Corona - what does help you? Your fears, thoughts, everything

[serious crayons]

There was one other person on the call who wouldn't turn on her video. We were discussing partnering with another gardening group to have a plant sale in September. It would be an outdoor event with masks and only the salespeople would be allowed to handle the potted plants and they would be wearing gloves. People would pay for their plants online. Nobody would be required to go if they didn't want to. The lady who wouldn't turn on her video proposed a motion that we NOT participate in the sale because "it's just too dangerous." But there was no second to the motion. We thanked her for her input and told her she didn't have to participate in the sale. I think she could  have been successful in persuading us if she had just turned on her video.

I probably haven't been following the details closely enough to say this, but I don't think I've heard of a lot of virus outbreaks from sales interactions -- the kind where you go into a store, buy something, and leave. And those are inside and often involve roaming around touching things.

Normally I'm with the "better safe than sorry unless it's essential" camp, but this one sounds fairly safe. Especially if your group needs the money to operate and/or has to do something with the plants, it seems worth doing.

 

[Front-Ranger]

Plants are considered essential, and growers of plants are one of the many endangered industries. There has been a big interest in gardening this year but it's hard getting buyers and growers connected. Our garden society doesn't get any profit from the sale that I know of, but we will be helping our growers to stay in business a little longer.

This pandemic is hanging around so long that I wonder if it's going to become a permanent thing. I've been doing fine mental health-wise but thinking that I might want to add a few new strategies to keep my equilibrium as the end of this scare keeps retreating into the more distant future. Start some new home projects, for example. Yesterday I started cleaning out my fridge and putting all the food into my fridge upstairs that is larger and newer. It's also easier to see what's in it because it has the freezer on the bottom instead of on the top.

This one small thing improved my mindset completely. I found ingredients I had been looking for and wanting to use in recipes. I found quite a few expired things I could throw out and some jars of pickles I could consolidate. Soon, I'll be able to turn off my empty fridge and do a deep cleaning. Crazy that this task could be so uplifting to my spirits, but whatever floats your boat, right?

[Jeff Wrangler]

Cleaning always brings about a sense of accomplishment, even if it's only dusting.

[brianr]

I chat with my sister every morning on Skype, have done so for 10 years since I moved to Aotearoa/NZ. However we never turn the video on, perhaps 2 or 3 times in the 10 years when I wanted to show her something. So we have not seen each other since she visited me last December.

[brianr]

Plants were not considered essential when we were in lockdown. For 5 weeks the only places open were the supermarket, pharmacies and medical centres. For the next 2 weeks other businesses were only allowed to open if they had arrangements for ordering online or by phone and collect at the door. I did not do any of those things.
Our hard lockdown means we are normal now except for our borders but some states in Australia, where closures were not so strict, are going back down into lockdown. The state of Victoria is making masks mandatory from tomorrow and my sister in NSW is going to buy some more today in case. She did wear one when going to her GP a week or so ago.  I have never had to wear a mask, I have some for when I am dealing with mulch in the garden in case of legionnaires disease. It is very unlikely I will be able to visit my sister this year.

[serious crayons]

Do you have people in NZ who refuse to wear masks -- not because they're uncomfortable or whatever, but because they feel it's governmental infringement on their freedoms?

[brianr]

Our government did not recommend wearing masks so that was not an issue. There was a lot of debate in the press but the Director of Health believed they could cause just as much problem from people not wearing them properly.

[Front-Ranger]

My downstairs refrigerator is almost empty and I have started emptying my freezer and putting everything into my upstairs freezer. I've discovered so much food that I'd forgotten I have and am looking forward to revitalizing this fridge that has worked so hard with so little appreciation!

[Front-Ranger]

Thank you all for your information and perspectives! I haven't cancelled my flights into Scotland yet. There's still plenty of time to do that.

...And the woman in your grocery store in Denver, has she been partying in Miami three days before greeting you at Walmart? And so on...

Um, I haven't been in a Walmart in years, Chrissi. When I shop in person, I usually go to an outdoor farmer's market like the one we went to in your village when we visited you in 2014. Most of us here in the U.S. have been quarantining and self-isolating for months now. I was conversing with a Scottish woman while trying to find lodging and she suggested that it wouldn't be fun to quarantine for 14 days there. I replied that it would be as much fun as what I'm doing now, isolated in my little apartment! But, I am resigned to cancelling my trip. Hopefully, I will have plenty of years left in my life when I can be active and travel. Brian, you know what I mean.

[Front-Ranger]

Plants were not considered essential when we were in lockdown. For 5 weeks the only places open were the supermarket, pharmacies and medical centres.

How can supermarkets and pharmacies be essential but plants are not? Surely New Zealanders know where the food and chemicals in supermarkets and pharmacies come from? Though, maybe the plant centres were closed because this happened in winter? I don't know.