We use them so rarely i forget where they are and buy a new box every time there's an incident. then i find the old ones. we should be ok for pain killers into the next decade. and dont tell me they will go out of date, they might become less effective but they wont kill us and we can always take a couple more if the placebo effect doesn't do the trick.
keaghan is running around with a drippy nose and i dare not make a corona virus joke because he wouldn't find it at all funny. obvious jokes lose their shine pretty quickly but also, keaghan can be a grump.
talking of grumpy, i read this today
"If you are sick, stay home. Please! For the love of all that is holy. Stay at home. Your contributions to the world are really just not that important."
It made me grumpy. If I stay home for a scratchy throat, a watery eye, a sniffly nose or a slight headache, I don't get paid. If I don't get paid I slide further into the abyss. I am in full agreement with infection control procedures and precautions but by the time I catch the virus (and i will) it might have come from any door knob, shopping trolley, hand rail or tap (hang on, that's if anyone cares enough to supply a hand rail) and if i can catch it, so can the immune compromised person next to me. I'll only be self isolating if i'm incapable of independent movement and then it could be argued that it won't be self isolation at all.
Really, if people want people like me to stay out of public life when we are sick, then they better start supporting a more socialist kind of system. If my continuing to spread the filthy virus means the death of one or two I won't like it but i'll blame capitalism. and the death of the union. joking but not really.
also, everytime i see the word "covid" I think of corvids. (crows, ravens and rooks) The dark association amuses me.
I read about a Spanish Flu quarantine camp which was set up in Adelaide in 1919
"... while people initially dreaded the Adelaide quarantine camp and feared being infected by their fellow campers, they quickly settled in to what some reported to be the extended holiday of their lives."
ironically, nobody in the quarantine camp ever had Spanish Flu but the pandemic killed hundreds of non-quarantined South Australians who were dubious about the moral character of the quarantined.
I wonder how an extended quarantine holiday, sleeping on the benches at the showground, would go down today. In a world where people have brawls and draw knives over toilet paper, I can't see it being very uplifting.
This is an absurd situation. I hope that the panic will subside and sanity will return soon. My best wishes that you don't suffer.
ReplyDeleteCompared to many, I'm doing okay!
DeleteYep, we are getting silly in the UK regarding loo roll as well, apparently - you don't see people stockpiling loo roll in zombie films do you? It's sort of funny/not funny. I hope people calm down soon as well.
ReplyDeleteTotally understand what you're saying about self-employment and self-isolation as well. It's a bloody pain.
Sx
Zombie films need to be re-imagined. Obviously toilet paper (serviettes, paper towel and tissues as well) are essentials :)
Delete"If people want people like me to stay out of public life when we are sick, then they better start supporting a more socialist kind of system." Exactly. There's a lot of discussion here about people on zero hour contracts and the self employed, who will have to keep working because they don't get any sick pay. If you earn under a certain amount, you also don't qualify for sick pay.
ReplyDeleteYes, panic buying is selfish and irrational. As you say, it just means people like yourself can't get their basic everyday items because some idiot has bought twenty of everything. There's a bit of panic buying in the UK, and Tesco supermarket is to ration customers to a maximum five of any item.
People should have a bit of common sense - just go about your normal everyday life and either you catch the virus or you don't. All the hype and hysteria is insane.
Nek minnit their stockpiled rice will be out of date and they'll throw it out
DeleteI definitely think everyone should be cautious. Our president is cavalier with our health but not his. I could send you tp and rice and pasta. I have plenty. Right now, you could help by using cloth for pee and save the tp for poop. Cut up clothing you are going to throw out and use it for the liquid. You can then wash it. Well, that is what I would do. I worry. Tommy does not. I bought a box of blue, nitrile gloves and will use them when I got to the store. I cannot be trusted not to touch my face, but the blue gloves will help me remember. I read the article in the link. AMAZING
ReplyDeleteThat's all sensible. I was reading that for most people the only benefit of wearing a mask is to stop face touching but gloves will do the same job and are probably easier to get
DeletePain killers is the one thing I find myself out of :(. I am torn by all this virus news. Part of me is starting to think I should just catch it and be done with it! After all I am only 55 and healthy. As for staying home, I could do my job from home everyday but my boss doesn't let us work from home.
ReplyDeleteI want to say your boss should get with the times but maybe they have their reasons!
DeleteIt's good to have a new reader, you're very welcome here.
We did get some extra loo rolls and pasta in, but it won't last for months. I have to admit I am nervous about it but you can't put your whole life on hold can you? I find staying at home too much doesn't help my mental health either.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be nervous at all if I was thinking scientifically but everyone's fear does start to make me wonder if I made a mistake!
DeleteYou'll be fine, look after your mental health first
Despite there being no recorded cases in my city (yet) there is no toilet paper or tissues in any stores. Hand sanitiser is stored behing the counter. We are low on toilet paper and tissues (which is challenging because I am still in snotville). Sometimes I despair of people. Often I despair. On this and a whole lot of other issues.
ReplyDeleteI have just checked. We still have no toilet paper or tissues but we do (for the momrnt) have rice and pasta. Would you like me to send you some? If you would send me an email letting me know the type and the quanity you need. If we still have them tomorrow I would be glad to send them to you.
DeleteYour kindness is heartwarming! thanks for the offer but we have a load of other food in the house, I was just commenting on the general craziness!
