Covid-19 Saturdays Continue

~ beetleypete

Another weekly report from Beetley, during the pandemic lockdown.

As I type this at almost 11 am, you could hear a pin drop outside. Activity is at the lowest level for weeks, despite a sunny start to the day.

One community spirit thing that I noted this week was people putting books outside in small containers. They are offering the books they have read to anyone passing by, free of charge. With the library closed in town, and the mobile library not coming to the villages during the pandemic, it is great to see so many of my neighbours giving away free books to those who have run out of things to read.

Yesterday when I was entering the nature reserve with Ollie, I saw that someone had rigged the latch on the large gate. It was jammed open by the use of a carefully-placed cable tie, which was impossible to remove without a sharp knife to hand. They had fixed a hand-written notice to the woodwork, saying that they had done that so that people could enter and leave without touching the metal latch, as the virus could stay on the metal for 72 hours.

I spoke to some other dog walkers, and they thought it was a good idea. I didn’t agree. Without the gate firmly latched, it would be easy for an excited dog to get out into the small car park, and the fast road beyond. It would also allow deer to exit through that route, and possibly be injured or killed by traffic. What one person thought was something good to do for walkers and visitors is not such a great idea, in my opinon. I would have just washed my hands when I got home, or used a dog-poo bag over my hand to open and close the latch.

Because nobody is driving around much, some locals have had problems with their cars. My next-door neighbour had to buy a new battery for his SUV, as the old one had gone flat from lack of use. Some cars have failed to start after weeks of not being used for commuting to work, and with many using delivery options for grocery shopping too. Some of the irritating side-effects of being in the lockdown that none of us ever thought about at the start.

Some ladies I meet out on dog walks are also concerned about their hair. With all the hairdressers closed until further notice, their regular hair-dying and trimming sessions have left them with grey roots showing, and ‘mad’ hair. Many have actually apologised to me for the appearance of their hair, which is weird. My wife’s hairdresser is closed until October, so I might have to cut her hair at some stage. I doubt she will chance letting me near her with a pair of scissors though.

As far as I am aware, nobody in this village, with its population of around 1300, has died from the Covid-19 virus so far. Our secluded location and lack of visitors may well have helped of course.

Or it may just be that everyone washes their cars so much, their hands are always clean. 🙂

51 thoughts on “Covid-19 Saturdays Continue”

    1. I cut my hair (what is left of it) down to what is known as a ‘number one’, and have done for years now. Despite being left with little more than a barely noticeable fuzz, I still brush it. It just makes me feel that I have bothered. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  6. I was going to follow your recommendation about the Wahl clippers, but they are all sold out everywhere. I think pretty soon I may be able to braid my hair again as I did as a kid. Never have colored my hair, so that won’t be an issue anyway. I love hearing about life in your town. Here things are quiet. There have been a number of cases in town but none by people I know.

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    1. Thanks, Elizabeth. As Beetley goes, ‘town’ is an exaggeration. There are no shops, no petrol station, and no pubs or bars. Not even a post office. All of those are around 4 miles away, in Dereham. I suppose we are considered to be a part of that town now, as our postal code for online shopping returns Dereham as our address. In just 8 years, Beetley has lost its identity! 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete,

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  9. All the funny things you don’t think about until you are #shelteringathome….my hair is a bit shaggy, but not bad considering it hasn’t been cut in three months now…i have taken to starting my car every few days just to make sure it’s OK, but it’s a new hybrid, so I assume the battery has a bit more technology that normal…other than that, just received some Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches delivered from the legendary Pat’s restaurant there…helping their business and they are helping me avoid shopping!

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  10. Don’t people have battery chargers these days, Pete? I suppose I’m just of an older generation that was used to having to drive crap cars with dud batteries that needed recharging every couple of weeks 😉 Or maybe batteries on expensive cars can’t be recharged? I had to do mine last week and it was a nuisance, but really no big deal. If we had anything like a decent public transport system in this country I would gladly use it, especially as I now qualify for a bus pass, but we don’t, not ‘out in the sticks’ anyway, so I’ll have to hang onto the car for the foreseeable, with all the associated expense for the one short trip per week! I’m not sure how acceptable it is to be washing cars when we’ve had so little rain recently, but I am an old curmudgeon……….. Cheers, Jon.

