On a whim I looked up the website of the Mont Blanc tunnel which links Italy and France by cutting through the Mont Blanc. I was pretty surprised to see that as of today cars, campers and buses are still being allowed through but trucks over 3.5 tons are not! I was talking to my neighbour about that and neither of us could figure out the logic of not allowing goods and perishables through but then allowing people to travel! Beats me!
Then yesterday I received an email from my nephew and his girlfriend has been at home sick (in Liverpool) for about a week now and they're thinking she might have the virus. There has also apparently been a confirmed case at work, which isn't such a surprise in itself, I guess, in an organization with over 700 staff and constant meetings/visitors. I don't know what the plans are at work but I imagine it's time for people to be working from home and cancelling meetings, if that hasn't already happened. I guess I'll be avoiding the gym there for a few weeks then as it just doesn't make sense to go in does it!
And still thinking about the coronavirus, last night we had our sewing club and I got talking to Valérie, who is a nurse in the large hospital down the road from here. She was saying that while they do have a couple of cases she feels that they are "ready for it" - or as ready as you can be for an epidemic of this kind. We were "sensible" though as nobody did la bise (the kiss on both cheeks) to greet each other like we usually do. We just kinda waved at each other to say hallo in that very British way - made me feel right at home for a change!
 |
| Picture by shutterstock |
And I just watched a few minutes of the news tonight and saw Trump give a short quote to the awaiting press corps at the White House re the coronavirus situation, words to the effect that "the economy's doing great, consumers are going to spend and great things are gonna happen, you'll see"! What the flip!!! Those are the soundbites he uses whenever he's asked a question on any subject. But don't worry America, apparently consumers are going to spend their way out of this epidemic so you're all good and have nothing to worry about!
Then today I had my first Tuesday afternoon yoga class after the spring break and oooohhh was it awkward. The teacher mentioned the coronavirus at the beginning of the class and all the "fake news surrounding it" and do we chose to listen to bad news all day and sit there in a state of permanent panic or do we do like her and chose to see all the good things we have in life - our health, our homes, enough food and so on? Fair enough, she's entitled to her views and she is a yoga teacher after all. So then she put some rather pretty "oriental" music on and asked us all to lie down and just listen to it to see if we could block out the whirring thoughts in our brains and really appreciate the gift that is our sense of hearing. Again, no problem, I can do that (although someone fell asleep at this point - I heard the snoring). But she then proceeded to go on and on and on …. she never stopped talking about seeing the positives in life and not being materialistic and how life is wonderful, and totally drowned out the music she was asking us to listen to in the first place. It was just weird! That is one of her big faults actually, she never shuts up and when you're trying to "get in the groove" for yoga you don't need someone constantly blathering away. Well after about 30 minutes of this I started just doing a few stretching exercises as I was getting bored and starting to prepare my shopping list in my head to tune her out, so other people started doing the same (the stretching exercises, not the shopping list thingy). But in all this went on for the entire 90 minute class and, as I found out afterwards, people were getting more and more irritated with her (like I said, I just tuned her out). Everyone had had a bellyful of her whittering it seemed. On a side note, my ex-husband actually used to "whitter" too. I remember him picking up on a particular song that he liked the lyrics to, so he put it on really loud (too loud) and kept saying listen, listen over the top of the song. Well this went on for so long I just turned round and said "I'm trying to f....g listen, but do you ever shut the f up"? Sorry about the language but I have to say it was provoked, believe me, and oddly enough my outburst kinda spoiled the moment somehow. I've no idea why!
Anyway after yoga I went to the loo (not forgetting to wash my hands of course) and bumped into Sylvie who said that in her opinion our teacher was heading for another "breakdown" because "this is how she got last year shortly before she went completely under for about three months". Then when I got out to my car a few others were saying the same thing, with a couple saying "remember this, we didn't pay good money to listen to that rant"! So I'm not sure what's going to happen. Will she end up having another breakdown? Will they end up not using her services any more because she is unreliable (as was proven last year)? Who knows. I was saying to my neighbour on the way home though that if, as a yoga teacher, she is still as highly strung as she is I would hate to imagine what she would be like without the yoga. The two just don't seem to go together at all. I mean, you imagine yoga teachers to be all zen in their personalities too don't you. But I suppose if that's all it takes to be a yoga teacher I'd make a good one - I'm so laid back I'm surprised I don't bloody well fall over half the time. Pity about the "yoga" bit though!
I had a yoga teacher who was about the angriest, bitterest woman I've ever known while at the same time, espoused her Catholic religion every chance she got. It was really strange. She had issues.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what to say or think about the virus. I guess all we can do is to be as careful as possible and wait and see.
