Everyone is gagging for the lockdown to be lifted. Let me give you some context as some of my readers are not South African. In South Africa we were on a hard lockdown for a whole month. This included not buying cigarettes, alcohol or any non-essential items. So, when you are bored… you can’t even shop online for goodies. No exciting parcels arriving at your door. When we came to the end of the hard lockdown new guidelines were introduced. South Africa would have levels of lockdown, 5 being the hard lockdown. They were now moving us to Level 4. Now this is where it gets sticky. Some provinces (states) can be on different levels because of infection rates. The Western Cape province is facing a massive increase in infections so they might have to stay on level 5. Nothing has been announced a out it yet though.
So, the positive for me is that with Level 4 restaurants can now open for deliveries. Yes, of course I ordered from Uber Eats the first day we went onto Level 4!!! I’ve never done so much cooking or dishes in my life! Hubs is working from home so it’s making lunch and dinner and you can imagine all the bloody dishes that have to be done… and neither of us like doing dishes! Reprieve! We have now decided to get a dishwasher, although we will probably have to wait as it is a non-essential item. Ugh!!!
Now the President said the ban on cigarettes would be lifted but the there was an about turn and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma (NDZ) the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs overruled this and said cigarettes would remain banned as would alcohol. There was a huge uproar about the cigarette ban. It’s like your Dad saying you can have ice-cream and then you sister comes in and tells you, you can’t have any! Cigarette sales contribute to the economy in a significant way. Hate them or love them but economically the millions brought in every day in taxes from the sale of cigarettes are needed. There are lots of conspiracy theories around this as she was previously linked to people who were in the black-market sales of cigarettes.
Don’t take my word for it. Here is an article for you to read about this. Please go and read other articles as well to form your own opinion. Up in smoke: Dlamini-Zuma’s ‘illegal cigarette’ connection resurfaces – https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/level-4-lockdown-nkosazana-dlamini-cigarettes-illegalwho-is-adriano-mazzotti/
So why am I not excited about the prospect of lockdown levels changing? Well, I believe I’ve said this before. Two weeks before lockdown my immunosuppressants were doubled, smacking my immune system down. So, I had to go into lockdown before lockdown even started! As the numbers increase, the danger increases for me. So even if we get to a level where we can go to restaurants, if infections are still high, I cannot go. I can’t go anywhere indefinitely. This is a total mind bomb.
We are in the Southern Hemisphere and we are going into winter. God forbid I even catch the flu! So, I literally cannot go anywhere. I have to take extra special care with everything coming into the house. I’m not on lockdown. I’m LOCKED IN! Funny story… Last night we heard the bell. Security said it was a delivery. Hubs and I were confused. We already received our Uber Eats order. (Yes, we ordered from Uber Eats again) The delivery guy leaves the packets at our door. It was an online food order from Woolworths. Funny because I was thinking I need to cancel this stupid pending order. The order I placed on the 1ST OF APRIL arrived yesterday!!! The ridiculousness of it all… Really? A full month later? Oh well we have extra stock now.
I wish I could be excited about levels being shifted but as I look at the increase in infections, I know that I will not be going anywhere anytime soon. When winter hits we will see a peak in infections and that will be super dangerous for me and anyone else who is immunocompromised or has co-morbidity issues like asthma. I’ve been actively working on trying to keep my myself from focusing on this rabbit hole I’ve gone down. I’ve been coming up with things to do and doing a lot of reflection.
So much has changed. My life has completely changed. I’m a complete shut in. I cannot even go to the shop. My dad suggested that Hubs take me for the occasional drive to keep my sanity intact. This is a harrowing time for me. I have no direction. I see no end. We haven’t even seen the peak yet. The more the infections grow the more dangerous it becomes for me to leave my house. Hubs has to decontaminate when he comes home. I’ve slowly started making my peace with it, but it really does feel like Groundhog Day for me. I have to move away from the Ground Hog day mentality, and I am slowly getting there.
Today I washed my hair. My friend told me I didn’t have to because washing your hair only happens on level 2 😂😂😂😂. That killed me. Too funny. So, I attacked the rat’s nest creature on my head. I lost 100 grams after I washed my hair! Damn. I did some self-care with face masks and weed whacking my legs etc. I feel a lot better. We just get into that “lockdown I don’t care” mode. I do too but there are days when I give myself a stern talking to about pulling myself towards myself and getting my you know what together. I don’t think we should be too hard on ourselves during this time. It’s tough. It’s a new normal that we are trying to carve out. This is the first time any of us are experiencing this and we are all flying by the seat of our pants; including our governments. In the spirit of not being too hard on ourselves I will not be blow drying my hair today. That’s an activity for another day.
So, as you celebrate being given some freedoms or just going to the store, spare a thought for us who are locked in. We’d love to be there! What I wouldn’t do right now to go shopping. Just for 5 minutes. My whole family will come kill me. 1 from Canada even if she can get in. 😂 Funny that at my age my parents still scream at me and tell me to not go out. Spoiler alert: No matter how old you are your parents can still scream at you to “sit your ass at home”! Who would have thought at my age… in a whole other city my parents can still scream at me to stay home? Holy hell.
I’ll be back with some of my reflections. South Africa faces some problems that other countries might not face. I’d like to write about the state of our nation is and how we can all help.
Stay Safe!
ONE LOVE 😷✌
Tracey's World , Discover 