Unsettling into the second lockdown in France
Emotions running amok….
The President announced last night of a total lockdown across the country starting from 30 Oct. I took in the news and couple of shots of Rum and went straight to bed and woke up with a headache.
Earlier today I went to the supermarket and everything seems to be calm even though we had only around 24 hours to prepare for this lockdown. I bought the essentials; Rum, pasta, strong cheese, cold cuts, bread, milk and eggs.
Then to the Indian grocer to pick up a 5kg bag of Tilda basmati rice. We usually got a 20kg bag before but after the last lockdown we instinctively brought down rice consumptions. The evidences are showing up in loose clothing and diminishing waste lines. :-)
Next stop was to the pharmacy and too my surprise no queue whatsoever. I will leave it to your imagination what I bought here. Before leaving I held the door for an old lady, she greeted, “Merci, Bonne Journee” to me. As I left the pharmacy my steps towards home became rapid. As I entered building D I was greeted by five people — teenagers to adults smoking pot. Thick billow of smoke filled the air and a cold blast of breeze send shivers through my spine. I took a deep breath and marched up to my floor.
I unpacked everything carefully. Especially the Rum bottle waiting to be christened later this evening. I carefully unearth the eggs and place them inside a woven basket and wondered what to cook with it. We have to reduce pasta over-dependency from the last lockdown.
My French language teacher announced during my lesson that the zoom class will continue until 1 Dec. He sounded excited and said, “I can’t wait to show you guys my library and my piano”. I must confess I was just getting a hang of the zoom lessons.
Since morning I’ve been trying to identify my emotions. I know the lockdown is unavoidable but my poor mind has been busy trying to piece something together so I can make sense and start digesting. No luck so far.
Let’s break it down — We are in lockdown for four weeks, The end date is set for 1 Dec. At the least we can spend few weeks shopping to prepare for Christmas and before that my birthday. I am a bit disappointed that all our plans for Deepavali will not go ahead. But that’s ok I guess since I won’t be returning to Asia in any case.
Is it fear.. I did manage the first lockdown, if I may say, quite beautifully. However the second lockdown seems more daunting almost scary. As if we are at a starting point heading to an apocalyptic future/end. Not that dire I know but I dare not say. The bouts of uncertainty floating around for the past few months is now cemented in reality that the virus is here to stay and it’s relentless on its quest to get to everyone, almost everyone.
Even those close to us are being infected. So maybe lockdown is the right approach. A friend of mine on Facebook commented that people should revolt against the lockdown like in Italy and other countries. To that I replied, “I am not sure what is the right solution but definitely not that, sorry!”. I sighed and press the send button.
Where did it all go wrong? I believe all of us followed the health directives. There were some irresponsible ones like in any occasions. The lockdown is a price we have to pay.
I wanted to say something positive like everything will be ok in the end and we will get out of this alive. For some reason my optimism is within a deep mourning.
It’s time for Rum! Wherever you are, keep hydrated.
Apologies to end with a sombre note.
