Stir crazy!

[Pavel]

My wife is now mandated to work from home, something she does not like to do, but it does free up more time as students seem to consider this crisis as an excuse to any real work, and though classes are now changed to online only, they seem to find the virus is stopping them from online homework. 

So work is slow and time has freed up for her and we were thinking of going camping (lake Pungo in the coastal region of North Carolina - a serene place with great birding opportunities ) a few days. She is nervous about traffic on her new Audax (and has crashed twice due to panic) and is really eager to cycle camp where there is only one or two cars in each hour, while she build up her confidence and her cycling muscles.

But in what I call a head scratching moves, all NC state parks have been closed due to the pandemic. My trust of the paternal wisdom inherent to government is taking a hit, I have to confess.

[JimK]

Yeah the earthquake was about 50 miles from us. We got shaken pretty well for maybe 10 seconds. Nothing tipped over. Crazy enough on top of everything else! I think nobody got injured but around 70,000 out of power for a bit. The airport I think is still closed - the epicenter was quite close. Even closer is a huge copper mine. I think it was 5000 gallons of hydrochloric acid spilled so that was a bit of a panic, but they managed to handle it somehow. Most spilled into a containment pond.

Now we're just back to the normal panic!

[rafiki]

Stay safe Brian, try and avoid too much DIY it's likely to be higher risk than cycling.
Here in the UK we're still allowed to go solo cycling, though all the national bodies have advised against group rides.  It could all change of course.

Thanks PH. I got an old exercise bike cleaned up and working this afternoon so I feel better for that.

Hmm DIY... Her indoors is reminding me of several jobs that need attention but now I can tell her I don't have time cos I'm cycling again!

In the urban areas at 8pm every night people stand on their balconies and applaud. The applause is for the health and emergency services who are risking their lives every day caring for the victims of the virus. A nice touch I think.

One wag has proposed a further round of applause at 9pm - for all the husbands who have endured another 24 hours in the house with the wife!

[rafiki]

Banning cycling for pleasure is a bit of a bugger.

Mike

Could always pretend you're not enjoying it.

 

[Andre Jute]

I think it was 5000 gallons of hydrochloric acid spilled

Could be expensive in tyres, shoes and even feet to cycle into that! Loved your photograph, Jim.

[mickeg]

I think it was 5000 gallons of hydrochloric acid spilled

Could be expensive in tyres, shoes and even feet to cycle into that! Loved your photograph, Jim.

I am not sure which mine that was, but if it is the one I think it is, it is the largest man made hole on planet earth in volume.

[JimK]

Yeah that's the place! They have some kind of visitor vista point or something. One of these days I need to check it out!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennecott_Utah_Copper

https://www.mining-technology.com/projects/bingham/bingham2

[Andre Jute]

I think it was 5000 gallons of hydrochloric acid spilled

Could be expensive in tyres, shoes and even feet to cycle into that! Loved your photograph, Jim.

I am not sure which mine that was, but if it is the one I think it is, it is the largest man made hole on planet earth in volume.

When I was a schoolboy, the largest manmade hole in the ground was the open-cast mine was at Kimberley. We would refer to an odious person as "Kimberley".

[j-ms]

We are sitting in Buenos Aires after three months on the road in South America, mostly Patagonia.  We rushed back here three days ago from towns further north that have now been sealed off completely from the outside world.  We are struggling to get a flight home and it looks like a curfew might be imposed from tomorrow so we could be stuck here for weeks.  At least we are in a good and affordable hotel (never knew that I could say those words in the same sentence when talking about a hotel) and they have a safe place where the Thorn Raven's have been stored.  But cabin fever is not far away.

Spare a thought for Martin and Elspeth, stuck in Carletta Tortel with their Thorn Nomads (we met them on Tierra del Fuego where there were five Thorns together at the one wild camping spot).  Carletta Tortel is in total shutdown - and it has basically no internet access, no ATMs and few shops that accept cards.   We last had word from them more than a week ago so they must still be there now.

[Andre Jute]

Spare a thought for Martin and Elspeth, stuck in Carletta Tortel with their Thorn Nomads

This thread is well-named, though your examples of stir crazy-generating circumstances are more shiver-making than most.

[Mike Ayling]

We are still allowed to take the dog for a walk here in Melbourne Australia (although that might change soon because the Premier of Victoria Daniel Andrews is far more proactive than the Prime Minister who seems to be a fence sitter at the moment.)
Anyway Betsy the retired greyhound who usually just manages to get to the end of our street for a dump wandered around for about forty minutes today and I have never seen almost every lawn and nature strip neatly mown at the same time.
The concrete pavement (or sidewalk for Danno and others in the US of A) is next to the front fence and on the  other side before you get to the street is a strip of between 1.5 metres and three metres wide or more if you are unlucky of grass which belongs to the Council but which the homeowner is obliged to maintain.

Stay well

Mike

[Danneaux]

The concrete pavement (or sidewalk for Danno and others in the US of A)...

Thanks, Mike.

Stay well

You too!

All the best,

Dan

[rafiki]

We now have a further 15 days lockdown added to the first which expires on Saturday.

[j-ms]

An update on our situation and what has happened over the past five days.

Since arriving in Buenos Aires we had been trying to change our flights back to SA from the middle of April to as soon as possible. The only feedback from our travel agent was that they were only handling cases where the flights were scheduled for the next 72 hours. I had planned to break the curfew on Monday and cycle to the offices of LATAM, the airline with whom we are flying, and make the changes there. Unfortunately, on Saturday afternoon we were told that the lovely hotel in which we were staying in would be closing down because of the pandemic. So we decided to take the risk of going directly to the airport and making the flight changes there.

To cut a long story short, it took two days at the airport to finally get on a flight to Sao Paulo and get a flight booked from Sao Paulo to Johannesburg on the 28th. Once in Sao Paulo we booked into a hotel near the airport to wait for our Saturday flight back to SA.

On Wednesday we got the announcement that all border posts and airports in South Africa have been closed until the 16th of April. This means that it is impossible for us to get home until then.

We are staying in touch with the South African consulate here in Sao Paulo. Communication with them has been good but they are as much in the dark as to what we should do as we are. So until we get more information we are stuck in another hotel room.

A big Thank You to my nephew for passing on his Netflix credentials . It makes for far more pleasurable viewing than the news on TV.

[mickeg]

I am in Wisconsin, USA.  A few days ago they issued a shelter in place order.  But, they understood that going outside is pretty safe as long as you are not close to others, and they realize that some people want to walk or run or bike for exercise.  To make a long story short, page 7 in the 16 page order lists biking, running and hiking as outdoor activities.  And outdoor activities are listed as an essential activity provided that you maintain social distancing.  And you can do essential activities.

So, a couple days ago I rode one of my bikes for 42 miles (~~ 65km).  In a few minutes I will go out for a half hour walk now that the rain has quit.

I think too many people are at home streaming movies, my internet keeps cutting out.