I'm home in isolation,
I’m saving the NHS,
and lives too.
The governments daily virus graphs are understandable,
I breath a sigh of relief that the daily death toll is now below 400.
'R' now forms a part of my vocabulary,
but what point is it at?
Is it over one or more importantly is it below one?
I feel as if I am living in a parallel universe,
I don’t know a single unfortunate soul who has Covid-19,
and there are no ambulances to be seen chasing around my roads.
In my world,
the skies are blue,
the sunshines everyday.
The garden is looking a picture,
and even the supermarket queues are tiny.
Where we live is normally extremely quiet,
but now we have daily Ocado vehicles,
disturbing the tranquility,
delivering boxes of food from M & S.
Beautiful flowers and garden Rosemary.
ReplyDeleteKeep safe and I'm sure you finding plenty to do inside and out in your garden if having lovely weather.
We are only permitted to go for essentials and no cases for 3 days. 13 deaths all told.
The Premier is expecting more cases though.
Take care is the watch word Margaret.
DeleteYes we are lucky to to live in a rural area too where you can avoid people very easy. But it feels so weird to step aside when you see someome coming from the opposite..... I don't like this way of living.
ReplyDeleteI expect it will be with us for a good while yet, there is so much to still learn about this virus.
DeleteI think it is true everywhere, Rosemary, that for those who live far removed from the epicentres of the outbreak it all seems a little surreal. Slowly, perhaps, things will start to get back to normal quite soon. I will be leaving shortly to go to the supermarket, arriving there at 7:00 am, the time reserved for seniors, to do some shopping. I will follow the arrows and maintain an appropriate distance like the obedient fellow that I am! It's like being in school again!
ReplyDeleteSurreal is a good description of the feelings many of us are having at the moment David.
DeleteEnjoy your world of bright colours and peace! May Covid-19 stay away!
ReplyDeleteThis SW area of the country has the lowest number of cases, but I do not understand the reason why.
DeleteHello Rosemary, I feel like I am in a similar situation. Taiwan's numbers have been good, the supermarkets are mostly restocked, but people have stopped taking precautions, other than the mask requirements everywhere. I often go for a walk late at night. There is a big store open until 2:00 AM, when there are very few people around.
ReplyDelete--Jim
Hello Jim - I know that you have very few cases and deaths in Taiwan, but I imagine that many people there live very close together, so I wonder why that should be. I think that we possibly began our lockdown later than we should have done.
DeleteI love the beautiful world you live in. Gorgeous garden, flowers and views. If you have to be locked up that is a lovely place to do it.
ReplyDeleteIt seems sort of silly that one size must fit all with Covid-19 restrictions. Rural areas have not got the same concerns as city dwellers. I live in a big city and I don't know anyone who had had the virus either.
Long may that continue Catherine - this virus appears to work in mysterious ways.
DeleteDear Rosemary,
ReplyDeleteIt is wonderful to see more of your garden. It looks well cared for and well planned. To have so many beautiful flowers must be so reassuring.
Because I also live in a rural part of the country, Covid has not affected me much. Quite a few people have moved into our small town from the big cities. They have brought their trailers and have hooked up to existing homes. Keeping fingers crossed that they have not brought the virus with them.
Dear Gina - the garden is in a good state currently, but I have to admit that it is mainly due to the fact that we are actually here rather than having little jaunts away.
DeleteWe seem to be back in our grandparent's time when nobody ever strayed more than a mile or two from home. When wanting to give on-coming pedestrians a bit of space we simply wander out into the village street as there's so little traffic. At the same time I'm well-aware that everything is very different in the big cities. It's painful even to imagine what might happen when this pandemic reaches places like Calcutta, Soweto or favelas of Rio and Sao Paulo.
ReplyDeleteI have just read an article in the Sunday Times concerning the situation in India, and S Africa etc. where the virus has not taken off in ways that had been anticipated. New information now appears to show that obese people are making up a large proportion of those that are being put on ventilators or receiving intensive care. People from India and S Africa tend, on the whole, to be thin.
