Life in the Time of CoVid-Day 6 LOCKDOWN
April 1st : Lockdown-Day 6
I considered beginning this post with a fake news flash that CoVid was gone. Sick-sick-sick April Fool’s joke. I know. In my head I hear Lexi saying “Inappropriate, Mother.” She calls me “Inappropriate” often enough that it’s a stored recording. I’ve been head talking again. I woke this morning jabbering away to the universe. I haven’t done that in no clue how long. Or maybe I have, but all the other busy-ness crowded out my own thoughts.
The Horrifying Truth:
Worldwide: 862, 574 confirmed cases of CoVid 19; 42, 528 deaths
USA: 189,592; Italy: 105,792; Spain: 95,923; China: 81,554; Indonesia: 1,677
South Africa: 1,353 confirmed cases; 5 deaths; 39,500 tests conducted so far.
But, WE HAVE POWER! No joke! But, big surprise! Pre-dawn, I woke, went into the “loo” (“Loo is South African for toilet.) and flipped the switch. Light nearly blinded me! That’s when the “WE HAVE POWER!” light went off in my head. Because here, one never knows when you flip the switch, or want a shower, or need a charge, whether or not it will work. South Africa is Loadshedding.
South Africa is in a major electric crisis. The Power plants aren’t able to generate enough electricity. As a result depending on demand, the power is shut off. Everywhere. Yes, you can be in the middle of dinner, in the mall, at a restaurant, the doctor’s office and everything suddenly goes dark.
“Any country’s success with containment could be tenuous, and the world could remain on a kind of indefinite lockdown.”
WEAR A MASK!
Loadshedding has stages. Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3—up to Stage 8, depending on demand. Level 1 means 1000 megawatts of power need to be shed, or not used in one area so it can be used elsewhere. Stage 2 means 2000 megawatts, etc. For example, Port Alfred would be loadshedding so Port Elizabeth, about 98 miles away, could operate. I’m not sure how the stages translate to how long the power is out.
“load·shed·ding. noun. the deliberate shutdown of electric power in a part or parts of a power-distribution system, generally to prevent the failure of the entire system when the demand strains the capacity of the system. ”
Here’s what we experienced: when loadshedding the power would be off 1 time a day for 2 hours; on one Stage 4 day the power was cut 3 times for 2 hours at a time. As inconvenient as it sounds it’s better, we learned from the Masons living in Johannesburg, than the sometimes 8 hour-long power cuts they experience. Loadshedding Schedules are published (if one has Internet capability to find it).
During LOCKDOWN with every non-essential shutdown, SA is not Loadshedding. Thrilling…disappointing…ironic…not sure how to feel. Should we be saying thank you CoVid-19 for forcing us to finally heed the warning and use less power?
JUST IN: First repatriation flight leaves South Africa to Brazil. A total of 321 passengers were on LATAM flight to Sau Paulo, Brazil. (Is this an April Fool’s Joke?)
Look closely…there’s a bird in that bush
Power isn’t the only thing more abundant. Birds are singing more and louder! (Or maybe they always have been and, like my head talk, we just couldn’t hear them.)
Talk about surreal, were we really “On Safari” at Shamwari Game Reserve this time last week? Birds! One thing one of our ranger/game guides, Wesley (who was a pompous, condescending Jack#$!) knows is birds. He wowed us by not only spotting and describing then, but also copying their calls.
On those early morning game drives, he’d cut the motor. (Or when walking, following the game drive single-file, we’d stop.) There, in silence so fine grass crackled and giraffe huffing and elephant farts were loud, he drew out attention to the birds. Birds don’t simply sing to sing. They claim their spots—in the bush or trees or grass—and sing out: I’m here! I’m here!
Helps that Gloria keeps the feeder well-stocked!
Manderley Lodge is a house, in the midst of a suburb of Cape Town. When we arrived, even last Wednesday evening, and the morning after, even in the darkest hour traffic noises droned. Now, when I wake, or sit, I hear breezes, leaves talking, the tots playing a few fences over, and birds.
When CoVid-19 is conquered/contained, Lockdown, Social Distancing, Shelter-in Place is over, will we immediately amp up to previous stages—or beyond?
Or? They say one can break a habit in 3 weeks. Will we have learned something by this slow down? Will using less energy become a habit in 21 days or 90 days or more?
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Life in the Time of CoVid-Day 2 Lockdown
Saturday, March 28th: Day 2 of Lockdown
The sun is shining, birds chirp, and the small garden outside our window awaits. Last night, after a long day and night spent sitting—mostly reading through Corona Virus news and updating family and friends. And of course clicking on posts marveling at the quick-witted jokes and parodies this pandemic is inspiring.
By nightfall, my rump was so sore, I felt as though I’d been paddled (not in a good way.) I woke committed to changing that. I mentally scheduled exercise breaks, which include a daily socially-responsible walk. Curtis and I made a plan to only buy enough food for each day so we would have an excuse to walk to the shops.
During the Lockdown movement outside the home is restricted to shopping for food, pharmacy, doctor visits and Government aide offices.
“Gloria” our hostess at Manderley Lodge
This morning, Gloria greeted me then followed with “This is the third day, you must wear a mask when you go to the shops.” I started to respond, “we don’t have masks,” then stopped. It dawned on me what she meant by “3rd day.” This was the 3rd day after we flew here from Port Elizabeth. The third day—one of the contagious days—if we had contracted the virus during our time at the airport, in the airplane, or the taxi to her guest house….the 3rd day since we arrived at her door. Had she taken us in, fed us breakfast and sorted us out since Wednesday night beneath a threat that we might be carrying the virus?
I looked at Gloria with renewed gratitude. It dawned on my then why the travel agent had had such a difficult time finding us a place to stay. Were we carrying CoVid-19?
A short-while later, Gloria passed me her phone by laying on the table and calling to me. “You should read this,” she said.
“Do not leave home for bread/rations/or for anything, unless it is of DIRE NECESSITY because THE WORST PHASE BEGINS, the Incubation Period gets Over and may Positives will start to come out...From March 23 to 7th April we must take care of ourselves. The Peak of the Virus is two weeks, normally in these two weeks all infected will appear then there are two weeks of calm and then two weeks it will decrease . . .TILL 7th of APRIL do not receive visits from anyone, not even from the same family. This is all for the good of all.”
The time difference between South Africa and the US is at least 6 hours, so I had until about 1:00 pm, when the digital NYT arrived in my inbox to feel a tad claustrophobic and sorry for myself that we were confined to the yard, that we hadn’t stayed with Shona & Charles—that I had only 1/2 a bottle of wine.
Then I read this article: “We Take the Dead from Morning to Night" by FABIO BUCCIARELLI and JASON HOROWITZ.
So what if we spend the next week eating sandwiches and drinking water? We will stay in for as long as we could be contagious. WE WILL NOT PUT ANYONE ELSE AT RISK! We may have sore rumps, but they will heal.