Stay Home and Save the Planet

Well, we didn’t see that one coming did we? I mean, we’ve had all kinds of global agitations, and as members of the «Little People Brigade» we delude ourselves each time into believing, that our designated politicians are fervently preparing for the ensuing calamity. Then, when it inevitably arrives, it catches us again with our trousers down. This time, it is the Coronavirus and it came with the mantra, «Stay Home – Don’t Roam». .

While passengers are still flying into Switzerland from notoriously infested countries, we humble Swiss subjects are confined to our homes under the threat of a wheezing death, should we contravene the order to self-isolate. Without warning, one is plunged into a constricted life, never before experienced as an adult. Now, there are two ways of tackling this Wu_Flu thing. Either you fall into rabid despair, or you set about relishing the setting, so that you are your best companion, entertainer and cook.

How silent everything has become with virtually no traffic on the road, the rare bicycle or pedestrian, interspersed with a tractor or two, leaves the air refreshingly clean when I retire with my pooches to my enchanting terrace for some afternoon sun. I am actually making friends with the birds and bees flying around. No – nothing sensual, just communing with nature that I rarely had time to notice before. Walking the dogs in abbreviated form is unusual for the dogs, but then again, they only have short legs, so they don’t need a marathon. Cutting my own hair is an intricate procedure that has renewed my esteem for my hairdresser. I would have salvaged the hair for my feathered friends to make a nest, but I reckoned that they’re not great fans of dyed hair, full of products to cushion their offspring’s crib.

For compatriots of my fatherland, England, a stringent 6-week stretch of pure isolation would mutate most people to zombie status. However, after the many years in Switzerland, this new phase of isolation isn’t much different to everyday life, except we can’t eat out. When I met and married my Swiss husband, nearly 50 years ago he told me that the only real friends you have are the ones you met at school. This didn’t bode well for me, having left England soon after leaving school. I lost touch with all my friends (pre-Internet), as they dispersed abroad or to university and subsequently married and changed names. After nearly half a century I have to reluctantly concede that my ex was right. My generation of Swiss are not social tigers. I have hundreds of good colleagues and acquaintances, but not one close friend to my great chagrin. If I didn’t invite most of my neighbours to drinks and nibbles each Christmas, we would never have any social interaction and I have never been invited to most of their homes at all. So, to say that isolation was suddenly imposed on me would be a little misleading. Switzerland is not a hive of undiluted communal joviality at the best of times. So, home life now is akin to everyday life, I just don’t have the fleeting contact with folk outside the home. I’m just not quite persuaded that I can pick up speed again, when this quarantine is concluded

However, thanks to Internet and global networking, our way of life has simply adjusted to a distinctive style that’s unprecedented in the era of Coronavirus. It can be stimulating, enlightening and full of potential for the inquisitive soul, and that is me. I can keep myself busy indeterminately, exploring and researching – even writing blogs. In this day of «Fake News», I don’t depend on the daily tabloids for informed journalism, so I love the autonomy of hunting for other sources of newsworthy material. I actually now have time to smell the roses, although I don’t have any currently, so I’ll just get a whiff of pansies instead.

So, cometh the hour, cometh the man – I am answering the call of my country’s learned leaders and will remain until further notice incarcerated in my beautiful home and I will do my part to stay alive and simultaneously save the planet!! Who said I couldn’t multi-task?

Photo: Pexels.com / Lisa Fotios