Good news at last

  I will admit that the last two weeks of staying at home, staying socially isolated and continuing to lead such a constrained life has been taking it's toll. I have found it increasingly hard to stay motivated, keep cheerful and even be positive. Feeling homesick has come and gone over the past 6 years years but has been strong recently, homesick for life as it was before Coronavirus, homesick for the UK and in particular homesick for my family.

This week Papa T and I should have been in the UK catching up with everyone and looking forward to a family sailing holiday in Croatia next week with our children and their partners. Sadly those plans were cancelled weeks ago and most upsettingly we have no idea as to when we will be able to see our families next as the ability to travel to and fro between the UK and Singapore is nigh impossible at the moment. Even if we could get a flight to the UK we would have to serve 2 weeks quarantine there before actually seeing anyone. Then to return to Singapore we would have to apply for permission from the government to re-enter. At the moment few applications are being granted. We have friends (who usually live in Singapore) that returned to the UK in March and have been applying to return here for weeks but without luck.  The difficulties don't stop even when permission has been granted as on re-entering Singapore we would have to serve 2 weeks in a 'quarantine facility' i.e. hotel were we would literally have to stay inside

the room for 14 days.

With these restrictions and the time scale involved it looks unlikely that we will be able to travel to the UK, or anywhere else really, for a long while yet.

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One of the measures to combat the spread of Covid 19 that has been the norm for several weeks now is that everyone has to 'check in' and check out of everywhere we go, the shopping mall, each individual shop, the Botanic gardens and other nature parks, hospitals and hairdressers-everywhere, except our own homes.

Scanning the QR code on a phone opens up a form, once completed (name, identity number & phone number) and confirmation received I can check into the mall

As I walk down the corridor in the mall my temperature is automatically scanned and checked by the security person sitting at the end, I show the confirmation pass on my phone and I'm in. I then go through the same process for each shop I enter, at the moment there's only a choice of the supermarket, pharmacy and café but when the other shops are re opened it will include all of them.

When I've exiting each place I then have to 'check-out' and finally check out of the mall.

              

The purpose of this Safe Entry system is to prevent and control the transmission of Covid-19 through contact tracing and identification of infection clusters. Singapore has been very effective in tracking down contacts of coronavirus and implementing quarantine and the numbers of new daily cases has started to slow.

The news of other countries unlocking and restrictions easing so that people are able to meet with their friends and family again, is good to hear and I'm really pleased for my own friends and family, but I can't help but feel envious too. As one friend said "we feel socially starved". To see one other person, a friend standing in front of me not on a screen, being able to go for a walk or have a meal together and to be able to chat is something both Papa T and I have been longing for but with Singapore continuing to have 3-500 new coronavirus cases confirmed daily it seemed that a date for Phase 2 was still a long way off being announced.

But then to our, and I think, everyone's utter amazement on Monday evening it was announced, Phase 2 is to commence this Friday, 19th June and even more amazing is the extent of the easing of restrictions. We will be able to not only see one friend but up to 4, as we "can get together socially in groups of up to 5 and households can receive up to five visitors at any one time"! 

There's even more to look forward to as "most business, social activities, retail and food and beverage outlets, including dining in will be allowed (with tables of up to 5)". We will be able to eat out with friends again! 

Public spaces, parks, stadiums, swimming complex, tennis courts, fitness studios are also reopening. 

Strict social distancing will continue, here in Singapore 1 meter is the rule, and numbers of people entering a shop will be limited depending on the shop size and we have to continue to wear a face mask whenever outside our own homes. 

This news was so unexpected but oh so welcome. My, and I think many of my friends moods have lifted hugely. The buzz of excitement is palpable, everyone is smiling and talking ( on the phone of course) about who and when and where they will meet up, bubbles of 5, are being worked out and plans made. 

I find myself delighted at the thought of meeting up, going out for a meal, resuming playing mahjong and more but I also feel rather a bit nervous. I can only liken my feelings as to that of an animal that has been kept in a cage for a long time but when the cage door is opened, the animal stays inside the cage looking out of the open door thinking 'it looks a bit scary out there'!

 Papa T and I have agreed to take things slowly. So far I have made arrangements to meet up with just 1 friend for a walk on Friday and then in the evening I have booked an outside table at the Italian restaurant just down the road from us. I don't feel ready yet to meet groups of friends, eat inside a restaurant or go to a shopping Mall but I'm sure that time will come. 

