Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Day 20 Good news of the day – no more sore throat! Other than that life is following a steady rhythm in and around the house. I found this a great read as I struggle to keep to the same work schedule I had in the office.
Seems like sound advice to structure the day around outputs rather than hours. Highlight of the day was reconnecting with all of the Easter decoration and hanging some in the bushes in our front garden so that passing strollers may also enjoy them.
Speaking of, the elderly couple we have adopted for the purpose of their grocery shopping send an email that walking past our house they noted the rainbow on the front door which made them smile. So little gestures can make a difference and cause a moment of happiness, which is gratifying.
Gratifying also to see notes popping up on doors around the Hood thanking the delivery and mail people for their work. Someone even painted a mural onto the road with a big thank you. Humanity is beginning to have a very different appreciation of those who were in the past largely invisible. Cashiers, shelf stockers and delivery staff. Not to mention all the medical staff of course.
I never thought I would see the day when a teenager begs teachers to be online to hand out assignments though! Seems school work is better than projects involving tiding up stuff or finishing 1984 for that extended essay due in December. It is great to see, teaching staff and MCPS stepping up to the task of teaching some 150.000 students online. School has been great in their communication I must say. As of tomorrow, online teaching is to begin. Wondering how long it will take before the first complaints come from the dining room, where EM has set up her classroom. Never has it been this messy and I must hold onto myself to not continuously tidy up.
Things all over the place is what I guess comes with the increased amount of time spend at home. Given we are likely to have another two months of the same in a best-case scenario, there will be plenty of time to tidy up still.
Am desperate for some warmer weather though so I can move my office outside into the garden. I might even return to the office in a few months with a tan. That would be kind of funny, showing up looking as if one had just returned from a vacation. Still avidly following the news, which continues to be dominated by Corona of course. While Italy is plateauing, daily rates in other countries continue to go up. The US has now taken over as the epicenter of infections. Globally infections are just shy of 850k, with almost a quarter of those in the USA (185k). With death tolls in the US close to 5.000 the Boston Globe writes “Trump has Blood on his Hands". While probably entirely correct, this does not seem to influence either his followers or the GOP.
In Wuhan on the other hand life is slowly returning to normal and they face a different problem entirely – people are not very keen to leave the safety of their homes and go back to normal. Is this what we are in for once we are allowed out again? To scared to engage in social life?
I do not have the bandwidth today to think about a future life, maybe tomorrow. I am dead tired – obvious lack of sleep as I am no longer used to late nights and stayed up chatting with someone until almost 1am…. Interesting to observe how quickly our body adjusts to a different rhythm. For now I will leave with this happy note. Enjoy the music!