To me this lady seems to be trying to convince herself of all the wonderful things in life, as if she is trying to "outrun" her anxieties or something. I know some people really struggle with their mental health but she is so highly strung it just strikes me as odd that she chose to be a yoga teacher. The two don't go together somehow!
DeleteOur president and his followers will deny it to their bitter end. I can tell you, today was very slow at work. People are beginning to get nervous, and since testing has been shit, we've no idea how many cases there really are.
ReplyDeleteOn the UK news tonight they were comparing the number of cases in different countries and they quoted Italy, France, Germany and the US as having over 1,000 confirmed cases right now, although that number seems to be growing exponentially with each day that passes. And I think people are probably right to maybe not be getting nervous but to at least be thinking about taking sensible precautions don't you!
DeleteI had a tai chi teacher who was a kind of religious fanatic, never lost an opportunity to talk about whatever religion it was, I never listened, and I dropped out. I signed up for calm and centering, not propaganda. She pursued me for a while to persuade me back, didn't seem to understand I'd voted with my feet. It seemed an odd mixture, tai chi and fundie. She was a westerner, I don't think Chinese practitioners are like that.
ReplyDeleteWhile this lady is in great shape I get the impression she is desperately trying to help herself and her mental health through yoga, but at the moment it doesn't seem to be working that well. Shame actually, but I sense some will threaten to vote with their feet too if this keeps up!
DeleteSuper scary what is happening to Italy and their poor economy and people. Our province has 32 cases but none near us. I am more worried about airports. Hubby has asthma (mild) so we decided although we are traveling to Mexico (extremely safe) we will be super careful in airplanes and wipe everything down. He also will avoid the gym for a month or two as it doesn't seem the cleanest and I will allow him to set up his weights in the living room. Not a hardship at all and definitely not a permanent setup. We already have a treadmill and if it's nice walks with dog are key. Toilet paper runs at Costco but not at most other stores. I already have 40 lbs of rice as that is how I buy it (bought in January) and would like to maintain a 2 mos supply of TP but not any mroe than that. Perhaps your yoga teacher was telling herself that. I needed to tell myself that this week - life is good, things are good....
ReplyDeleteI hope things pick up for you - it must be hard losing that customer. I tend to keep quite a bit of food on hand too so I'm not too worried even if we are so close to Italy and things go into lockdown too. There is only so much you can worry about isn't there.
DeleteI feel so bad for China, and Italy, and South Korea, and who knows how quick it will spread, and we don't really know how serious it will get. I hope people just be nice to each other, and don't blame irrationally. I had to smile with you using the f words (or the letter) as when I get really fed up, annoyed, or angry, yep, the word comes out-in multiples. Yep, we are twins.
ReplyDeleteYep I reckon we are twins. Hope you had/have a safe flight. As it hasn't really "hit" here yet (although there are over 1,000 confirmed cases) who knows how people will behave. I'll most likely just hunker down, but of course not everyone can do that. And oddly enough I never used to swear until I got married (hardly do now) but my ex was like an "out of body" experience and sometimes only the f-bomb would release that energy!
DeleteI think at the moment I'm having coronavirus conversations with various people every single day and I wish I didn't! I'm a bit nervous I must admit but I'm doing everything possible to avoid it. I have one more class at the university next Monday then I'm done going into the city for a while. I feel safer staying close to home. I just hope the weather picks up soon then I can busy myself planting vegetables in my garden, I can become quite hermit like in the spring and summer! It does indeed sound like your yoga teacher is heading for a fall. Poor thing, it must be horrible to be so anxious. x just as well its a virtual one lol!!
ReplyDeleteI think we are being so bombarded with it but then I don't see what else they can do, do you? And with us being SO close to northern Italy I suppose it is hitting very close to home. Heck I just paid for a trip to Turin the other week - not sure if that will be on still. But I understand absolutely that all you want to do is dash home and lock the doors. I think a few people probably feel like that.
DeleteWhat a shame about your yoga class. Our teacher yesterday made a vague reference to Coronavirus (without mentioning it by name) whilst dedicating what was a wonderful session to stimulating immune systems. Not sure if it had that effect but I certainly came out feeling wonderful which is what 90 minutes of Yoga is meant to do I guess.
ReplyDeleteI generally come out of yoga feeling wonderful but not on Tuesday. I saw my neighbour a while ago and she asked what I thought about next Tuesday. I just said I don't think they will let her do the same a second week in a row and it's true because rightly or wrongly we've all paid good money for a class and that wasn't what we got. When you think you have 16 bored women in a yoga class you're on a hiding to nothing aren't you.
Delete