A rainbow generally indicates the storm is passing and better weather is coming, it has been a very appropriate symbol during this time. The 'weather' outlook for this week is an improving one, with a bit more time the sun will be high in the sky again🤞

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It's a virtual life

Monday 15th June-

 Phase 1 of Singapore's staged easing of restrictions, called Safe Reopening has been in action for the past 2 weeks, but as mentioned in my last post Papa T and I have not experienced any difference in our current lifestyle as we don't have school aged children or grandparents living here. 

 So as well as Papa T's work commitments we have tried to continue keep ourselves busy. Many of the things are done 'virtually'; I do my yoga session with the aid of YouTube, chat to friends and family on Zoom, FaceTime or other social media, I've attended webinars, including a very informative one about otters in Singapore, do fitness training with members of the Trekking Club I belong to on Zoom and for the last 10 weeks we have been joining our friend's at The Black Lion, an imaginary, virtual pub, every Saturday night for a pub quiz. It's a strange existence, leading a virtual life and occasionally I wonder if we still exist!

We have carried on been getting some of the long standing jobs done including saving our old slides into a digital format. 

 We started this process using an old slide projector that could take a whole tray of slides, projecting each image one by one onto a wall and photographing it. We enjoyed viewing the slide together, reminiscing and deciding if it was worthy of keeping digitally. I would then download the images on the laptop, edited them, put in chronological order and saved them. A big task as we have over 15 boxes each with 300 slides in each dating from 1982 but along the way we have come across some treasures and almost forgotten memories.

Annoyingly the slide projector broke down and as everything in Singapore is currently closed there is no hope of finding someone to repair it for some time, so I have resorted to using a small slide viewer that copies one slide at a time, as it's so small only 1 of us can see it at a time. This has slowed up progress enormously and we are only just over half way through all the boxes, somewhere in 1989! 

We have also been sorting through all sorts of papers and things that we have kept over the years. I came across my payslips from when I was nursing, I have kept the first payslip from the various stages of my career as a nurse, as a Student nurse(take home pay of £137.87) a newly qualified State Registered Nurse (£419.77), as a student Health Visitor (£353.36)  and then as a recently qualified Health Visitor (£368.68)

I've still been trying to keep active which is hard as we have to spent so much more time indoors than previously. We continue to walk together most morning's for about 40 minutes before Papa T heads to his 'home office' to start work, I sometimes carry on walking and often this is in the nearby Botanic Gardens or the streets in our neighbourhood which I'm getting to know intimately.

It was a particularly beautiful day the other day and on my walk around the Botanics I couldn't resist taking some more photographs of the wildlife and beauty there, I absolutely love seeing monitor lizards, this one was in no hurry to move

It is noticeable that there are many more insects and butterflies fluttering around the pre-lockdown times

The lake and its surrounding planting in the Learning Forest area, which has been open for just over 3 years is looking quite mature now. The suspended walkway over the lake is currently closed "to allow for Social Distancing"  

I had the immense pleasure of watching this family of otters come out of the water, roll around in the leaves under the trees and then sit by the lake, it looked like they were discussing who should dive in first, none of them seemed that keen preferring to laze in the sun. Having listened to the webinar about this family I now know they are one of four families of Asian Short Coated Otters in Singapore and are known as the Zouk 7, named after a famous local night club which is in the area they first lived in before "Otter wars" displaced them to the Botanic Gardens.

Last weekend we had another bike ride to the CBD and Marina Bay area, this time we had a mission. We were going to try and find the exact location that my father had stood when he took some photographs on his stopover in Singapore in 1952. He was a young naval doctor at the time. 

On the internet I found a Singapore city street map area dated 1954 and then worked out the location on a contemporary street map

It was another particularly lovely day with beautiful clouds high in the sky

When we got to the CBD area it was quite hard finding the exact same spot and angle to take a photo and of course many of the buildings and some of the streets no longer exist or are changed beyond recognition, for instance what is now called Raffles Place bears no resemblance to the very same area in 1952

2020

1952

But some buildings are still there, tucked in amongst the new

Some of the old buildings look pretty much the same as when my father saw them and it was quite emotional to think that my father had stood on (or very close to ) this same spot nearly 70 years ago and admired this beautiful building as I do today

There are not too many positive things about this current time but one must be the fact that we could cycle safely and peacefully around the city with nearly empty streets. When Singapore returns to 'business' and the offices, restaurants and museums are reopened these streets will be packed again and far too busy for us to contemplate cycling down them

My plan is to make a document that has the new photograph next to the old one, I think it will be fascinating to see the difference that nearly 70 years has made. Once I've done this I'll share it here.

