy was walking away with one 6-pack, I grabbed one and gave another lot to another lady... such a pity there wasn't any for anyone else. I felt really sad for everyone else who wanted toilet paper. 
I walked around calmly getting the rest of my things on my list - and some of the things I didn't need - and found my way to the checkouts, where they told me they couldn't use my bags. Um, okay... I guess.

I haven't bagged up things to fast in my life! The girl did things so I could lay my hands on them and they weren't mixed up too much - thankfully. But my cold items were too much for one bag; so after paying, I moved out of the way of the next customer quickly and pushed myself against the closed door of Coles and pulled out another bag from my baggies to rebag my cold items. This was when a woman walked past, glaring at me: 'Hey, move out with all of that!' the man behind her snapped at her, 'Are you blind? Can't you see she's rebagging things, you stupid bitch! And hey you moved towards her!' I looked up at her, smiling and ... well, gave her a good mouthful of what not to do when you're confronting a person who hasn't had much sleep - and is a little depressed about this situation.
By the time I had organised myself, she had moved on and I lost her in the crowd. The man asked if I was okay, and he said that I was okay doing what I did; and not to let it get to me. 

What a nice person he was. But woah, what an awful person she was!

Anyway, that was only part of my day out. I went to Bunnings and had to wait half an hour to get in because they have special trading hours for the tradies and medical staff between 7 - 9am. I think that's a great idea; and I didn't mind in the least in waiting at all. I bought 2 pots, 3 bags of garden soil, a cute little pot on the bargain trays and a Frangipani for $10 also on the bargain tray too... now not a bad morning looking around. When I got home, I unloaded absolutely everything, emptied out the esky and put everything away. 

It's difficult to clean and make sure everything is clean. You see, there's a video making the rounds about how to clean your groceries from the USA, and the man in it says to leave your groceries in your garage for up to 3 days because the virus will be on it and it'll let it die. And he says to wash your vegetables and fruit in hot washing up water and laundry liquid... something I've never ever heard of here. A friend of mine, from the USA told me that she leaves her groceries in her garage for weeks and months, as storage. I told her that it's simply not possible because of how Australian homes are built. We have such a hot country, we can't seal off everything because it'll grow mold and get too wet. We don't have attics or basements either due to that problem as well. Australian homes are designed to let the air through, to cool down in Summer and warm up in Winter... it's just how it all works. And our garages aren't completely sealed. The newer houses are probably like this, but the older houses are not. 

Well, as you can see, there's some problems with how some of us see the virus affecting us all. I'm still wondering what's true and what's not. I'm still having problems with what is the truth.