The year of pandemic living

I just finished Elizabeth Strout's new book, Lucy by the Sea, and found it to be a good read. The main character, Lucy Barton (a writer whose second husband recently died), finds herself riding out the pandemic in a rented house in Maine together with her ex-husband William, who has orchestrated the entire arrangement. He and she have remained friends after their divorce; he contacts her right before the pandemic hits bigtime to tell her that they need to leave Manhattan immediately. She acquiesces rather quickly, knowing that he is a scientist (parasitologist) and that he probably knows something she doesn't. The novel details their year together in a house by the sea, and how their relationship is rekindled after many years of living apart. William is now in his seventies and has major health problems, whereas Lucy appears to be in her late sixties and still relatively healthy, although she suffers from anxiety and the occasional panic attack. They are older and (presumably) wiser, dealing with regret and with the knowledge of their mortality. He is sorry for how he treated her (had affairs); she seems to be struggling with being alternatively judgmental and forgiving. In that sense, she is like all of us who have been hurt by someone--we want to forgive, we do forgive, but we wonder if we are being weak by doing so. We wonder if we should be hard and unforgiving. The novel deals frankly with the pandemic and the political events of the past several years. 

What struck me about the novel was the description of the loneliness that many Americans felt during the pandemic, as well as the panic and anxiety that many of them lived with each day. It was different here in Oslo; we underwent a similar type of lockdown, but I don't remember feeling that loneliness, the way Strout described it. It felt so empty, so desperate, so sad. And yet, I can only speak for myself. I know that the pandemic affected many people here in similar ways, especially those who lived alone. Perhaps that is what made the difference--having someone with whom to share lockdown. Because social life as we knew it ceased to exist. There were no get-togethers, parties, weddings and reunions were cancelled, bars and restaurants were closed, and people worked from home. I didn't find the latter bothering at all, in fact, I preferred it because I never felt lonely at home as I did at work. But again, everyone is different, and I can only speak for myself. 

Strout's book has gotten good reviews, but as always, I'm interested in the negative reviews as well. Those who are negative about the book are so because they did not want to read a pandemic book that reminded them of a horrible time. Additionally, they felt that very little happened to the main characters and that there really wasn't all that much to write about. While the former is true, I disagree that there wasn't really much to write about. The exploration of one's emotional life is not nothing. Lucy finally has the time to figure out how she feels about many things, and what she finds out is that life in general and her life in particular are complex, and that most of us live in the gray area between the black and white. In other words, while we would like life to be black and white, it is not. We are always struggling with our thoughts and emotions. But in the end, we are who we are and as we approach the last chapter of our lives, it is unlikely that there will be major personality changes. If you are the forgiving gentle type, you will most likely remain that way. If you are the aggressive unforgiving type or the philandering type, ditto. So that begs the question of whether she can trust William when he tells her at the end of the novel that he loves her. He seems to, and perhaps he always did, throughout his affairs and their divorce. The question, as her daughters remind her of, is whether she can trust William. The novel provides no answers to that question, and as Lucy herself points out, “It is a gift in this life that we do not know what awaits us.” How true. 

Vaccination competition

Did I ever mention how much I love Pearls Before Swine (probably a hundred times if I was counting). Stephan Pastis' sense of humor appeals to me. Today's strip was funny in that bizarre nutso way he has of reflecting on what goes on in society. Enjoy. 

The second wave

The second wave of the virus is upon us, and the world around me officially feels surreal at this point. I have NO idea where the year went. Really. I know I worked, first at home from mid-March until the end of June when I had some vacation, and then I went back to work in early August. I've worked mostly at home but go into the office a couple of days a week. But now the second wave is upon us and we're being told to work from home, not to meet in groups of more than five people, and to wear masks in public. The health officials are very worried about the coming winter. Me, I try not to read the news about the pandemic. It only ends up scaring me. But I end up reading it anyway just to stay informed. But I don't dwell on it. 

Every now and then my thoughts become apocalyptic, as in, is this the beginning of some kind of end for mankind? All around us, businesses that we took for granted--restaurants, hotels, airlines, theaters, other venues--have altered their way of doing things or have closed, and thus altered our way of living. It scares me to think that many of them may not survive. I wish I was a multi-millionaire so that I could support them all. I feel so sorry for so many people who are out of work, who don't know what to do next. It's not like they can snap their fingers and get a new job, pronto. Life never works like that. 

I told my husband the other day that I'm glad I've learned how to preserve seeds. I have seeds saved for next year's plantings--pumpkin, butternut squash, zucchini--and I have seed potatoes that will be ready for planting come next March. We also have different berry bushes in the garden. If worse came to worse, we could live on potatoes, pumpkin, squash, and berries. It's possible to pickle pumpkin and squash, and make jams, jellies and juice from the different berries. As long as there's flour, we can make bread. We wouldn't starve, but our diets would be much different than they are now--mostly meat-based. 

In the midst of all this surrealness, there is a surreal presidential election going on in my home country. It is an election that has divided people into two camps--those who will vote for the preservation of decency and ethics in America, and those who will vote for boorishness and an utter disregard for ethical behavior. So strange that it has come down to that. Those in the latter camp will say that they don't want a typical politician, so they're voting for Trump. I remind them that what you see is what you will get. He cares for no one but himself. All others are expendable. 

