The Lockdown Gang - not setting foot outside!

dragonfly what a beautiful dog Dexter is. Maybe it’s a good thing the vet is keeping him in overnight and perhaps they can get to the bottom of the trouble.
Hello nannapat welcome. Most of us on this thread are in complete lockdown i.e. not allowed out at all for anything. We have to rely on deliveries or family and friends for supplies. Where abouts do you do your shopping?
cherry how are you today? Glorious weather here but quite windy.

I'm hunky dory (like the album) Doodle thanks for asking ?
I've been doing sfa today, except the laundry and my usual group Q&A, but sit in the garden ?.
I do have news that I am very excited about though. I have been invited to tell my own story about living with epilepsy for inclusion in an anthology to help clinicians understand epilepsy from an individual's perspective and experiences. It's going to be compiled during the period of lockdown so it will give me something to be involved in. Not sure how it's going to start or develop but I should hear something later this week and then I think it will be quite an absorbing experience. I can't wait to get started.

cherry that’s really interesting. Good thing people are looking to hear from someone who actually suffers from 5he illness.
Will you be famous now? Should we have a plaque on the wall saying cherry was incarcerated here ?

We could as long as I can be let out of here and don't have to see it (and neither does anyone else)! Fame, very unlikely but the odd geek might actually read it properly, you never know ??.

Good news from the outside world! I would be relieved to think that Dexter is in doggy hospital dragonfly. I had visions of you struggling to put the drops in when you are hardly fit yourself. What a sweet pup he was.

Cheery, that sounds most interesting.
I'll get started on a plaque.

We are getting a bit low on essentials . There is no chocolate, not even drinking chocolate, and no eggs or butter. I baked bread today so there is that but with no butter! There is plenty of porridge

I cut DH whiskers today or do I mean sideburns. Anyway he looks much neater now. New skills every day in prison workshop.

Hot chocolate in the kitchen here grammaretto and a packet of choccy biscuits so help yourself.
Sleep well all.........no snoring now ?

@Grammaretto congratulations on the sideburns! It seems that DH has always wanted to see what he would look like as a tramp. He thinks I’m too cack handed to be trusted with the clippers or scissors - or a sharp knife even.

I have told my DDs to expect to see him channeling Hagrid when he’s paroled.

Is the Horlicks coming round soon? I’m zonked.

MawB You may not handle cash but I do, all the time, until locked up, in and down.

Without the luxury of being able to shop for myself, I have to rely on others to do so when they can. They need cash.
Cash is a rapildy dwindling resource and if I can't get to a bank (the nearest is 15km away and I have no tranmsport) I'm not at all sure how I'll manage when the cash runs out.

I can't afford to pay the extremely high charges for supermarket delivery, even if I could get a slot, which I can't.

There's not much food in the larder now and I've been eyeing the grass on my lawn which is beginning to look rather tasty.

Morning folks in here. Surely you aren't having a long lie? Chop chop.
As part of the share your favourite poem, round robin, I was sent this today.

Coronavirus Lock-down

By Jan Beaumont

I'm normally a social girl
I love to meet my mates
But lately with the virus here
We can't go out the gates.

You see, we are the 'oldies' now
We need to stay inside
If they haven't seen us for a while
They'll think we've upped and died.

They'll never know the things we did
Before we got this old
There wasn't any Facebook
So not everything was told.

We may seem sweet old ladies
Who would never be uncouth
But we grew up in the 60s -
If you only knew the truth!

There was sex and drugs and rock 'n
roll
The pill and miniskirts
We smoked, we drank, we partied
And were quite outrageous flirts.

Then we settled down, got married
And turned into someone's mum,
Somebody's wife, then nana,
Who on earth did we become?

We didn't mind the change of pace
Because our lives were full
But to bury us before we're dead
Is like a red rag to a bull!

So here you find me stuck inside
For 4 weeks, maybe more
I finally found myself again
Then I had to close the door!

It didn’t really bother me
I'd while away the hour
I'd bake for all the family
But I've got no bloody flour!

Now Netflix is just wonderful
I like a gutsy thriller
I'm swooning over Idris
Or some random sexy killer.

At least I've got a stash of booze
For when I'm being idle
There's wine and whiskey,even gin
If I'm feeling suicidal!

So let's all drink to lockdown
To recovery and health
And hope this bloody virus
Doesn't decimate our wealth.

We'll all get through the crisis
And be back to join our mates
Just hoping I'm not far too wide
to fit through the flaming gates!

grammaretto that’s great. Thanks for sharing it made me giggle
bradfordlass please don’t eat the grass I don’t think you’d like it. Struggling to think how you might get access to the bank and cash. Never thought of it being a problem as most of our stuff is online. Can you arrange a tab with a local supplier and send them a cheque? Sorry not very helpful. Hope you’re ok.
mammissimo hope you had a good sleep. Are you up yet? ?

