Self isolation and the end of the words as we know it

20 March , 2020


I am in two mind about posting this…but what good is a blog if you can’t ramble when you need to? Here goes then. Feel free to skip my post if you feel uncomfortable.

So, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that the world is imploding around the Covid-19 global pandemic (a rock might actually be a pretty safe place to live under for the foreseeable future, actually). Personally, I don’t actually mind the self isolation working from home gig. I have actually mostly been doing that for the last three or four years anyway. Not everyone in my house is adjusting equally well to the situation. Nicola for instance is about ready to climb the walls, haha!

I’m not an expert but from what I’ve pieced together out of the media, my understanding is that it’s not that deadly for generally healthy people…the panic is around how fast it spreads, that’s it’s very deadly for anyone who is immune compromised, and that in a fairly short span of time people who get it in the worst degree need ventilators, and there are not enough ventilators to go around. Without ventilators their chances seem pretty grim, and so the bodies stack up. Oh yes, and the older you get the more serious it is for you.

I don’t personally feel much at risk, but both my parents (who we live with) are over 60. And roughly a third of the country had HIV. Also many many many many people with Diabetes and Cancer. So lots of at risk people really. I am staying home as far as possible, for all of them. I wouldn’t want to accidentally give it to someone who doesn’t have a fighting chance to get through it.

It’s pretty flipping serious. How serious? Well, I’ve told Nicola that she must pay close attention to what’s going on in the world at the moment, because there is no way this isn’t ending up in the history books. It’s serious enough for the Irish to cancel St. Patrick’s Day, serious enough for the Muslims to evacuate Mecca, serious enough for the Pope to call off Easter Celebrations, serious enough for all churches of all denominations to shut down services, serious enough that almost all countries have closed their schools and universities, serious enough for numerous countries to close their borders.

And yet…it still runs…it’s pretty damned serious.

We go outside of our property the bare minimum, essentials only. If you do go, you get disinfected at the door of anywhere. People are walking the streets in masks and gloves. People who turn up to shops or chemists coughing or looking unwell are turned away by security for the safety of the other patrons (we have actually seen this, it’s real). Small businesses and anyone who relies on actual foot traffic are facing a grim time, the majority of them will not make it through this crisis. Total economic collapse, not just for many individuals, but possibly even for many ill prepared countries.

This is not something that we have to hang tight through for a couple of weeks and then it will be over. There will be a new normal after this, and it will NOT look at all like the one we had before. Mentally prepare yourself: At some point, no matter how isolated your self-isolation might be…you WILL get it. Hopefully you get it in a grade that doesn’t require a ventilator, and if you do hopefully one is available. Hopefully your loved ones are as lucky as you are.

Sorry, I don’t mean to sound glum or cause panic, but this is reality. And I don’t need to cause panic – people are already panicking. And I get it. It’s scary as hell. If it makes you feel better to have 50 000 rolls of toilet paper I don’t judge you for that (unless you pushed someone out of the way to get it. I very much judge you for that and I’d give you a snot klap for doing it! Sies man.). Buy the toilet paper if it will make you sleep better, hier kom groot kak.

What you really want to stock up on is non perishable foods and meds. Those are the things that matter in any post-apocalypse story usually. Just saying…I haven’t stocked up on anything except Easter eggs for Nicola, and cigarettes. I have stocked up a bit on those. I feel like I would like to have a smoke available to watch the world burn when or if it comes to that.

Seriously, what a time to be alive?! There has never been anything in the world that has caused quite so much chaos and disruption to so many people all at once. And we are in the front row (our own couches) of this shit show. And other than flattening the curve it is more or less completely out of our hands (which we will wash continuously until they are raw and spotless). So do what you can, with what you have, where you are (STAY HOME AND KEEP CLEAN!). And don’t believe everything you read…we are of course being fed an phenomenal amount of bullshit in an attempt to contain the panic (*cough cough*…into elbow). Maybe containing the panic is not unreasonable in times like these?

Do not assume it’s incompetence, more often than not it’s intent.



  1. How does this affect your plans, Louisa? Had you purchased any tickets yet?

    • Not yet Marcia. We’re aiming for mid July. It’s really too soon to say what will happen by then. So we watch and we wait.



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