I just wanted to put up a post due to all the messages, e-mails and news around the dreaded Coronavirus, or COVID-19. I know with my teens that information can be too much, and at other times, just not enough to keep them sensible. I’m not going to go into any depth on the things we’ve all seen a million times already, round hand washing, coughs and isolation. We all know what’s being advised, but the messages can be conflicting too. My special needs lad can’t process what’s going on at all, and my youngest plans on going on a session after it’s all over. I’ve seen my shopping bills decimated as I don’t have huge groups of teen pals descending on me for food and juices, and I’m worried about finding loo roll when the time comes, like everyone else.
I’ve worked more or less alone for years now, and although I’ve closed my physical business for a few weeks, I still have so much I could be doing, that being at home more often as my husband is a serious asthmatic, doesn’t feel like a break from the daily grind. Instead, I’ve decided to do some online courses I’ve been planning to do for ages, and never got around to. I think being told I ‘can’t’ leave the house, would be far worse that choosing to stay at home. It’d be a bit like me telling the teens to be home by midnight and them ignoring phone calls till 1am, by which time, I’m in a panic cloud.
What is the Scottish Mum house doing?
1 – Not Panicking Yet
At the potential scarcity of loo rolls, although I do have a sharp intake of breath as I see my regular loo roll pile diminishing. Special needs boy seems to use a whole roll every time he goes to the loo, so might have to ration him as there’s no more to be had easily, and I can’t be bothered trailing to a dozen shops and mixing with more and more people to find them when we’re out…. They’re more precious than porcelain ornaments at the moment.
2 – Looking Out Microfibre Cloths and Face Cloths
Yup, has to be done. I’ve got plenty old buckets in the garage that hub uses for washing or fixing the car, so if we have to go to using those as loo roll alternatives, I can stick them in bleach, like babies nappies, until they’re ready to be washed. Don’t people ever wonder what our previous generations did in the war? I remember the stories from my mum, so although it’d be a huge hassle, I’m happy to do what I have to, so those with hundreds of rolls, and a bedroom stacked from floor to roof, can happily wipe their behinds and spend so much money, they’ll never have to buy loo roll, ever again.
3 – Watching The News Less Often
Seriously, it’s damaging to public health. A few days ago, I caught myself madly refreshing my sky news app, in case I missed some nugget of information that might be relevant. Boris Johnson and his updates are enough for me now. I know it’s serious, and I’m trying to educate my boys without terrifying them. The young are often disinterested in anything that might not affect them much. Kids on the whole, are insular and self serving. We shouldn’t be shocked that older teens and young adults are still out whooping, because they either don’t care about what they see as a virus that is more dangerous to the elderly or those with underlying health problems, or can’t understand it. Even most of their parents have never lived through a crisis. I’ve never lived through a major crisis event.
4 – Shopping As Little As I Can
For people who are meant to be doing social distancing, the queues for shops are mental. Seriously nuts. There are no online shopping slots available at my usual store, for the whole time slots are open for. No slot available for home shopping or click and collect. How are people self isolating or with the virus meant to get their shopping when they can’t get any slots? Today, stores seem to have added milk to their difficult to get items. My kids may not get the food they’d prefer, but they won’t go hungry. There is food. Just not anything fresh at my regular store, though that might change as limits to amounts of purchases are started. I have an online shop due, that I booked weeks ago, but doubting that much of what I ordered will actually appear. I couldn’t get any fresh meat this week, so we have none at the moment, and there were no potatoes either. I still have a few potatoes, but not worrying about that either. We’ll manage with what we’ve got. If we get ill, we’ll manage that too, somehow. The major stockpilers must be about due to stop emptying the shelves soon. I hope people don’t buy the mega expensively marked up necessities appearing online, as that would just enforce more panic buying, but panic does strange things to people. I can’t blame them either. The news isn’t helping.