Nannapat, I watch the news in the UK everyday and you're quite right, it must be very difficult to know you can't just go to a shop and have access. We've been on stringent lockdown in France since 17th March and in that time, on the rare occasions I have left the house I've only had to queue at the pharmacy...not at the supermarket. However, where I live there are no supermarkets that do online delivery so I have to not only go to the supermarket but also observe the strict French rules about leaving the home. These unambiguous rules are working very well and French citizens are reassured by them.
I'm very sorry that a visit to do needed shopping is so difficult. Stay safe xx

Bradfordlass that is a worry.

I tried phoning the council, about something else, and discovered they have set up an answering system whereby if you are so feeble that you can't press the number for the department you want and just hang on, eventually a real voice answers and asks if you are OK!

I wonder if something like that is happening your way?
We also have a local ambassadors scheme with hundreds of people offering to do messages for people, shopping, medicines whatever. I haven't needed that yet but the council had the number.
Please don't eat grass!!!

I needed that poem at that exact moment!

Am going more than a little "stir crazy" as I cannot start thinking of life after this darn virus as I doubt there will be a "We" This is hitting home very hard.It is not the normal me but I have to admit I am finding even little things affecting me and affecting me badly.

Sorry dear inmates.Hope to do better another day.

Keep Safe.

Dear Panache, I can't tell you how many times you have inspired me with your fortitude. I send you my love. Xx??

Grammaretto, that's a really good poem but sorry to say it's been doing the rounds on various forums here?. No harm in reading it again though since it is clearly becoming iconic.
I've had serious, and I mean serious ?, thoughts ? about this plaque business. I don't think I want the noteriety of a prison plaque!!!! ?

BradfordLass, it's no joke is it! I've found it virtually impossible to get a delivery slot for any supermarket, can't do click and collect unless I can be 100% certain that I can have a volunteer for that specific time and I don't know when I will be able to get any more cash as I shouldn't leave the house. I really don't want to have to resort to the food parcel from the LA and fortunately we're okay at the minute because we have some tinned stuff in the cupboard and some flour, half a chicken and some mince in the freezer and some frozen veg but it won't last 8 weeks. It's not always easy without cash. I empathise with you ?

No need to apologise Dreamkeeper ?

Dear panache I know you are worried for your health and that of your DH. I do not have the words to help you but each of you must be comforted that the other will be safe in your new home. When my DH was having one of those operations with unknown outcome he always said he was so glad we had moved to our flat so that he knew I would be safe here.
I can only say that all we have is hope. I hope you and your DH come through this and enjoy some happier times together. Thinking of you and praying for you both x

CherryCezzy I did wonder but haven't had time to read every thread . I hadn't read it before.
Maybe you should receive the LA pack. I was seriously thinking of it. There's at least a week's delay with that so book it soon.
If you feel it doesn't apply to you because you are not needy I can only suggest that money isn't the only currency these days.

Grammaretto thanks for the poem.

I have nothing to report, nothing to show for my day, I don't know where the time went.
It was DH who had the wobble for a change. He needed to renew his car insurance, his password wouldn't work and he couldn't get to speak to someone.
He then tried to renew his driving license, as he is approaching 70.
I had to lie down in a darkened room with my angina spray after it all.
He is usually in control, so Dreamkeeper, you don't need to apologise, we are all feeling vulnerable. It's ok to wobble.

I'm trying to keep off the internet, especially Ebay.
I'm not going anywhere, any time soon, so why am I buying clothes! ?

I may tint my blond eyebrows tomorrow.
The last time I did it, I had one light brown and one dark brown eyebrow.I ?
It really won't matter if it goes pear shaped, no-one is going to see me anyway

Keep safe everyone.

What are you suggesting Grammaretto. money isn't the only currency these days ????

Regarding lack of cash, our village Chamber of Commerce have set up a way of paying volunteers who shop for others using a card payment arrangement. You pay the chamber of Commerce and they will pay volunteers' claims on your behalf. If you can pay the Chamber of Commerce by card over the phone, local volunteers shopping on your behalf get a BACS payment on emailing in a copy of the receipt. It may be worthwhile investigating how local volunteers handle cashless payments.

CherryCezzy it was quite innocent. I mean that we are bartering more and passing things on such as skills, whatever you have. By taking the government box you will not be depriving anyone else and if the alternative is going hungry
and starving to death it would not look good on the statistics.

Here comes Missedout with a solution!

Marydoll I can imagine the scene. I had to renew mine online and that was before all this craziness.
My clothes are beginning to wear out. Truly! Time for some online shopping.

Not sure if this would work but I think we heard on the TV yesterday that people could contact their local council/social services and ask for their food box to be converted to a booked slot with a local supermarket. DH has had two calls from the council asking if he was ok and we haven’t exactly been offered a food box but she did check he was alright for food. It might be worth phoning the council if you have trouble getting deliveries.

grammaretto I will expect you to be in bed in prison tonight not standing on some street corner selling your wares ?

Sorry Guv'nor. It's getting to me in here............