Monday 23 March 2020

Thank You!!!

Yesterday was my 52nd birthday. It was a birthday like no other; I guess we can all more or less relate to the fact that it is a time like no other right now, in the middle (?) of the corona crisis.
Presents, cards, more presents and more cards!!!
My original intention had been to throw a party for my friends on Saturday night and have a traditional coffee & cake on Sunday afternoon with my parents, my sister and O.K.
Neither came about, of course - but I still had a strangely beautiful birthday, with a mini celebration:

At 11:00 am, O.K. and I met with my sister outside my house, in the sunny corner next to the cherry tree. Years ago, neighbours have placed a somewhat rickety table and chairs there, and we took advantage of that, bringing out a bottle of sparkling wine, glasses, a bowl of salted macadamia nuts and slices of chocolate tea cake.

Already all day, I had been particularly clumsy; first thing in the morning, I managed to cut myself on the big kitchen knife we had used the night before to cut our (ordered) pizza; I only had meant to put it back in the drawer and somehow touched the very sharp blade. Then, I put the aforementioned things in a large bag, carried it downstairs and went back up to fetch the bottle from the fridge. By the time I came back down, the stong wind had blown over the bag, and some of the macadamia nuts were merrily rolling around on the pavement. Never mind, there were still plenty left in the bowl.

My sister arrived, O.K. opened the bottle (I had a good excuse as the cut on my finger had just started to bleed again) and poured the sparkling wine, while I was trying to reach my Mum and Dad via Facetime. In my weird state of clumsiness, it took me a while, but finally, we were all there - my parents via Facetime, my sister keeping a safe distance from O.K. and myself. 

Again, I found juggling my glass and holding my mobile so that the camera was not half covered by my thumb difficult; eventually, O.K. had to help me. We were joking that I was really turning old now, not being able to handle modern means of communication! (Which really IS a joke, as my Mum, being the second-oldest in my family, is very actively using her mobile phone and her computer, regularly writing in various forums, contributing to my blog every now and then, and communicating by email with many of her friends. In fact, she was the first of us to have a mobile phone and a computer.)

Anyway, we had our little celebration, and after my sister left and we had put everything back upstairs, O.K. and I went for a walk.

The sky was a cloudless blue, but a chilly wind was blowing across the fields. Nonetheless, there were more people about walking, running and cycling than on most other Sundays, even with fine weather. It seemed like everybody was desperate to get out after a grey, wet and cold Saturday.

We returned home 9 km later, had coffee and cake and a bit of a rest before it was time to make dinner.

O.K. left just after 8:00 pm and said he wished the motorway could always be like that, with considerably less traffic than usual on a Sunday night.

Here is a big THANK YOU to all of you who have sent cards, emails, text messages or commented with birthday wishes on my previous post - you know who you are; you all helped making it more birthday-like, even without a proper party.


Now Week 2 of working exclusively from home has started.
New, stricter measures are in place here in Germany from today onwards. We are still allowed to go for walks etc., but no more than 2 people are supposed to meet (unless they already share a household, obviously). Some of the businesses that were still allowed to be open have now been ordered to shut, too, such as hairdresser's and others.

The internet is full of tips what to do at home, how to spend all that extra time in self-isolation. Well, I must say I do not have much extra time; I still work 36 hours a week, and in some ways, work seems busier than before (see my previous post). The only saved time is the 1 hour 15 minutes or so normally spent on trips to and from work, partly used now for household jobs connected with making and having all my meals at home now, instead of having a cooked meal at the canteen every day.

But the world around me is much quieter than usual, and I find that a rather pleasant side-effect of what for many less fortunate than myself is definitely not a pleasant situation.

26 comments:

  1. A belated Happy Birthday. Our knives are all blunt. I thought one of them was getting even more blunt when I was cutting up some vegetables, then realised I was cutting with the blunt side and pressing on the sharp side. But at least it's safe. Last time we got a new one we both cut ourselves within a couple of days.

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    1. Thank you, Tasker!
      Your blunt vegetable knife sounds ideal to butter slices of toast with.

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  2. belated happy birthday. It was also my birthday but I'm a bit older than you, I'm now 69. It seems that several people of blogs I follow have their birthdays this weekend.

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    1. Thank you, Pat, and likewise :-)
      I don't think I have seen you commenting here before; I'll pop over to your blog in a minute.

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    2. I don't have a blog but an now thinking of setting one up as my son and his family have moved 180 nmiles away last week.

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    3. Let me know when you have your first post up, Pat! I think you'll enjoy blogging, and don't ever think you don't have much to write about - everyone has something to write about.

