I have spent a large part of my life reading disaster novels and post apocalyptic stories....well now I can live it for real.
Not a good feeling. The world is experiencing a novel virus going pandemic. Basically worse than Spanish flu which is some feat. The response from every country so far to experience the virus is to totally shut down everything, which is already causing massive problems with job losses and a massive recession to come. DP has been told his salary will be cut by 30%...talk about sh*t!!
The virus seems to be a fairly mild flu for most people but for old or those with other health issues....like DD....the death toll can be up to 15% which is pretty horrific. Even with those figures I would be awfully tempted to just leave people to get sick and leave the old to die. I think the recession that follows this is going to cause way more deaths than leaving the virus to do it's worst.
So far DS2 is off college and work experience, his rugby has already stopped for the foreseeable future and his football is likely to follow suit this weekend. He had been picked to play football in a tournament in Switzerland with the MENCAP team at the end of May. Its not been officially cancelled yet but I can't see it going ahead.
DS1 is coping so far as his work is still carrying on though that's probably only going to last another couple of weeks, if that long. It's then questionable as to whether he has a job at the end of the shut down. His D&D has already had to stop and he can no longer go to the cinema with his friend or meet up with friends. I can see him sinking into depression if it carries on too long.
DP is already working from home full time for who knows how long....I had spoken to my parents about him going over to stay with them to help them and also get him out of my hair. A total win-win for everyone, but DF decided it was too much risk of DP bringing the infection with him. His choice but he can f*ck off when he wants help later as it all get too much. Worse case scenario is he gets sick and then DM is left to fend for herself....she'll be dead in a week! ( A win-win for me). Unfortunately I can see them both surviving just fine, but with DM being even more unpleasant and miserable than usual.
DD is really struggling and has been over dosing on adrenaline all week. Well she crashed big style today and is exhibiting symptoms as though she has stomach flu...I think it's just a flair but she is certainly very unwell. It's a real shame as she has been feeling so much better with her new pain meds and had started posting on Instagram again and had even got her lovely new doctor to refer her to rheumatology to try and find some treatment for all her spine and joint pain. She has been asking for a referral for years. All the uncertainty over what's going to happen is not doing her anxiety any good .... this is not going to be a pleasant few weeks/months.
The situation is bad enough but there has been a mass of panc shopping which means normal shopping is impossible...toilet paper is unavailable, as is pasta, rice...basically once one item is all sold out the next food/household product goes out of stock. DS2 described it as 'shelves filled with emptiness' a very apt description.
Update : well its now 25th March and we have been in lock down for 2 days. In some ways it's easier to be finally locked down ,,,,the uncertainty is over and we have a fair idea of what is going to happen next. DS2 has, predictably not been coping well but DD and DS1 have both worked very hard at keeping him occupied and staving off his melt downs.
Unfortunately having DP at home is not making the situation any easier, though to be fair it could be worse. I'm guessing he is trying not to be too much of an arse. Still I can't wait for him to piss off back to work, go out to the gym....basically anything other than hang around telling me what he's posting on Facebook...what makes him think I care I really don't know!
Update 2: it's now the 18th April and lockdown is likely to continue until the middle of May. DS2 is finding it hard, he gets himself into a spiral of stress and is convinced he has Corvid-19 and needs to go to hospital!.But in the main he is coping better than I imagined a lot of the thanks for that is all the planning that DD did and the efforts DS1 is putting into keeping DS2 occupied.
DS1 will need to wait until all this is over to see if he still has a job. He's still being paid so far, thanks to the Government covering 80% of wages while lock down is on. But who knows how if the company will get the orders they need in a post lock down, massive Recession world.
The only upside to all this is that I've not needed to go over to Malton for DF's 80th birthday.
