This is getting serious now.

They are closing the pubs!

This is the latest in a range of drastic actions taken in hopes of curtailing the spread of Coronavirus Covid 19 in Ireland. All schools, primary, secondary and universities were closed during the last week and will remain closed for the next two weeks at least and it has already been suggested that they would remain closed for longer – schools in Northern Ireland are closed for the coming sixteen weeks and I imagine those in the south will most likely do likewise.

Any indoor meeting of more than 100 people is no longer permitted; nor are outdoor meetings of more than 500. This has lead to the cancellation of sporting events, religious events and many others. Of immediate effect to me, this has led to the cancellation of meetings of our local garden club and other gardening meetings we attend. I was to speak to a club during the last week but it was cancelled, something I was happy with.

Authorities in the U.K. have suggested that those aged over 70 should isolate themselves for the next four months – yes, four months! This certainly makes the situation sound very drastic and is a cause of concern for us – Mary and I are in our mid-sixties and close to the at-risk age group. We have decided to limit social interaction as much as possible and are settling in for a long quiet time ahead.

We did a “big shop” during the last week, a bit of a stock-up, but not wildly over the top as we have seen reported on our news programmes, certainly not panic buying and, when we visited the supermarket it was well stocked and showed no signs of shortage. There has been a certain panic in house around running out of bread and there has been a spate of baking so that the freezer now has quite a stock of brown and white soda bread along with some Focaccia which was made today. We hope that we can do future grocery shopping online and have it delivered to the house.

We live a little outside town which helps keep us away from people and our daily routine is not greatly unlike what it has always been though our daily walk is now taken closer to home rather than driving elsewhere. The Waterford Greenway is quite close to us and is a beautiful place to walk. Weather permitting, the afternoon is spent in the garden, a good place to keep one’s mind occupied and off the worries of Coronavirus.

Life will go on, I hope!

Some photographs from this afternoon in the garden – a change from Coronavirus!

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