I went back to work on Thursday! Or kind of anyway….. Ever since my Retirement coincided with the ‘End of the World as We Know It’ [Are REM making a packet of money out of this Pandemic or what??] I’ve been holding on to all of the Working from Home paraphernalia – laptop, phone etc – and last weekend they finally asked for it back. I was only too happy to oblige and so used Public Transport for the first time since March. These days it’s mandatory to wear a mask on the bus/tube and so on but that as OK as I’d previously picked up a few packets via Amazon. It did feel a bit weird though and I found myself hyperventilating until I took conscious control of my breathing. As a side effect it also started to steam up my glasses which is going to be MUCH fun during any winter travel! On my way back I started hyperventilating again but it calmed down much more quickly than the first time. I suppose it’s just something to get used to.
Chatting to my ex-boss we compared a lot of notes on how we’re both doing. He’s now back in the office alternate weeks which, after 3 plus months working from home, felt more than a bit strange. We also both laughed that us both being at work was the furthest either of us had travelled since March – which for me was only around 3 miles! How small (in some ways) our worlds have become since Zombie Dawn. The other thing that’s strange presently is that I haven’t used cash for any transactions other than to pay my window cleaner. I wonder what will happen post-vaccine. Will an almost cashless society be another unintended outcome of Covid-19? Maybe it will. It’s certainly accelerated a lot of other technological trends.
Naturally I’m still reading quite a bit and am presently averaging around 2 books a week as I had hoped pre-retirement. I would be doing a lot more in the garden if it’d stop raining for more than a few hours. Even so it’s looking a lot tidier than it was. I’m watching a fair bit of YouTube presently too – quite a bit of news but also a REALLY good history series covering WW1 week by week in over 600 10-15 minute slots. So that’s keeping my interested in the evenings when I’m too tired to read but not tired enough to go to bed. Plus I have a new solo game (care of the Steam Sale) called Oxygen Not Included which is a survival/resource game based inside what I think is the remnant of an exploded planet. It’s very complex, very cute (the guys you look after are little very cartoony people) and very engaging. I love it.
As the country continues to open up I’m holding back on doing anything too public oriented presently. I’m food shopping and that’s essentially it. I might do some other types of physical shopping but I’m not planning on movie outing, pubs, restaurants or anything like that. They’re still too risky seeing that nothing much has changed since the viral wave washed over us all. It’s all about risk management and risk reduction. You’ll never get it to zero but I’m going to try!
Whilst still not exactly enjoying my captivity I’m fully aware at how lucky I am in that I have no job worries or any other kind of worry to be honest. I do miss being with people (which came as a bit of a surprise to me to be honest – though it really shouldn’t have done) but I’m coping and am pretty much hunkered down for the long, long haul. Luckily I think I might just have enough books to see me through. Although my Amazon Wish List is calling to me……. Be Safe & Stay Safe. See you ALL on the Other Side!
Oh, I almost forgot…. I’ve created a few labels over on the right to reflect the ‘Current Situation’: “Post-Apocalypse” – covering all types of fictional world-ending, and “Pandemics” covering pandemics (obviously) in both fact and fiction and including these reports from inside the thick of it. Please use them as a resource to get through the End Times in one piece.
8 comments:
i have the same problem with fogged glasses; not the hyper-ventilation, tho, probably because i never go around any people; well, i take that back i had to go grocery shopping because mrs. m was afraid to and that was a bit venty i guess... i wore a mask but was really glad to get out of there; whenever i try to used those credit card machines there's a long of people behind waiting for me to figure out why and how i screwed up... not a member of the now generation, no... be safe, wear a mask and curses to the viral zombies who lurk around every corner!!
I've seen mention of Oxygen Not INcluded, but haven't tried it. I've picked up Pandemic Inc (and have so far killed off humanity with Disco Fever, Macarena Madness, Star Wars Fanboyism, and the Tickle Plague, among others); Blind Justice (which is really boring, you literally sit at a desk and judge Soviet peasants, and you're either shot by the KGB or killed by the peasants really quick), and Depraved, a western city builder. I blew all my money on building outhouses because I thought they were residential shacks. XD
@ Mudpuddle: I think the hyperventilating thing was a micro-panic reaction to having to think about my breathing. Once I got the hang of it things were fine again. No doubt if I have to do it regularly it'll become 2nd nature. The card thing is a bit weird I agree. We have a £30-45 contactless limit on the cards (it varies from shop to shop) and I can pay like that on the bus too so no actual cash needs to change hands.
@ Stephen: ONI is VERY addictive. There's SO much going on that you've got to be constantly on the look out for issues whilst planning for future expansion & problem solving. The little guys, called Duplicates or 'Dupes' are funny to watch as they run around doing stuff and you get quite attached to them. It was awful when one of them died (mostly my fault) and they had to bury him. Each Dupe - in ones and twos - came to his grave and actually CRIED. It was heartbreaking!!!
As you probably know, "opening up" has not gone well in California and particularly in my county, Los Angeles County. I have a son (plus wife and three kids) in Houston. So we stay at home, cook at home, eat at home with only three takeout meals so far. Yeah, the foggy glasses with the mask is so annoying. May I quote Don Henley? "Every morning, I wake up and worry, what's going to happen today?" Plus we have to get through a presidential election this year. Pretty much a shit show over here across the pond.
@ Judy: Yes, I've seen the results of early opening (SO not following even the CDC guidelines!) and the consequences across the country. The rest of the world can only look on and shake our collective heads. By the looks of it Canada did REALLY well flattening the curve and, so far, keeping it flat. I'm not even going to mention S. Korea.....
You can see why much of the world pity's the USA presently - social unrest, an out of control pandemic AND Donald Trump trying to get re-elected.... You guys definitely have you work cut out in the next 5-6 months. GOOD LUCK with that!
We need all the luck we can get! But I would like to note that during our #BlackLivesMatter protests, one does not typically see a rise in the spread of COVID. Yet, the same can not be said for that orange idiots rallies, and all his supporters running around with their guns, yelling about not wearing masks. I maybe saw five people total not wearing masks at all of the B:M protests I attended.
@ Sarah: The US is most certainly living through particularly interesting times right now. I'm predicting at least a 10 Year 'sort it' timeline. You guys have a LOT to deal with. But looking forward it should be much better by mid-century.
or much worse (sorry)
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