It has been very hard to stay motivated at times and as the days and weeks pass finding something to brighten the day gets harder, I am aware that this is not just for me but for many of my friends. A few weeks ago I had the idea that I hoped might cheer us up and reconnect us as 'walking buddies'. We can no longer meet up and all have to walk alone, I asked everyone to take a photo of themselves and send it to me and then made this collage of us. It took quite a while to do but was worth the effort plus everyone seemed to enjoy it and in the future it will be interesting to look back on this and remember that we had to walk alone wearing a face mask and remind us to enjoy 

I had another idea two weeks ago and invited the walkers to join me in a challenge to see how many kilometres we could collectively walk in a week. I invited everyone who wanted to take part to map their walks using one of the apps available, post it on our WhatsApp group chat and at the end of the week we would tot up how far we had walked. We walked 266kms which is the same distance as the Camino de Santiago Primitivo route, an ancient pilgrim's trail from Oviedo to Santiago de Compostela.

    

Fired up for another challenge I then suggested we tackle, virtually of course, the Offa's Dyke Path. At 285kms I thought it would take us about a week but as more members of the group joined in we completed this, collectively, within 3 days!

Everyone was up for another challenge so we are now working on walking 1014kms from Minehead to Poole along the South West Coast Path, well in our heads that's where we are as we pound the streets and parks of hot and steamy Singapore.  We started our big walk 5 days ago, everyone's been very keen and walking hard, some have shared lovely photos of parts of this route and one person shared a photo of himself when a child on holiday after catching a fish in Coverack. Papa T and I ate some scones I made, with clotted cream and strawberry jam yesterday, we could almost imagine we were in Devon enjoying a cream tea. 

Last night after totting up everyone's individual walks we have collectively reached over half way along the trail. We are currently just outside Falmouth and tomorrow we will catch the ferry over to St Mawes to resume our walk. 

Oh my goodness I really am leading a virtual life! This madness is hopefully temporary and normal life will return in some format, won't it?   

4 weeks on and a glimmer of hope appears

Written Thursday 28th May

My last blog post was written 4 weeks ago, gosh how time flies when one lives under lockdown! Only joking of course, time goes by rather more slowly than before Covid-19 I feel.

Today is Day 51 since Singapore's Circuit Breaker began and the many restrictions came into force. However as we started home self isolation after our return from India for Papa T and I it's our 69th day of staying at home, working from home, not being able to meet up with friends or family or make any definite plans when we might see them. 

It's been a roller coaster of emotions and keeping busy, active, motivated and happy sometimes gets  harder as time goes on. But life hasn't been all bad and here are some of the highlights .

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Over the last few weeks food has continued to be a very important topic and with more time at home we've had time to not only make a second batch of marmalade; this time a very zesty lime and lemon marmalade, but we have had a couple of attempts of making bread-

First a traditional cottage loaf and then a sunflower seeded loaf, both were delicious, so much so that they didn't last long!

We recently treated ourselves to a take away meal. Currently restaurants, cafes and food courts are not allowed to offer a dine-in service so many of them have turned to providing meals for home dining. After hearing several friends singing the praises of the take outs that they had enjoyed we decided to have one. Weekends are particularly dull at present so to cheer ourselves up we ordered Saturday brunch for 2 from the St Regis Hotel and it was fantastic. Asparagus & smoked salmon, some sushi, a charcuterie platter, half a lobster, a crab salad, burrata and rocket for starters then steak and roasted salmon for main courses, a plate of mini desserts, fresh fruit platter and some cheese and biscuits. There was enough food for lunch, that night's supper and even some for the following day, a veritable feast and it really did cheer us up.

One of the bonuses of this Covid-19 time has been how quite Singapore has become with practically empty streets. We are allowed out to exercise each day, generally we stay close to home but now and again the desire to see some different scenery becomes too strong to ignore. 

For a change I cycled to the Marina Bay area and loved seeing it without the usual crowds of people and busy roads. With no tourists and no pleasure boats touring the bay even the water was as still as a mill pond

This yet to be completed round structure; a floating orb, is rumoured to be Apple's new flagship store, as all construction has been suspended across the whole of Singapore this too was eerily quiet

I have never see this area so still and peaceful, it was the perfect opportunity to take a photo of the Merlion with hardly anyone there

Many people around the world have commented on the clearer skies since lockdown and Singapore's skies, which are often overcast or cloudy have certainly seemed more blue than usual. I was delighted to see this family of Oriental Pied Hornbills fly over and look at that beautiful sky

So those are the highlights from the lats few weeks. Sadly the number of cases with Covid-19 has continued to increase particularly amongst the workers living in the Foreign Worker Dormitories. 

