Day Seven - The Thrill is Gone
Monday, March 30, 2020
Already, the thrill is gone. The new routine is now routine.
Today was a day much like any other. Though not devoid of moments of levity. On hearing the rate of infection may have slowed in Australia, Juvenal was prompt to ask: “Does that mean I’ll be able to go back to school next term?”
Already he’d prefer to be back amongst the rough and tumble of his friends, than at home with a relaxed schedule and time for more sedate pursuits.
Someone else who’d rather not be at home is my beloved. Today, his first working from home, was not an easy one. We created a snug little office space for him in the alcove behind the front door – we have no use for it these days – with a lovely view of the world as is passes by. Which it does, in ones or twos, and the occasional family group.
Not that he noticed, lost amongst the cables, codes and calls, the meetings, machinations, devices and deliveries. Each of which in turn is somehow suddenly and stressfully imbued with paramount importance.
Early afternoon, the rest of us gathered for our first ‘group activity’, a comfortable companionable hour of reading, and occasional talking. Juvenal has Harari’s “Sapiens”, Florentino Corey’s “Leviathan Wakes”, and Gabriel’s attention is bound to Kucharski’s understandably prominent “The Rules of Contagion”.
Though he progresses well at reading, Juvie could hardly wait for release and an hour's activity on a nearby playing field. Walking there together, we caught up a neighbour’s kid along the way – just the single socialiser in keeping with the PM’s edict.
Gabriel really did have a meeting at school today, timed to facilitate a quick rendezvous with his lover on her break at the office. Gabe is making so many tracks his bicycle tyres may need replacing soon.
The nature of their ongoing trysts set my mind wandering. Perhaps by limiting social gathering to a maximum of two, the PM harbours a secret desire to reinvigorate population growth in the epidemic’s wake. If that is true, Gabe may disappoint.
That is where we are at – oscillating between the morbid and the ridiculous. While I cannot deny the morbid, no-one should be spared the story of the unfortunate astrophysicist who got four magnets stuck up his nose while inventing a machine that inhibits the spread of the virus.
I set the boys to work with hammers, cracking a basket of walnuts gifted from a neighbour’s tree, and collected the meat for cake. Which would have been nicer without the numerous sharp fragments of nutshell baked within.
Escolástica
Already, the thrill is gone. The new routine is now routine.
Today was a day much like any other. Though not devoid of moments of levity. On hearing the rate of infection may have slowed in Australia, Juvenal was prompt to ask: “Does that mean I’ll be able to go back to school next term?”
Already he’d prefer to be back amongst the rough and tumble of his friends, than at home with a relaxed schedule and time for more sedate pursuits.
Someone else who’d rather not be at home is my beloved. Today, his first working from home, was not an easy one. We created a snug little office space for him in the alcove behind the front door – we have no use for it these days – with a lovely view of the world as is passes by. Which it does, in ones or twos, and the occasional family group.
Not that he noticed, lost amongst the cables, codes and calls, the meetings, machinations, devices and deliveries. Each of which in turn is somehow suddenly and stressfully imbued with paramount importance.
Early afternoon, the rest of us gathered for our first ‘group activity’, a comfortable companionable hour of reading, and occasional talking. Juvenal has Harari’s “Sapiens”, Florentino Corey’s “Leviathan Wakes”, and Gabriel’s attention is bound to Kucharski’s understandably prominent “The Rules of Contagion”.
Though he progresses well at reading, Juvie could hardly wait for release and an hour's activity on a nearby playing field. Walking there together, we caught up a neighbour’s kid along the way – just the single socialiser in keeping with the PM’s edict.
Gabriel really did have a meeting at school today, timed to facilitate a quick rendezvous with his lover on her break at the office. Gabe is making so many tracks his bicycle tyres may need replacing soon.
The nature of their ongoing trysts set my mind wandering. Perhaps by limiting social gathering to a maximum of two, the PM harbours a secret desire to reinvigorate population growth in the epidemic’s wake. If that is true, Gabe may disappoint.
That is where we are at – oscillating between the morbid and the ridiculous. While I cannot deny the morbid, no-one should be spared the story of the unfortunate astrophysicist who got four magnets stuck up his nose while inventing a machine that inhibits the spread of the virus.
I set the boys to work with hammers, cracking a basket of walnuts gifted from a neighbour’s tree, and collected the meat for cake. Which would have been nicer without the numerous sharp fragments of nutshell baked within.
Escolástica
Its the same here. Wills finally asking to go outside and play tennis and go walking with a friend and Jas building things with sticks in the park. Being on tech 24/7 not as fun as when they were on school. Holidays.
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