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    1. Some modern cars have sealed batteries that cannot be charged. I have an old car (2007) that could take a battery charger, but to be honest I have not owned one since the 1970s. Most of my neighbours have much better and newer cars, and I doubt they have chargers, but I don’t know.
      Our water here is on a meter, so if people use it to wash cars, then they pay extra for that, so it doesn’t bother me. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  12. Apparently celebrities have even been cutting their hair on television! It takes a year for hair to grow six inches so I can’t quite believe why such a fuss is being made so early into lockdown. Dark roots showing through is something else, but cutting hair won’t change that. Wonder if hair dye is considered an essential item of shopping?

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    1. You can buy hair dye oniline of course. 🙂
      Amazon Prime will deliver it the next day, essential or not!
      I don’t think my hair would grow six inches in five years, as it is still falling out.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  13. I gave my daughter a hair cut a couple of weeks back too. Her hair are curly and unruly. She doesn’t keep her ponytail more than a few minutes. So, i gave her a trim. But it became a little too short and tomboyish. I love the look though.

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  14. I do have a pair of clippers that I use on the dogs and goats, I suppose I could use them , then again I had long hair for a good while in the past so I may go back, although it will be more Gandalf than Beckinsale these days 🙂
    People rarely think things through, like me and the latest electric fence I put up, blocking access to the field I wanted to get to on the tractor!

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    1. Phil is multi-talented! My once a week trip to Tesco will not be enough to help my car survive. I might have to chance a non-essential trip along the A47 and back, just to liven it up!
      Best wishes, Pete.

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      1. Hi Pete, Our car is playing up, too. A weekly trip to Tesco is doing more harm than good. We did a longer drive to top up the battery but I’m not sure how many miles are enough. I guess it depends how fast you go. We don’t have a motorway very near us so 70 is the fastest we do and that’s only on short stretches. I used to love the car and now I’m afraid of it as it gives us warnings and switches off some of the internal lights!

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        1. The short trips at low speed are bad for modern cars, as water condenses in the exhaust sytem and catalyctic converter when it isn’t driven fast enough to heat that up. My car dealer recommended I drive at 70 mph, for a minimum of 20 miles each week. I could do that on the A47 without stopping, by driving a round trip to Norwich of the 36 miles that would take.That’s not always possible though, especially at the moment. When all this is over, so many of us are going to have awful problems with our cars, we should think about budgeting for repairs in the meantime.
          Best wishes, Pete.

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  16. I have seen more ladies grey hair in these days than before…..that is the lest of my worries….MoMo staying safe and my daughter’s family and of course my better half,,,,,,Sue….chuq

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  17. One advantage (the only advantage?) of having curly hair is that grey roots don’t show because my hair is not flat to my head. I can keep going for about another 4 or 5 weeks I think before it’s grown enough to notice. As for dogs… shouldn’t they be on leads?

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    1. There is no need for leads on the small nature reserve, as it has no roads, and is secured on all sides by gates and fencing. It is a good place for them to run free, until the person ‘rigged’ the main gate.
      My wife let her hair grow out white some years back, and is now very glad she did. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. Those ladies must have thought I would be critical of their appearance. I would of course never be so rude and personal. One was wearing a big hat, and told me she was keeping it on until her hairdresser re-opened. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  20. Lol Pete about the hair. I used to have my hair short and it needed cutting quite regularly to keep it in shape. However I ceased being able to go to the hairdressers and my hair just grew and grew. I am glad now that this happened because I don’t have to worry about it now. I just put it back in a ponytail and that is that. Also when I had chemo all my hair dropped out and when it grew back it was black. Prior to that it had been going a silvery grey colour. So I suppose I could call that one of the benefits of having had chemo although I would not recommend it as a way of colouring your hair. I do feel grateful however that I do not have to worry about colouring it any more and keeping up with the grey roots.

    I can see what you mean about the latch on the gate and it would be so easy just to wear a pair of gloves or as you say to use a doggy poop bag on your hands. I hope someone realises the dangers of leaving the gate open.

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