Numbers for Thursday 28th May in Singapore compared      with Thursday 23rd April                   

Total cases - 33,249                                                                             10,141                                                

Total cases-       373                                                                                1,016                                                

Hospitalised -    510 with 7 in ICU                                                         4,234 with 24 in ICU                       

In Community Facilities - 14,422                                                           4,999                                                

Deaths - 23                                                                                                  12                                                 

Recovered - 18,294                                                                                   896                                                

But a glimmer of light has appeared! 

The government announced the reopening plan last week (with the caveat that the plan is not a return to life before Covid-19 and the phases could be 'rolled back' if the outbreak flares up again). 

On Monday 1st June Singapore's Circuit Breaker comes to an end and the following day we will enter Phase 1, of 3 phases, of the easing of restriction. 

Phase 1, named " Safe Reopening" includes measures such as more people will return to work, although those who are currently working from home, like Papa T will have to continue WFH. Preschools and schools will gradually reopen, and parents and grandparents can be visited by their family members. 

For Papa T and I there won't be any change as we don't have school aged children, or parents in Singapore. Phase 1 is expected to last for several weeks and of course even longer if the numbers rise.

However when phase 2, called "Safe Transition", commences life for us will become a lot more interesting. Shops will reopen and F&B dine-in may be allowed, swimming pools will reopen and most excitingly small social gatherings may resume! The thought of being able to meet up with 1 or 2 friends is wonderful, although we have kept in touch virtually we have so missed actually seeing people in person, even if we have to maintain a safe distance it will be fantastic. 

The government has stated Phase 2 could last for several months before Phase 3,  "Safe Nation" starts  and Singapore moves to a "new normal" until a vaccine is found. During this time social, cultural, religious and business gatherings will resume although limits on numbers will be in place.

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The possibility of meeting with friends, going for a walk together or maybe eating out, or having a cup of coffee and a chat in a few weeks time has given a huge boost to my and many of my friends spirits. We haven't dared arrange anything yet, that would seem like tempting fate, but the hope is there and fingers crossed the light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer and closer each day

🌈 🌈 🌈 🌈 🌈 🌈 🌈

Another week passes- not much happens

 One week on from my last post and it feels like not much has happened.  The days are all pretty similar to each other, there are few options as to what we can do and where we can go.

 The highlights of the last week have been-
 1. The virtual pub quiz, which has become a regular Saturday night event now. The team we are part of has continued to maintain it's 5th place overall (out of 14 teams).

2. Food and meals have become more important than previously. We spend more time planning and preparing meals and have had some really interesting and tasty dishes. Prior to Corona-chaos we would often eat out, sometimes 2- 3 times a week, but this is not possible now and as Papa T is working from home there are now 2 of us for lunch and dinner every day as well as coffee and tea breaks so I have to do an awful lot more food shopping than previously! 

 News stories from around the world are reporting on the effect that lockdown is having on reducing air pollution and there has been some wonderful footage of wild animals venturing into towns and cities now there is less traffic and people there.

3. The wildlife in Singapore has also been more noticeable. With less street noise and quieter roads about I can hear beautiful bird song much more easily. I love hearing and seeing birds and the occasional butterfly and lizard whilst sitting on the patio but I was a little miffed to find a large toad had dug itself a nice hole in my seed tray, dislodging the soil and probably the seeds too!  

Recently bats have had a very bad press, the eating of them has possibly been linked to the Covid 19 virus transferring to humans. I like seeing bats and am happy that one has taken up residence in the eaves just outside our front door, she/he is quite safe with us but I am worried that other residents might not be so tolerant, hopefully they won't look up and spot this little creature

Slightly more perturbing is the thought that there may be a snake close by! On Papa T's way back from his walk the other day he spotted this snake skin on our patio wall, after admiring it, there quickly came the question; where is the snake? We've peered into the plant beds but can't find it. In one of the beds the plants have become very tall and densely packed and need thinning out but at the moment I'm not too keen on taking this on as too scared I might meet the snake skin's owner.

The Botanic Gardens have been quieter than usual as many paths are shut to allow for social distancing. The wildlife are probably enjoying the peace and quiet and having more space to roam without people getting in their way. Many years ago I understand that monkeys were a common sight here but as people fed them the monkeys became aggressive so they were removed.  Over the last few days a few monkeys have found their way back and seem to have settled in. Unfortunately yesterday I saw a lady throw some food for them, I don't suppose it will be long before these monkeys will find themselves evicted too.

  4. As all the barbers and hairdressers are shut neither of us have had a haircut in weeks and Papa T's hair in particular has been looking a bit wild. I've never cut anyone's hair before so I was a little apprehensive but prepared to give it a go, we both concluded that as he is working from home for the foreseeable future if the cut was a disaster then few people are going to see it anyway.

