Communication. Clapping. Masks. Curious remedies. And food.

My Spanish sister sent me a video, taken I think from her balcony, a video of a stream of vehicles going along pipping their horns non-stop. This was the commentary she put on to accompany it:

“This is the show they put on for us yesterday just before clapping time: police, fire brigade, bin-men, taxi drivers and more, greeting the people in lockdown.”

I can’t say that I personally would appreciate a noisy cavalcade of motors going past my house but I understand the sentiment behind it. It’s a very Spanish thing pipping your horn and it can demonstrate both anger and delight. Wedding parties often do a kind of drive-by with klaxons at full pelt sharing the joy with all and sundry.

My sister also sent me photos of her smallest grandchild, born in February. I only hope she got the photos from her daughter and did not do a sneaky trip round to see him in person - also a very Spanish thing!

Here in the UK, I am reading increasing numbers of articles about the advisability of wearing a face mask when you go out and about. Even POTUS has spoken about it, although mostly he says that scientists and health experts advise it but he personally doesn’t like the idea. ‬Pressed about this reluctance to set an example, he said, “I just don’t want to wear one myself. They say ‘recommendation’, they recommend it. I’m feeling good,” – a remark that ignored evidence that many virus carriers do not show symptoms.

He went on: “I just don’t want to be doing – somehow sitting in the Oval Office behind that beautiful Resolute Desk, the great Resolute Desk, I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I don’t know, somehow I don’t see it for myself. Maybe I’ll change my mind, but this will pass, and hopefully it will pass very quickly.”

So it’s all about venerating the furniture, is it?

Even FLOTUS, aka Melania, has tweeted in favour of masks: on Friday evening, first lady Melania Trump tweeted: “As the weekend approaches I ask that everyone take social distancing & wearing a mask/face covering seriously.”

But then, the USA is still a little crazy about the whole business. The president won’t call for a nationwide stay-at-home policy; every state governor should make up his own mind. Useful!

And then there are the religious nuts. Last Sunday a Pentecostal pastor in Tampa, Florida, reportedly held two services to full houses in his River church. In his sermon he claimed the public health response to the virus was part of a plot involving the Rockefeller Foundation and World Health Organization, whose goals were forced vaccinations and mass murder. His congregations have been encouraged to hug each other and to shake hands as they are “revivalists, not pansies”.

On Monday, he was finally arrested for violating Florida’s rules on social distancing.

But he is not alone. And even those who acknowledge the reality of the virus suggest odd causes for it. In a blogpost last week, Ralph Drollinger, who has led Bible study for Trump cabinet members, suggested the virus was an instrument of divine judgment, and appeared to blame LGBTQ people. Drollinger later claimed that this was a misinterpretation.

There is also a bishop in Ghana selling an Anointing Oil that is said to safeguard Ghana from the Coronavirus.

And numerous sites on the internet give information about possible natural remedies, although most of them do have the rider that none of these remedies have actually been proven to work.

As for me, one of my tasks today is to rummage in my fabric collection and produce a couple of face masks for us to wear on our daily exercise sorties. According to my daughter, there are patterns for sewing your own on the internet. When you google face-masks, by the way, it also sends you to information about cosmetic face-masks to improve your complexion. Schrodinger’s net is both aware and not aware if the coronavirus crisis.

And on the menu today is a ham and mushroom omelette, with braised carrots and green beans and an experimental concoction of aubergine and tomatoes. Most of the recipes I have found for using aubergines involves ingredients which I do not have in my store cupboard and, indeed, would have difficulty obtaining at the nearest supermarket to here. A little improvising is called for.

Stay safe and eat well, everyone!