March 27, 2020 "Life in the Time of Corona"

Have passed the 3 week mark in semi-self-isolation.  Vineetha kept coming until curfew was pronounced and still comes on the days that curfew is lifted.

We are on total lockdown for the 10th day.  The curfew in the Kandy district is being lifted on Mondays and Thursdays so far.  Other parts of the country like Colombo and Jaffna are on total lockdown, no breaks.  Of course, when curfew is lifted, everyone rushes to the grocery stores to buy provisions with queues as long as 1 kilometer.  So much for social distancing.  They are finally restricting the number of people they let into the store at a time and also restricting how much they can buy.  But what about the queue outside.  No 1 meter distance there.

I am getting this all third hand, as I haven't been out of the house or the yard to be accurate.

I am okay for food until next week.  Was running low on cat food, so I had some delivered last Monday.  Okay now for more than a month in that department.  Good thing too as I am now feeding 6 cats.  Got some dog food as well as Tula has gone to her grandchildren so there is no-one around to feed Tsweetie and Boyfriend.  Both of them are on 3 legs.  Tsweetie got hit by the neighbor as she was backing down her ridiculously steep driveway.  Boyfriend seems to have been tied up by a string attached to one of his hind legs which cut into his skin.  His paw is swollen but he lets me touch it and it seems to be on the mend.  People are such ass holes.

Am reading, watching programs, doing jigsaws and crosswords, cleaning the house (which I hate), watering the garden and generally keeping busy.  The swimming pool was closed to members almost 3 weeks ago, so it is aerobics in my dressing room for the moment.

My friends have advised me not to go out for any reason until this crisis passes.  Apparently, people are shouting at and abusing white people as there is a mistaken belief that they brought the virus to the island.  Ironically, the first case was a Chinese tour guide.  All other cases have been Sri Lankans who either came in contact with the tour guide or have returned from abroad, mostly from Italy.

Some British friends of mine are going back to the UK for the moment because of the abuse and the difficulty in getting food supplies.

My friend Jez is coming in from Gampola on Monday to do my banking and hopefully get some groceries.  Thankfully, Gampola is in Kandy district as inter-district travel is prohibited.  I have sent him a grocery list.  I am blessed with a wonderful vegetable and fruit vendor who called about 10 days ago to ask if I needed anything.  The shop is closed, but I sent him a list as well and he said he will try to get what he can and deliver it.  My electrician as well as my seamstress, who both live hereby, have also offered to get things.  I am lucky to have good people around me.

In the middle of everything, the old and crappy pipes in this house strang a leak.  Thankfully, the plumber came over the two days that curfew was lifted and fixed all the problems.

So I am all set.  A bit of cabin fever is setting in, but other than that things are fine.

If anyone is in any doubt, we are waging war against an unseen enemy.  I have lived through two armed insurgencies in my life and can say that this situation is not dissimilar except that there is no gunfire.  Certainly the curfew restrictions here are more stringent than in 1987 when both the LTTE and JVP wars were raging.

The measures that the government has taken here are quite good including making the Defense Secretary responsible for the campaign against the virus.  He is a Major General who led the final battle against the LTTE.  Of course, some mistakes have been made, but overall things are being managed.

The number of infected cases has gone down today.  The island is slowly being emptied of tourists and the airport has been closed for a week, so no new arrivals are coming in.

My real company and entertainment continues to be my animals.

5 cats having breakfast

My beautiful Buddy Boy

Putha and Aya watching something.  The window sill in my bedroom has become the perch of choice.

Nangi having a great sleep with Aya.  I am bit worried about Nangi as she is obsessively licking herself to the point of baldness.  She is covered with bald spots.  It is not mange or ringworm.  I think she is either bored or has a nervous condition.  She is certainly the most intelligent and skittish of the cats.

March 1, 2020

I came home from grocery shopping the other day to the sound of some crying and screeching.  My driver said it was monkeys.  I believed him because we have been plagued by them lately.  While moving the grocery bags downstairs, I noticed movement in the car port.  It turned out the crying was coming from a little puppy who had been dumped there.

He was very friendly.  I picked him up and brought him inside, gave him some milk that he gobbled up and then vomited a few minutes later.  Good boy that he is, he ate up all the vomit immediately.  Goes to show how hungry he was.

He is very cute with a large perfectly round spot on his neck, so, of course, I named him Spot.  He was scratching like crazy so I gave him a bath with dish soap and vinegar to get rid of the fleas.  He hated the bath and screamed pitifully all the time.  I kept having to pick him up out of the basin to comfort him before the next step.  I was soaked.  After the bath, he was so tired, he fell right asleep.

I really did not want a dog so I set about finding him a home.  Thankfully, the lady down the street, Seline came over to have a look at him and decided to take him on the "Spot".  She asked that I keep him for the night which I said I would.  However, I was worried as I knew I would have to lock him in the guest bathroom.  He is only about a month old and cries when left alone and pees and poops at will.

As we were discussing things with Seline, the new tenant in the annex, a young man named Jivan, came home and fell in love with Spot.  He said he wanted to keep him but Tula and I nixed that idea as he only has a room with bath and is away all day long.  He wanted to keep him for the night to which I readily agreed.

So Spot stayed with Jivan and was a very happy puppy when he came back to me in the morning.  Seline came as promised about an hour later and took him to his new home.  It was so lucky to find him a good home in less than 24 hours.

I don't understand how the so called Buddhists around here can mistreat animals like they do.  They won't put them down when they are suffering, but they will dump them like garbage by the side of the road.

He wanted to snuggle in enclosed places.  Here he is beside the cleaning supply store under the kitchen sink.

The cats were not impressed and were very scarce while Spot was here.  They resurfaced when he went over to Jivan.  In fact, all five of them were snuggled all over me as if to say , "We love you, don't bring a dog in here."

Buddy and Ayya each with their own cushion.