 Papa T then announced that he wanted a mohican haircut, apparently something he has always wanted. After cutting and clipping for quite some while this is the result......

For a first attempt I don't think it's too bad and can't wait for it to grow again so I can try a different cut on him next time!

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 Tuesday arrived and again it was a Black Tuesday with another restriction being announced. 

"Exercising and dog walking are not permitted within the common areas of the condominium".

 Initially I wasn't too upset by this as we don't have a dog nor exercise in the common areas but then I felt cross as I often see some of the older residents walking around the garden and paths of the condo. 

Recently as Papa T is working in his 'home office' I sit on the patio to do my emails etc and have come to know a few of the condo residents who walk by. There is an inquisitive 18month old toddler exploring the flowers and leaves and then an elderly gentleman who used to stare blankly at the ground, both followed by their filipina helpers and another elderly lady who passes me 3 times as she does her laps around the condo. We now look out for each other to wave, smile and say hello, happy to see and have little bit of contact with another person.

I feel really sad that these residents who perhaps don't have the ability to walk very far and certainly not as far as the Botanic Gardens and have already been told they must stay at home as they are in the more vulnerable group, are now not even allowed to get a bit of fresh air and exercise in their own environment, I'm hoping that they will ignore this new restriction and continue with their walks.

🌈

 This week the number of people infected with Coronavirus around the world has continued to climb, there are now over 3 million cases and over 220,000 deaths worldwide.

 Singapore's figures continue to increase and as of today (Thursday 30th April) are;

New cases- 528

Total -16,169

Hospitalised- 1,708 with 22 in ICU

In community facilities - 13,202

Deaths - 15

 Recovered - 1,244

Black Tuesday again

I had noticed that the Singapore lockdown or Circuit Breaker measures as its called here, had been announced on a Tuesday (7th April) and then further restrictions announced the following Tuesday, so yesterday I was feeling a little nervous, it was Tuesday (21st April).

Actually the day started well and happily, Papa T and I donned our masks and went for our usual early morning walk and found a small new route that went across an open space so it feels almost rural for about 10 mins, joy indeed!

 Back home again Papa T went to his 'home office' and started work whilst I did an online Joe Wicks HIT class followed by a lovely yoga class. I felt exercised, stretched and relaxed. After doing the chores, and making lunch, which we had on the balcony I then had a fruitful hour sowing what will hopefully be a little herb garden. I had a few old seed packets that I had brought out to Singapore when we came here 6 years ago of Basil, Coriander, Red Pepper, Tomato and Parsley and just enough potting compost (not sowing compost unfortunately ) and 1 small pot but being resourceful I used 2 pot trays and cut up a plastic bottle to make 2 little pots.

 I felt ridiculously satisfied with my efforts but also a little apprehensive as to if these plants will grow in Singapore's heat, the packets recommend a germination temperature of 17-21c, where as here the temperature is generally 28-35c outside and 24-32c indoors depending on if the A/C is on or not. Anyway I'll give it a go.

Late afternoon I was about to leave the house (masked of course) when Papa T received a message  saying that the Prime Minister was making an announcement at 5pm, in 15 minutes time. In my heart I knew this was probably going to mean bad news which I didn't want to hear at that moment, I didn't want my high spirits to be squashed so I went to the shops and missed the broadcast.
Once back home I found out that indeed it had been bad news- another month has been added to the circuit breaker so it is now due to continue until the 1st June. As well as this, further restrictions have been added including closure of more businesses, entry to popular wet markets to be controlled by only allowing those with ID number ending in even numbers in on even dates of the month & then those with odd number ID on odd days of the month, car parks in parks, gardens and nature reserves closed, schools to continue with home based learning with the June school holiday to start on May 5th, foreign workers will no longer be allowed to go in and out of all dormitories and something that will affect us; people now should go out alone to shop or exercise.

My previous happy mood disappeared, instead of only 2 more weeks of Circuit Breaker we now have 6 weeks ! We haven't been able to get together with friends for weeks but at least we have been able to go for walks and occasionally go to the supermarket together. They seem such ridiculously small things to enjoy and now they have to go too.

Today I have picked myself up and understand that these firmer restrictions have been put in place to actively discourage anyone leaving their home unless absolutely necessary in an effort to reduce the numbers of Covid 19 infections which have been continuing to increase dramatically in Singapore, the curve is not yet 'flattening' here.
Today's figures for Covid-19 in Singapore are;
New cases- 1,016
Total cases- 10,141
Hospitalised- 4,234 with 24 in ICU
In Community facilities- 4,999
Deaths- 12
Recovered- 896
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I've been for a walk in the Botanic Gardens, on my own of course, it always cheers me up and soothes my soul, it was very quiet, few people and all of them walking around each other ensuring a 1m distance, I found it sad to see signs forbidding people to walk on the lawns anymore

And to cap it all not only are they closing the off licences but the bubble tea shops too!

