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A Blogcutter's Eye View of the Pandemic
Jul. 14th, 2020 01:29 pmI've devoted a fair bit of space in this blog to putting myself in the shoes of people I see as most disadvantaged or profoundly affected by the pandemic. Today I'm going to indulge in a little self-absorbed navel-gazing about how this whole thing is affecting me personally.
My income has not really been affected. Since I'm retired with a defined-benefit pension, the money continues to flow into my account at the end of every month. My expenses are generally lower than they were. Fixed expenses are roughly the same but discretionary expenses are down. I don't shop (except online) unless I have to, I don't eat out any more, I don't buy new clothes, I don't travel. I don't go to plays, concerts or movies. I do perhaps spent a bit more on books than I did before, particularly with libraries being closed. But a lot of the reading I'm doing is free - or perhaps in accounting terms a "sunk cost" - as I visit or revisit the books that have languished on my shelves over the years.
I'm baking a little more than I used to - muffins and cookies and cake to go with strawberries and cream. I try to get out for a walk each day and to do a short daily exercise routine at home, but some days, especially during a heat wave, I don't get very far. And without anywhere much to go, I'm doing less in the way of incidental activity (like walking to and from bus stops or walking around downtown) than I used to before lockdown.
As for online activity, there's still this blog and there's still e-mail and banking and a bit of online shopping, plus following "Type M" and listening to the occasional podcast or watching the odd short video. But I haven't embraced Zoom or online meetings at all.
The cat seems unusually restless and needy these days. She'll suddenly decide she has to see what her humans are up to and comes into the room meowing for attention. It's quite entertaining during the day, less so at 3AM. And my sleep patterns are definitely disrupted, regardless of any feline intervention. Sometimes I lie awake for hours despite being tired, restless with creaky joints while the sounds of street-racing or fireworks or other sounds seep in the windows along with the cooler night air. At other times, I'll drop off to sleep quite easily but wake up again in the wee hours of the morning, sometimes plagued by the memory of anxiety-tinged dreams. Last night was a fairly good night - I took a bit of time to drop off but then slept pretty well until the morning, when I drifted in and out of sleep until the 8 o-clock news.
They say it's important to establish some sort of routine, even though it's inevitably going to be a bit different from your pre-lockdown schedule. And we do have that. But part of the problem is that the things I want to do or get done can only be done at certain times of the day, and not necessarily when I'm at my best. For example, yesterday was grocery-shopping day. The best time to do that is the first hour the grocery store is open, which has been designated as seniors' shopping hour. Our local Loblaws opens at 7 AM. So we set out from here soon after 7:00 and that was OK. But the Pet Valu store next door doesn't open till 9 AM and in pre-pandemic days, that was our main source for Greenies and our usual brand of kitty litter, which are not available at the Loblaws store. Then there are other stores we shop at which don't open until 11 AM, and some of them only on certain days of the week. So rather than getting the shopping all done in one fell swoop (which seems to be what we've been urged to do, at least in the early stages of lockdown), we have to precision-plan our time.
Anyway, I'm muddling along, my health is OK and I know I'm much more fortunate than many. Some days I feel hopeful, other days I feel grouchy and pessimistic. The aftermath of the pandemic may be more daunting than any of the "waves" and it may not be over even when it's over.
But reopening phase 3 is just days away. Onward and outward, I say!
My income has not really been affected. Since I'm retired with a defined-benefit pension, the money continues to flow into my account at the end of every month. My expenses are generally lower than they were. Fixed expenses are roughly the same but discretionary expenses are down. I don't shop (except online) unless I have to, I don't eat out any more, I don't buy new clothes, I don't travel. I don't go to plays, concerts or movies. I do perhaps spent a bit more on books than I did before, particularly with libraries being closed. But a lot of the reading I'm doing is free - or perhaps in accounting terms a "sunk cost" - as I visit or revisit the books that have languished on my shelves over the years.
I'm baking a little more than I used to - muffins and cookies and cake to go with strawberries and cream. I try to get out for a walk each day and to do a short daily exercise routine at home, but some days, especially during a heat wave, I don't get very far. And without anywhere much to go, I'm doing less in the way of incidental activity (like walking to and from bus stops or walking around downtown) than I used to before lockdown.
As for online activity, there's still this blog and there's still e-mail and banking and a bit of online shopping, plus following "Type M" and listening to the occasional podcast or watching the odd short video. But I haven't embraced Zoom or online meetings at all.
The cat seems unusually restless and needy these days. She'll suddenly decide she has to see what her humans are up to and comes into the room meowing for attention. It's quite entertaining during the day, less so at 3AM. And my sleep patterns are definitely disrupted, regardless of any feline intervention. Sometimes I lie awake for hours despite being tired, restless with creaky joints while the sounds of street-racing or fireworks or other sounds seep in the windows along with the cooler night air. At other times, I'll drop off to sleep quite easily but wake up again in the wee hours of the morning, sometimes plagued by the memory of anxiety-tinged dreams. Last night was a fairly good night - I took a bit of time to drop off but then slept pretty well until the morning, when I drifted in and out of sleep until the 8 o-clock news.
They say it's important to establish some sort of routine, even though it's inevitably going to be a bit different from your pre-lockdown schedule. And we do have that. But part of the problem is that the things I want to do or get done can only be done at certain times of the day, and not necessarily when I'm at my best. For example, yesterday was grocery-shopping day. The best time to do that is the first hour the grocery store is open, which has been designated as seniors' shopping hour. Our local Loblaws opens at 7 AM. So we set out from here soon after 7:00 and that was OK. But the Pet Valu store next door doesn't open till 9 AM and in pre-pandemic days, that was our main source for Greenies and our usual brand of kitty litter, which are not available at the Loblaws store. Then there are other stores we shop at which don't open until 11 AM, and some of them only on certain days of the week. So rather than getting the shopping all done in one fell swoop (which seems to be what we've been urged to do, at least in the early stages of lockdown), we have to precision-plan our time.
Anyway, I'm muddling along, my health is OK and I know I'm much more fortunate than many. Some days I feel hopeful, other days I feel grouchy and pessimistic. The aftermath of the pandemic may be more daunting than any of the "waves" and it may not be over even when it's over.
But reopening phase 3 is just days away. Onward and outward, I say!
