How is everyone in the current situation? General Chat

Ah a kindred spirit, and the reason why I didn't want to book a delivery slot. I am vegetarian, and quite fussy about my fruit and greens. Trying to select a cabbage or a cauliflower without touching is not easy, and as you say, we all like to have perfect ripeness. I haven't actually seen anyone get disciplined for touching in Aldi, but it doesn't feel quite right, even though I wear transparent plastic gloves. Chas tells me that there are shops which have an, if you touch it, you buy it, rule.
I didn't actually mean tins and prepacks, but I suppose disease could be transmitted that way. Best to give them a wipe over when you get them home.

Many have to pick up tins and prepacks too to be able to read the ingredients. So many folk have allergies and they really can't trust to luck that the ingredients are ok for them

Carole, so far everything I have bought online has been top quality. One thing I am really picky about is cherry tomatoes, and the two packs I ordered [out of about a dozen different colours/types - I never knew there were so many different types of tomatoes ] were perfect. I cannot say the same for other supermarkets but then again it is probably more expensive than others so you get what you pay for. It is also possible to put a note on each item before adding it to the basket, so I suppose if I wanted a whole cauliflower which would be priced by weight, I could say a wanted a small or medium size one.

In any case, if I want things that Hai does not carry and as I am not permitted to go out, I have to trust the person preparing my order.

Chris, you are correct when you say that many people have to pick up tins and prepacks too to be able to read the ingredients. For me it is not only possible allergens but I do like to know the nutritional information that is on everything. Examples can be two different brands of sardines - both the same price and both in the same oil, but one tin can have over 50% more salt than the other.

I am not a health food freak but I do check things like salt, sugar, fat etc, and I like to know the amounts of protein and fibre in things. OK, yes, I suppose that does make me a bit of a fanatic, especially as I keep a folding magnifying glass in a pocket of Xanadu's small side bag to check ingredients. Well, I used to when I was allowed to go to the macolet, but at least everything is listed [per 100g and per portion] on the website, plus all possibly allergens have to be listed by law, which makes shopping easier.

At least I am not sitting on Xanadu possibly blocking anyone while I examine things if I am shopping online!

I telephoned Nir this morning and asked if he was working [he is self-employed] as this hayfever is really getting me down. The yards should have been sprayed a while back but then came the lockdown......anyhow, Nir does not live too far away so I thought maybe he will come over and spray them, and much to mine and Tikki's delight [because she adores him] he came, sprayed the yards, and sorted out the screen in my kitchen window.

He has been semi-retired for some time now [he is early/mid 60s I think], only working for friends or people like me who he has known for a long time. I met him through the delumptious Doron, my scooter guy, who I have known since before moving to this bungalow in 2000, and I think Nir first came to do some work here soon after I moved. They are both related in some way - their fathers being cousins, or something.

The problem with the weeds is that really the yards should be sprayed at the end of winter just before the last rains so the stuff can soak deep into the ground and hopefully lessen the amount of weeds that appear as soon as the earth warms up a bit. Then probably another three or four times before the next rains start at the end of the year.

Anyhow, at least I had someone to talk to for a while after he had finished - Nir sitting on the wall outside and me in the doorway on Xanadu!

Hey all. I forgot to mention we have been getting groceries delivered (fortunate I know). It is an added expense but we have made it work. I do plan to go grocery shopping at the store sooner or later but I am not positive when that will happen just yet.

As far as traffic goes, we live on a busy street and you wouldn't even know there is a stay at home order until May 31st here. The traffic hasn't stopped. In fact, it may have increased.

Stay safe, stay healthy, and take care!

This is going to be a long and uncomfortable rollercoaster ride for me, with work. Some days are fine, others are frustrating as can be. I was told Saturday that I’ve been abrasive with a few customers, asking for social distance, and that they work really hard bringing those customers in. This to me says the customer is more important than the employee. I guess this harkens to the golden rule, he who has the gold makes the rules. I asked if he’s ever heard me say anything inappropriate to a customer before this current situation and he said no. I explained to him that I have anxiety, it’s a physiological response, my pulse goes up, I get short of breath, if it’s bad my temperature can go up. I haven’t experienced this at work before our current situation. No compassion or understanding. If people don’t get social distancing by now, they aren’t going to get it, and IMO they don’t deserve a sugar coated request. They are just obtuse. The stress builds up, and becomes overwhelming after repeated interactions. They are unwilling to inconvenience the customers. I get the impression that I should just be happy I have a job, and suck it up. Not very respectful. It’s a good thing that I’m solid in my sobriety, because if I wasn’t I’d be sliding back down into a hole I never want to have to climb out of again.

