Joined in my isolation by two charming ladies

Well, this certainly unexpected !  Like a lot of other oldies in the US, Europe and other areas I am in total lock-down in my house, instead of doing what I was planning, which included long anticipated trips to Hawaii and Singapore - and back to the UK . Whether I made the right decision to stay here rather than go home (while I could) remains to be seen. It was a classic example of having to make a decision with constantly changing and incomplete information. We'll see.

 

                I have been joined in my isolation by two charming ladies. Those of you who have visited me here may recall two lamps in the apartment built around two porcelain Chinese ladies about 12 inches tall. They are of Kwan Yin, the Buddhist Bodhissatva (Enlightened one) of compassion. Each holds two lotus flowers with the palm of their left hand upwards and open in a abhaya (gesture) of protection, and stand on lotus flowers above a swirling and tubulent ocean. They're only 20th Century but quite charming - not so fine as the ones already here but in better nick and bigger. I recently came across them at the back of a local antique ship, very cheap, and succumbed immediately. I'm sure they will look after me.

                I certainly haven't been bored in my nine days of lock-down. The US Navy never does things by halves and I have engaged in a really steep learning curve in the technologies of on-line teaching for the main course I run which starts in a couple of days. Computer technology has never been my strong point and I have this theory that computers, and indeed anything electronic, can smell human fear and love to exploit it. But it certainly takes my mind off things - and I'm in the throes of writing a book on the same subject (which my daughter encapsulates as 'boats') so all that keeps me busy.

                I'm also lucky in that I have quite a large private estate by the sea to wander around in without fear of encountering anyone else. I reckon by the end of 3-4 months or however long it is, I will have worn a path around it like tigers used to in the disgracefully small  zoo cages they used decades ago. I've already discovered a large gravestone for something rather than someone called Isabella in one of the wooded areas. And standing on the cliff edge looking out at the sea makes one feel better. So I'm luckier than most of the self-isolated.

 

                Observance of the new restrictions has been patchy so far, and will be I think until things really bite. Generally it's been a lot quieter than usual and seeing Bellevue completely empty with all the Mansions closed indefinitely seems very eerie.

 I found myself going to the window to watch a car go by at one stage. But at the weekend when the weather was nice there was loads of car traffic going up and down. That doesn't necessarily imply a breach of social distancing when they reach Brenton point or wherever they are going , but I did spot some workmen inspecting a nearby house who definitely were not doing it. In fact a couple came here to look at a problem I've had open up in the last couple of days. Those pestilential  'rats with tails' have broken into my loft by pulling off some of the loose coving in the roof soffit and that needs fixing because the noise they make is intrusive. Selfishly I hope they manage it before the Rhode Island Governor declares a total lock-down which I think she shortly will.

                So far though things seem under control. Illusory, no doubt, but I'm very impressed with US home deliveries. One grocery delivery arrived within 3 hours of my making it !  So, I'm coping just fine at the moment, though the death of a colleague I knew from the Philippines  (Female, fit, half my age) after a conference in Paris at the beginning of the month was sobering.

One can but hope. So keep well !