But of course I am fortunate to at least be able to go out, I am well and safe and this difficult time will pass- eventually

🌈

A shrinking life

With Easter weekend over it was back to work for Papa T on Monday morning and back to our new 'usual' home based routine, a short morning walk around the neighbourhood before starting the working day.
 Over the weekend the government had revised their previous advice about wearing a mask and stated that everyone should wear a mask whenever likely to come into close contact with others- eg public transport and shopping. They clearly were discouraging people from going out unless absolutely necessary and I decided that I would no longer use a bus, MRT or taxi unless really necessary, we would only go as far as we could walk or cycle- our 'world' was shrinking!

Sadly this new week was to see a huge rise in Coronavirus cases in Singapore. The virus was now spreading through the Foreign Worker Dormitories where nearly 200,000 foreign workers live in 43 dormitories. This army of workers, many of whom work in the construction industry, come from across South East Asian countries including India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Myanmar.
On Monday 13th April there were 386 new cases of coronavirus, none of them imported, so all locally transmitted, with a total of 2,918 cases in Singapore, an increase of more than 1,500 in a week, and there had now been 9 deaths. Compared to the daily increase in some other countries around the world this might have seemed small but for a tiny country like Singapore it was huge.

The following day, Tuesday 14th, the government announced even stricter Covid 19; Circuit Breaker measures. It included that "All should stay at home, go out only for essentials" and that it was now mandatory for everyone to wear a mask whenever outside of their home with a warning that strict enforcement would followed with a $300 fine for a 1st offence and up to $1000 or possible prosecution for a 2nd offence.
 Having had a few days of wearing a mask when going out to the shops I have come to hate it, even the so called breathable masks feel suffocating particularly in Singapore's hot and humid climate. It only takes a few minutes before the mask becomes damp with moisture and sweat!  Revolting I know but also this presumably make the mask less effective against filtering out 'germs'

It was another black day, I felt even more trapped with my 'world' now shrunk to probably just the confines of home.
The chat on several of my WhatsApp groups and on local social media said there were reports of exemptions but it wasn't entirely clear. Clarity came later that day, Singapore is very good and quick at reacting when something like this happens, and a further advisory declared that as well as running & jogging, cycling & brisk walking were exempt.

That was good news as I love and generally do 'brisk walking' so this meant I can still walk in the Botanic Gardens and not wear a mask. When I went for a walk there on Wednesday I felt nervous every time I saw the Security Staff and wondered if they are going to fine me for not walking briskly enough so pumped my arms and charged pass them.

I went for another walk in the Gardens this morning and it was lovely, not only was it much quieter than it has been ( perhaps a lot of people have been put off going to the Gardens by the new regulations) but several of the Security staff said a cheerful Good Morning to me as I walked pass briskly so I was able to relax and enjoy the beauty and peace there again.

Yesterday Papa T remarked that our current daily life has became a little bit like my Grandmother's. Arncliffe Granny lived in Yorkshire and from childhood through young adulthood and right until she died we loved visiting her. It was always peaceful in the sleepy Dales village. Granny followed a very predictable daily routine that seemed to revolve around eating or drinking every 2 hours. First came breakfast, then coffee and ginger biscuits mid morning, a little glass of sherry before lunch, a full lunch, then tea and cake mid afternoon, followed by a rather strong martini early evening and then supper and finally a hot drink before bed.
We're recently doing much the same and as I have been baking more, now regularly have added a mid morning coffee break and tea and cake in the afternoon. As this joke suggests maybe a mask might be useful for weight control

Earlier this week I was due to host our monthly book group, but obviously living with the current restrictions we couldn't 'physically' get together plus a few of our members had returned to the UK to be with their elderly parents or children, (most of whom are of Uni age and as Uni's have closed have gone back to the family home to live)  Instead we had a Zoom chat, it was lovely to see friends again, we hadn't seen each other for several weeks and there was lots to talk about so I'm afraid we didn't actually discuss the book properly other than saying we all enjoyed reading it. 

Since 8th April all social gatherings or meeting up with anyone other than those you live with has been banned. Papa T and I are with each other pretty much 24 hours of the day. It's been lovely going for walks and having lunch together in the working week; that would never usually happen but it can also be quite tough, occasionally one of us gets a bit tetchy with the other, however I feel very lucky indeed that I'm not living on my own.

