Day in the life - Weeks 7 and 8

The weeks are blurring together. If I didn't take the odd note I really couldn't remember what happened from one week to the next. This blurriness seems to add a dullness to events. Things that would have been very dramatic in pre-pandemic days - like a bomb scare - seem a bit mundane.

Yep, a bomb scare. We were walking one evening along the railroad tracks that run just south of our neighbourhood when we saw flashing blue lights and several fire trucks. The trail gets pretty busy in the evenings and a police officer with a megaphone was telling everyone to turn around, the trail was closed. Later, online, we discovered that someone had found two grenades and a mortar shell while digging in a garden. Bizarrely, it turned out this was the second incident that same day, with another gardener finding a grenade a little way north up in Oakland! Later I received an alert on my phone telling me to 'shelter-in-place' while the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office bomb squad detonated the grenades and shell. Having to shelter-in-place while already sheltering-in-place was a first!

Talking of bombs, last Friday, May 8 was the 75th anniversary of VE Day - Victory in Europe. It passed by in the US without fanfare as far as I could tell, but in the UK there was much socially-distanced celebration. My parents and their neighbours celebrated the anniversary spaced out on lawn chairs in the street with tea, scones, and bottles of Spitfire Kentish Ale. A local museum in Brighton, where my sister lives, 'celebrated' by creating a map showing where the 476 bombs fell in the area during WWII. One had fallen at the end of her road, likely a German bomber jettisoning its load to save fuel as it flew home after a bombing raid in London.  Just one of the terrible random events that was part of that war. 

Since all this started I have found all the war rhetoric ridiculous and annoying. Trump cast himself as a 'wartime president', has talked about 'the war on the invisible enemy' and used language like 'the Chinese virus' to stoke nationalism and racism. The other day on his Arizona visit he said, about re-opening, "The people of our country should think of themselves as warriors." There is an excellent article here about the use of war rhetoric during the coronavirus epidemic.

While those who are actually on the 'frontlines' such as healthcare workers do display selfless wartime courage on a daily basis, the rest of us just need to sit tight and not take risks. Surely it would make more sense for our leaders to model how we, the general populace should behave? Boris Johnson  on March 3 boasted, “I was at a hospital the other night where I think there were a few coronavirus patients and I shook hands with everybody, you will be pleased to know, and I continue to shake hands.” On the same day his government's coronavirus advisory group issued a statement that the government should “advise against greetings such as shaking hands and hugging.” A month later Boris had COVID-19 and was using up one of the UK's 6,500 intensive care beds.


As VE Day approached I rather dreaded what I thought might be a resurgence of the 'keep calm and carry on' rhetoric in the UK. As it turned out, the celebration of victory seemed to come at just the right moment when spirits were lagging, a reminder of what people can endure, that the world can overcome adversity and recover. Queenie spoke again to the nation, another beautifully constructed speech where she echoed her father's words of seventy-five years ago "Never give up, never despair - that was the message of VE Day." There was no allusion to it in her speech, but on the evening of May 8 1945 she and her sister left Buckingham Palace incognito to join the celebrations on the streets, which she described in a recent interview with the BBC as "one of the most memorable nights of my life." 


My father has rather bitter memories of VE day since he was not allowed to join the celebrations at his boarding school. He was 'locked up' due to having been part of a group of boys who broke the crossbar of a rugby post (quite an impressive feat for a bunch of seven-year-olds, I've always thought!) 

The following year in 1946 the King sent a message to all school children as part of the victory celebrations that took place across the UK to mark the final end to the war on all fronts. My mother found my father's copy of the letter:

What I find so interesting about this letter is the measured mildness of the language. Here is someone using an actual war to inspire a future generation and the qualities he associates with victory are 'courage, endurance, and enterprise'. Maybe people who have actually been through a war are more cautious about inciting people to be 'warriors'. 