Where is God, people ask? Wrong question. The question is more, why did people turn away from God? Why have we? It's not about going to church or following the rules of Catholicism or any other religion slavishly. It's about 'actions speak louder than words'. It's about loving our neighbors as ourselves, about caring about what happens to others. It's about good behavior, about not being a boor or a brute, about not being careless or irresponsible or unkind. It's about being Christian toward others. Yes, charity begins at home, so we need to get our homes in order first, but that does not preclude our being nice to others, showing empathy, loving others in a charitable way, ridding our hearts of anger and discord. When we turn away from trying to behave better, we turn away from God. And we can only blame ourselves when the proverbial s**t hits the fan, as it always does. We have no idea how many people will die in this second wave. For all those who poopoo the pandemic, who think it is a hoax to prevent Trump from being re-elected, who think that liberals are on a crusade to destroy America, I say, wake up before it is too late. Just wake up. You are living with blinders on. Even Pope Francis, for whom I have great respect, has said that people who behave like Trump are not Christian. He said, and I quote 

"A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not of building bridges, is not Christian." 

Trump's response was "If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS’s ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the Pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been President because this would not have happened. ISIS would have been eradicated unlike what is happening now with our all talk, no action politicians"..........

Kudos to Pope Francis for taking on 45 and the GOP. I admire him for taking a stand, for having an opinion. You can agree or not, but no one will ever convince me that the behavior I've seen in 45 and the GOP is Christian behavior. You can talk until you are blue in the face. You will never convince me. 

The new normal

We will see what the winter brings in terms of the severity of a second wave of Covid-19 virus. Europe is currently dealing with the second wave, as is the USA. Here in Norway, the health authorities do their best to control the situation, but of course no one can predict what the winter will bring. 

I envision permanent changes in how we live. For starters, the disinfecting and sanitizing that go on will likely continue, both at home and in public places. And that's fine with me. Better too much of it than too little. I think we had gotten a bit lax with keeping public places clean. It's good to have the reminder that public bathrooms in workplaces, restaurants, malls and other places need to be cleaned regularly. Ditto for elevators, stairwells, escalators--any of the places where people are constantly touching buttons, railings, etc. My workplace had cut back on office cleaning each day to save money; the cleaning lady was coming in a few times a week. Now I see her there each day if I have gone into work a few days in a row, as has happened during the past few weeks. She cleans the hallway floors each day as well. 

Working from home a few days a week will be the new normal for many people who are able to do their work from home (like me). I go into work when I need to, either for a small meeting or to update files on my workplace server. I will alternate between home and office for the time being. As I've written many times, I enjoy working from home, as long as I have access to necessary email accounts and files. It hasn't been a problem thus far. The only thing I really dislike are zoom/skype meetings; mostly because there are technical problems, without fail. Someone's microphone or video or both doesn't/don't work, or the video is squiggly, or the sound breaks up. An optimal way to communicate? No. I'd rather have a socially-distanced meeting in a large room, and have said as much to those who arrange meetings. 

Wearing masks will probably also be something that most people will incorporate into their daily lives. I took one of Oslo's trams yesterday for the first time in ages. Masks are required on board all buses, trams, and trains. Most people comply with the guidelines; some few don't, as always. I carry a cloth mask and disposable masks in my backpack with me at all times, as well as hand disinfectant. I find the cloth mask more comfortable to wear and easier to breathe with, so that's my go-to mask. The disposable ones are ok but a bit more stifling. The nice thing with cloth masks is that they are not disposable, they can be washed with soap and dried and used over and over. That appeals to the environmentally-conscious part of me. This pandemic has been terrible for the environment; just take a look around the next time you are at a bus or tram stop, at all of the garbage cans overflowing with disposable masks. Ditto for the single-use wipes at home. I try to limit their use, but it's difficult at times because they're so accessible. Not a good excuse, I know. 

Stores and restaurants in Oslo have been good about social distancing; chairs and tables are placed at a good distance from neighboring tables. Plexiglass shields have become commonplace to separate shoppers from cashiers. Supermarkets had already gone over to checkout scanners a few years ago, so the stores have placed plexiglass shields between each of the scanners to protect shoppers. Screens are wiped down regularly. Hand disinfectant bottles are placed strategically at each checkout scanner. and at the entrances and exits of most supermarkets and stores. It all works, and it is interesting to observe what we can actually get used to without too much moaning and groaning. 

Visits to doctors and dentists have not been a problem. Both doctors and dentists have their procedures for how they receive patients, and following them is not a big deal. If such procedures continue even after the pandemic is over, it will be fine with me. We are all more attentive now to good hygiene in our homes and public places; as I mentioned above, many places had become lax when it came to good hygiene, in order to save money. 

I have not gone to the movies since before the pandemic started. I miss doing that. The theaters are open again and are advertising films and encouraging us to go to the movies. So I will. I'll have my mask with me and I'll sit where we're told to sit. Fine with me. The same with churchgoing; churches reopened at the end of the summer after having been closed since mid-March. Their procedure for attendance is to dispense tickets for the masses. I haven't been back yet, but I'm planning on it. I don't know what traveling will be like by next summer; I'm hoping to be able to get to the States for a wedding, among other things, next July. We'll see. I'm crossing my fingers that it all works out. 

So little by little, life returns to some semblance of normalcy. Albeit a different normalcy--the new normal, which if followed for the next few years, will become just normal. Humans can adapt; we do so in order to carry on with the business of living.