Contact with friends and family has become even more precious in these Corona times, everyone has their tale to tell as to how their life has been affected by the virus, and we can share tips, jokes, advice and information and most of all support each other, thank goodness for modern technology and the different ways we can keep in touch. 

As I write this on Friday afternoon, Singapore's figures for Covid 19 look pretty grim. Today it has recorded 728 new cases, the highest daily figure so far, with a total of 10 deaths and 4,427 cases.

Looking back over the week it has been another week of highs and lows and I expect next week will be the same, I'm not looking forward to Tuesday as the previous two Tuesdays were 'bad days' introducing more and even stricter restrictions. 

Now we have a weekend to plan. Our options, like everyone else, are pretty limited to be honest, there are few places to go, not much to do and we can't meet up with friends or family but we are still blessed as we are are safe and well and the sun is still shining and best of all we have another Virtual Pub Quiz Night to take part in, hopefully the questions will be easier this week. 

Getting used to life under lockdown

When we landed back in Singapore it was initially quite a relief but when I turned my phone back on I was worried to see a message from our daughter saying that she and her boyfriend had both tested positive to Covid-19.

They live and work in Munich and as it was early morning we had to wait a few hours before we could get phone them back. BT assured us that they were OK and only had mild symptoms, like a heavy cold, but she also mentioned that she was finding it annoying that they couldn't taste or smell properly, in a few weeks time this was to become recognised as a likely diagnostic symptom of Covid-19.

Another surprise, but this time a really pleasant one, BT and MG introduced us to joining contacts on WhatsApp and added HT, his girlfriend KA and their flatmate SS for a family video chat, it was great to see everyone including HT's new puppy, Jasper who had grown hugely since the last time we had seen him, he's going to be big.

Luckily BT and MG only had relatively symptoms so were able to stay at their home whilst they recovered, friends left any shopping on their doorstep.  They had to remain in quarantine for at least 14 days and could only start going out once they had been 'symptom free' for over 48 hours after the quarantine period. The fact that these two young people had caught the virus really highlighted to me, that anyone can catch the virus, even young healthy adults.

By now Coronavirus was having a huge impact around the entire world. In Singapore there were now over 450 Covid -19 cases and sadly on 21st March the first two deaths from the virus was announced, it was truly shocking to all. The Singapore Government implemented safe distancing measures  advising people to keep at least 1 meter away from others. Events and gatherings of 250 participants or more were suspended and from midnight on 24th March Singapore closed it's borders to tourists and short term visitors. the border

 The focus of attention shifted away from Asia as the main hub and now Europe was the new epicentre for the infection. It was desperately sad to hear that in Italy the numbers of infected cases was over 59,000 with 5,560 deaths, Spain and Germany were not far behind and France was reporting big numbers too.

Back at home, although we had avoided being issued with an official and legally enforceable SHN, Stay at Home Notice we decided that we should self isolate for 14 days plus Papa T's work said that he would have to work from home for the next 2 weeks and RDA and pretty much everything else I was involved in stipulated the same. So for us, our lockdown period commenced
on March 20th.

With Papa T having already done one week of working from home just before our holiday I could see what a sedentary day he was leading. He could no longer go out to physically meet up with clients and colleagues, he wasn't even having to walk to and from the bus stop to get to work as his 'office desk' was now only a few feet from our bedroom.
I was keen to try and get hime to take some exercise and persuaded Papa T that we should start each day with a short walk around our neighbourhood.
This has now become our daily habit, we go for a 30 to 45minute walk and have created several different routes. We have walked along some roads that we've never even noticed before and always see something of interest, maybe an old Black and White house or an ultra modern house

or a row of the bizarre but beautiful Cannon ball trees in full flower.














It's a nice way to start the day and then we added on swimming 20 lengths of the pool at lunchtime.
This got Papa T away from his desk and doing a bit of exercise twice a day, he started feeling fitter and the pauses whilst completing 20 lengths became shorter and less frequent.

  Like most people we have many jobs lying around waiting to be done, and generally ignored, sometimes they've waited months and sometimes even years! We started tackling some of these. We sorted out the whole 'office area', threw away lots of redundant paperwork, filed what should be kept and tided up the bookcase getting rid of the books we will never read again. This gave us a reason to go out for a cycle ride down to the local Salvation Army where we could donate the better quality things.
We also finally commenced copying and storing all our old slide photos, something we intended to do when we moved to Singapore 6 years ago. There are 10+ boxes with hundreds of sides in each box so there's enough to keep us busy for a good long while and hopefully we will find some great memories as we work our way through the collection

