This morning I had a hard time moving my legs out of bed. Yesterday’s run had a more dramatic effect on my muscles than I had planned. Rolling out and trying to push myself up with my arms did not produce the results I hoped for as I nearly fell over. A bit of light stretching helped and I was off to breakfast.
The children have adjusted well. The routine is perhaps more timely than in the past. In fact I feel that I am the only member of our family having a hard time with being locked-down. I am not much for routines nor repetitive tasks or sitting in one place for too long. As the situation races on, I am beginning to feel like Bill Murray in the film Groundhog Day. Wake up, oatmeal, coffee, kids cartoons, work conference call, e-mails, lunch, afternoon project, play with children, dinner, play with children, cartoons, kids to bed, write about the day, bed., repeat.
I saw one of neighbors getting a haircut on their terrace. It made me think that there are some black-market barbershops popping up and maybe I could get my haircut at one of them. How could I arrange an appointment? Are people starting Facebook groups? I am getting desperate, if the haircut situation does not improve we are all going to start resembling our favorite 80’s rock stars! Normally that would be fine with me but some of my colleagues have now decided to start using Zoom for calls. They believe that the opportunity for visual contact makes the calls more personal and effective. I just saw the added burden of finding a new app and having to learn how to use it, but that was not the worst part. What am I going to do with my hair?
I tried to calm my hair down a little but when one lets the hair do anything it wants for several days, and it keeps growing, I feel it just turns into an uncontrollable hair-puff. I have thick hair and it just grows like a giant nest on my head.
So I joined the call and was surprised that everyone else looked the same way they do at the office. I felt that I was the only one in jogging pants and an undersized t-shirt. It was 8:30 so I guess most of us would have already been at the office, so their home-office schedule is the same as their office schedule? I guess I have always separated home and work life. Outside of calls and some e-mail, I have never really worked at home. I find it challenging to set up a project and concentrate on it for 3-4 hours like I can in my office.
At the end of the call I did suddenly realize that we are half-way through April. Does time seem to pass faster, as if each day blends together as the lock-down meanders on?
We decided to do another shopping trip today. There was one orange left in the fruit bowl keeping the Easter chicken company and we were running low on other supplies as well. I concluded that I feel more comfortable, mask and all. I decided to go to the big-blue retailer one needs a membership card to enter. I was hungry and had a list of 85 things on it, not including fruit and vegetables. Now I prefer smaller stores or even specialty shops, but if you want to restrict visits, the most effective shop of them all is the membership card super-store.
The things in that place are ridiculous. I bought 2 Kg of cherry tomatoes and really considered the 18kg box of bananas. I found a great deal on a 5kg box of zucchini and a 10kg bag of carrots. The 3kg box of Granny Smith apples, 1kg of mushrooms and 6 avocadoes also found a place in my trolley. The fish is some of the best in town, but I had to commit to a 2Kg fillet of Salmon. As I loaded the shopping cart I felt really guilty buying so much food. The worst part is I know my family will chew through it all in about ten days. After gliding through each row the shopping cart was filling quickly. At check-out I rang up CZK8300, my personal record for a one stop shopping trip. Thank god it is not really possible to spend money elsewhere and I was happier than ever that I had moved my office out of the storage room!
After three hours away on my mission, I came home to an exhausted looking wife. She told me the kids had been screaming and running around crazy the whole time. We put away the food, whipped down each item and found a place for it. In between the stock-up project we took turns washing up the kids and putting them to bed. By the time it was all over my dreams of a grand dinner had been forgotten, it was 22:00. I grabbed a bag of tortilla chips, a warm beer, made a drink for my wife and we sat down and enjoyed a movie. Hopefully we are another day closer to our country reopening!
Paul Lysek – The idea of writing a daily update came to me by seeing, hearing and trying to understand all the things that are happening around us at this time. This story is a combination of all those sources, including friends, relatives, and experiences with attempts to bring out the satire, emotion and changing environment of the situation. It is entirely fictional, with the exception of my sarcasm.
