Boundaries get laid down early on. The daughter and (I to a certain extent) need peace during the sacred hour of the coffee ritual. She tells me she's going to get up early, the gist is the rest of us keep our distance. It starts off well but goes downhill from there. I join her after the designated time and after imbibing my caffeine, I become talkative; on top of that, we have consulted the oracle - our phones. Australia has told all citizens to return home. There is a discussion. We decide to hold ground, none of us wants to stand for hours in an airport and then begin a twenty four hour trip home possibly next to someone a the dry cough. We decide to stay but we also realise that if we don't go now, the planes will eventually stop and we won't get back. We are all nervous but we carry our worry in different ways. The daughter starts to clean the house, I keep thinking I'm developing symptoms as I've just come from London and won't know for four days if I'm C free. the daughter's partner seems chill. We all keep our worries to ourselves.
I stay in my pyjamas all day (the daughter made me wash all my clothes and my hair when I arrived last night so I haven't got anything else to wear) and I don't even put on makeup. Those of you who know me might know I get up, get dressed, make the bed and put on my lipstick and mascara (and concealer if needed) no matter what happens in my life. I don't even realise I'm makeup bare until late in the afternoon when it is too late. I think the getting here before they shut the borders had affected me more than I thought.
But we have some French wine and then the daughter puts on Dolly Parton. We sing Jolene and Harper Valley PTA and it's a shock to realise I know the words the words and that when I look them up they are from the 60's! The younger generation has gone backwards in time. Day 1 is done.
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