DeleteGarden and flowers looking fabulous Rosemary - and so happy the weather is good there. Your garden lights are interesting, do you turn them on in the evenings? We have fairy lights on the arbor and party lights strung in the gazebo - we turn all on every evening to illuminate the garden back and front.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been to the shops since last Tues. and have yet to order any food deliveries, always manage to pull some delicious meal together from what I have on hand.
Early this morning I'm sitting on the front porch after yesterday's grass mowing, deadheading petunias, planting dahlias and doing general clean up outside for several hours (lower back reminding me all too well this morning!). It's perfect out today but being cognizant of how bad it is fo so many who are suffering, does take the edge off somewhat.
Today will be another stay at home one - I will work on the back deck washing down the table/chairs etc. of what is hopefully the last pollen.
Mary x
Dear Mary - first of all do you realise that it is one year today that we met in Bath, such happy memories, which we must do again.
DeleteThe lights in the garden are really lovely. I do nothing at all to them as they are solar powered lights - all year round they turn themselves on winter & summer for about 4 hours in the winter but much longer in the summer. When we go away it is always a pretty welcome home to find the lights twinkling away on our return. They are very pretty colours which keep changing themselves all night long - I love them.
Your garden is looking beautiful :) It's all very quiet here too. We shop at the Co-op at the end of our road. Locals only, one in-one out. They're very strict and ban anybody who doesn't follow the one way round or the 2m social distance set out. Everybody around here is very good and keeps at least 2m apart when out and about. Neighbours who probably never normally speak to each other are now chatting over the walls or across the road. The vast majority of people understand the impact of this virus, but there are still some who totally disregard it :( Take care and keep well. Best, Jane x
ReplyDeleteAt first I worried about having to go out to the shops, but now I don't. I haven't heard of a single shop up and down the country that has had the virus or had to be shut because of it. However, this now makes me question just why the care homes have suffered so badly.
DeleteThat's an interesting thought. Non of the care home in St Anne's have had any cases of the virus. They're all locked-down with no visitors allowed; not even immediate family x
DeleteIt appears that their lockdown move has had the desired affect - a shame that others did not do the same quicker.
DeleteBeautiful views, and exactly what I'm thinking. I need some groceries today, and am aware that some people aren't interested in staying safe, but want things to return to their old ways...not exactly normal, because that just can't happen any more. Hope you stay safe and may we both (when this is all over) say, we didn't know anyone who caught Covid-19.
ReplyDeleteI too hope that remains true Barbara - the longer the situation continues the more I feel as if things must surely change, and for the better, I hope.
DeleteWe are going through difficult times all over the world. Today my country (Portugal) ended with the obligation to be at home, for all who are in good health. Some businesses gradually started to open, but in compliance with security rules. To avoid new contamination, it's essential that each one of us has the proper care, always wearing a mask outside the house and wash our hands very well. Let's see how this new phase goes.
ReplyDeleteYour garden is fantastic. I loved the mosaic with the flowers, how much color and beauty.
Take care and be well
Mother Nature is doing her best to bring some joy and colour into our lives each and every day, and which I know all of us are particularly appreciating at this moment in our history.
DeleteDearest Rosemary,
ReplyDeleteWell, we are by far not out of the woods and the WORST is yet to come, the many companies (little ones mainly!) that will go bankrupt and so many people that cannot afford to pay their rent or mortgage... A long way ahead and wondering if we ever will live in a world we all knew.
Our State is open but the more densely populated ones are not open yet, causing even more financial disaster...
BUT, looking at nature around us, we have to feel joy for the many miracles we see. Like in your top photo - pure BLISS.
Hugs,
Mariette
Dear Mariette - you are right, but I am burying my head in the sand at the moment regarding the awful aspects that are still to come. It will take decades for people to get back to where they were before all of this began. I can't imagine how those that have no regular money coming in will manage.
