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May. 23rd, 2020 04:46 pmWell. I went to pick up my prescription yesterday, and it was an adventure frankly. The storm that isn't quite happening is passing through, so we had wind blowing us around from the beginning, and blowing dust into our eyes - very unpleasant when you don't want to touch your face or wipe your eyes at the time. My mum came with me with our dog, so we had to deal with him sniffing every single inch of greenery along the way, like he does. We had a moment at the beginning where we passed some wisteria, and I really liked the smell, but mum couldn't smell anything, so I made a joke about whether she'd lost her sense of taste and smell, and she spent the rest of the walk trying to smell every flower we went past to make sure she hadn't. Sadly most of the flowers had no real scent, so we didn't have much luck for about twenty minutes, but finally she confirmed there was one she could smell.
We went by the train station to see what things look like now, since I might have to use it shortly, and it wasn't much different to be honest. There were a few Coronavirus posters up, and the car park was empty. A train pulled in, and we had a look, and there seemed to be some sort of notice on the doors, which I assume was telling people not to open them as the conductor could do that. So at least there are some new procedures in place. We walked off, and that was when I realised my foot was really hurting. I bought some new trainers a few months ago, and I really like them, but they've got higher tops than my old ones and the material's stiff, so it's been rubbing the back of my ankle for a few days. I put a plaster over it for yesterday's walk, and then my foot made very clear to me that the plaster had come off, so I had to go fix it, and then was hobbling the rest of the way. Wind blowing at all moments.
Finally we got to the pharmacy, and the last time I went it was empty. This time there was someone inside, someone else just outside the doors, and another woman walked us just as I got there. So I had to make use of the queue markers, but the woman in front of me didn't make full use of hers and was sort of stood between them, so I had to use the one slightly further back. It took a very long time, but finally the man in the pharmacy came out, and walked down the queue to get back out, instead of using the open exit to the barriers on the other side. Madness. A delivery man for APC turned up for the doctor's surgery, which is sort of attached to the pharmacy, and he didn't care about walking right up past the barriers we were all stood behind, and then he seemed really confused about the fact the doctor's surgery wasn't just open, and he had to press the buzzer to get someone's attention. The second man in the queue came back out of the surgery, and nearly walked down the line to get out, and I had to actually tell him the way out was behind him. He still had to try to argue, that he thought that was for people going to the doctor's surgery. But he left that way eventually. Finally it was my turn, and before I went in my mother called out to me I had to wait for them to signal me, but they weren't doing that, so I just hovered around the door for a bit while the mask-wearing pharmacist stared at me in confusion.
But I got my prescription! Painlessly. Then we could go home. I spent a little while sanitising my hands with the free 70% sanitiser I was sent the other month, and found it genuinely hard to cover all the areas I wanted to cover before the gel dried up. But I managed, using up a good chunk of my hand sanitiser in the process, and we walked home. On the way, one old woman coming the opposite direction down the pavement wouldn't even just stand to the side to let us pass with a bit of distance between us and her, and then we saw a jogger coming towards us down the narrow pavement who did the same. Why even jog on the pavements under the current circumstances? There was nothing even on the road at that moment, so he could have gone down the tarmac for a second. But he didn't.
And then we got home. It took us an hour and a half. It doesn't give me confidence for how well I'll cope if I have to leave the house every day for work. It's easy to be comfortable in your own house, when you know where everything has been, and if anyone near you has it you're probably going to get it anyway. Being outside the house for hours of the day will be a different matter.
I haven't called my manager yet. I was going to, but I want to plan exactly what I'm going to ask, and I want to ask it as tactfully as possible, and I don't know if he will give me a straight answer. Not that he'll keep information from me if he has it, but if he doesn't have it, he does tend to give me advice on worrying less and believing in people more, and about having anxiety, and basically just imply I shouldn't be asking the question. And shouldn't keep asking the question. Rather than admit he doesn't know something he probably should. And honestly, after my mental health call on Thursday and the trip out yesterday, I didn't have the energy. Mum is now trying to say I shouldn't call him on the weekend, because it's not working hours. I don't think it matters in the current situation. And I think the sooner I can get answers from him, and the sooner I can give him an answer, the better. And there's a lot to talk about. One of the other things the government are advising against - as well as public transport - is hotdesking. And literally all we do is swap people around the one reception desk to suit different shifts and breaks. That's a procedure that will need extra cleaning around it.
Other things I have done lately:
We went by the train station to see what things look like now, since I might have to use it shortly, and it wasn't much different to be honest. There were a few Coronavirus posters up, and the car park was empty. A train pulled in, and we had a look, and there seemed to be some sort of notice on the doors, which I assume was telling people not to open them as the conductor could do that. So at least there are some new procedures in place. We walked off, and that was when I realised my foot was really hurting. I bought some new trainers a few months ago, and I really like them, but they've got higher tops than my old ones and the material's stiff, so it's been rubbing the back of my ankle for a few days. I put a plaster over it for yesterday's walk, and then my foot made very clear to me that the plaster had come off, so I had to go fix it, and then was hobbling the rest of the way. Wind blowing at all moments.
