Day 67 and maybe its time to get my head out of Isolation mode. I have struggled today to get through the jobs I set myself and my mind was wandering all over the place struggling to keep focus. It started with a trip to the town to finally sort out my new hoover, the filter broke 4 weeks after I bought it and with total lock down it was impossible to take back. The store informed me I had to take it to a local dealer/technician, not a problem until I found myself walking around for 40 mins to find the back street. Eventually I found it and can you believe it, I was parked literally right outside of it and hadn’t known! Of course it needed ordering so I will have to go back.
Before leaving the original store I found myself buying solar lights for my balcony, my first day in a shop and my intentions and promise to myself during isolation not to buy unnecessary stuff had gone out the window! I hadn’t been looking to buy anything but saw them, my last ones lasted for over 5 years and I hadn’t replaced them these last 2 years, so now these will give hours of pleasure with my newly planted flower tubs these next months of summer. Even in the winter months a few are are sat outside my bedroom balcony doors so I can enjoy them even when the the doors are closed, they are hypnotic and relaxing.
I got spare keys cut for our apartments new entrance door, again it was the first opportunity as it was installed a couple of days before lock down and I ordered a new name plaque for our new post boxes too. To my absolute joy and amazement the locksmith had cord, the exact cord I had been looking for before Christmas when I made all my family some Macramé hangings. I couldn’t find any then after searching all over so I used string, and here it was with so many colours to choose from! I can now make a little pouch bag which I wanted to do for somebody special as a small token gift. Finally I was home 3 hours after I had envisioned, I set about changing the replacement tap on my water filter, took a television to my neighbours which I swapped for a printer and finally sorted through the many keys I have in drawers. After placing all my new solar lights the day was over and I was exhausted, not physically but mentally as I had forgotten what it is to be outside sorting out to do lists, but mainly all the chatting!
Everybody was kind and friendly and wanted to chat and I had leisurely joined in this experience wondering why I had spent so many of my years rushing around and not taking time for this, then I remembered that people weren’t this friendly before isolation, they had all been like myself rushing around in their own little worlds! I hope it stays this way it was a beautiful experience of unity and community, with compulsory masks maybe people were trying harder to show kindness. Facial expressions could not be seen so maybe that’s why more communication was needed, each of us proving we are not a threat or that we are not scary under these masks.
Day 68 and I am still tired from yesterdays overload of communication so today I seem to have switched off mentally, I am walking around in a daze so maybe a little cleaning will help to ground me! I think maybe this is because I have spent a lot of time thinking of yesterdays lovely experience and so much communication after 2 months of isolation, friendliness and kindness shown and why have we not always behaved like this?
These next 2 news articles I am about the share also left me wondering more about our past, how did this happen when many of us have known about these risks for years? Why has it taken so many years to accept the dangers and risks of these products? With hope in my heart maybe our priorities are changing and even people, society and scientists are finally acknowledging that things cant stay the same as they were.
Scientists warn not to use Aluminium Foil as research found that the migration of aluminium into food during the cooking process of food wrapped in it, is above the permissible limit set by the World Health Organisation. How can this have gone on for so many years and why have they only just discovered this? In the past aluminium was banned from deodorants after it was found to contribute to breast cancer cases, but only after many years of campaigning which led to sales plummeting with people choosing not to take the risk after posts (many called fake news!) went viral. For many years it has been known that high concentrations of aluminium have been detected in the brain tissue of patients with Alzheimer’s disease, scientists have now examined old people with Alzheimer’s and concluded that it is a modern disease developed from altered living conditions associated with society’s industrialisation, and may include high levels of aluminium in daily life. Aluminium poses other health risks too, it may be harmful to some patients with bone diseases or renal impairment and it reduces the growth rate of human brain cells! What about children if this is the case?
Johnson & Johnson will stop selling its talc Baby Powder in the United States and Canada as demand had fallen in the wake of what they called “misinformation” about the product’s safety amid a barrage of legal challenges. 19,000 lawsuits from consumers and their survivors claiming their talc products caused cancer due to contamination with asbestos, a known carcinogen after a 14-month investigation revealed that Johnson & Johnson knew for decades that its product contained asbestos.” Apart from the baby powder lawsuits, the company which is one of the most trusted brands in America has recently faced a series of legal and reputational challenges. In August, an Oklahoma judge ordering them to pay $572.1 million to the state for its part in fuelling an opioid epidemic by deceptively marketing addictive painkillers.
Producers of our food, water, drugs and many other products have a duty to consumers, new products should be deemed unsafe until proven not to be the case. We know what toxicity symptoms are with all chemicals, in the case of aluminium and Alzheimer’s the companies should have had to prove that it cant seep into food not wait until some independent scientists are funded to find out that it can. Johnson & Johnson carried on for over 30 years knowing their baby talc contained some asbestos even with the health risks known as asbestos was banned from use with many products! They are still calling it misinformation and again it has taken consumers not wanting to risk health issues, to stop its sales in US and Canada, what about making it safe? and what about the rest of the world? This is made worse since as the product name suggests, Baby Powder has been used on billions of infants, so how many underlying health problems has this caused without us knowing. It may or may not become known in the future but we do know that we trusted them totally believing their products were safe for our babies. Thank goodness I hardly ever used it on my babies as I worried about the fine powder getting into their lungs.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Day 69 I carried on my little spending spree of plants after I promised myself not to spend on useless things, are these useless I ask? Well no, because in theory they will give me many hours of pleasure admiring them on my balcony these next months on an evening escaping the heat of inside. On the other hand we are always infested with so many bugs and I have never managed to stop them destroying my herbs and plants, so I hope these new plants will be hardier to the bugs. This is the first time I have bought plants in many years, most of mine were self generating or grown from seed but this year I decided to buy ready grown ones, I am actually taken aback at the price, although individually I guess they are not so bad but together they have cost 70 Euros. I did order a few online so I had to pay postage but even so 3 very small anti mosquito plants citronella, lemon scented geranium and a rose looking succulent along with a hibiscus (cheapest out of the order) so I can make tea, cost 35 euros. Is this price hike because of summer and a greater need for anti mosquito’s? or to make up for losses during 2 months closure to the public (not the councils)? Along with the lights and much needed 2 chairs which I still need to buy this little project may end up costing 200 euros and I would still like a Jasmine or Dame de Noches for their sweet scent. All this for a small balcony, I would dread to think of the price for a garden!
I have never been an irrational or an impulsive buyer ever, this balcony project may turn out to my first one with the added feelings of having to have it now! What is this need that has grown inside of me during isolation that I feel I have to fill and why? These are questions I need to find answers for, of why this has changed, I would never have done this in the past. I guess these coming months we may all find ourselves asking similar questions as our priorities may have changed and our emotions moved into new areas.
I hope you keep safe and take precautions to protect yourself and loved ones including taking care of your mental health. Our emotional roller coaster and changes in priorities may still be in their early stages of our new way forward after lock down. I hope you find your balance and integrate what you have learnt about yourself easily, especially irrationality or impulsive actions or behaviours! 💜
Growing Old 