Every day i write the date I think of my young friend who has been telling me about me about his girlfriend, then his fiancee, then his bride-to-be, then his wedding planned for November 11. How much time is left for the corona limitations to end? Will the wedding take place? Start counting off with me….

Even though we don’t really see doctors any more – unless it’s an immediate emergency – we do write a lot of posts. i now know exactly what medications i need to take, and fill in the forms on line – and sometimes i actually get all of them. the ideal is to get 3 month prescriptions so i don’t have to endanger myself too often, but sometimes I forget to ask for all of them, and sometimes a situation comes up where i need something i haven’t used for a long time. But often I get the answer that my needs have been met. lately, however, since my doctor is also head of a ward that seems to be converting to corona (or maybe they’re just more than usually overcrowded), he doesn’t have too much patience for my little itches and pains, and mixes things up a bit. So when I remembered I’d forgotten to ask for something i take twice a day, and i was running out, i made a special request. i got the answer back in an hour, but it was for one month only. Okay, I needed it right away and didn’t have the strength to go back to my computer, so i went out first thing in the morning and arrived at an empty health clinic drugstore before everyone else. Except of course the pharmacists who were getting themselves ready for the usual Jewish daily onslaught.

Lately my friends and I have been getting from welfare offices, health offices, and even the municipality to ask if we need help with anything. I’m almost going to ask the next one I get if they can straighten out my medications. Not really. There are so many greater problems to solve – and with me, it’s just a little irritation. it’s pretty amazing how well so many of us are doing in this situation. When I think of it, my grandmother probably had a kidney infection in Stuthoff and for that reason, she was carted off to be made into soap. when I had a kidney infection – at a much more advanced age than her – I was in the hospital here getting iv’s before I could even feel sorry for myself.

we’re definitely dividing into tribes – the extreme religious are following their own rules while we can’t seem to get any one else to follow them as long the others don’t. in other words, everyone is going their own way. We may be the only ones observing everything that the crazy government forces on us, But that’s because we’re terrified and old. okay, so we broke them by meeting with kids, and maybe going a little farther than 1000 meter here and there. but it doesn’t count.

but people need to do what they need to survive. the religious feel their rabbis understand much more than the government that hasn’t proved any succees in fighting corona. They hide their sick at home and bury them in secret and put a top priority on sending their kids to school – talmud torah, and yeshivas. they say that 25% of the men have contracted corona. on the other hand the arabs have seemed to stop the spread in the villages by cooperating with each other.

most of my neighbors also seem to follow the rules, but we all cheat. even though we don’t have financial problems, we’re going crazy from loneliness and boredom.

we ‘re not in the situation of the people in small business who have been shut down without any air, and means of support or any hope for the future. the people who work in the market, the little shops who have been having to contend with big businesses and chains for years and now are totally screwed. the government has no interest in them and doesn’t sustain them in any way, and their have gone past despair. maybe they’ll help us get back to socialism if we live that long…

in the meantime, we’re all trying to get by in our small groups – leaderless and frightened.

Please excuse the fancy stuff – the experiments with format will go on a bit until I figure it out. 

There is a square near our home that was always crowded with cafes and restaurants.  At least 3 hairdressers, a nail salon, a dress shop and what – maybe 4 cafes, the center so crowded with tables and chairs it is hard to tell what belongs to what.  And now the cafes are closed.  But food stores are open so there have sprung up a whole bunch of high class bakeries, delis, chocolatiers, and other take-aways.  It seems to be working, even though the usual joy in not apparent.  We went to visit the new neighborhood butcher – a famous television chef and personality – and his shop was full of amazing delicacies.  Aharoni himself was there, guiding our purchases, explaining his products, delineating his plans, and sharing with us his plans for future products to brighten our lives.

Well, maybe he isn’t all that unrealistic.  Like Donald, Bibi is promising a vaccine soon.  We’re testing on humans now.  A homemade product that might relieve the plague and the constant depression that seems to have overcome us.