Digital books, recipes and paint all over the place

With Randy Travis’ song ‘You Got a Friend in Me’ playing in the background , it was a changing world and I doubled checked with the boys about them washing their hands probably, for the third time that morning before I decided to introduce them to the ‘Batman sneeze’. 

Our first few days got off to a great start. By 9am one morning, the three boys were practicing their rugby tackles on each other and there were threats of hurls being taken out to practice in the hallway. It was time to throw them out the back door, I mused. Perhaps, we could do some baking later on as there was a new recipe for ‘banana bread’ in the slow cooker that I wanted to try where you only need three ingredients.

As the morning went on, I battled with the decision as to whether to head to town with the boys for some for some mincemeat and more milk, I rummaged for some gloves to put on and re-hydrated some anti-bacterial wipes I found in the back of the kitchen press. The radio conversation then turned to those returning from Cheltenham as the nation held its breath on the forthcoming returning hoards and its impending effect on the spread of coronavirus. 

My phone then beeped and it was a message from a college friend, who received a message from a friend, whose sister lives in Milan. It’s very thought provoking and very worth a read, I thought.

 "I thought I’d write as maybe you can all learn from our mistakes here in Italy.

As I imagine you all know (it is hard to hear about anything else), we are all in quarantine here in Italy, with the hope to stop spreading the virus any further. I fear that how it spread here will happen in the rest of Europe too.

  Here once the schools closed all the kids would meet together in someone’s house for lunch or just to hang out, and parents would bring kids to the playground, it was great, it was as if we were all on holidays! Everyone that couldn’t work went skiing.  

We knew and continued to watch the numbers of infected rise daily, and the casualties, but didn’t exactly change any of our habits. Until now, now when we realise how serious it all is.

  Coronavirus is a bit more serious than a flu, many people get it and get better without serious complications, many kids get it, have no symptoms and are fine (but are still contagious and infect grandparents or others who may not shake the virus quite so easily), but some (about 50%) get it and need to go to hospital, they get a bad lung infection and may need to be put on a machine to help them breathe, till they get better again. Here the death rate is rising as they simply don’t have enough equipment in the hospitals, so they have to choose who gets saved, and they will chose under 60's. Which is very young.

  Only now, we have started being careful.  We are all staying inside. Ettore goes to work, but stays far from the others in the office, and washes his hands once he comes home. We can go out for a walk but if we meet anyone we have to stay at least a metre away. I do the shopping alone, making sure to keep my distance from others in the shop, and trying not to touch my face. When I come back home I wash my hands carefully. (Now they limit how many people can be in the shop at 1 time) The girls get all their school stuff sent online, and have to email the work back to their teachers. 

  It seems a sad way to live, insensitive and cold, but it is the only chance we have to an actually stop spreading the virus further. For a while we have to suspend eating out, travelling, going to shows, pub, bar, school, sporting events.....anything where we need to be in close contact with others. Even taking the bus is risky, if its packed, and someone sneezes?....so really the best thing, the only thing to stop spreading this virus further is to sacrifice a little of our habits and stay at home, not just to protect ourselves, but to protect the others who may be a little more fragile than we are.

  Just thought I would write to you, in case you all see it as someone else’s problem.  This virus is so contagious, and you only discover that you have it after 14 days of going around infecting everyone that you have been in contact with.

  I imagine you all know all of this already anyway, but so did everyone here in Italy, and now look at how it spread!   Hope everyone is well, and hope to see you all soon once this situation has settled.”

Then, it was time to tackle some school work with the two older boys and make some more coffee! With that done, it was time to throw the boys outside for some fresh air as I cleaned the glue off the kitchen table, after the three year old decided to make a ‘glue picture’.

  After some more snacks, there was finally peace and quiet where I decided to look up downloading some digital books from the library. Time for some reading, I thought, well after I investigate why the boys were so quiet. I soon found out the poster paint had been taken out.

A few more WhatsApp messages from friends about what they were doing with the kids and what was going in the news throughout the day.   Keep in touch at @kogog.  You can also email at Karen.ogrady@iconicnews.ie or via WhatsApp (087) 3751974. I am looking forward to hearing from you.