Other businesses have much better signage throughout their stores. We have nothing once you enter, just on the glass windows as you come in, and duct tape markers on the floor to space out the customers at the registers. A couple little signs there too about keeping 6 feet apart while in line. Nothing about respecting the space of the employees. No markers on the floor throughout the store, let alone signs. One health food store has all the employees wearing buttons saying something like “we are happy to help you but please respect the 6 foot social distance”. I commented to one of them how I wished we had a button like that, and expressed my frustration where I work. He said it’s my right to have my own personal 6 foot bubble around me. This same store also has signs saying if you need to get past an employee who is stocking a shelf to please ask them to move, it’s a big sign, maybe 4ft x 2ft. I think I’m working in the wrong place, that store values and respects their employees.

I’m really not sure how long I’ll be able to cope with the working conditions. It’s not even necessarily the working conditions, but the attitude of management.

@Chris, How is your daughter doing, is she feeling better? How is her workplace dealing with this situation?

She is better thanks. It took over three weeks for her to get back to normal, but, thankfully, she got there.

Her work handled it appallingly in my opinion and made her go back to work too soon as, again my opinion, if it was Covid-19 she could have easily spread it and I do wonder if she did. A lady on the other shift who she only sees during change over has been in hospital this last week and a bit and is on a ventilator with the virus.

I have come to the conclusion that either I am as thick as two short planks, or I am well on the way to becoming totally gaga.

My mother tongue is English. I think in English. I use my computer in English. I [mostly] talk to Tikva in English. And I read online newspapers, both national and international in English.

But it is rapidly getting to the state that I am totally and utterly confused about what I am reading. Of course it does not help when a newspaper puts up two totally contradictory articles on exactly the same subject side by side.

And can someone please explain how swimming and other activities will be permitted in the sea, but it will still be forbidden to walk on the beach? How are people supposed to get into the sea if they are not allowed to walk on the beach?

Oh - and what on earth does "hot desking" mean?

@Malka, Where I live they had opened up the beaches, but people came from out of town, so they closed them again. Now they are closed from 11am-5pm, to try and discourage people that don’t live here. The police have been patrolling and checking license plates, fining people from out of town $1000.

However surfing and paddle boarding, etc, are allowed all day long, you just can’t loiter on the beach.

At the moment, Juli, the lockdown is still in full force, but the newspapers are making up what they think will happen when things ease. Far from beaches being closed, our local council has taken off the no dogs restriction until lockdown is eased. The beaches have never closed, but swimming in the sea is frowned on. Don't forget, our lockdown is advisory rather than cast in stone.

Hot desking is something a lot of call centres use. It means employees don't have their own desk but just sit at any empty desk when they go into work

Thank you Chris for the explanation about hot desking - that is something I never came across, either in England or here.

All our beaches and parks have been and still are closed but now they are talking about possibly opening them again - or rather swimming and surfing etc will be allowed but people will still not be permitted on the beaches, and our lockdown and restrictions are government laws, not just advisory.

Nothing makes sense here though. A guy was threatened with arrest by the police for surfing or paddle-boarding at Tel Aviv last week, yet people were deliberately flouting the law by crowding the promenades, with many not wearing masks - masks being the law here - and they were ignored. And even though the only stores permitted to open have been food stores and pharmacies, for some unknown reason Ikea was allowed to re-open about a week ago. It just does not make sense.

Some schools were supposed to open this last Sunday and others yesterday, just grades 1-3 and 12-14 or something, but many teachers refused to go in and many parents refused to send their children, and nobody seems to know what is supposed to be happening. One minute it is this and that will start to be opened on such and such a day and the next minute it is something else and on a different day. And we still do not have a proper functioning government.

I am just totally fed up with everything at the moment.

