Is anyone else becoming neurotic?

I don't have alcohol spray.

I do have a bottle of vodka and dislike vodka so can I spray that (not over food, obviously)?
That would get rid of it.

#notneurotic

Phew - I'm in the not panicking gang and feel reassured having read the comments from janeainsworth. I went into Sainsbury's a week ago Thursday for the 7am 'vulnerable' shopping experience. Never again, it was the most risky thing I've done since the pandemic hit. We had fruit and veg delivered a couple of days ago, It was washed and put away.

Parcels from the evil empire have been wiped down with a bleach solution.

I've been social distancing for two weeks. I walk the dogs, have been busy in the garden and stood on the driveway at 8pm this evening to join the applause, whooping and cheering for our NHS. On pavements and footpaths, people have carefully followed the social distance guides, whilst giving a friendly hello, or nod.

I’m another one who isn’t bleaching everything in sight.
I had a delivery from Morrison’s yesterday and Shock! Horror! I just put it away.

I doubt very much that a Morrison’s employee would have been coughing all over it which is the only way any virus could have got onto it. The Morrison’s delivery man volunteered the information that he sanitised his hands in between deliveries.

I’ve got some isopropyl alcohol spray and the other day I sprayed the door handles. No one has been inside our house for at least two weeks so there’s no way any virus could have got inside the house. I just wipe down my worktops in the usual way, ditto the bathrooms.

Having said all that, I’d like to stress that I am being very strict about social distancing. Apart from chance encounters when we’ve been out for our daily walk, we haven’t seen any friends or neighbours for the last 2 weeks.

anno was it potassium permanganate aka pinky parny you were thinking of? My Dad was in India during the war and he told me about it. I remember being fascinated by the crystals dissolving & producing a deep pink liquid.

Like Curlywhirly and sodapop, I'm not going to extreme lengths of cleaning all my shopping either! I wear disposable gloves when shopping, which get washed when I get home, and then washing hands as well, but wouldn't wear a mask even if I had one - it's considered to be more risky.

Am I fatalistic? Maybe...

Am I plain stoopid? Quite possibly...

Am I neurotic? I don't think so...

ThanksBluesky I'm not usually a panicker but its been one thing after another for the past year and I'm done in.On the verge of tears most of the week and scared .I need to get a grip I know that and I will.Sometimes the silliest things knock you for six .

Grammargran I’m not swabbing every surface in sight, either. I’m abiding by my usual kitchen standards plus wiping down anything brought into the house. Otherwise, no one is coming into our house so I can’t see how coronavirus would suddenly materialise on the fireplace or the stair rail or anywhere else.

Phoenix yes, antibacterial wipes/liquid do work on CV. That’s because the virus has a fatty surface which is broken down by the liquid.

I have to say, I’m baffled by people using bleach sprays so much. I bought one by accident a while ago and loads of our clothes were ruined by bleach spots before I realised what was causing it.

My delivery from yesterday is in the porch (other than the chilled and frozen). It’s staying there until Saturday.

I DID put the freezer stuff away. I’ll have to go in the freezer and remove it all from the cardboard packaging.

As we are doing what we are told and socially isolating it’s only us in the house and we are doing what the experts have told us.

I guess the busy bees feel better if they keep bleaching everything in sight (my SIL would bleach us if we sat still long enough) but don’t exhaust yourselves to the point of getting poorly.

sodapop et al, count me in. Obey the rules and enjoy investigating this newlife.

That's how I feel too Curlywhirly reading these posts I'm getting neurotic about not being neurotic.
Don't worry Grammargran we are not going to these lengths either. There must be a happy medium somewhere.

X posts Smileless ?

I think you have it exactly right Bluesky

grammargran ?I am doing what you are doing, not being neurotic.
All it needs are sensible precautions all round.

Don't worry grammargran we can still go out for essentials which we are doing and wash our hands immediately coming home. We do the same when we've taken our dogs out for a walk even though we haven't touched anything while we're out.

