Life in Lockdown

The thing is that, right now, there isn't much to write about other than coronavirus.  I mean, it is all that is happening right now. Plus, as we're currently all confined to our houses, there is little else to experience other than the endless news feeds constantly updating us on the crisis.  Sure, I've got schlocky films backed up to write about, but I just don't feel motivated to do that yet.  Personally, I'm in an odd situation - as a diabetic I'm classified as 'vulnerable' and I've been advised to keep my social contacts down to a minimum, (which I've been doing since Thursday evening, the rest of the UK have finally caught up with me), but the nature of my job (which isn't office centered) doesn't allow home working, (although management has some crazy notions that it can).  Anyway, I've been told not to go near the office and we've already been pulled from the street, but our employer still  seems reluctant to exercise the option they've been given of putting us on special paid leave until it is deemed safe to resume working on the street.  Which leaves me in limbo - right now I'm officially on sick leave, recovering from this cold that has plaguing me (I'm finally beginning to turn the tide on it).  Where we go after that, I don't know.  Management seem reluctant to discuss the issue, which is why I gave them a temporary 'out' by going sick.  Someone is meant to be contacting me again next week, so we'll see what develops - I've been ordered off the streets, told not to come into the office and we're all on lock down anyway, so I really don't know what I'm supposed to do.

Still, being at home all day means that the TV is on as background most of the time and what has struck me is how out of phase the TV commercials now seem.  They are uniformly showing us a world we no longer have access to - a world where we can walk freely outside, socialise with friends and family and shop in supermarkets full of goods.  It is those supermarket ads which seem the most disconnected, with the likes of Morrisons telling us how they are cutting prices across their range - except that we know that in reality their shelves are empty of many of their main ranges thanks to panic buyers.  Moreover, the picture they paint of smiling staff welcoming you into the supermarket and helpfully showing where everything is, contrasts starkly with the current reality of dour and worried staff, wearing masks and gloves, avoiding contact and customers having to maintain a two metre distance between each other as they queue at the tills. (God, I've just seen a Burger King still running extolling the virtues of its flame frilled Whoppers - why?  All their branches are closed, you can't buy a Whopper any more). It is the same with the soap operas, in which so much of the action revolves around pubs - something else we've lost.  Could any soap opera realistically depict the current situation?  With everyone confined to their own houses, the potential for conflict (which all their plots are built around) is greatly reduced.  Phil Mitchell can't just go and kick in Ian Beale's door and try to beat him up - I guess in future he'll have to wait until they are both in the supermarket and have a ruck in the toiletries aisle, instead.  But perhaps this is what the powers that be think people want to see - maybe it is reassuring to be reminded of what normal life is like.  Personally, I just find it frustrating.