The plan was to remain together, alone, for Christmas so we could spend New Year’s Eve/Day with Occasional Speeder and family. A fivesome. That way Grandson Zach, who’s been exposed at school throughout December, would then have passed through the longest period possible of self-isolation at home.
But Wednesday’s Ten O’Clock news said otherwise. The oh-so-familiar daily Covid-19 figures were all going the wrong way. Afterwards VR turned to me and I knew what she was going to say. I emailed OS and almost immediately received one in return. Starting: “Ah you beat me to this - I had this conversation earlier with Darren and said…”
One thing about Covid-19 is that nothing surprises you. There’s so much uncertainty that disappointment becomes a chronic condition. How might we mark the now lonesome year’s end? In the past opera DVDs have been our support. But by now we have a huge pile covering all the operas we know and all those we care to experiment with.
I scratched around and came up with Mozart’s Seraglio, Gounod’s Faust, George Benjamin’s Lessons in Love and Violence, and Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment.
And, since OS would be paying us a flying visit to hand over and receive presents that would have been opened on December 31, and was due a late groceries delivery, we tacked on an extra couple of bottles of champagne to her order. That’s six bottles in total for us. Plus Bordeaux and Burgundy of course.
VR and I have had rows since. Nourished by our state of social nothingness. Rows quickly resolved. It’s important not to fall back into cliché. My default reaction. A cousin died two weeks ago; I wrote to his widow, careful to avoid that lumbering horror “condolence”. In these times language demands great attention.
Disappointment, anger, fear, stress and boredom have become a really strange chronic condition over the last year.
ReplyDeleteTom: The only sensation I'd dispute (in the politest way possible, you understand) is fear. Without digging too deeply I find myself philosophical about the threats Covid-19 poses, including the terminal one. Of course, this is entirely theoretical at the moment. I could end up screaming my head off if theory becomes reality.
DeleteI am not particularly scared of dying, just of spending three weeks dying of asphyxiation.
DeleteReally sorry that you had to change your holiday plans. This is such a time of disappointment in every way. I hope that you and VR find a way to celebrate that will bring joy. I think those extra couple of bottles of champagne will help. Take care there and stay safe and healthy.
ReplyDeleterobin andrea: Once champagne was a millionaire's drink. Reluctantly, and infrequently, I made do with cava and then the slightly more up-market French equivalent, cremant. Over the last four or five years, however, proper champagne (greatly superior to its so-called competitor, prosecco) has become available at about £14 a bottle ($18.93) and our consumption has risen appreciably. As has our appreciation. It will help, I assure you
DeleteHow about Zoom, Robbie? Grandson Donovan attend classes that way this spring (he has a better computer than I, plus his tech school paid for the service.) Maybe that would be the best gift you (whole family) could give each other.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how Zoom is set up, but don't you have a family member who is an IT genius?
Anyway, I hope your holidays are full of love and good cheer, and that the new year - for us all - sees the end of this horrible virus.
Crow: Zoom seems very similar to Skype which I've used throughout The Plague. Otherwise my weekly singing lessons would have gone by the board and you would have long ago ceased reading Tone Deaf, worrying that my wretchedness might be infectious. V, my teacher, had long used Skype since some of her students live in foreign parts. I'm reaching the end of my fifth year of tuition and the songs I now learn are much more demanding; Skype - plus the quality of my loudspeakers - provide the necessary sensitivity.
DeleteEach week VR and I have two hour-long Skype sessions with our two daughters; intermittently our granddaughter, Ysabelle, and her partner join in. I find this routine enormously reassuring. Skype is free to download and use, and easy to install; if you use a laptop most are equipped with a camera which ensures you can get the video, a vital aspect. If not, a webcam can be clipped to the top of the screen and will only cost you about $25. We could even Skype each other - at no cost.
My monitor doesn't have camera; at least, not this one. I do have a few pieces of older equipment laying about that I've been loathe to throw out, including a monitor or two. When Grandson comes home for the holidays, I will ask him to help me set up Skype.
DeleteWhat fun to be able to see you and VR!
Crow: In the interim, simply download Skype. As I say, it's free and is designed to appeal to those with the meanest understanding of computers. It will explain your needs in simple terms
DeleteI should have mentioned that one needs a webcam with a microphone combined. But for starters you don't need a webcam. Armed with a much cheaper microphone one may use just the audio part of Skype. Like a phone but entirely free. After all seeing me in video may cause you to regret spending money on a webcam.
One final caveat. Skyping can come as an inescapable shock for Americans - the realisation that we Brits are ahead of you in time, AND ALWAYS WILL BE. The sun rises in Pennsylvania five hours after it has risen in Herefordshire and a schedule must be agreed. It is also necessary to arrange Skype calls in advance via email. The recipient must have Skype switched on so that he or she hears the curious gurgling noise that announces an incoming call.
Rise to the challenge! You did the soldering. Now do Skype.
I have never liked champagne, so I'll raise a glass of red to wish you and VR a contented and solitary Christmas, RR. We are likewise in the same boat and planned visits from the family will have to be cancelled.
ReplyDeleteStill we have the distinction of knowing that the new strain of Covid is being known as the "Kent Mutation"! Hopefully we have just beaten it having had our first anti-covid jabs yesterday.
Avus: All the more for me. "A glass of red" is a bit vague. Do you like them all? I particularly dislike the Gamay grape, source of Beaujolais. Also the harshly tannic petits chateaux from Bordeaux
DeleteStaying Safe is paramount and we're all making adjustments as necessary. The numbers are all going in the wrong direction and now they say there's a British Strain that is 70% more contagious... good grief! It makes me concerned for all of my Relatives in Gt. Britain, tho' they all live in North Wales, so perhaps the Welsh will close their Borders again and not let outsiders in? It seems European Nations are already restricting the Brits and Canada has followed... I feel so badly for the forced Isolation that will add to hardships already being experienced in England. I do hope they can resolve the shortage issue, especially with essentials. As for Champagne, it always gave me a headache even in small amounts so I don't like it, Wines most of them I don't like the taste of... and honestly, drinking I avoid except on New Year's Eve where I might have a Pina Colada Cocktail or a Margarita. I just don't handle alcohol well at all so there won't be much festivities around this lonesome New Years of Lock Down Isolation Extended Stay.
ReplyDeleteBohemian: The Welsh "firebreak", like lockdown but earlier, more intense and shorter, didn't work. Wales has the worst UK infection rates at the moment, or perhaps that's Northern Ireland. Forced lockdown seems bad until you consider the alternative.
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