{"id":4729,"date":"2020-03-20T18:19:08","date_gmt":"2020-03-20T22:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=4729"},"modified":"2020-03-20T18:21:37","modified_gmt":"2020-03-20T22:21:37","slug":"day-8-covid-19-pandemic-march-20-202","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=4729","title":{"rendered":"Day 8 COVID 19 PANDEMIC MARCH 20, 202"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DAY 8,  COVID 19 PANDEMIC   MARCH 20, 2020<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
(running journal\u2026running until I run out of steam)<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
UNITED STATES DAY 7     13,000 CASES  193 DEATHS<\/div>\n
ITALY                                  41,000 CASES   3,405 DEATHS<\/div>\n
CANADA                                 873 CASES       12 DEATHS<\/div>\n
(80% OF DEATHS ARE TRAVEL RELATED)<\/div>\n

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\"\"\"\"<\/div>\n
CODIV 19\u2026CORUNAVIRUS\u2026Artists depictions makes them look life floating explosives in World War II.  Good idea, but remember they are so small only an electron microscope<\/div>\n
can set them.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
1) Gabriela (daughter in law living in London, England)  sent email saying she has  placed a food delivery order with Longo\u2019s for April 1, delivery to our house between 9 and11. <\/div>\n
\u201cslot was open so I grabbed it and sent a list of food\u201d.   Nice of her.   Makes us more aware of  the crisis and to begin thinking of<\/div>\n
non perishable food\u2026.milk powder, evaporated  milk, dried fruit, any fresh vegetables available, etc.<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat do we need, Alan?\u201d  I said potato chips and chocolate bars and raisins.   Marjorie was not amused.<\/div>\n

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2) Julie (daughter in law living in Port Credit, Ontario) sent email saying she will get us what we need in terms of short term food.   \u201cStores in Port Credit appear to have light traffic\u201d (9 a.m.)<\/div>\n
Needs?  fresh milk, etc.   We are being cared for\u2026at a distance and close up\u2026but no one invading our personal space.  Sounds like science  fiction novel, does it not?<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
\u201cALAN,  what food do we need? Julie will get it.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cpotato chips,  raisins,  Coffee Crisp chocolate bars\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cStupid..be serious.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI am serious\u2026suddenly I miss those tihings.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWell,  Julie will not be getting them. We still have peanut butter cups from Halloween.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cGod\u2026where are they?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cUnder the tea towels.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo wonder I couldn\u2019t find them.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBe serious\u2026what do we need?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cchocolate pudding mix, Jello and both powdered and  evaporated milk\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSlightly better\u2026.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow about pork and beans, oat meal and Kraft dinner?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI thought you told me that when you were a prospectior you had to order supplies  for 3 weeks and a month even.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cTrue, I did\u2026  sowbelly, salami and canned  spam.\u201d (we called it Clap)<\/div>\n
\u201cHardly a balanced menu\u2026how did that affect you?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWell, I was thinner then.  Forgot to mention t he prunes\u2026ordered lots of  dried prunes.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYou figure it out\u2026put prunes on the list\u2026canned and dried\u2026kept us regular after we built the latrine (which was just <\/div>\n
a log nailed between  two poplars)<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
(Tomorrow I will give you two lists\u2026Marjorie\u2019s and Gabriela\u2019s\u2026today Julie got us a whole <\/div>\n
truckload of  stuff for  $70 \u2026 including a sleeve of Oh Henry nut bars. (pssst. This  time<\/div>\n
Marjorie put them under her sewing basket\u2026saw her do it.)<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
ONE COMMENT THAT SCARED ME<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cLots of people out and about today, Alan. \u201c<\/div>\n
Now that observation made me very nervous. I hope we will<\/div>\n
not be as dumb as the beach babes and  bucks down in Daytona.<\/div>\n
This is a serious comment\u2026brings on the War Measures Act maybe.<\/div>\n

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3)  DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS, by JOHN WYNDHAM<\/div>\n

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As soon as i heard about this  CODIV 19 VIRUS, I immediately thought of John Wyndham.  If you read this story<\/div>\n
you will want to read the book.  Providing you are not too terrified.  <\/div>\n

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I remember Day of  the Triffids by John Wyndham so graphically.  Burned into my brain long ago when I taught both English and History.  The book is considered  one of the great books of our time\u2026even today.<\/div>\n
The story line is very simple but frightening in the extreme.   A plant, a triffid, begins to take over the earth. at least as I remember.  Not inconceivable.  The wisteria on our front porch<\/div>\n
is capable of slowly crushing things\u2026of winding its way to the sky and crowding out other living things\u2026slow  but sure.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
SOME QUOTES\u2026THAT FROM JOHN WYNDHAM\u2026AMAZNG HOW THEY FIT OUR SITUATION TODAY<\/div>\n

