Coronavirus Care

Well Baggees! How fast things can change! Baggy sincerely hopes that as you read this, you, your family and friends are staying well. And if you're in self-imposed, or government-imposed isolation, that you're coping both physically and mentally.

In the sleepy village in England that Baggy lives in, there has been a seeming bubble of 'safeness' away from all the chaos. Baggy had seen the posts about panic buying and empty supermarket shelves, but her little local supermarket had fully stocked shelves a week ago. Toilet roll shortage - what toilet roll shortage? But last Sunday, the bubble burst. As Baggy and Calum walked around the supermarket, Clever Bird was actually shocked. 

Not a toilet roll in sight. But more than that: no soap of any type; no disinfectant of any type; no painkillers of any type. No fresh bread, very little fresh meat, absolutely no frozen meat, and very low supplies of lots of other things. Suddenly this virus that is rapidly flying around the world, seemed to be inside the bubble that Baggy had felt relatively safe in, and Hormonal Hannah threw her into a meltdown. 

Now this is not entirely logical Baggees, as Baggy does live in a relatively quiet, small community, and so far, Covoid-19 has not (knowingly) arrived there; yet it's not surprising either! Let's face it, Hormonal Hannah can wake up anxious and have no idea why! But this is something worth worrying about!

Baggy has had respiratory issues since childhood - her lungs were x-rayed regularly, as whenever she got a cough it would, (and still does), last for weeks, not days. As she got older, she got acute bronchitis in her thirties. Then of course Grotty Groom managed to puncture Baggy's lung in her forties. Since then Baggy's had pleurisy and pneumonia; so yep, Hannah's anxiety is back. And not just for herself. Baggy has family and friends, young and old, with underlying health issues, which make this virus life-threatening, should they contract it. So frankly, Clever Bird now thinks Hannah should be worried; except what's the point of worrying? If Baggy gets it, she gets it. And she can self isolate all she wants to, to protect herself, but number one furry is a lorry driver, and as he pointed out, he's all over the country, constantly in new areas, and in close contact with different people all day.

So, until told otherwise by the British Government, all Baggy can do is to try to protect herself in her own special ways, a) from catching the virus and b) from having a mental collapse.  The latter was already happening on Monday; Freda and Hannah just didn't know what to make of all the news reports, and kept putting Baggy into tearful meltdowns, but Clever Bird came up with a plan - carry on as usual, whilst following the new directives.

It helps that Baggy's sister arrived in Southwold for a week's holiday, last Friday. Baggy has loved spending time with her. And through chatting with Debby, Clever Bird realised that one of the reasons for Hormonal Hannah's anxiety going off the Richter-scale, was because Grotty Groom was so upset that she might not be able to see her horses. Hannah's mental health has been so good, since she's been eating well, and exercising more, and following a routine, that the thought of losing that routine, and being physically confined to the house terrified her. Now, don't get Creative Clara wrong here Baggees, Baggy is used to spending most of her time on her own in her house. The trouble is that when Hannah has a depressive episode, or is overly anxious, that is all she wishes to do - confine herself to her house, and that is far from healthy for her. Her new routine of: Furry Mama taking Pepper Pooch to the beach, followed by Grotty Groom working her horses, had even Hannah smiling all the time. So the thought of twelve weeks of self-isolation, was far from appealing.

Solution: carry on as usual, BUT....

Instead of being on the beach at 9.30, when it's already getting busy, Furry Mama is now there at 7.00am, when it's pretty much deserted (although that's already changing as other people have the same plan - but that's cool, because it's a big beach and they can stay ten yards apart). 

There are all kinds of sensible new rules at the yard, about hand-washing, wearing gloves etc etc, so Freda Fretter feels pretty okay letting Grotty still go there, and walk Wesley and ride Joey. Then when Baggy gets home again The Domestic Goddess will go into overdrive! Washing clothes, washing the dog, washing Baggy's hair, cleaning etc. Now you note that Creative Clara says "will", that's because apart from the hand washing, this new regime will start tomorrow. Why not today, you ask? Well because in a moment Furry Mama has to take Bracket kat and Pepper Pooch to the vets! 

But the truth is that for Hannah, and for many of you Baggees, keeping things as normal as possible is probably the best way to protect your mental health.

If you're working from home - do just that, work the hours you would in the office. If that's not actually possible, and you're just stuck at home, plan your day, your week even, with things to do. The Domestic Goddess has a plan to repaint her bathroom. Should number one furry be home with her, they will start to build her winter-house in the garden.

Do some exercise, outside if you can as fresh air is good, but otherwise discover You Tube. Clara fancies a bit of belly dancing (although Baggy is absolutely useless at it), and Hannah fancies some yoga!

Cook healthy meals; read books; listen to music; write a novel; knit; crochet; paint and try to stay positive because at present, this is the new normal, and everyone will at some point, be in the same boat.

Look after yourselves Baggees...



Note to readers: For the avoidance of any doubt, every character in this blog is Baggy! No Baggy was harmed in its writing, although some of them get pretty confused!