DeleteI hope you are soon out of snotville, it's miserable at any time but in the middle of this hysteria it's even worse
Thank you for writing about this very important aspect of the current pandemic (even though they haven't officially named it thus). I too am a casual - I won't get paid if I get sick and have to self-quarantine. In all the hysteria the media hasn't paid enough attention to this. Apparently 1/3 of the Australian workforce are on casual contracts. There is a lot of talk about businesses losing money, universities losing revenue and the lower projected GDP, but what they aren't saying is that this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to casual workers. What they also aren't focusing on is the many who have contracted the virus and fully recovered. I would love the media to do an interview with someone who has experienced it and come out the other side because for most of us, that will be the outcome. Instead they are focused on deaths, which are important of course, but how many more are recovering? The toilet paper saga is amusing but makes a very clear statement about how primal humans still are when it comes to survival - though maybe we could just wash our butts if we don't have an alternative. Might save a lot of trees.
ReplyDeleteI was reading an article which was saying that some immigrant groups don't really use toilet paper or use less of it because they use a "loti".
DeleteApparently the narrow spout watering cans make a very good loti and Bunnings unintentionally sell a lot of them for that purpose (don't say too much or there will be a run on watering cans!)
1/3 of the workforce on casual rates is unthinkable, imagine what would happen if people felt they had some security, it could change the world
No cases in my province yet and very few overall in Canada and I am confident in our protective systems. Unlike the USA. 'Nuff said.
ReplyDeleteI too ring the Corvid and Covid sound together - you are not alone. The black crow descends like all good nightmare stories.
And capitalism will have you starve if you don't work. The irony.
XO
WWW
I hope your province stays virus free, although I think it would take a miracle!
DeleteAnd yes, corvids are so fittng for the nightmare quality of all this
The idea of panic buying just makes everything worse but there is a certain mentality that will do it regardless as we can see. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteI read on some blog somewhere that you are in quarantine, Graham? How do you find that? and how are you going for supplies?
DeleteI am worried about this virus because of my bronchial issues (and my husband's) and for the fact that my mother is 90 and losing cognitive function and often wipes her eyes with her fingers or similar unhygienic measures, and she insists on going out every day for coffee and to the grocery stores (she buys daily rather than weekly). And I will be the one who ends up as her first point of contact if she does get ill and needs help, even if it's just to call an ambulance I will need to be with her first. I'm trying not to freak out but it's hard.
ReplyDeleteI am worried for all in your position, Jenny. I lost both my parents last year. They were in their eighties and both had COPD. It was stressful enough without Coronavirus, so my heart goes out to you and yours.
DeleteSx
I appreciate your thoughtful comment, Ms Scarlet. My dad, who lived in a nursing home due to a stroke, had COPD for years prior to his death five years ago, and I am so thankful I am not worrying now about him too. This virus will decimate the elderly in nursing homes, I'm afraid.
DeleteJenny, not that I ant to add to your concerns but I agree, your position is high risk. I hope everything goes well for you.
DeleteScarlet, two parents in one year! thats just brutal. I'm sorry you're dealng with that
P. S. I hope you are able to find toilet tissue! Otherwise, I would second what Practical Parsimony has suggested regarding soft rags cut into squares. I would have never thought of that except that a few years ago when I started reading frugal blogs I ran across this as a recommendation for everyday use (not just in case of running out). There was also information on alternate (cloth) menstrual products, and how to deal with the cleaning process, which I had no clue how to do, and would be the same with cloth wipes - drop in a covered container of cold water as they are used, then prior to washing, use a toilet plunger (for that purpose) to agitate the wipes/pads. Wring out and wash in a separate load if possible. I do recall my mother dealing with the soiled cloth diapers of a neighbour's child whom she was babysitting by rinsing them in the toilet first. Why not, eh? We have become wimps! Our parents and grandparents didn't have the luxury of either disposable paper products or panic buying for most of their lives.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm still worried about my bronchial tubes! hah
We have a roll and a half roll on my desk at work, got it out for mopping up tears and forgot it was there!
DeleteMy car is unexpectedly in the mechanics this week, which complicates things but I think we'll be ok. f not, I have a brand new pack of cloth diapers I bought for my daughters but then they toilet traned early and I didnt need them :)
I read a blog post from Florida recently where the main topic was about low income wage earners and the fact that people who have to take time off will lose their income.
ReplyDeleteI thought of you when I read it. I will have to read the post again, he writes very long posts and I should read it again properly.
There is talk about some sort of Govt support for low income earners, so let's see what eventuates.
And last but not least, what news of Harry?
Alphie
PS. You'll notice I've avoided using the C-word, I am so sick of hearing it even tho' that's what this comment relates to, except of course the Harry question.
A.
Government support is likely to be too little, too late. I read that they are thnking of a one off payment for pensioners and the unemployed which is lovely but an increase in regular payments would be the right thing to do for those people.
DeleteHarry's stitches are out, there is still some open wound where the skin died off but it's almost better, he's not in pain, just aggressively staring at flies which dare to land on it. He's also wanting to go n and out the door fifteen times an hour so i may kill him :)
I do have a lot of toilet paper, but I always have a lot on hand. I only use one brand because the thicker softer ones everyone craves, stop up my low flow toilet. Every time Publix has it on sale I buy it and it is on sale about every 6 weeks. I get 2 of the big packs each time and TheHub buys 2 on his recreational shopping trips. We have a huge jacuzzi tub in the master bath that no one ever uses so it has become toilet paper central and I always have about 3 big packs in it.
ReplyDeleteI can see why you stock up and actually, if people want to keep a lot of anything on hand, thats not for me to judge. It's just that when everyone starts doing it at once supply becomes unreliable.
DeleteI always laugh at your hubs recreational shopping. i think most men shop for recreation in hardware stores...or maybe he does that, too?