MARCH 2020 - Dear Emily
At the moment practically the whole world is living under a lock-down due to the new virus that has spread across the world. Once overcrowded cities are empty, there are no planes in the skies, roads are empty, and satellite photos show clear skies above previously smog covered cities around the world. In some cities, animals are returning to the streets and suburbs.
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| London with no traffic |
The COVID-19 Lockdown has cleaned the air over Nepal and northern India. So much so that for the first time in many years.
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| Mt Everest can be seen again from Kathmandu Valley even though it is 200km away. |
After the first positive case of Covid 19 we were all asked to practice social distancing by staying at least 2 m apart from each other. The President announced the closure of schools from 18 March
and a week later President Ramaphosa and his Covid-19 task team announced that the lock-down would start at mid-night on 26 March.
I was supposed to have a mammogram and bone density scan this month but I don't want to go to a hospital so I've cancelled them.
The lock down means that we have stay in our homes for 21 days and can only leave for essentials like food, medicines or to visit a doctor. We have to wash our hands with soap and hot water before we go out and when we get back.
I am so pleased that Patty-Poo didn't have to live under these conditions. It would have been impossible for her to stay alone in her cottage at Amber Valley, and awful for me not to be able to visit her. I don't think she would've survived.
At Sandown we can't leave our immediate property, that means we can only walk in the space around the cottage, garden and path to the garage. We are having food delivered to us so that we don't have to go to a super-market. We wash our hands then spray them with santisers. We have been asked to wear surgical masks when we go outside our homes - to protect ourselves and also to protect others as many people who get the virus don't show any symptoms and don't know that they are breathing out virus droplets which can infect others.
You and your family were due to move from Mt Edgecombe Golf Estate to your new house in Palm Springs Village in April. Perhaps your mom had a premonition of what was to come when she negotiated with the landlord for you to move two weeks early! .
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| We helped them move and the very next week our president declared the Level 5 Lock Down in South Africa |
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| This was your Camino you did for school but now we have had to cancel our holiday in France and Spain. 😥 |
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| We were the first ones to sit at the bar! |
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| Mark got us all to download the Google Duo app - which can connect to 8 people at the same time - and on Friday night we had our first 'virtual' sundowners. I even made Gumpie a tray of Sundowners snacks! |
You and I are talking on video chats so that I do see you but it will be great to be able to hold you again and give you a big hug!
Of course we had to cancel our holiday to France and Spain. People all over the world have had to cancel flights, hotels, cruises and tours. The airlines are all crying because their planes can't fly, hotels are closing because of the all the cancellations. Hundreds of passengers are stuck on cruise ships, some with cases of Covid, because no harbour in any country wants to let them disembark in case they bring the virus.
I am so pleased that you and your parents are safely in your new home. It is bright and sunny, you can walk around the village and swim in your pool! You are learning to bake
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| Of course being at home with no friends to play with, you get up to mischief sometimes and the other day you decided to try Tammy's foundation on your face! Ha Ha!! You looked like a brown pixie!! |
What a strange time for us all to living in, Em.
Keep safe, wear your mask when you go outside and don't hug or kiss anybody excepting your parents!
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