I open anything I need too, then wash my hands again before actually touching any food.

I'm not "swabbing down every surface throughout the day". I'm maintaining what I consider to be the high standards I've always had; no more no less.

Please don't worry; you're taking sensible precautions

Talk of antiseptic wipes, antibacterial wipes, but do they actually have any effect on a virus?

Paddyanne I heard similar things about high bp and the virus, but a doctor explained that the most likely link is the fact that most of the severely affected were old people and a lot of people in this age group have high bp. I will accept this explanation without dwelling on it.

OMG I haven’t been going to anything like these measures. I’ve washed my hands after picking up deliveries and disposed of the outer wrappings immediately, but what of the contents? Please, please someone tell me I’m not the only one not swabbing down every surface throughout the day. I’m honestly not knocking it but I’ve truly not heard of a lot of these extreme measures. Neither my husband nor I would dream of going out shopping - we are blessedly surrounded by family - and have a large house and garden, so well supplied with space, but neither are we doing half of what other Gransnetters are doing. Now I am worried ......

I’m less neurotic than I was this time last week. The information and rules are much clearer now and it’s fairly simple to abide by them.

For the post, I’ve been bringing it in and leaving it on one side for several days. Nothing has needed to be opened urgently. I wash my hands after handling it.

I’m used to cleaning fruit & veg from living in the tropics. I’m not going to eat lettuce for the foreseeable future as I can’t be bothered with cleaning it!

Well, I am normally quite neurotic, but have not felt the need to disinfect everything that comes into the house. It is very unusual for me to not be worried to death, now I am worried that I am not worried!

I shall continue to be very careful call it neurotic if you like. I just spoke to an old friend in a pretty uncrowded part of the country and she knows personally three people who have died from Coronavirus

Finally had a delivery today and yes for the first time I washed/wiped each item, got rid of outer cardboard, will not use such items for at least 3 days, all while wearing gloves, then endless hand washing. Will we carry on doing this after? Will we stay at 2 metres distance when queing or even chatting?

Our 84y year old neighbour out here in Spain is an anxious lady at the best of times, bless. She went over to the supermercado today~ her first time in 10 days and she was super nervous. Understandably.

I saw her this afternoon and told her how well she had done. Doesn’t need to do it for another 7 days. My husband did our shopping and came back loaded for bear. He bought her water & milk for the next 3 weeks as he said it’s heavy ~ now she doesn’t have to get it.

We sat (socially distanced outside our front doors in the late sunshine) at 5pm with a G&T each. I felt she’d earned it!

I'm not sure if Dettol kills the virus or not. It's anti-bacterial, not anti-viral. I had a look at their website and it says it kills 'some' viruses'. You'd have to identify its active ingredient and then do a bit of research on it.

On the other hand, bleach does kill it as far as I can see (I've been googling, frequently). Milton, or equivalent baby sterilising fluid is safer than household bleach as it doesn't have the same additives, just sodium hypochlorite , the virus killer...

When everyone was clearing the shelves of soap and hand gel I bought 2 litres of Boots baby sterilising liquid perfectly easily, one for me, one for my daughter. I'm putting my trust in that! Made up daily as per directions (only in half quantities, though. I'd be surprised if anyone could get through a gallon of disinfectant per day!) You can use it for sterilising veg, wiping surfaces etc.

pinkquartz, so sorry, I can't help you. This is one of the reasons I have begged HQ to provide a messaging facility. I just don't know.

My mind has been totally boggled by all this exemplary virus bashing. I’ve just been following the guidelines suggested and sitting out in the garden reading my book. We went for a walk along the old railway track and were pleasantly surprised at how everyone smiled and said hello - albeit from opposite sides of the footpath.

Looking forward to watching Spooks and Ozark this evening.

I think I must be!! I popped down to our local Premier shop, just down the road and when I first went outside I felt quite nervous, my legs felt like jelly.