Loo Rolls Left: n+4

We are now one week into this lock-down thing. I’m still at work because inspecting boilers is an essential occupation, but where and how we are allowed to inspect is changing by the hour. Another conference call this afternoon brought a new set of guidelines, tomorrow may well bring another set. The basics are, wash your hands, keep two meters apart and if you are not sure, don’t go ahead with the inspection.

Today started off reasonably normally. I made a few calls to try and sort out some work. I don’t know if it is due to the current situation, but clients have been unusually cooperative. I have decided to reduce the risk of my cross-contaminating sites I am only going to visit one site per day if possible. So I sorted out my work for the day I set off to the job for the day.

When I opened my car door, I could hear this regular beep beep sound. Two things about it puzzled me. Firstly, I had never heard this sound before. Secondly, it seemed to carry on whether the ignition was on or off. There were no warning lights up. The car started and ran normally. So, I decided to ignore it for the time being. I turned the music up louder to drown it out. That worked to get me to the site. I did the inspections. When I got back to the car, the beeping was still there. It seemed to be coming from somewhere between the roof lining and the roof.

I carried back to my house with the beeping beginning to do my head in. I still couldn’t see anything about the car that might be causing it. I stopped to buy petrol. As I leaned down to release the fuel cap cover, I saw my oxygen meter flashing away. The battery had died and as well as the flashing red lights it was going beep beep. I switched it off and silence reigned.

I went home/my house. (I’m not quite sure where home is now.) I wanted to cut the grass and pick up some of my gardening tools. I also planned to have a coffee with a slice of Diane’s excellent fruit cake. While I was home, I received a text from my manager. It said that we needed to have a conference call about our new working arrangements. Great fun. After about an hour of conferencing I’m still not any clearer about what I am supposed be doing.

By the time I made it home, it was too late to go up to the allotment. We had a G&T instead.

Day 9

The day started well. I woke up with the alarm. Diane just rolled over and went back to sleep. I got up, had a shower and went down stairs and made breakfast. Then brought a cup of tea up to Diane. After that things started to go downhill.

I tried to log on to my work computer. It told me that I no longer existed. At least, that’s the case as far as the company I work for is concerned. My contract was due to end yesterday, but it was agreed to extend it for another six months. Someone forgot to tell the IT department.

I went back to how we used to do it back in the days before laptops were invented. Note book and pen were sourced, with the plan being to write up the report when I went home. When my log on problems would be solved. Unfortunately this was not the case, although it did get a different error message when I tried to log on.

You may have noticed that I have not mentioned the news very much. I am not uninterested or not paying attention. I just don’t consider most of the output of our media at the moment to be news. There is some good news. For example, a team of Mercedes F1 engineers and researchers from Imperial College and UCL have produced a machine. This machine assists breathing and can be produced cheaply from off the shelf parts. Panic buying of toilet roll seems to be over for the time being. However, getting eggs remains difficult. Finding flour is also still a challenge. Other than that, there is a daily update. It tells me more people have died. It also tells me more people have been infected.

So far, Diane and I have been OK. I still have my work, I think. We have each other and we have the allotment, so hopefully food, come the apocalypse.