Our 14 days of self isolation was up on 3rd April and Papa T was looking forward to returning to his office on Monday 6th. I planned on going back to help at RDA (even though there were no sessions some volunteers were going in to muck out, groom the horses and clean tack)  and we both hoped to meet up with friends again.
 However with the growing spread of the virus amongst the Singapore community ( 1,114 cases, 5 deaths) that same day Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong addressed the nation and announced 'Circuit Breaker', a much stricter set of measures that would be implemented from 7th April to at least 4th May. All non essential workplaces and schools would close, people would work from home or stop work, including construction on all construction sites (of which there are a lot here) children were to have Home Based Learning. All restaurants, cafes and food courts would close to dining in but could still provide take away or delivery service.
The wearing of masks was now encouraged and every household was to be given reusable face masks. It was made clear that people were to stay at home as much as possible.
That weekend Papa T and I planned what we could do to keep busy. We started a jigsaw puzzle, 1 of only 2 that came out from the UK with us and spent the best part of Sunday making 'Lockdown Marmalade'

We couldn't find any Seville oranges so the marmalade is a tangy mix of ordinary oranges, grapefruit and lemons, it is delicious










It was a big shock when we woke up on Monday morning to hear the news that Boris Johnson had been admitted to hospital as his condition was deteriorating having had Covid 19 for 10 days. It was another shock to hear the next day that he been transferred to ICU, he clearly was seriously ill. Fortunately as I write this on 16th April Boris has been discharged from hospital and is recovering at home.
It was hard not to feel depressed when Circuit Breaker came into force on Tuesday 7th April and my mood took a further dive when we found that the condo swimming pool, gym and all communal areas were now closed, all condos shut their facilities. This new measure was to discourage people meeting up and further enhance social distancing

Our daily swim could not now happen, I was so upset.
Fortunately online contact with family and friends was great and boosted my mood plus lots of new jokes were circulating. When I looked at the news it made me realise just how lucky we were, yes we had lots of restrictions but the sun was shining and we were safe and healthy. We also had Easter to look forward to, although our, and everyone else's, choices of what to do and where to go were extremely limited

The days rather merged into one and gradually we became more accustomed to staying at home. After our morning exercise I sometimes carried on and walked for a bit longer whilst Papa T commenced work. I went out food shopping most days, partly as reason to get out but as we don't have a car I can only buy as much as I can carry. The supermarket queue to be allowed inside the store wasn't too bad but with self distancing and maybe because people are eating at home more the queue to pay often took half an hour, even in the 6 items or less aisle. I've tried doing online food shop but it's almost impossible to get a delivery slot nowadays.

 Good Friday was a public holiday so we 'celebrated' by going on an outing and cycling to the Community Centre to collect our reusable masks. In hindsight we should have checked them before leaving as we have since discovered that they gave us child sized ones! Fortunately we do have a few full sized surgical masks for Papa T to wear and they are a lot more breathable than the cloth ones

On Saturday evening we were really excited to join friends on our first virtual pub quiz night. It was fantastic fun with 12 teams answering 10 rounds of really tough questions set by our brilliant quiz master, who along with his wife and daughter coordinated the computer technology and questions. We and 2 other friends made up the Rushaw team and wee pretty pleased with out overall 5th place

On Easter Day, of course it wasn't possible to go to a church service as all churches are closed. Easter Sunday was also the 1st anniversary of last year's awful bombing in Sri Lanka. Our friend and Papa T's work colleague had been on holiday in Sri Lanka with his family and tragically his wife and both of his children were killed. BN has initiated and been involved with many challenges to raise money for the memorial fund he started up in memory of Anita, Alex and Annabel fund-https://www.atlasfrc.org/appeal/anita-alex-annabel-nicholson-memorial-fund

and had made plans for  fundraising events over the Easter weekend but because of the lockdown these could now not go ahead. Instead he asked people to go for a walk, run, bike ride and record them on an app as a 'virtual tribute' to his family. 

We went on a bike ride and circumnavigated the Botanic Gardens, not a huge distance but that wasn't the point

We had to wait until the evening for another Easter highlight, the opportunity to speak with our families. This year with all the anxiety and tragedy happening around the world because of Covid 19 it felt particularly special and I could not wait.

 First we spoke with Papa T's side of the family, plus both of our children. 

     Later on we had the pre arranged zoom meeting that all my side of the family had been invited to join but we didn't really know if it would work and who was available.

 Oh my goodness it was wonderful. In spite of us being scattered around the world, living in 6 countries, ( UK, France, Germany, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand) and across 5 time zones everyone made the effort to get in touch.  

At one point there were 24 of us on the line, sharing our news and best wishes for each other. 

I think this may be the most memorable and special Easter day I have ever experienced, a true rainbow of hope in a currently very sad world.