Put the Groceries in the Boot
I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post one creature comfort I’ve given myself during the coronavirus pandemic: I purchased both Acorn and Britbox television subscription channels. Between the two, they offer every kind of British television show known to mankind. I’m primarily interested in the mystery programs. You know, Hercule Poirot, Doc Martin, Broadchurch, on and on. By time the guarantine is lifted, I will undoubtedly be speaking with a British accent. Poor Bill. He just shakes his head. Poirot in particular drives him crazy.

Going Crazy
Up until the last couple of days, Bill has been able to keep busy. He is now starting to become antsy. He’s started a couple of projects, but they are frankly boring, even to him. So I pulled an old puzzle out of the closet and blew off the dust. It features memorabilia about Route 66. Since he rode the entire road on his motorcycle, he feels particularly fond of this highway. It is killing some time, that’s for sure…..

Earning a Living
I mentioned that we drove to Lost Dutchman State Park last weekend, but couldn’t get in because there were so many folks with the same idea. I posted some photos from our drive, especially of the beautiful flowers. We saw a man sitting in front of a particularly beautiful field of flowers who has carved out a niche for himself — selling the seeds from these flowers. At a dollar a packet, he’s going to have to sell a lot of seeds….

GoFundMe
Since the coronavirus entered all of our lives, we have been aware of the various folks we know who are experiencing unemployment because their places of employment are closed. Hair stylists, food servers, stadium vendors, and so forth. But I thought of one employment category that is also likely suffering that no one talks about. What about the all of the home invaders who can no longer safely break into houses and cars while no one is at home? After all, there is now never a time when no one is at home. I suggested to Bec that I might start a GoFundMe page in support of these workers!

If You Get Desperate
I hope by now everyone who needs toilet paper has enough to get them by. I have three stories about the shortage. First, I heard a nighttime comedian (I think it must have been Jimmy Fallon) suggest that if you run out of toilet paper, you can just use your CVS receipt, and it will last a good month. Here is a photo of a CVS receipt from a recent purchase that proves his point…..Second, at long last, I was able to obtain one package of four rolls of toilet paper. That will get us by for a while. The cashier — a young woman — commented on my lucky score. “We ran out of toilet paper,” she said. “We ended up using coffee filters.” Desperate times call for desperate measures. Finally, my sister told me about a friend who lives alone, and works full time. She has been unable to purchase any toilet paper, and was down to her last roll. She went into the grocery store yesterday, and there was no toilet paper to be had. She was quite concerned. When she went to pay, there was a package of six rolls sitting at her self-check station. She considered for a bit, and looked around to see if anyone looked like it belonged to them. And then she decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Best guess: someone was trying to borrow more toilet paper than was allowed and got busted.

Ciao.