Masks seem to be the latest yardstick by which some politicians measure their reckless behaviour. Back on April 3 the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the US recommended we all wear masks  in public places where social distancing is difficult. The experts say wearing a mask isn't so much about protecting the wearer from being infected, but more to stop asymptomatic people from spreading the virus. Trump could have set an example, like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who is always seen wearing a scarf over her face in public places. But instead Trump said, "I don't think I'm going to be doing it." Even as he toured a Honeywell mask manufacturing factory in Phoenix, Arizona he wore protective goggles but no mask. Vice President Pence was photographed visiting a hospital surrounded by medical staff and patients. All were wearing masks except Pence. He later acknowledged he should have worn a mask.

Nancy Pelosi in Washington D.C. Photo: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Now, as two White House staffers test positive for COVID-19 - the Vice President's press secretary and the President's valet - the White House has ordered all staff to wear masks. Well, all except for Trump and Pence of course.

A while ago I ordered a bunch of cloth masks from Etsy and mysteriously got a double order of one lot, so now we have many, many masks. But as it turns out it is a good thing - means less washing. For a few days, until the novelty wore off, the kids were into wearing masks on our daily walks (technically we don't need to wear masks when we 'exercise outdoors'). Since you have to wear a new mask each time you go out, turns out that you go through a lot pretty quickly. So my recommendation is - don't buy/make a couple of masks, get lots! 

A floral cornucopia...

Many many masks.

Since I'm not really going out I'm not wearing masks very often, but I do have to wear one when I go for any medical appointments - another of the 'new' protocols that seem so sensible it is hard to understand why it wasn't always in place. Wearing a mask is a bit of a pain - first world problems surface like the fact that face recognition doesn't work to open up my iPhone and glasses frequently steam up (if you put the bottom edge of the glasses over the top edge of the mask it seems to happen less). The cloth masks seem quite breathable but still, it does feel like a chin sauna most of the time. It is also a surprise how much gets lost in communication with the lower half of the face hidden. I keep thinking of all those surgical scenes in medical dramas like Grey's Anatomy and ER where the masked doctors 'make with the eyes' to great effect. Maybe we will all develop extra expressive eyes! 

Thoughts of victory over the virus were on my mind one evening as I went for a walk with ThingOne. We had just taken part in a Zoom presentation from one of the High School programs he has signed up for next year - a combined media arts, language arts, and history program. Seniors from the program were talking about their experiences in the program and how it helped shape their future choices about college and careers. During the Q&A someone asked where all the students were going to college. Out of the six students two have had to change their plans - instead of going away to college they will be attending local community colleges 'due to financial reasons related to the pandemic'. They were very matter of fact, but it seemed heartbreaking. I said to ThingTwo that I hoped he would get a chance to have something of a 'normal' experience during his high school years and beyond. He said that he thought things might get back to some kind of normal by senior year. Four years away. I was impressed that he seemed to have a realistically low expectation!

He had a tough end to the week since he was invited out by a group of friends to go on a bike ride. We decided to say no. Mainly because the recommendation is that it is still too soon to 'expand the pod'. But we later learned that one friend who had been going out riding with this group had an accident and is going to need shoulder surgery. I know I can't wrap the kids in bubble wrap forever, but that would be just fine for me at the moment. As it is they go out rollerblading and skateboarding - and I hold my breath and expect the worst. So far we've had some bruises and a rolled ankle. Please let it stay that way. Hospital is the last place I want to take them right now. 

On the upside for ThingOne, Project Frog is a go! We have been gradually amassing frog equipment and now have placed an order for a chocolate pacman frog! The kids made matcha tea frog cupcakes to celebrate.

ThingTwo has been feeling pretty unwell - she's had a blocked nose and been sneezing all week. Even though it would be extremely unlikely she would have contracted the virus, we found ourselves asking her at dinner the other night if she could still smell and taste the food (loss of both smell and taste is apparently an early symptom of COVID-19). She thought we were asking whether she liked the meal and kept saying, 'Mum, it tastes great, I mean it isn't super tasty but it's really really good, really, I love it!' Ho ho. Anyway, it seems that she may have allergies not a cold (or the virus!) and antihistamines have helped. It has been a bad year for pollen - since February everything outdoors has been coated in a thin layer of yellow dust raining down from a succession of flowering trees.