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“When a day the you happen to know is  Wednesday starts off by sounding<\/div>\n
like Sunday, There is something wrong somewhere.\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt must be, I thought, one of the race\u2019s most persistent and comforting<\/div>\n
hallucinations to trust that it cannot happen here\u2019 \u2014 that one\u2019s  own <\/div>\n
time is beyond cataclysm.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cAnd we danced , on the brink of an unknown future, to an echo<\/div>\n
from a vanished past.\u201d’<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cunit then I thought of loneliness as something negative\u2014an absence of company<\/div>\n
and, of course, something temporary\u2026.That day  I  had learned it was much  more<\/div>\n
It was something that could press and oppress, could distort the ordinary and<\/div>\n
play tricks with the mind.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cAnybody who has always had a great treasure has always led a precarious existence.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s humiliating to be dependent.\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cTo deprive a  gregarious creature of companionship is to maim it, \u201c<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe clock is the most acred thing in a  hospital.\u201d<\/div>\n

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                                         John Wyndam, The Day of The Triffids<\/div>\n

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So here we are, over half a century later, and John Wyndham\u2019s frightful tale has come true.  GRANTED  his Triffids were huge plants with killing tendrils\u2026big<\/div>\n
things, horrible things, crushing things, feeding things.   Our Triffids today are so tiny that we need an electron microscope to see them.  But when found<\/div>\n
the Coronavirus \u2014 CODIV 19 \u2014 is even more frightening.  It moves silently but with bewildering speed.  Jumps from an accidental cough to another<\/div>\n
person and does this unseen and  unknown until a few days later.  To expedite its movement it uses the human lung.  Your lung, my lung.  Can a  virus<\/div>\n
think?  If it does, its thoughts are different as were the Triffids. Hundreds of people have died.  CODIV  19 did  not want them to die.  It needed their lungs<\/div>\n
but did not need all the lungs it has infected.  A few LUNGS gone has not inhibited  the movement of the virus.  CODIV 19 can replicate itself with ease a thousand<\/div>\n
fold.  Viruses are common.  Perhaps the commonest piece of  living matter.  But it is a crippled  piece of living matter that needs to worm its way<\/div>\n
into living cells to stay alive.   Very scary.  I must stop.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Why do I remember Day of the Triffids so graphically?  Because  I was a young teacher of English at Parkdale Collegiate back in 1963 when Wyndham\u2019s<\/div>\n
book was assigned or maybe I just imposed it on the kids as a  good example of science fiction.  \u201cDid you know that a good science fiction writer<\/div>\n
always uses real life situations as a starting point then lets his or her imagination roll?\u201d  I would have said  something like that.  Gets student attention.<\/div>\n
I was only a day ahead  of the kids I taught.  Meaning I was just reading page 2  while they were discussing page  1.  With Wyndham however I was<\/div>\n
riveted. Could hardly wait to read Page 3\u2026then 4\u2026then the whole book\u2026before school, lunch hour, park  bench  on Roncesvales Avenue on the way<\/div>\n
our apartment, during supper. A good book does that.<\/div>\n

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\u201cAlan, I see Day of The Triffids is playing at the Doric on Roncesvales.\u201d<\/div>\n
(In those years, the 1960\u2019s, movie theatres with single  screens still existed but just a few hanging on.)<\/div>\n
\u201cYou must be kidding.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy don\u2019t we slip over\u2026you can take at least one night off from preparing lessons.\u201d<\/div>\n
(Teaching to me was a sacred trust\u2026I felt duty bound to know a little about what I taught\u2026a little.)<\/div>\n
\u201cSure.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cRather run down in here\u2026stuffing coming out of he seats.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSmells seamy\u2026body doors\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cOdd crowd \u2026 drifter types \u2026mostly men.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDid you hear bottles clinking?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cComes with the territory.”<\/div>\n
THEN CAME THE PLAYING OF GOD SAME THE QUEEN<\/div>\n
(no kidding\u2026in 1963 the Doric still played  God  Save the Queen)<\/div>\n
\u201cAlan, stand  up\u2026show  some respect.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo-one else is standing.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWe are.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cAnd, Alan, get the rest of those lazy people to stand up.\u201d<\/div>\n
(This I could  not do\u2026no guts\u2026.I slipped a notch in Marjorie\u2019s perception<\/div>\n
of me as a leader that night.)<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
What followed was Wyndham\u2019s story about the breakdown and  collapse of human<\/div>\n
civilization when something from outer space takes  hold.  The movie was frightening<\/div>\n
made moreso by the thoughtless\u2026unthinking\u2026crowd in the Doric theatre.  A<\/div>\n
crowd that would not stand up for God Save the Queen. Imagine that.<\/div>\n
 We got what we deserved<\/div>\n
that night for we  were nearly devoured by Triffids.  Felt that way, anyway.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
3)  Did you know that twice as many men  die from COVID 19 than women.<\/div>\n