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  3. I'm glad O.K. and your sister were able to join you, anyway! Not easy to make plans at the moment ;) We had fine weather over the weekend, too. On one of my walks I ran into a couple (married couple) of old friends. They came on bikes while I was on foot, but they stopped and we chatted for a while, also keeping "respectful distance"... The man is a teacher working with adult education, and he is now distance teaching his students via the internet. Which is the solution here just now from "senior high school" and upwards (while schools for younger children are still kept open).

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    1. It is nearly impossible to make plans at the moment, other than what will be for dinner and when is my next telephone conference taking place and such like.
      Over here, all schools have been closed for more than a week now. Of course it is a problem for parents with young children, when those parents are supposed to either go to work physically or work from home and can not really make sure they can do so with the little ones present.

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  4. Happy Birthday! (a bit late) I'm so glad you had a good one but sorry about the cut finger. Last Friday was my youngest son's birthday and we had him out on Saturday for dinner, cake and gifts. We probably should not have had anyone out but he lives alone and I wanted him to have something of a birthday. I did refrain from giving him a hug - reluctantly.

    These are indeed strange times. It was requested that we stay home last week but this week we have official orders to stay at home. Almost everything is closed here now. Grocery stores, pharmacies and medical offices are open and that's it. Please take care!

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    1. Thank you, Bonnie!
      I understand your desire to give your son at least some sort of a special day for his birthday, but you are right - we all need to restrict ourselves these days.
      O.K. is one of very few people I know who still goes to work, as it is not possible to do his job from home.
      And of course all the staff manning the stores and shops that are still open; they can not retreat to the safety of their homes for work, either. They deserve our utmost respect, and consideration!

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  5. Sorry that I am two days late in sending you belated birthday greetings Meike! 52 years old means that you are still just a girl! It was Shirley's birthday yesterday. We went for a walk on the sunny moors nearby and because we could not dine in a restaurant I ordered meals from a local delicatessen - "The Greedy Greek". Let's hope that this horrible virus is no longer a problem on your 53rd birthday. Very best wishes to you... Neil x

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    1. Thank you, Neil! Good wishes are always welcome, no matter what day.
      So Shirley's birthday is on the same day as Jennifer's. Well, there are only 366 days to choose from when it comes to our birthdays, therefore we are of course prone to find many others who share "our" day.
      O.K. and I also had ordered a meal last weekend; we want to keep at least some of our local businesses going, and ordering pizza is good for us and good for them.
      Yes, who knows what my 53rd birthday will be like!

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  6. Glad O.K. and your sister were able to share your birthday with you and that the weather cooperated so you could have a decent walk. As for the clumsiness, don't you find that those things so often like to domino and cascade across a day? I've had days like that. Here's hoping this coming week is 'cluster-free'.

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    1. I felt fine the next day, Mary, and also when I made dinner later on Sunday, I didn't burn or drop anything, or cause myself any more injuries. But yes, I know the chain reaction that can be set off when we start the day with a minor accident.

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    1. Sorry - I do not understand enough Turkish for this. Maybe you can write in German, English, Italian or French?

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  8. I am glad you were able to have a little celebration, but a very meaningful one! Be well, stay home and be safe...

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    1. Thank you, Kristi! It was meaningful and maybe especially so because of the circumstances; anyway, it was a beautiful day altogether.
      You too be well and safe, and your family.

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  9. Sorry I'm coming so late to your Birthday party dear Meike! Belated good wishes and just sorry your celebratory plans had to be adjusted - still sounded like fun though. Many happy returns - you certainly did well with presents and cards, and I know they are well deserved - lovely!

    Stay well and take care - your dear family also.
    Mary X

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    1. Thank you, Mary! It is never too late for good wishes, and you are right, it was still a fun time and a beautiful day. I keep getting cards and letters, just took another one out of my mailbox from one of my friends from Librarian School.
      You too, and your family, stay well and take care.

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  10. Very belated birthday greetings and every good wish for a healthy and happy year ahead. We are all going through a very strange and stressful time and no doubt because of this your feelings were a little distracted, hence the knife and nut problems. Keep safe - next year you can have a big birthday bash to compensate for this years caution!

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    1. Thank you! Strange times indeed; stressful not really, at least not for me; quite the contrary! But I was definitely distracted when I stupidly touched that knife and did all the other clumsy things.
      You, too, keep safe; enjoy your beautiful garden!

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  11. Wishing you a very happy belated birthday. It wasn't everything you had hoped but hopefully you will look back on it as "that birthday" when things return to some kind of normality. Stay well.

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    1. Thank you!
      In a year or so, I guess we will all look back at the spring of 2020 and compare memories on how we experienced that strange period.

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  12. Meike, I'm sorry that I missed this post. I am now up to date. I hope that your hand has healed.

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    1. Not to worry, Graham.
      The cut is still visible on the tip of my finger, but it is closed and I have as good as forgotten about it

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