Last week was 'Teacher appreciation week' and we were encouraged to think of ways to thank our kids teachers. I asked ThingOne if there were any of his teachers he'd like to thank in particular and was surprised to hear that he wanted to thank his science teacher - the toughest of all his teachers. At the start of the school year he came home outraged because she had so many 'unfair' rules - no going to the toilets during class, no grades for work turned in late. It shows that tough love breeds respect. 

Mr Husband received some appreciation from his work - a plant! All members of the project he works on were sent a potted red 'prayer plant' and a note from the leadership team saying 'Thanks for your tenacity during this crisis! Please enjoy this piece of nature while working at home.'

There wasn't much appetite for doing the Interview these past weeks, but here's the transcript of the last one we did:

ThingTwo: Today is, what day is it today? It is May 3, Sunday. It is 6.43 and we are having dinner which is soup and these nice sort of things. We have barley tea to drink. Now I will begin the questions. Mum what is your favourite color. 

Me: Blue. 

T2: What kind of horse do you like?

Me: Arabians.

T2: What city would you like to visit?

Me: Kyoto.

T2: What is your favourite breakfast food?

Me: [Had to think very hard about this] Pancakes.

T2: Who was your best school teacher?

Me: Mrs Hindle for English and Mr Wallin for Physics. 

T2: What would you name a frog?

Me: Bob.

T2: How did your grandparents meet?

Me: Hmm. I don't know. I really have no idea. They seemed very different so I'm not sure. My great aunt had a husband who was a jockey and my grandfather liked horse racing so maybe that was the link?

T2: Ok, here are my answers: Favourite colour is green. My favourite name is Chrysanthamum. I like Dunn horses. I would like to visit Vancouver. My favourite breakfast food is waffles. My best school teacher was Ms Cowan. I would name a frog Chrusan... How did my grandparents meet? I have no idea. 

Me: What kind of horses do you like?

Mr H: Big brown ones.

Me: What city would you like to visit?

Mr H: Austin. 

Me: What is your favourite breakfast food?

Mr H: Leftovers but if it has to be new, burritos. 

Me: Who is your best teacher so far?

Mr H: I had an electronics teacher in college who was good, inspiring and he wrote me the reference to get into university.

Me: What was his name?

Mr H: Can't remember. Pretty sure he is dead. He was already old when I knew him.

Me: What would you name a frog?

Mr H: Lilly. 

Me: How did your grandparents meet?

Mr H: I think through the church, I'm not really sure. 

ThingTwo: Wait, great-grandma was religious?

Mr H: Yes, just quietly religious. 

Me: Ok. ThingOne. What is your favourite colour?

ThingOne: A nice dark green.

Me: What kind of horses do you like?

T1: Those funky grey ones with spots. [T2 interjects: flea bitten grey!]

Me: What city would you like to visit?

T1: Hmm. I want to see how overrated New York is. 

Me: What is you favourite breakfast food?

T1: Breakfast sausage. 

Me: Who was your best teacher?

T1: My science teacher is really actually a legitimately good teacher. She's just strict but secretly really nice. 

Me: Wow, I would not have predicted that at the start of the school year. 

T1: Yeah I know she was like 'you can not go to the bathroom' and I was just like 'What?!!'

Me: What would you name a frog?

T1: I'm naming this one Ziggy the frog. 

Me: How did your grandparents meet?

T1: I'm going to go with your side because I know more about them both. Um. Probably at university or something they were working on a project together and Grandad was, like, 'wooo'. 

Me: What do you think Grandad did?

T1: I don't know, he went 'woo!'

Me: I think he invited Grannie to come see his record player but when they got to his rooms it turned it wasn't connected up to anything, it really was 'come see my record player'. I don't know if that story is true or if I'm remembering how is was when we were little. In the '70s he had this very nice hi-fi system with a huge valve amp and speaker, but it would only occasionally get connected up to the record player and we would listen to the couple of records my parents owned - Revolver, Miriam Makeba, some Portuguese Fado singer. 

Mr H: Who wants to play ping pong?

T1: Me!

Mr H: Ok, let's do it!