We have similar anomalies here, Julie. Every police force seems to be imposing fines on social distancing/gathering and unnecessary travel differently.

I went to my third supermarket yesterday, (Tesco).
I think that there can not be a general no-touch rule, as the 2 metre spacing was being encouraged, but nobody was interested in which products you handled. (? fake news, or maybe some private shops doing their own thing). Your trolley was handed to you by a member of staff who was stationed at the entrance, and also offered the use of sanitiser gel. You were asked to follow direction of travel arrows in the store, which funelled you to a point where a staff member directed you to a numbered till. This posed a problem when I found I had forgotten Charles' chutney! However, I told her that I needed to revisit the aisle, and that was OK. All the loose deli products had disappeared, prepacks only, but there was fresh baked bread at the bakery, and loose fruit and vegetables. Till staff were screened, but seemed relaxed and chatty.

Don't quote me, but I think it was Asda and another one that brought in the no touching rule. Tesco seem to be pretty well organised. I wish they were all the same.

It was Asda and Aldi.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-...food-packaging-trolleys-hygiene-a9477396.html

Much as I miss seeing people and talking to people, I am beginning to feel glad that I do not have to go out shopping any more.

Chas has remembered - it was Iceland that originally said, 'If you touch it, you buy it'.
I was impressed with how organised Tesco was - no queues obscuring the shelves either. This system is little slower, but is worth the extra time.

A few weeks back the Ninja telephoned and said that Shula, our nurse, had called him and asked him to telephone me [why not telephone me directly?] to say she would be coming round in half an hour but would not come in, so wanted me to take my BP so I could tell her what it is. She did not turn up, nor did she telephone either him or me to say she was not coming.

This morning the Ninja telephoned and said that Shula had called him again [SIGH] to ask him to let me know that both Shula and our new doctor, who I had not met, would be coming round at 12 noon [but it is Wednesday and the clinic is only open on a Sunday afternoon and Thursday morning, for a couple of hours each time, so what were they doing on the Moshav on a Wednesday?

And, they wanted me to check my BP from both arms. A bit useless as I have always taken it with the cuff on my left arm, as have 90% of all the doctors and nurses I have come across in my life. Plus the records I keep are all the results from my left arm.

Dead on 12 noon they both appeared! Oh the excitement from Tikki - not just one but TWO people coming down the path! Anyhow, our new GP is fairly young - her name is Naomi and she is very nice. They actually did come in, well, a just a metre or so, so I turned my monitor so they could see where I had noted my BP readings, but I backed away before they got too close. They were both wearing facemasks of course, but Naomi pulled hers down and being a doctor she must be in contact with a lot of people, so I very nearly asked her to please cover her mouth and nose......while all the time I was coughing like a goodun because talking makes me get out of breath and cough!

She is going to arrange for someone to come here and take blood as I have not been for a blood test in years, and said that Shula would telephone - guess who - to say when they would be coming.

I wonder what they would do if I did not have a BP machine? I very much doubt it is something that everyone has - it is not usually a part of a home first-aid kit, is it. Or is it?

Progress! About time that the medics showed a little more interest in your health.
I can only have blood and BP taken from my left arm. They have to root for around a bit as the left has collapsed veins, but the right one has lymphoedema.
Did you manage to get your landline sorted out? If they have not been able to get through, that could be why they use your Ninja as a contact.

Progress indeed! Yes, my landline was fixed literally at the last minute before the lockdown, but Shula has my mobile number as it is on the computer at the clinic with all my details.

OK, so why are they using Amit as a contact. He has my Power of Attorney because he is the only person who does things for me and I trust him implicitly. Before I had the PoA drawn up I asked him if he would be prepared to take the responsibility, and also that Liat, his wife, would be OK with it. The PoA includes that he has [I am trying to think how to word this correctly] permission from me to make medical decisions on my behalf, should I be unable to make such decisions myself. [I have put that in italics in case I might have worded it incorrectly.]

So I guess it is not really a bad thing that they do go through him as a contact. It is not as if he has taken over my life - but he has taken responsibility for my health and I am very grateful to him for that. To be perfectly honest it is extremely reassuring to know that he has done so, and also that Tikki and will be cared for her in the event I am unable to do so.