Coronavirus Quarantine Diary: Day One, Memory Lane is Trod

My grandparent's home as seen today

Well, this is different. Indeed like nothing I've previously experienced in my six and half decades on this planet. No work. No gym. No orgies. No restaurants. No bookstores. No sporting events. No contact with people other than wife and oldest daughter with whom I'm sequestered in our humble home.

(Did he really write, "no orgies"? He's kidding, right?)

So the day started with me not going to work despite having risen early and preparing to do exactly that. The missus said it wasn't advisable as I am in the dangerous category of people being really, really old. I contacted the boss and she said it was cool, they'd cover me. (The school closed after today anyway and I'm to start teaching online Wednesday) Of course by edict of our local governments I ain't going anywhere from 12:01 AM tomorrow on, except a doctor's appointment.

Thus this was something of a day off but I'd just had a lazy weekend and am not want to sit around twiddling my thumbs on a Monday. I got busy. First there were old blog posts to go over. As I mentioned previously on this blog, I've been going through my nearly 12 years of blog posts and cleaning up left over typos, correcting bad grammar (not much of that, thank you very much) and flat out deleting dated or poorly written posts (very few of those).

Recently while going through past posts I noted that on half a dozen occasions -- though not at all in the last nine years -- I devoted entire posts to great quotes from great films (admittedly, some were merely really good quotes from really good films). I decided that it was an idea worth reviving and so today started compiling film quotes for a post that will be coming your way soon.

I then continued emailing and texting friends, relatives and loved ones (who am I kidding? anyone who's a "loved one" is a friend or relative.) I was checking in. As I write this everyone has checked back and many have said quite lovely things as one does in times crisis -- as I assume this is. One very good friend is stuck in his Paris apartment which doesn't sound so bad expect that his wife and children are similarly stranded and not with him and Paris isn't quite the same these days with the damned virus having shut down restaurants and other amusements.

I also spent a bit too much time on Twitter which I do virtually every day. That damn thing is so easy to get sucked into while at the same time, if curated properly, can be a wonderful source of information, informed opinion and hilarious animal videos.

Chatted with wife and daughter. There was a lot to talk about.

Went for a long walk. Saw a fair amount of people about and none seemed to think it rude that, as we've been instructed, I kept my distance. Lots of people pushing carriages (some with babies or toddlers in them), walking dogs or just getting exercise. I suppose some were running errands.

My walk took me by my maternal grandparent's house. I spent many hours there as a wee tyke as I grew up not far away. In fact the elementary school I attended was a block away so I went to Grandma's for lunch everyday. I would sit in front of the TV and she would bring me my meal which I would share with her golden retriever, Sisu. One day in the 5th grade I turned on the TV and instead of The Donna Reed show there were some boring looking old men in suits talking. The topic was the assassination of President Kennedy which had occurred an hour or so earlier. When I returned to school I told all my mates about it and of course none believed me. We returned to class and our teacher, Mrs. Phillips, came in a tad late and tearfully informed us of the death of the president. I heard a chorus of, "you were right, Richard."

I noted that the "front yard" in front of Grandma's house was tiny. I always picture it as a vast expanse of greenery, obviously based on my recollections as a wee one. The house and its environs looked otherwise much the same.

From there I went by my aforementioned old school were I matriculated from kindergarten through grade six. The seven years there was longer than I spent at any other educational institution. The expression one uses in such cases is that the memories came flooding back. They really did. I recalled where I confronted a bully, where we used to play handball, where I saw a girl get hit by a car and where kickball was played.

I then made my way home where I spent the afternoon answering and sending emails, looking into how I could publicize my novel (available on Amazon Kindle ) and chatting with my lovely housemates. I capped the afternoon off with a lengthy nap. I am a huge fan of naps and may make taking them a regular habit in the days, weeks, months to come. It's time well spent.

I'm proud to say that I washed the dishes and heroically ate the delicious tacos my darling wife prepared. I've also been writing this as is evidenced by the fact that it exists. Not to get too existential on you.

So what about this virus? How about this life altering pandemic? Well, stay tuned, this is after all only the first day of the quarantine. There may be a lot more to come.