Just What I Needed

The Covid-19 virus or Corona virus has been all we hear about.  It is affecting the entire planet.  Who knows what is going to happen when it is all over. The centre of infection had moved from the source in China to Italy and Spain only to shift gears and get bigger in the US.

The numbers are terrifying and as there seem to be an unwillingness to shut things down properly. This is going to cause a delay in the pandemic ending. 

The other day I had a text quarrel with my mother. Dementia is slowly taking hold of her once sharp brain. She forgets things.  She has always been stubborn so I can't lay that particular trait at the feet of dementia.  Since the shut down, things have decided to take a nice step forward. She passes all the questions that are put to someone who is suspected of having dementia, "Who is the president?" "What is the current month?"  and she is deemed to be just fine.  It is the decision making process that is flawed. There doesn't seem to be any thought beyond what she wants at that moment.

Her senior centre has closed.  When they closed they sent people home with food parcels.  My mother promptly gave all the food to her neighbours.  She has always been generous but now her generosity is becoming a problem.  She gives her money and food away to anybody who asks and leaves nothing for herself.

I found she had gone out for a newspaper and sent her very firm messages to return home and stay there.  "I survived polio, I can survive this!" That time she went home and agreed to stay in. . . . until the following day when she decided to go visit her friend.  This prompted another round of fierce texts.  Thank heaven she can still operate a smart phone!

After she showed up at home again, I just burst into tears of frustration.  When I started to cry, I decided that I would pick at everything that worries me and have a good howl.  I miss my children.  I miss my grandchildren.  I miss my friends.  I worry about the collapse of society and famine.  Oh when I decide to feel sorry for myself, I don't mess around.

That very evening I got a call from a friend of mine who runs a charity, Dumfries & Galloway Multicultural Association.  They run a lot of support for refugees in the county among other things. Could I pick up some food donations?  Of course!

I was thrilled!  The BEST thing for snapping out of a round of self-pity is to do something for somebody else!  This was just the tonic I needed!

The local supermarket normally donates unsold food to the school.  Schools are closed and they were scrabbling around to find someone to collect the food and save it from being thrown out.

I was at the door of the supermarket just before closing.

It is shocking to see a place I visit frequently go through dramatic changes.
I put on my boiler suit and wore rubber gloves for this trip.  I am trying to minimise infecting myself.  If I am infected and not showing symptoms, I don't want to be the one infecting others.

The lovely lovely staff at the supermarket had boxes of food that was still perfectly fit for human consumption but had past its sell-by date.  They could not legally sell it.

They hated the thought of throwing it all away and were happy that somebody could make use of it.

Now then. . . what to do with all this food?!  I couldn't drive to Dumfries with it.  There really isn't a network set up in my little tiny village for this sort of thing.
The next morning I put a notice in the village hall Facebook page announcing that there was free food available!  All anybody had to do was pick it up from the village hall.  I asked people to only touch what they wanted to take, bring their own bag and be respectful of distances. 

I left the boxes of food and hoped the local village people would not be shy.  I was so glad it didn't rain!

At the end of the day, just when it was starting to get dark, I went to collect what was left and the empty boxes.

To my joy I was met with this sight!  I was SO happy that my lovely little village was able to make use of this food!    It helped snap me out of a big self-pity party.  I am reminded that doing things for others has always helped.  I also helped to end food waste!