Sunday, June 7, 2020
According to my Google Reminder, Cindy and I should be boarding the Crystal Symphony in Lisbon at this very moment, starting a 13-day cruise, mostly stopping at French ports. It was booked last year to celebrate Cindy’s birthday month. Then France said they were closing their ports which meant we had to stay at home for a few months. C'est la vie! We have cancelled all of our travel until at least mid-December and it most likely will take me that long to get our refunds or travel credits.
So it has been four months, 126 days of staying home. 126 morning coffee services and 63 lunches. Cindy has made 126 breakfasts and 63 lunches; amazing how we track time! I have had a chance to really hone my cooking skills: 126 dinners without a break will do that for you. I’ve taken up the guitar again after a failed attempt four years ago. I practice every day and think I peaked two weeks ago when Cindy and I did a duet of Chuck Berry’s ‘You Never Can Tell’. For me it involved three chords and vocals while Cindy actually learned how to play the melody on violin. It took me three months of practice and it took Cindy three hours, C'est la vie, said the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell. For your enjoyment click here to hear the song and dance as portrayed in Pulp Fiction.
Now to be honest, we are very lucky. We have been retired for years and our daily routine hasn’t really been much different now than before Covid-19. In four months we have used a half tank of gas since there is nowhere to go and nothing to do. My furthest excursion was a sixteen mile round trip to the medical clinic to get some blood work done. Cindy takes her music lessons via Zoom so no trips for her. Just a trip to the grocery store - four miles round trip every ten days - where we pull in, open the trunk, accept our groceries and we are gone. It is all surreal. We feel so fortunate to have a big house with lots of inside and outside space to wander. Daily runs/walks have not been affected since our neighborhood has lots of open space and everyone is very sensitive to social distancing. We so appreciate all of those first responders, grocery workers, utility folks and others who place themselves in harm's way for the social good.
I mentioned Zoom but you could not see my face when I wrote it. I have lots of problems with communication that isn’t face to face. If I talk on the phone for more that thirty seconds it's a record. I spent too much time during my working days on “interactive conferences” and I found them to be horrible. Everyone talking over one another, technical failures, no one knowing when to mute and when to speak, or more importantly, when to stop speaking. I can last fifteen minutes with dear friends and family if there are no more than four or five involved, but all of a sudden we are getting invited to Zoom events that involve twelve to fifteen people! Impossible.
So, what do I miss? I miss French fries! It is not so much the food, but the fact that you can only get it outside the home. (We don’t deep fry in this household.) I miss the smell, the first crisp bite, and dipping one in mayonnaise for a double cholesterol bomba. The first thing I’m going to do when this is over is go to a little restaurant we know not far from here where you can get the best mussels and frites outside of Brussels, and they have carafes of ice cold French white that are more than acceptable.
We hope you are all healthy and safe and riding this out as best you can. My happy place in all of this is thinking of all the money we are saving for future travels by not going anywhere for nine months!!
Stay well, Cindy and Wm
