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”We live in within a vast sphere, ever drifting in uncertainty, driven from end to end.
All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.
Distraction is the only thing that consoles us for miseries and yet it is itself the greatest of our miseries.”
Blaise Pascal
Perhaps surprisingly, my most vivid memories of life as a university undergraduate concern the words and works of esteemed French writers and philosophers, such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Voltaire and, especially, Blaise Pascal.
As an introvert who was (and still is) quite prone to pondering the bigger questions that plague our human existence, Sartre’s existentialism, as well as Voltaire’s take on pessimism and optimism in Candide, struck a definite chord with me.
But, it was the works of Blaise Pascal, most notably Pensées (Thoughts), which really captured my imagination.
The fact that he could sum up the struggles of the human condition so eloquently and succinctly never fails to amaze me.
Despite our apparent technological advancement, the three famous quotes above are just as pertinent today as they were when Pascal first conceived them in seventeenth-century France.😮
Still today, in the apparently advanced 21st century, our existence is very much one of uncertainty and in order to escape that uncertainty, we seek all manner of distractions.
We eat too much, we shop too much, we blog about eating too much and shopping too much. (Well, at least, I do! 🙋♀️)
And it’s all about avoiding the tough stuff, the hurt, the pain, the fear, the disappointments, our human fragility and mortality…
Paradoxically, each attempt to soothe our inner turmoil – the eating too much, the shopping too much etc. – only serves to create greater anxiety in the long term, as the ever-looming threats of weight gain and financial insecurity hover over our heads.
It’s a vicious circle and we are trapped!
I know!
Heavy stuff!
But what on earth does it all have to with the current coronavirus crisis?
Sit tight, folks!
Everything shall be revealed in due course… 🤞
Now, fortunately, or unfortunately, I can’t quite decide which, I have been alive long enough to vividly remember the mad cow disease scare of the ’80s and ‘90s – terrifying!
Then came the bird flu fright around 2003 – unsettling…
Closely followed by the swine flu outbreak of 2009 – mildly concerning!
Ooh, and who could forget the Outbreak style Ebola threat of 2014-2016?!
Each case was touted by numerous sources as being the next potential Black Death, and I was quite happy to be swept along in the general sea of panic…
For a while, at least!
Fast forward to January 2020 and a new spectre is on the horizon in the form of the SARS/bird flu-like coronavirus (also known as COVID-19), which was first reported in Wuhan, the capital of the central Chinese province of Hubei.
At first, I wasn’t at all concerned!
After all, it was just another form of the flu, wasn’t it?
But then, conflicting reports began to emerge…
It was a pandemic…
It wasn’t a pandemic!
Could it be more serious than they are telling us? 😨
Cases began to pop up all around the world, entire cities went into lockdown and now cases not too far from home are being reported.
It certainly isn’t advisable to go into a general meltdown, tempting though that might be.
Instead, for now, we are being advised to…
And stock up on basic food supplies and medicines, just in case our area were to go into lockdown and/or the supply chains were disrupted.
It is probably worth mentioning that this advice is coming from both the alternative and mainstream media, so…
As much as we might like to make like an ostrich and stick our heads in the proverbial sand, it is probably best to play it safe and stock up on the following:
1. Disinfectant
With reports that the coronavirus can live on surfaces for up to nine days, I am more than a little inclined to disinfect everything around those nearest and dearest to me.
For quite a while now, Zoflora has been my disinfectant of choice.
It’s nicely packaged, comes in a wide variety of delicious scents and claims to kill 99.9% of all bacteria and viruses.
I couldn’t ask for any more than that…
Well, maybe a claim of 100% of all virus destruction might be nice…
But I’ll have to take what I can get, for now! 😬
2. Hand sanitizer
I found the cutest little sweetheart sweet-scented pink hand sanitizer by Carex in Poundland.
Had. To. Have! 💓
It also goes down well with the little ones.
Win-win! 😊
3. Hand soap
Regular readers of this blog will know that I have a bit of a thing for hand soaps.
Especially, Molton Brown-style Abbot Broome ones from Aldi.❤️❤️❤️
The rhubarb and rose one is simply divine! 💞
Ooh, and Jo Malone-style ones, the No. luxe-for-less range, also from Aldi.
Pomegranate and Freesia & Pear are never out of stock at my house…
Which has turned out to be quite handy. (No pun intended!) 🤣
4. Vitamin C and basic painkillers
A stock of immune system boosting soluble vitamin C tablets has been highly recommended by some.
A good stock of paracetamol for both adults and children is also an absolute must-have…
Current advice is to avoid ibuprofen as it could potentially exacerbate the symptoms of the coronavirus, and especially where children are concerned.
Better safe than sorry, I say!
5. Bottled water and UHT milk
A supply of bottled water and long-life milk has also been suggested as necessary stockpile items in the event of power or water outages.
6. Dried foods
Pasta and rice are cheap, easy to store and have a very long shelf life.
7. Tinned and jarred foods
Similarly, tins of beans, spaghetti hoops, soups and jars of pasta sauces are easy to prepare and store.
Just don’t forget the tin opener! 😬
8. Toilet paper
You can never have too much.
Personally, I like the coconut oil scented rolls.
Yes, I am trying to distract myself from less frivolous concerns! 😊
9. Tissue paper
Necessary, considering the current flu mantra of:
Catch it!
Bin it!
Kill it!
Oh, dear! 😷
10. Breakfast cereals and cereal bars
Always useful and not just for breakfast!
This is just a very basic stockpile list but feel free to use or amend as you please!
Chocolate, anyone? 😊
So, there you have it, folks!
We might be facing an uncertain future but a certain amount of preparedness helps…
Until it doesn’t and we fall into the shopaholic trap again!
😱
Stay safe, my dear readers! 😷
💋 Mostly Mum
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