Author Topic: Corona - what does help you? Your fears, thoughts, everything  (Read 152112 times)

Offline Penthesilea

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Re: Corona - what does help you? Your fears, thoughts, everything
« Reply #20 on: March 27, 2020, 04:39:41 am »
Quote
and learnt that coffee has been declared non-essential so they are closed


 :o
Totally agree with you. Coffee is essential. Over here, things have not shut down as much as in NZ apparently. Restaurants, bars, hotels and shops have been closed for a while now, but supermarkets, weekly markets, drugstores and pharmacies are open. And all groceries are regarded essential, including coffee of course.
As for the producing sector: they're all allowed and encouraged to keep producing as good as they can while regarding the 2 meter distance rules (also as good as they can).


I'm having somewhat of a problem with this double standard: in private, you are allowed to be with maximum one other person (except members of the same household), but at work you're still in a much bigger group, albeit trying to keep the 2 meters distance.


Meanwhile, my Hannah has been working at a hospital for the last four weeks. It's a regular clinical traineeship. Thankfully she's on the gynecology ward, so no corona patients for her. My inner mama bear is soothed by that. Anyway, she says the same as the news: things are okay at German hospitals at this point.

Nonetheless, Universities are recruiting medical students just for the case when push comes to shove. Hannah put her name on the volunteer list, but so far no students have really been put to emergency work. I sincerely hope it stays that way.

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: Corona - what does help you? Your fears, thoughts, everything
« Reply #21 on: March 27, 2020, 09:03:37 am »
Really. How can anybody consider coffee as not essential? NZ will have a whole nation in caffeine withdrawal!

I couldn't say about companies that provide coffee for businesses, but here it can still be bought in grocery stores. You might be stuck with a brand you don't like, though. That happened to me this week. I'm supposed to be drinking decaf (blood pressure), but the only decaf they had was a brand I don't like. I bought the decaf. I wish now I hadn't. I should have ignored the decaf and gone with regular coffee from the brand I prefer. I'm stuck now--I won't waste the money I spent on the decaf.
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline Penthesilea

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Re: Corona - what does help you? Your fears, thoughts, everything
« Reply #22 on: March 27, 2020, 12:31:14 pm »
Really. How can anybody consider coffee as not essential?


Maybe people from Texas? ;) ;D

Offline CellarDweller

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Re: Corona - what does help you? Your fears, thoughts, everything
« Reply #23 on: March 27, 2020, 12:37:19 pm »
I have a Nespresso Machine which is my favourite household item. I buy hot chocolate capsules which fit but are produced by a NZ company. I had a 3 month delivery of coffee capsules from Nespresso at the end of February but let the chocolate capsules run down over summer.  Now that it is autumn (only 12'C today and the same forecast for tomorrow) my thoughts turned to hot chocolate for lunch. I just checked the website for the NZ coffee and hot chocolate company and learnt that coffee has been declared non-essential so they are closed but have applied for reconsideration. Coffee is most essential for me  ;D


I think there are a lot of people who would agree with you.


Tell him when l come up to him and ask to play the record, l'm gonna say: ''Voulez-vous jouer ce disque?''
'Voulez-vous, will you kiss my dick?'
Will you play my record? One-track mind!

Offline brianr

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Re: Corona - what does help you? Your fears, thoughts, everything
« Reply #24 on: March 27, 2020, 02:28:03 pm »
I can still buy coffee at the Supermarket but cannot have it delivered from a company that speciaiises in coffee (and chocolate) capsules. Couriers are restricted to essential items. As I said, thankfully I had 3 months supply (200 capsules) delivered at the end of February. Only supermarkets and dairies (small corner food shops) are allowed to be open. Butchers and fruit markets have been closed. Dairies have been allowed to stay open but must only have one person in the shop at a time. This is because people without cars might have problems getting to a large supermarket. However in Dunedin the buses are still running but on a weekend timetable (so my bus is once per hour not 2 per hour). They are free and you must use the back door unless problems, our buses 'kneel' for prams and elderly so these would have to use the front door near the driver. You must not sit in the seat behind the driver and must not sit next to anyone (except family). While I normally use the bus to go to the city as it is free for my age anyway, I will not be using it as my only reason for leaving the house is to go to the supermarket or for exercise. I went for a walk yesterday down through the streets and laneways and back up a track beside a stream. I would have climbed about 150 metres and walked about 4 and half km. I passed about a dozen people, half with dogs, but we moved to far sides of the track or path and said hullo. I only actually knew one guy but did not stop to chat. Unlike Germany we are not allowed to be with anybody outside our 'bubble' so for me that is no-one.

Offline serious crayons

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Re: Corona - what does help you? Your fears, thoughts, everything
« Reply #25 on: March 28, 2020, 10:44:07 am »
chemist, pharmacy

What's the difference between these? I'm not familiar with the word chemist (used this way) but I would have guessed the chemist was the pharmacist.

supermarkets, weekly markets

And what's the difference here? I'm not familiar with weekly markets. (ETA: maybe they're what we call farmers markets over here? Weekly gatherings of booths where farmers and others sell fresh produce, meat and eggs and sometimes handcrafts like soap and jewelry. They're usually open weekly. I really hope they can open this summer, for the sake of both customers and farmers!)




Here everything is closed except the essentials, which I think are more or less the same as you all have listed. The big question was whether liquor stores would stay open. MN is so straitlaced about alcohol that even beer and wine are not sold in grocery stores. Sale on Sundays has only been allowed for the past couple of years (they had to change the law when the Superbowl was held in Minneapolis!  :laugh:). Thankfully, the governor has deemed liquor stores essential.  :laugh:

Newspapers are considered essential, but we're all working from home whenever possible. I've left the house for work twice in the past two weeks, and two or three other times for errands.

