Lockdown Diary Number 15

Hullo World, Morning to you all!
Are you ready to start another week? Do you feel like you’ve had a little weekend break or does every day feel the same in lockdown for you?
I’ll tell you one thing: I’m not sure I can continue with these little lockdown diaries for that much longer. I mean I really don’t know how long we’re going to be in lockdown, but it seems to me a little longer than end of April for us South Africans. What do you think? Not that I mind much at all (in fact, I’m finding it rather beautiful in so many ways) but I mean the thought of pitching up here on the page and telling you what I’ve done or felt or eaten or ironed or watched while in lockdown is pretty bizarre. Not that it’s much different to every other Facebook post or Twitter tweet mind you. It’s just an extended version of Facebook. More words, more time.
What do you think?
So, I’m planning another post for Tuesday, and then there’s a little different one for Wednesday. Watch out for it! And then I think I’m done. Or maybe I’ll get to 20. I don’t know. I suppose it’s nice to end off on a good round number. So, let’s make a deal then. 20 posts. 35 days. That’s not too bad.
For now, what news then?
Well, I crashed into my front gate on Saturday. Mmm, I did. It was really dumb ( note the ‘b’ straight away this time ) and even while I was doing it, it felt really stupid but I kind of carried on as if I was in a movie, doing a stunt job or something.
This is how it happened. I had to go the damn shops. We had run out of essentials so not a single apple or banana or onion or cheese or bread and running a little low on milk. With two vegetarians and one vegan and me, a ‘flexitarian’ (someone told me this was a genuine category and I believed them) I needed to get out. The other thing is that I needed a proper mask. While my youngest had made a little mask (of her own accord and very sweetly) it was not quite right. Firstly, it was a little small and didn’t quite cover more than just my mouth and nose and the string cut a little behind my ear. And with the possibility of my hubby using the old bakkie to help with food distributions in Khayelitsha (and not having been out the house at all, not even ONCE hence no mask) I needed to sort that.
So, off I go. But as I get to the top of the driveway, I see that Thursday’s bin is still on pavement so I pull up the hand- break and haul it inside, and place it just inside the gate, thinking I’ll take it all the way down when I come back .
And then, oh my flipping hell, the queues from Pick n Pay are going right around the whole of the bloody centre and out the front door virtually. Bad timing but apples are essentials. Pop into the pharmacy as they are supposedly selling funky masks ( buy 2 at ridiculous cost of R45 which is a complete rip off I think but necessary) and decide that I simply cannot stomach the queue. Choose rather to go to Spar which smaller and I’ll be quicker and I’ll just have to skip some of the other items on list if don’t have.
Pretty painless shop (and fortunately just in time as queue had built up outside) but the whole excursion feels horrid. I hate the whole unfriendly, traumatised look of everyone shifting past one another carefully, not greeting anyone. I usually like to smile at the person next to me and say ‘hi’ to familiar faces but these days, I just pretend I’m invisible. It’s awful. Do you do that too?
Anyhow. I’m turning into the driveway and press the gate remote and the gate starts opening and I then realise the bin’s in the way of the gate but it’s already being pushed to the side and I just want to get inside but I don’t’ want to interfere with the gate engine so I try to grab the bin through the open window as I go past and it turns and scrapes under the running board of the bakkie and the wheel of the bin is now caught under the bakkie but the left arm of the gate has not fully opened but now I’m barely able to hold the bin so I just keep edging forward and all I hear is kgggggggk as the front left bumper collides with the gate and keeps scraping. And I just keep going forward knowing that I should have stopped the gate opening with the remote. What a flipping idiot!  But now I’m just in a foul mood ‘cos I hate this feeling of being anxious and I don’t feel like the further irritation I’m due when I explain what I did. Clearly all my fault.
Sounds all a little chaotic but in truth the bakkie is old and we’re really not that precious about it. It’s about 17 years old I think. Great for taking dogs and garden refuse and an absolute work horse and it’s served us so well. Would never get rid of it. It has no price tag.
So that was Saturday. I had a good glass of red wine shortly after that.
Sunday was good. I watched the sunrise from the deck at 7 with a book on my laptop and the printed copy of a manuscript I’m working on. Later, as the sun got hotter, I changed into some shorts and T-shirt, put on some laundry and did some real hard physical labour, like cutting the hedge which has these awful sticky bits that sadly manage to trap birds, and sweeping the pink berries off the driveway. In fact, my shoulder is aching as I type this. But I think my abs got a good work out.
I thought about a lot of things while I pushed the broom back and forth, I tell you. Lots of things I thought about telling you here: about what the world should be like and how we’ve gone so wrong and what we really all need (not much) and what I miss (not much) .
But it’s getting late now and I’m tired. I’ll tell you tomorrow maybe.
Just before you go, though, I thought I’d show you how beautiful my view was from my shivasina position in the pool at about 6pm. Yip, it’s still a thing. My son was walking past and I told him to capture it for you cos I wanted to share it with you.
Stunning hey? (And better than showing you a pic of my onesie which I put on afterwards)
Have a great Monday, now okay?
xx