Worrying times

Every morning when I wake up I frantically start searching all the news apps to see if there is any positive news about the Coronavirus. Every day the news seems worse with huge numbers dying and I realise we are nowhere near the peak yet. In some cases of people dying there were no underlying conditions, and they were relatively young, which is very worrying.  But we are still healthy and we can be so grateful for that.

My brother sent me the link to the latest advert from Nandos. I don't know if you are aware that they are a South African company and I can still remember friends inviting me in the early eighties to eat 'the best chicken in town' even if it meant travelling some distance to a rather less salubrious part of Johannesburg. From humble beginnings they have become an international brand, and their adverts are famous for criticising politicians - but this one brought tears to my eyes, and you can watch it here. South Africa has reported their first two deaths today.

Xena still has a bit of an upset tummy but thankfully I have some probiotic paste which I am giving her so I hope it will not entail a visit to the vet. She enjoyed her walk to the woods today - we are now walking from home to avoid driving.

I went grocery shopping today - which I now dread doing. I took antiseptic wipes to wipe down the trolley handle, I wore my skiing buff over the bottom of my face - I know it won't prevent the virus from getting in but it does remind me not to touch my face. There was a long queue outside with people sensibly leaving a 2m space between each other as the stores are now limiting the number of people they let in at a time. Unfortunately Waitrose seem to be behind other supermarkets in that they do not give their cashiers gloves and they have not installed glass shields as other supermarkets are doing. I managed to get nearly everything I wanted so it is good that the shelves are full of stock again. When I got home I think I washed my hands about 5 times - on entering the house, after carrying the bags inside, after unpacking the bags...I had already used hand sanitiser when I came out of the supermarket.

First Prince Charles and now Boris and health secretary Matt Hancock have tested positive for the virus. There were some nasty comments when the news was announced about Prince Charles, I just hope people are generous enough not to do the same about our Prime Minister. Such worrying times.