Meals in situ

The logistics of Lysol.

Have mild congestion. Inner corner of left eye was looking pink last night. It’s the same symptoms, and even same sequence of symptoms, as I had had in early March, except for the tiredness, headache, and loss of appetite that preceded it. I wore a mask all day yesterday every time I left my bedroom. It really isn’t that bad. What gets bothersome is the choreography of spraying and wiping things down with Lysol every time I leave the kitchen or bathroom, and the transporting and retransporting of plates and bowls between kitchen and bathroom in order to have my meals in situ in my bedroom. And then there’s the additional question: when I go back into the kitchen to get a fork, do I wipe down the knob of the utensils drawer again? And so on.

I told Mom on the phone yesterday evening that “I’m both concerned and not” about my symptoms.

“I know what you mean,” Mom said. “Sometimes I cough during the day.”

“Exactly,” I said.

Many of the symptoms we’re watching out for now are things we would accept as part of life. I said to her that how I was feeling yesterday, with a mild hoarseness or whatever in my throat, was something I would feel six times per year. And now here it is again.

Elizabeth calls to mind Alexis Colby; I feel empathy for Demelza.

I’m looking for my “journal entry closer” line. Shall I wrap up with Poldark, and Elizabeth marrying George Warleggan, and how well she slipped into the role of the wealthy man’s wife? It was almost as if kind, gentle Elizabeth, married to Francis Poldark and then a widow, had been playing a part the whole time, and now she reveals herself to be icy and regal (if still lacking independence) like Alexis Carrington Colby on Dynasty. Oh, and when Demelza turns down Malcolm, who wants to sleep with her, saying the one man she’ll be with is her husband, and then Malcolm (who reveals himself to be a bit sleazy, and is weird the way he literally showers her with kisses, like pecks all over her) leaves, angry, and alone in her room again she cries out, “I hate you, Ross!” It made me feel like I’d felt with A______, and again with G__, and I suppose with A___, and now that I think of it, R___ as well (and possibly N___): to be dedicated and committed to someone who isn’t always the same to you.

What happened after yesterday’s cliffhanger.

Journal postscript to answer the previous day’s suspense: J_____’s girlfriend did come over yesterday evening, although he cooked the dinner himself first—perhaps she wouldn’t have to spend too much time in the kitchen? The sink was full this morning, including a baster.