Lockdown in South Africa – Day 65

We are now just two days from starting Level 3 of the Lockdown.   The numbers of C-19 cases are increasing in South Africa.  Cape Town has been identified as the worst affected area.  This is where most of our family and friends live.   We have felt sheltered and cocooned in safety here in Struisbaai but the latest news is not good.   We are part of the Overberg district which has also been identified as a hot spot.   There are a few big towns in this area including Hermanus which is still quite far away from us.  But today on checking the data I find that we have one positive case in Struisbaai!  Our nearest town, Bredasdorp, 30 km away has 3 active cases, nearby we have Napier, a small retirement village which also has 3 active cases.  This is now too close for complacency.  The problem is that most people from Napier to Agulhas are retirees.   We are all in the vulnerable category.

Today I am participating in Stream of Consciousness Saturday   The prompt word is Spay/Splay/Spray

During the past three months of Lockdown, I have become obsessed with cleaning.  Nothing crosses the threshold of my house without being completely sanitised.  I have a spray bottle filled with a mixture of bleach and water.  This is used to disinfect every tin, bottle, bag or other packaging in which our groceries are packed.  My fruit and vegetables are taken from the packaging and washed in a solution of vinegar and water before being packed away.  All this take time, of which I have plenty as what else is there to do when your movements are severely restricted.   Then there is the constant cleaning of the house.  I have never been extremely houseproud.   Our home was and often still is full of children, our own, cousins, grandchildren and all their friends which made keeping it orderly a little more difficult than when fewer people are about.   We had a fairly large family home where everybody was welcome and if there was a bit of a mess nobody really cared. On display at my front door is this sign.

It was clean enough.   The dishwasher was always packed and I didn’t like to leave things undone before going to bed but my home would never have featured in Home and Garden magazine!  It wouldn’t now either – but – I am sure you could eat off its floors as it now gets so cleaned and disinfected.  My spray bottle is always to hand!   The Earl gets irritated by my constant washing and wiping.  Towels aren’t used more than twice and into the washing machine, they go.  I don’t know if all this obsessive cleaning makes any difference but it’s part of my new routine now.

I visit the hairdresser every six weeks.  I have short hair and it is easy to maintain as long as I have my regular cuts.  It becomes unmanageable all of a sudden.  I wash it and try to blow it and it just does not do what it’s supposed to do so I go off to my stylist and all is well again – until Lockdown and a moratorium on hairdressing!   Even under Level 3, our hairdressers may not return to work.  So what to do!  I won’t allow the Earl near me with a pair of shears.  I never use hairspray but I’m wondering whether to try it or gel to tame my wayward locks!