Corona Diary

31/03/2020 Tuesday, Sunny Social distancing is a privilege. Refugees in Syria, migrant workers in India cannot afford to do so. We're the lucky few. Both of our employers allow us to work from home and continue to pay as normal. Not so lucky for those self-employed or on zero-hour contracts. A great day for pingpong. After two matches, we do some forehand and backhand training. There're some great rallies. We don't realise how tired we are until we stop and get inside.

30/03/2020 Monday, Sunny intervals It showers from time to time and the Sun comes out again and again. The estate agent replies my email from last night. Good to know they're still operating. Planning a trip to Tesco to pick up the order. Hope this "Click & Collect" service works well. Just return from Tesco and here's my experience. Queued outside the "Click & Collect" porch in the car park, three in front of me: two cars and one cyclist. When it's my turn, a staff member stands by my car window, hands out the receipt and explains the social distancing policy. Then they place the crates of stuff on my order behind my car boot. Hearing the pat on my car, I step out of the car and they go inside the reception. I move all the stuff into the boot and wave goodbye to them. The tesco car park seems to have fewer cars than the Sainsbury's. I use the pay at pump to top up some petrol at the Sainsbury's. The small shop in the kiosk is c...

29/03/2020 Sunday, Cloudy Lili's cooking skill improved vastly and the steam buns are so delicious that Sean eats 7 in a row. In the evening, we play Scrabble. I'm leading from the beginning for the first time. Unfortunately Sean catches up in the end and he wins again.

28/03/2020 Saturday, cloudy and windy 2 trillion USD aid package! Printing money is easy, would products and produces be made over night? Should China take these dollar paper and give away medicines, ventialtors, clothes, etc? In the era of inflation, maybe barter is better.

27/03/2020 Friday, Sunny Breaking news - the PM is positive! And the Health Secratary! And the Chief Medical Officer! Since the PM has had so many meetings with the cabinet and the parliament, it's likely that more high officials are infected. Once again, it proves that ordinary measures fail. Washing hands is NOT enough! Should have learnt more from China.

26/03/2020 Thursday, Sunny A round of applause for NHS at 8pm. It seems most neighbours go out to their front garden, showing good spirit. Apart from clapping, Lili even has a remote chat with Michel. In pingpong, we have a good forehand rally before the ball flies to the neighbour's garden.

25/03/2020 Wed, Sunny Prince of Wales is also infected! For all the activities he's involved, cerntain screening/precautions must have been taken. Still, he's positive. This shows how contagious the virus is and how normal measures have failed. In unprecedented time, extraordinary means are needed! Sean cried again in today's Pingpong match, even when it was only 0:1. Mental breakdown. He was strong the other time and came back in the end. But still a long road to reach stability and mental toughness.

24/03/2020 Tuesday, Sunny with blue sky A lovely day, seems surreal there's a virus out there. Go out to Tesco for grocery at 6:30 am. No queues and no crowd. No bread, no vegetable oil, and no my preferred milk. Only three meats per customer. Others seem normal. See two girls wearing masks, probably Spanish. At last I'm not the only one.

23/03/2020 Monday Puzzled by the IMD problem for nearly a week. Called the colleague in Beijing and it become clearer after discussions. And we found two good papers on it. We're not the only ones puzzled! At 8:30 pm, the PM finally announced that people should stay at home, only make essential trips outside. Unprecedented measures in recent history, but much needed in the wake of large number of asymptonmatic cases of this highly contagious virus. Sean was very happy after beats me in pingpong. He came back at 0:2 and won with 3:2. Always in a good mood after a win. Typical Sean.

22/03/2020 Sunday A TikTok video recommends the tv series "Expanse". Finished 1.5 seasons in on day! The Earth, the Mars, the belt and aliens. Familiar plots driven by jungle rules in the context of the universe. Would be intrigued by the spaceships if younger, now I'm more impressed with the politics in the UN, esp the one acted by the Iranian actress (thought was Indian). She always tries to understand people whether friends or foe. Derive motivations, predict moves from personal backgrounds.

21/03/2020 Saturday It's a bit windy, not a very good day for pingpong.

20/03/2020 Friday

19/03/2020 Thursday

19/03/2020 Thursday, Cloudy Out of milk. Need to to go to TESCO, plus a trip to Chinese shop for sauces and noodles. Milk for breakfast and noodles for simple lunch. The Chinese shop will not open until 10:30. So I go to Tesco first. So many cars in the car park. Just before the entrance, an English man with red face shouts at me: "Fucking masks! Your culture caused it. Your cultrue caused it" He's obviously angry. And I reply firmly, "You should stay away from me if you're so scared." I ignore him and continue with my shopping. In retrospect, I probably should say, "The mask is for mutual protection. It blocks potential transmissions both ways." Maybe even better if I empathise with him, "I hate the virus as much as you do and I hate those who eat wild animals and bring the virus to human. Thousands of Chinese died and millions suffered. Do you think those people not hate them?" Anyway, need to be careful. If it deteriorates, mor...

18/03/2020 Cloudy and light rain At last the government announces school closure, not immediately but by end of Friday. The normal term of Sean's school ends on that day, too. It feels strange. The case number continues to increase and the death toll keep going up. Cambridge seems relatively quiet and calm. Only 14 confirmed in the whole Cambridgeshire. Given the close link between Cambridge and London, it should be more even in the city alone. Ping pong continues. After lost 0:2, Sean becomes grumpy and blames luck biased towards me. I fail to seize the chance and he turns around and comes back at 3:2.

17/03/2020 Sunny Interval with breeze The 2nd day of WFH. Finish reading the meeting report at last. Tea in the morning and coffee in the afternoon. Office routine. Ping pong score: 0:3 at lunch time, 3:2 in the afternoon. The good news is finding my backhand. Sean's attitude impoves a lot compared with yesterday, can deal with his defeat without anger. Pork ribs stew for the whole day. Sean likes the soup with noodles. Movie night: Terminator - the dark fate.

16/03/2020 Monday Sunny A sunny day, no wind, perfect day for pingpong! First day of self-isolation, away from office, away from school. Three of us stay at home as a result of the family discussion over the weekend. Wake up at 6:50 am, on schedule for the planned grocery shopping trip. Hopefully avoid the crowd typically seen at the weekends. Changed to easy clean clothes in the lean-to, taking a face mask with me. Not ready to wear it yet. Arrive at Tesco at about 7:30, car park is already half-full. Many like-minds! The scan by yourself machines are not open till 8 am, bugger! First to the shelf for hand sanitiser gel, all gone. Plenty of hand wash, though. Next, cleaning spay and kitchen roll. Lots of cereal, and four bottles of mint and lemon squash, new favorite for me and my son. Back home, change clothes at the lean-to, wash hands and spray the clothes and shoes. Should be safe now to go inside. Finally start a normal day of home office. Such a lovely day outside, s...