Another day, another move. Grabbing onto the brief 7-day travel time and to escape a disruptive and uncomfortable living situation, I’m back with family, grateful for the escape and having people around that I can talk to. No more total isolation.
Enough Already
Reprieve of Sorts and a Rant
I had high hopes that when Level 4 of the South African Lockdown kicked in on May 1, there would be an easing of restrictions to make this isolation more bearable. But except for a 3 hour window in the early morning when we are allowed to “exercise”, nothing changed for me. No visiting, no socializing, no, no, no.
A Week to Go...Sort of
With one more week at what is now known as Level 5 (complete lockdown) to go, last night President Ramaphosa outlined what we can expect to change. Which is not much. The biggie for me is that we will be able to get out to “exercise” which means I can go for walks, instead of being in here going stir crazy.
And it Continues...
Lockdown Meltdown
I thought I was immune to this isolation and restrictions and was, I thought, mentally prepared for the anticipated announcement from President Ramaphosa. We all knew that the three weeks wasn’t long enough to “flatten the curve” but when he announced on Thursday evening that the lockdown would continue for an additional two weeks, making it a total of five weeks, taking us to the end of April, it felt like the world caved in.
The Memories Project
For a couple of years now, I’ve been capturing memories. The good, the bad and the ugly ones.
The impetus behind this originally was that my family has very little information about our parents’ past. Just a few anecdotal stories handed around. Our mother was very, very tight-lipped, way beyond the stiff upper lip of her generation. We had maybe a couple of stories from her youth that she may have mentioned in passing. But probably got from our grandmother who I barely remember.
Locked Down in South Africa
DAY 5
This is when I’m really grateful for all the electronics and messaging systems we have available!
It’s pretty much the only way to keep in contact with anyone during the South African COVID-19 lockdown, and being on my own, it’s super important that I keep in contact and know that if one messaging system isn’t connecting, I have four others to try!