I went out on the 14th for a story about what was happening out there, as things like theaters and art galleries were starting to shut down but most stores and restaurants were still open. These two women had just opened a new pie shop and had a line out the door and down the street. They'd been selling pies out of a church basement for three years and had built up a big fan base -- they sold out of pies by noon. I spoke to people in line at close quarters and stood inside the small crowded shop. One of the owners, who is very warm and extroverted, was literally hugging many of the people in line. I wrote a story with a kind of wry humor -- the term "social distancing" was still brand new. The women had just received their license the day before, and this coincidentally happened to be Pi Day. "It's the perfect time!" one woman said. "Well, kind of -- except for  [blah blah blah about the coronavirus]," my story said. I noted that she wasn't practicing social distancing, that people in line were blithely saying things like "Nothing should stand in the way of pie."

"This story won't age well," someone wrote in the comments. They were right. I didn't worry much about it at the time, but even by the next day it had become kind of shocking that people were cramming into a tight spot. Now, of course, it would be outright illegal.

I sometimes wonder how the pie shop is doing. They were takeout only, so hopefully their shop can stay open and still get business.

The only other time I've been out for work is to go to a historical museum where they were cleaning and sorting little pieces of prehistoric artifacts that archaeologists had found on an island. There were three other people in the building and we sat six feet apart as we talked.

Everything else I've done by phone. The challenge is to find things to write about when nothing is open, governments have mostly shut down and people aren't leaving their homes. I'm not on the team specifically covering COVID, thank god.



Offline serious crayons

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Re: Corona - what does help you? Your fears, thoughts, everything
« Reply #26 on: March 28, 2020, 11:46:40 am »
Imagine how much worse this situation would be without social media, Skype, Zoom, texting, etc.

As far as I know, there were no lockdowns during the 1918 flu. Just think -- people would have been stuck in their houses with no internet, no TV, no radio, no recorded music. Many homes probably even lacked books, magazines and newspapers.

They probably couldn't have had lockdowns anyway because there'd be no way to get the word out to everybody. But if they had, they'd be miserable.

 

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: Corona - what does help you? Your fears, thoughts, everything
« Reply #27 on: March 28, 2020, 02:39:47 pm »
Thankfully, the governor has deemed liquor stores essential.  :laugh:

As far as I know, the governor of Pennsylvania has not changed his mind about that. Liquor stores are not essential. Gun shops are.  ::)

When the governor listed gun shops as not essential businesses, some shit-for-brain tried to sue him for infringing Second Amendment rights. The state Supreme Court threw out the suit, but apparently the justices suggested the governor rethink his decision about gun shops. So now you can buy a gun in Pennsylvania, although you have to have an appointment to do so.  ::)

And, to me, the weird things is, the state is losing revenue keeping liquor stores closed because hard liquor is a state monopoly in Pennsylvania.
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline brianr

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Re: Corona - what does help you? Your fears, thoughts, everything
« Reply #28 on: March 28, 2020, 03:26:49 pm »
We generally say 'chemist. I added 'pharmacy' to explain.  I think the word pharmacy is up on the front of most chemists but we rarely use the term in general conversation. Markets may have lots of stalls selling all sorts of things. Our Saturday Farmers market, which has now sadly closed for the time being, only sells food and it must be grown or made locally. They are very strict on that. Although locally is quite broad. I buy lamb from Cardrona Farms and Cardrona is nearly 300 km away but is still in the Otago Regional Council. Our city newspaper is considered an essential. I do not have it delivered but read on line. The big downside is the online version does not have funeral notices and I missed the funeral of a dear friend last year because my other friends in that walking group just assumed I would know. They all have it delivered. I was sad to see that our weekly free paper has been stopped.
No restaurants or cafes are open, no takeaway and no delivery of cooked food with the exception of meals on wheels for the elderly.
I have read at various times about the Spanish Flu. I know theatres and gatherings were banned, do not know about churches, they would have been more important in those days. It would have been much harder without modern communication.
Yesterday was overcast and cool, the sun came out about 3.30pm, too late for me to be bothered going into the garden. Hopefully better today -Sunday

Offline brianr

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Re: Corona - what does help you? Your fears, thoughts, everything
« Reply #29 on: March 28, 2020, 03:47:02 pm »
I have just had a discussion online with an Australian telling them that here only pharmacies, supermarkets and fuel are essential. The person asked how we could buy liqueur in a supermarket or have a car serviced there. Our supermarkets sell beer and wine. The only time I have been to a liquor store since I moved to NZ was to buy a bottle of port. Auto repair shops here are only allowed to open and repair a car belonging to an essential worker. If my car breaks down, bad luck.
Just been skyping with my sister. Her husband has a nephew, Graham, about my age, mid 70's. He lives in Prague with his Czech wife, but is still an Australian tax resident so returns twice a year and stays a few months. He is quite wealthy. His wife was out here but went home about a week before all the flights were cancelled so they are separated. She is isolated at home like if in NZ, cannot even see her sister.
One of Graham's best mates here in Australia has just been diagnosed with cancer and given only a few months. Graham wants to visit him but he lives about 100km south of Sydney in a city with a cluster of Covid19 and Graham would have to catch the train. Forbidden in NZ but not yet in Australia. Both my sister and his wife have asked him not to go.
In NZ only one relative is allowed to attend a funeral, very upsetting for Maori who always have a Tangi which lasts 3 days of the community gathering and the family sitting with the body before it is buried. It is just so terrible in all sorts of ways.