Finally we got to the pharmacy, and the last time I went it was empty. This time there was someone inside, someone else just outside the doors, and another woman walked us just as I got there. So I had to make use of the queue markers, but the woman in front of me didn't make full use of hers and was sort of stood between them, so I had to use the one slightly further back. It took a very long time, but finally the man in the pharmacy came out, and walked down the queue to get back out, instead of using the open exit to the barriers on the other side. Madness. A delivery man for APC turned up for the doctor's surgery, which is sort of attached to the pharmacy, and he didn't care about walking right up past the barriers we were all stood behind, and then he seemed really confused about the fact the doctor's surgery wasn't just open, and he had to press the buzzer to get someone's attention. The second man in the queue came back out of the surgery, and nearly walked down the line to get out, and I had to actually tell him the way out was behind him. He still had to try to argue, that he thought that was for people going to the doctor's surgery. But he left that way eventually. Finally it was my turn, and before I went in my mother called out to me I had to wait for them to signal me, but they weren't doing that, so I just hovered around the door for a bit while the mask-wearing pharmacist stared at me in confusion.
But I got my prescription! Painlessly. Then we could go home. I spent a little while sanitising my hands with the free 70% sanitiser I was sent the other month, and found it genuinely hard to cover all the areas I wanted to cover before the gel dried up. But I managed, using up a good chunk of my hand sanitiser in the process, and we walked home. On the way, one old woman coming the opposite direction down the pavement wouldn't even just stand to the side to let us pass with a bit of distance between us and her, and then we saw a jogger coming towards us down the narrow pavement who did the same. Why even jog on the pavements under the current circumstances? There was nothing even on the road at that moment, so he could have gone down the tarmac for a second. But he didn't.
And then we got home. It took us an hour and a half. It doesn't give me confidence for how well I'll cope if I have to leave the house every day for work. It's easy to be comfortable in your own house, when you know where everything has been, and if anyone near you has it you're probably going to get it anyway. Being outside the house for hours of the day will be a different matter.
I haven't called my manager yet. I was going to, but I want to plan exactly what I'm going to ask, and I want to ask it as tactfully as possible, and I don't know if he will give me a straight answer. Not that he'll keep information from me if he has it, but if he doesn't have it, he does tend to give me advice on worrying less and believing in people more, and about having anxiety, and basically just imply I shouldn't be asking the question. And shouldn't keep asking the question. Rather than admit he doesn't know something he probably should. And honestly, after my mental health call on Thursday and the trip out yesterday, I didn't have the energy. Mum is now trying to say I shouldn't call him on the weekend, because it's not working hours. I don't think it matters in the current situation. And I think the sooner I can get answers from him, and the sooner I can give him an answer, the better. And there's a lot to talk about. One of the other things the government are advising against - as well as public transport - is hotdesking. And literally all we do is swap people around the one reception desk to suit different shifts and breaks. That's a procedure that will need extra cleaning around it.
Other things I have done lately:
- Watched a lot of cat rescue videos from a channel in Korea, and done a lot of crying.
- Found out Moby Dick was based on a real whale. I knew it was based on a real incident, but not a real whale. His name was Mocha Dick.
- I love Jaws.
- Bought £118 worth of books I will probably now not be able to read, because I have to go back to work.
- Mum cut tufts off the dog's face, in lieu of an actual dog groomer. It turns out our regular groomer has been open throughout lockdown, and shouldn't have been.
- Enjoyed Animal Crossing, and also not enjoyed Animal Crossing.
- I went on the internet on Thursday and suddenly discovered there was a Borderlands 3 expansion reveal and a livestream on the new Sims 4 expansion happening out of nowhere, blessed I was with video game news.
- Found out my local games shop probably isn't open at the moment - I tried calling them a few times to ask what was up, and there was no answer, so I think the information on their facebook just hadn't been updated.
- Manfully (womanfully) resisted by the new Shark RPG game that's out, until I can hopefully buy it from them.
- Debated when I might actually be comfortable ordering things online from other countries again. Now? Next year?
- Considered buying everything Marks and Spencer's was offering me for the garden, like a sunbed and fire pit, to try to jazz up our stay-at-home summer. Although if the weather's like it was on Wednesday, I think I'll be quite glad to stay at home.
- My dad, who has replaced all our crockery with new grey ones, has now decided to replace our back lawn with articial grass. I don't know why he wants this to be a house with no life in it. I'm buying the most colourful pictures I can.
- Watched all the livestreams and don't know if I enjoyed them or not.
- I got home yesterday and realised the wind had pulled an entire poster down from my wall while I was out. I have left it there until I feel like dealing with it.
- Tried to buy brownies from my usual place online, now I feel more calm about buying online cold food, only to discover they're either making them at a reduced pace or getting a lot more traffic than usual, because they keep telling me everything's sold out, and to try again on Sunday. This is also what they told me when I tried to buy some last Sunday.