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4) Last night CNN announced that whole state of California\u2026.40 million people\u2026have been ordered to stay home.  Fear the virus will infect half the population\u2026high death toll.<\/div>\n
Order to be enforced (somehow\u2026national guard?).    This action caused  me to rethink plan to go out\u2026 even though there would be no human<\/div>\n
contact.  I am 82\u2026healthy as Granddad\u2019s old horse, Dick\u2026but both Marjorie and  I belong to the most vulnerable group.   This has been reinforced by some<\/div>\n
nice caring phone  calls from friends both close and distant.  Very touching.  \u201cHow are you getting along?\u201d \u201cNeed anything?”<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
5) Something is really wrong below the border.  Governors of California and New  York State (Gov Cuomo) have declared states of<\/div>\n
Emergency themselves.   Where is the leadership of all of the United States?   Dithering\u2026mumbling\u2026using words like \u201ctremendous\u201d<\/div>\n
and rendering those words meaningless.   IF only Governor Cuomo was President of the United States.  A man who speaks with concern<\/div>\n
and  humanity and a determination to do what can be done and admit what cannot be done.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
6)  What is happening in Russia?  Strangely quiet.  the Chinese \/ Russian border was closed weeks ago.  Little seems to be leaking out.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
7)  Africa could become a meltdown.  Hope not.   <\/div>\n

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8)  LOST IN PARADISE\u2026THE  SAGA OF PATRICIA AND  DAVE\u2026CAN THEY GET BACK HOME?<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n

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SUNRISE IN SOUTH FLORIDA – AT MDINIGHT PATRICIA AND DAVE  DECIDED<\/div>\n
\u201cTIME  FOR US TO TRY TO GET HOME\u201d\u2026YES, MIDNIGHT.  AT THE SAME<\/div>\n
TIME I SENT THEM MY FEELINGS THAT THEY SHOULD MAKE A RUN FOR<\/div>\n
THE CANADIAN BORDER.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

On Mar 20, 2020, at 12:08 AM, ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com<\/a><\/a>> wrote:

A)   Hi

I think you should try to get home soon\u2026you
will face quarantine of course but being in Canada
feels so much better than being in the US.
Our leaders know how to lead.

Note that your other air carrier promises to help
get Canadians home.  so maybe your tickets are
still good.

We can have fun with the ‘Lost in Paradise’ story
but there is an urgent side to it as you know.

alan<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n


<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
 B)   Funny you should be thinking that. Our thoughts exactly yesterday as we watched the situation explode down here. 

Paradise Lost. 

We are flying out Sunday the 22nd. 

We booked the air tickets and headed to the boat at midnight. Luck was with us. It hadn\u2019t been pulled.  Still tied up at a dock. The marina is ridiculously busy because all the Floridians off work are boating. Left a note on the steering wheel \u201cDo not pull.\u201d  Up at this ungodly hour (still dark) to go back and add stabilizer to the gas and run it through the motor.

More later. 

<\/p>\n


<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n


<\/div>\n
   C)   Poor Dave aka \u201cmotorman\u201d didn\u2019t stand a chance last night on a conference call with our two daughters. It was like 
She said …
A second She said …
And a third She said …
Until he reluctantly agreed to try for earlier flights.  

One daughter, a former flight attendant, SUGGESTED which flights would actually go and, by 10:30 last night, we were booked on a Sunday flight out of Sarasota. 

Motorman thought we would have a better chance with a smaller airport and resulting smaller crowds.

He\u2019s probably right.

So here we are up bright and early ready to get to the boat before 8 o\u2019clock this morning when the Marina opens. Motorman has the stabilizer packed. We will be back from our ride by mid-morning and will request that the boat be put on its trailer before noon.  

Then we load it with our gear, tarp it to withstand a hurricane and get on with the rest of the chores to be done before flight time. 

View over the pond from our rental condo balcony.  Sunrise March 20, almost the first day of Spring!<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
LOST IN PARADISE STORY IS NOT COMPLETE YET.  HOLD YOUR BREATH.  <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAY 8,  COVID 19 PANDEMIC   MARCH 20, 2020 alan skeoch (running journal\u2026running until I run out of steam) UNITED STATES DAY 7     13,000 CASES  193 DEATHS ITALY                                  41,000 CASES   3,405 DEATHS CANADA       […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4729\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}