Delete😒
DeleteI think this will be with us for some time yet even if it's lifted. For instance I'll be avoiding public transport for the rest of this year- the place I usually and inevitably catch ordinary colds from in winter so I'll take my car if possible and any groups larger than three or four I'll avoid mingling with as well due to my age. Strange times.
ReplyDeleteI too intend to keep very safe especially having seen programmes now about how vicious this virus can be especially if you end up in intensive care. There is still so much that is unknown about it, and how it operates, even though our top scientific brains are working on it day and night
DeleteLovely flowers - how do make the "collage" if that is the right word. Also I cannot work out what the "R" stands for.
ReplyDeleteThanks Susan - I make my collages on Picmonkey, but it is something that you have to pay for annually. However, I do know of a free site that is easy to use which you can find here:- https://www.befunky.com/features/collage-maker/
DeleteScientists use the R value to “predict how far and how fast a disease will spread, and the number can also inform policy decisions about how to contain the outbreak” in scientific terms it is an indication of how much an infectious virus will spread in a population.
According to modelling published by Imperial College London, the R value stood somewhere between 3 and 4.6 in Europe before lockdowns came into effect. The R value here now is below one - which indicates we can now expect the slowing and the turn of the epidemic.
The Cotswolds are such a lovely area. My cousin lives in an old chapel close to Shipston-on-Stour. We were meant to visit there in April but sadly all on hold.
ReplyDeleteSnap - I also have a cousin that lives just outside Shipston-on-Stour in Pillerton Priors - I wonder if they know one another?
DeleteDear Rosemary - Your garden flowers are always beautiful and full of energy. Although I have more time for gardening, I don’t seem to have green fingers. The number of COVID-19 case is low in Nara City but as a bedroom town of Kyoto and Osaka, we are quite careful. The virus has double personality; it looks harmless seemingly but attacks so quick, violent and relentless after entering to the human cells. Take care.
ReplyDeleteYoko
Dear Yoko - we also have the lowest number of cases in the UK here but I am not sure exactly why that is.
DeleteIt all seems very unreal here, too, although my husband comes home with daily reports from work about the virus. I don't know anyone who has had it, and we have just 24 active cases on Vancouver Island. But we do stay home, and like you, I am so thankful for my garden. I cut a few stems of lilacs this morning and they are perfuming the air while I'm at my desk.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are safe and well. What is the rich red flower in the top corner of your collage?
It is a tree peony - Paeonia delavayi which is quite rare - it is not a hybrid but one of the original species of peony tree which comes from Yunnan a province in Southwest China. It is actually a small tree. The yellow flower in the collage is another tree peony which comes from South-East Tibet, and is called Paeonia Ludlowii.
DeleteThe hybrid tree peonies tend to be far more showy and are a small shrub rather than a tree.
Jersey sounds like it is in a similar place to you. We now are allowed out for four hours a day but no shops open other than essentials. Thank goodness for the sunny days.
ReplyDeleteThere are quite a lot of things that I am quite enjoying about the lockdown, and I was delighted to learn today that gas emissions are down by a remarkable 20% in such a short space of time.
DeleteRural Shropshire is quiet too, the streets are fairly empty; we have had a case of Covid in the village and several nearby, but on the whole we feel so far out of it in our comfy little bubble that we manage to live safely. I must say though we are extremely careful about social distancing and isolating.
ReplyDeleteI don't really understand why this SW area of the country is so much lower than anywhere else! It has remained at the very bottom of the daily graph throughout all of this lockdown period.
DeleteIt is quiet on our street . Around 5 pm several neighbors venture out in lawn chairs..staying in their own yards and toast each other with a glass of wine.
ReplyDeleteCheers Janey - hope everything went well for you at the hospital.
DeleteYour world is a world I wouldn't mind being a part of ,sounds like heaven :-))
ReplyDeleteHope all is well with you Jane.
DeleteThank you for your concern Rosemary. I haven't been well for a long time , ( no covid - 19 ) but am now getting better and stronger. Hope to get back to painting soon again. xx
DeleteI am really sorry to learn that Jane, but very pleased to learn that you are getting stronger - please continue to take care of yourself.
Delete