With large sections of society going into ‘social-isolation’, one Lichfield resident lifts the lid on her thoughts in the latest of a series of diary posts on the coronavirus outbreak.
On Thursday, I was forced out of the house because the brown wheelie bin disappeared. It should have been on the kerb opposite the house, next to the blue one, but our new local heroes, the bin men, had left it much further down the road.
It’s a national emergency, but the community spirit hasn’t touched everyone.
Alerts on my phone from Neighbourhood Watch warn me that local baddies are still breaking into sheds and shops shut down by the crisis. And my next-door neighbours, who know I live alone, never think to check if I’m all right or leave a friendly note in the letter box.
But I’m also getting to know some people much better than before and there’s a lovely network of others in isolation, sharing survival tips and pictures of surroundings that cannot be shared for real.
The days have settled into a pleasant pattern of non-events. I do emails in the morning, pick up the phone in the afternoon, tidy something up, go into the garden for a while, navigate Netflix at night and worry at regular intervals – though there’s nothing new about the last bit.
A nice chat keeps the darkness at bay. One friend, always a sunbeam, insists we look on the bright side.
‘After all, Tess,’ she says. ‘At least we’re at home. We could be stuck on a cruise ship somewhere, with the killer virus on board…’
My favourite news story of the week is about a tiger in America, in the Bronx Zoo, who’s tested positive for COVID-19. He’s got a persistent dry cough, but is expected to make a full recovery.
