Tag Archives: coronavirus

Getting the Jabs

I haven’t written much about the Moderna jabs, the second of which I got almost two weeks ago.

While vaccine accessibility has been slow in some parts of Canada, initially owing to delays in shipments but also to what now seems like, from here anyway, a decided lack of organisation, in other parts it has been efficient and fast.

Some of this has been surprising. I work in the Northwest Territories, and we deal with enormous distances and a lot of the time, very scary weather where even the snowmen take shelter. If distribution can be streamlined here, then I would think it should be easier in places that don’t have to deal much with weather and distance.

As to the vaccine reaction, yes, I did get one. It lasted about 36 hours after my second shot, but it was eased by ibuprofen, lots of ice cream, really silly movies and naps. Basically, I felt like I had the flu. My husband, M, had a very minor reaction – he said that if he was still working, it wouldn’t have prevented him from going. Almost all of my employees, regardless of age, had reactions ranging from “what shot?” to “just let me crawl away and moan.” Everyone bounced back quickly though.

As far as I’m concerned, the reaction I had is loads better than getting coronavirus or inadvertently spreading it.

But, (there’s always one of these, right?) there’s been a lot of confusion around the Astra-Zeneca. That’s not surprising. This is a novel virus, and tons of data, on a world-wide level, keeps informing us of how this vaccine (and others) is functioning. When our patience for this pandemic is dropping by the micro-second, it’s hard to hang on to it while the research types keep trying to do their best to help us. We have to remember to do ours.

How is it in your area? Are you satisfied with the timeline and how the vaccine distribution has been organised?

And if you have had a shot or shots, how did you do? Any reaction? Or, are you at all concerned about getting the vaccine?

2020: A Retrospective

I recently saw a sign that said “2020. Written by Stephen King. Directed by Quentin Tarantino.”

Apt, yes?

The calm before the storm.

Well, yes and no. For all its tragedies, fears, stresses, economic disasters, fires. floods, storms, inconveniences and annoyances, 2020 could have been a lot worse. In fact, history has recorded quite a number of years that were much worse than this one. 1944 was the worst year of WW II; June 8, D-Day, saw the deaths of almost 7000 allied soldiers (British, Canadian and American) in that 24-hour period alone.

1918 was the start of the Spanish flu. That plague went on to kill 50 million people world-wide. Whole communities were wiped out.

And let’s not forget WW I. On August 22, 1914, 27000 were killed during The Battle of the Frontiers. That was a single day’s losses. In total, that war killed 1.35 million soldiers; that number doesn’t include civilian deaths.

I could give many other examples, but you get the idea.

In the scheme of things, 2020 just wasn’t that bad. In common with others, though, I did a lot of moaning and complaining. But really, I haven’t been that badly affected. It’s more precise to say that I’ve been inconvenienced.

I kept my job. I didn’t lose anyone to coronavirus. I had to stay locked up and quarantined for weeks, but Spouse and I are both introverts. It wasn’t really that difficult.

Given that situation, a spotlight has been focussed on some things to which we need to pay attention; it’s like we’ve been given a second chance. Let’s not blow it.

So in that spirit, here are some realisations, appreciations and habits I hope to take with me:

The worst may be over. For now.

1. Respect for nature. We don’t need to spread ourselves over every single millimetre of this planet. There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that this is the attitude that lead to (probably) bat, snake and pangolin DNA combining to bring about coronavirus.

2. Mindful travelling. (https://mindfultravelco.com/5-steps-to-mindful-travel/). Trying to cram an entire continent into a 10-day package tour where the point is to post as many braggy photos to Instagram as possible? That’s not travel. To me, that sounds like a lot of gobbling and very little appreciation. Much of this type of travel is causing extreme damage to the very things people want to see. And the environmental injury is becoming enormous.

3. Solidarity. We’ve all been hit by this. The whole world. Focussing on our commonalities is much better than focussing on our differences.

4. We are a lot more capable than we have let ourselves become. We figured out some amazing, innovative, and environmentally friendly solutions to the coronavirus issues. And those vaccines! So amazing and so fast!

5. There are wonderful people from all walks of life who have stepped forward during this crisis. And sometimes, I was very surprised by who did (and who didn’t). For all we think we know people, we really don’t …

What do you think?

Blog Repairs

Dr Tanya of Salted Caramel asks, “What are you doing to ‘repair’ (re-vamp or update) yourself and your blog during the lockdown?” (https://saltedcaramel670.wordpress.com/2020/05/04/blogging-insights-27-repairing-yourself-and-your-blog/)

I have been really busy during this lockdown and so I haven’t done any “repairs” on my blog. But …

I’ve been working long hours and usually through the weekends as well, but during a recent regular health check-up, I discovered that my blood pressure was extremely high, to the point that I was apparently in “stroke territory,” according to the nurse-practitioner.

I’ve had what amounts to a latent blood pressure concern for some years now and it’s an issue that very decidedly runs in my family. I keep an eye on it, and do what I need to if it starts creeping over to the wrong side of the ledger.

Unsettled waters.

But my, this was a wake-up call. So, I had to take some very quick action to do a repair on me.

I find this working from home to be difficult. In the past, I’ve been able to draw a line around home and more or less wall it off. It was a sanctuary. But now? Work is at home; home is at work. Stressed employees were needing to talk. Many new and unexpected tasks had to be completed. NOW. There were shortages and frustration and fear and uncertainty. Days slid into nights and merged into each other in an amorphous mass.

M did his best to look after me by making wonderful meals and looking after everything else.

But I wasn’t able to “turn off.” Texts and phone calls arrived throughout the day and night, and needed to be answered. The community where I work was having a tough time coping and one of my employees became ill with covid (this person was isolating and so there was no spread, and thankfully, after eight days of ICU, there has been a full recovery).

It has slowed down somewhat now but I also realised that I had to get firm, too, and carve out a space for me to relax and chill and rest. My cardio-vascular system would thank me for it.

M has been baking bread.

So, where does blogging fit into this? Blogging has been, and continues to be, one of the things that takes me out of myself. Some bloggers are sharing beautiful photos, others are sharing laughs, still others are sharing recipes and gardening tips. Reading through the posts I follow has been a very welcome diversion, a healthy brain diversion, so in a way, I didn’t need to repair my blog, because it has been busy repairing me.

Lovely lavender.

Blogging comprises a community, and I don’t think that the countries represented here have ever before been so bound by a common enemy. I hate this virus, but in many ways it’s creating a sort of world-wide bond.

And that’s a repair that has been long overdue.

Any repairs for you?

Stay the Blazes Home

The premier of Nova Scotia got pretty frustrated at the number of people still going outside to loiter in groups, so during a press conference he told residents to “stay the blazes home.”

https://www.theloop.ca/ctvnews/n-s-premiers-stay-the-blazes-home-inspires-viral-songs-memes-clothes/

His line has now gone viral (in a good way 🙂 ) and is being passed around everywhere. You can even get a t-shirt.

It costs $35.00 and all proceeds are going to covid-19 relief funds.

Stay healthy everyone and stay the blazes home. 😉