Lock-down Day 76

I look at the number in the heading and I'm just shaking my head. We were supposed to lock down for 21 days to flatten the curve, to give government time to prepare for the peak.

Based on the information available at that time, it made sense. But now? Government has not held up it's end of the deal - and they continue to waste their time on micro-managing our lives.

And guess what? They established a National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) who answer to cabinet. It's now come out that they are the exact same people! So they answer to no-one! They are not even a legally established council!

Our president graciously announced that he and some of his Ministers would donate a third of their salary for the next three months to the Fund established to help those in need as a result of this crisis. At the time, that sounded like a generous gesture! But guess what? In return he has taken 100% of MY salary for 3 months! And is promising to take even more from me. I don't even want to think about what he has taken from the 50% who are now food insecure ...

And government STILL hasn't reached their goal in testing and screening ... nor is there any end in sight! They haven't even set a date, yet, for Level 2 - hiding behind 'we must monitor and see the effects before we can move on'. Proof that they have no plan! They are making it up as they go along, and along the way they have lost the plot completely! Their focus now is on micro-managing people's lives - NOT on saving lives!

I've baked some wholewheat rolls, using some of the nutty wheat flour: Delicious! I better wash the bread machine, so I can bake some more, soon! Ha Ha!

I've been watching the live broadcast of the court case on the cigarette issue and I've now finished my macrame belt! Now I just need to see how it will work out in practice! Yay!

Well, arguments have been heard and I'm afraid the government lawyer did not make a good impression. At one point he was told by one of the judges "You are testing my patience" :) The judges have retired and will give a ruling as a matter of urgency ... now we wait.

In the meantime, I've changed the sheets on the bed, having to lift mippies off and back so I could work. Janey fiercely attacked the sheets as I was trying to put them down! Mini just carried on sleeping wherever I plonked her!

I meant to get busy in the kitchen today - I'm afraid, I didn't. I baked bread rolls, but that's about all. I was re-filling the water bowl for Mewthos, who tried to help by jumping up to the sink - only, he missed, didn't get a good hold and flopped back down. Onto the food dispensers! He was not impressed, ha ha ha! I've also ordered an 8kg bag of Iams for delivery - it's on the way.

I haven't heard from work this week, I guess they don't need me - which suits me fine.

I was planning on some things I'd like to do. And now, once I've lifted the self-imposed 'be only positive about my home' restriction - I've come to realise that I'm really cramped in here. My PC is set up in a niche designed for a laptop - with no space for peripherals, so I've never even unpacked my printer nor my scanner. I can't sit at my desk, because there's no space in the lounge, with the boxes, and the bookshelves are inaccessible due to the boxes stacked in front of them. I've been gearing myself to reduce furniture to make space. I haven't even got space to put together my wave-display shelf. And, as much as I've prided myself in reducing my hoard - to be perfectly honest, I don't like limiting my choices, when it comes to food. I love a pantry filled with variety.

Which all sounds like moving is going to be wonderful! Except: I HATE MOVING! Just the thought of having to pack everything up again is paralyzing me! Even though, since I'm moving locally, at least I won't have to pack absolutely everything - some things can be moved in their current furniture. And at least I won't have to empty my freezer - and then, at great expense, re-stock it. I'd still have to 'store' my mippies at a cat hotel - at least for the day of moving, as there is no room in which I can shut them. The bathroom has no door, and it's just too risky trying to move them between bedroom & kitchen, with people moving in an out - the chance of someone opening the wrong door, accidentally letting them out ... 

It was all good, when I spent all my free time in the garden. Until restrictions were made on WHAT I'm allowed to do in the garden ... but still. Indoors isn't really working out too well, especially since I can only hear my own audio in the bedroom - once I enter the passage, or the kitchen or lounge, all I can hear is the 60s and 70s or boeremusik played by my landlord. Which is bearable, but not exactly my favourite. And I don't really have privacy in my bedroom, either, as my landlord thinks nothing of it to boom into my window at the top of his voice giving me instructions. He's also forbidden me to close the bedroom window! Insisting I must have the fresh air - which is not a good thing, when the wind blows right at me.

Still, I don't want to have to move ... the nightmare of moving alone is reason enough to endure ... except for the latest ban on using the bath. THAT tilts the scales in favour of moving. That alone does it.

Yeah ... I'm repeating myself, I know! I'm trying to talk myself around, working myself up to it. The move, that is. Well, it's a long time off, yet ... first, I need to recover my finances. Until then, I'll stay indoors - because when I'm outside, I never know when next I'll get unexpectedly shouted at. I'll keep my bedroom curtains closed and I don't bath. Sigh.

Since the end of the court case, the Smokers Unite One Facebook group is sounding a little like kids on the way to holidays: "Are we there, yet?" = "Can be buy smokes, yet?" Ha Ha Ha! The day after they announce the lifting of the ban, I'm going to out to stock up! Not that I can really afford to, but I can afford the illegals even less!

Mippies came in just after six, even Janey, albeit a little late. Now I'm waiting for Ziva. Again! Since I'm no longer allowed to bath, it's no longer disrupting my evening as such, just my well-being. I ALWAYS worry when any one of my mippies doesn't come when I call them!

An hour later and still no Ziva. Last time it was close to eight when she finally came home ... that's still half an hour to go ... I'm not going to worry. Not yet.

It's eight, time to shut the front door ... I went to sit, in hope, for another smoke ... when Ziva came running up the path! Phew! Only just in time! She's wondering why I'm not giving her a sachet ... sorry, they've already been eaten, and Mewthos LOVED bobbing his head into two bowls back and forth!

I'm now making myself a cup of chamomile tea, then I'll watch another episode of Rumpole while I cuddle my mippies!