OYSTERHOOD is reclusiveness or solitude, or an overwhelming desire to stay at home.

— @HaggardHawks

A very slow start to the day. I just did not feel 100% and with this horror in the air, one’s mind immediately begins to migrate to problematic spaces…

I stayed in bed and read about the numerous cases of people presumed dead, wrapped in sheets or blankets, buried alive, and crawling out of their mass graves during the 1918 pandemic in the Cape… I am rethinking coffins and cremations.

After a dose of the plague, eventually Ms Trollope did brighten the morning and, because it is World Bee Day, I drew this:

I think the bee inspired me, because by the time I got up, I became as busy as a… After some computer work, I returned to a story I have been writing for a competition. Today was the deadline for submissions, so it was time for the final polish. I haven’t submitted writing for competitions in years – butterflies, or rather bees, in the stomach, that’s for sure. Now we wait and see.

I have been cold all day, despite the wonderful sunshine outside. I ate my meals (exceptionally healthy today) outside, but I wasn’t in the garden long enough to soak up sufficient warmth for the rest of the day (rum tea and hot water bottle to keep me going). After submitting my story, I went outside to watch the sunset and listened to the radio in the ever-dedicated feline company of this home.

The Western Cape’s Covid-19 infection and death numbers – combined with the fear attached to my sudden dip in well-being earlier today – are difficult to process.

Let there be light and warmth and gentleness. And a restorative sleep.

Be kind to yourself. Be kind to others. Stay at home.

“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”

— NICD