BARRIER NURSING -or prevention thereof

The current lockdown in Greece began on 13 March and resonated with the memory of life under the military junta during the 1960|70s.  However, Greeks were, for once, aware of the emergency and the village has been very, very quiet with the school and cafes closed.  It all started with an ear splitting siren noise from our Greek mobile phones sending us an emergency message.  Never having had one before, it scared us half to death!  Duly notified, we kept indoors.  The weather has been changeable but I’ve got lots of deep cleaning, tai chi and on line contacts made.

So today was shopping day.  The internet went wild over the weekend with various versions of the document you need to fill in and sign and the SMS message you have to send to give information about where and for how long you are away from home.  I put together a plan a bit like a military operation.  Hubby would never survive another stay in Intensive Care as he was lucky to come out alive 7 years ago, so we have been self isolating to an extreme level and welcome such restrictions if they can keep us in good health!

Feeling more than a bit ridiculous, I designated the Apothiki (shed)  a ‘dirty’ area (not far from the truth) and set a change of clothes, bucket of Dettol washing stuff and a bowl of soap, hand towel and water inside and shut the door.

Outside the apothiki, I donned an ankle length raincoat and gum boots.  I had visions of my lovely Granny dealing with war emergencies and must have looked a real sight!  Checked I had disposable latex gloves (check), hand gel (check), pocket hankies (check) and all the docs needed (check).  Passport, ID and a special sms notification on my mobile phone.  Don’t leave home without that as it could provoke a 150 euro fine from any policeman who cared to check!  Just remembered my purse and shopping list!  Synchronised watch with specified time on declaration and I was ready to roll.

I put spare latex gloves, kitchen roll and bin bag in the car beside me and set off to the shops.  I had never driven in wellies before.  The roads were absolutely deserted and I was glad that the weather was so awful that not many people would want to go out.

Went to my local supermarket for groceries and there was plenty to be had.  Not many tinned tomatoes, but there were packs of chopped ones, I bought some chicken pieces, bread, cheese, bottle of wine, toothpaste ... everything I needed.  I checked with Kostas at the counter about phoning in an order and he said “yes, we can bring it to you”.  Good.  Not much in the way of fresh veg, so called in the other shop on the way back and they had plenty of lovely fruit and veg.  Good.  Everything on my list, even light bulbs.

All done.  Nobody stopped me or checked my papers.

Drove home in driving rain and arrived back home.  Before I left, I had asked Mr C to put the hot water on and not greet me at the door because I wanted to keep any hint of virus out of the house.  Put the fridge goods by the door along with handbag.  Cleaned the car inside and out and took off gloves.  Then crept into the shed and stripped off Mac and clothes stuffing them in the bucket of water.  Washed face and hands and cleaned wellies.  Used kitchen towels and disinfectant on hands and boots.   

Eventually, made it into the shower ... marvellous!  

Then dealt with all the fridge goods wiping them down with with weak bleach solution.  Decided to leave the rest of the stuff in the car boot for a bit longer.  

Time for a cup of coffee!

Glad not to be going out for another week .. What a phaff;  exhausting!

Stay home and keep well, my friends!  

THE C WORD

A lot of times in recent years, the C word has been reserved for Mr C's cancer treatment, but we have a new enemy in our midst. On Thursday night a loud noise sounding a bit like a car alarm frightened the life out of most of our friends and neighbours. It was a bit like a Civil Defence SMS message with instructions about the beastly coronavirus bug.

Up until then, it had all been bad jokes and dark humour but after bringing it right into the midst of our homes, we began to feel a bit more panicky. In the kafeneon in the village square, we had been amused when Vaso serving coffees gave the place a deep clean after some foreigners had been having drinks. As soon as they left, she appeared with arms full of cleaning materials and set to work just saying “Strangers!!!!!”   The Rethymnon Carnival, which had been so well planned had to be cancelled.

One of the old boys came in and ordered a raki. Raki is very strong in alcohol and this has been widely regarded as the first line of defence. He drank some, poured some on his hands and gave them a good rub-a-dub-dub and then breathed in the fumes deeply from his cupped hands. All this was amusing a week ago, but world events have escalated so fast and I feel will catch up with us here 'ere long. I'm just hoping to stave off infection until the weather gets warmer and we can spend much more time out of doors. As most of our village are in their eighties, we would try to keep germs well away from us and hope that an effective antidote can be found really soon!

A friend, who had been in a nursing home, died last week and many people just arrived from abroad came to his wake – all shaking hands and saying gleefully that there had been no controls at airports. We were also informed jokingly that if anyone had a fever, they could easily take paracetamol to pass the fever/thermometer test. My Cretan neighbour and I were totally horrified by the insouciance of this attitude and I tried very hard not to jump up immediately and go for a wash and brush up! We were impressed by the Imaste greeting adopted by Royals at the Commonwealth Service which fits the bill and shows respect. With all this, we just hope that everyone stays safe in London and elsewhere, come to that.

While we are trying to clean our way out of this virulent corner, it would be easy to miss that there is blossom beginning to show on the trees, budding hyacinths in the garden and sparrows busy building nests and chattering outside as they work. The weather is still quite chilly, but we are having brighter sunshine and showers which are good for the olives. We all hope that warm weather will slow things down all round. Its going to be a bad year for trade and tourism.

We are well stocked and will be at home a lot for the next week or two - maybe longer. We are taking Vit C and Echinacea fizzy tabs every morning, which helped me so much when I had to look after Mr C in ICU before. The only things we need to go out for are bottles of water, milk, bread and fresh fruit and veg. This means … not very interesting blogs, sadly, but it is a good opportunity to do Greek study on line, Lent Bible study on line and lots of experimental home cooking. In the course of Spring Cleaning and Deep Kitchen Cleaning, I came across a whole stock of old DVDs which will make some good watching. We are well stocked with marmalade and I am considering trying to make home made bagels and/or crumpets out of curiosity to see if the recipe works.  We have cracked the recipe for home-made sandwich spread which Mr C loves!

Take care everyone and say a prayer for all the medical professionals the world over who are working so hard.