It’s Day 89 of the South African lockdown. Initially I had plans to go out and do a couple of errands today, which I was hoping would give me something to blog about. But then I didn’t. Despite spending much of the morning trying to mentally psych myself up, I never did leave the house.
Upon further reflection, I don’t think that’s necessarily such a bad thing.
At the risk of sounding alarmist, COVID-19 is really starting to make its presence felt around here. Yesterday South Africa surpassed 100,000 total confirmed cases. 10,000 of those cases were confirmed in the past two days alone. Hospitals in some parts of the country are experiencing strain. I’m hearing more reports of people in my sphere coming into contact with the virus and even losing loved ones to it.
For the last several weeks, COVID-19 – like, the actual disease, as opposed to the lockdown or some other pandemic by-product – has felt like a fairly distant threat to me. Today that threat feels more immediate. Also it’s cold. The days are short. I don’t have anything terribly important to do. And if I’m honest, I don’t really want to go anywhere. I’m pretty content to be at home, huddled next to the fireplace with my cats.
So I’m thinking this is a good idea to lay low – or lay lower, since I was laying pretty low to begin with – for a week or two and see how things develop outside.
My biggest concern about staying home is what on earth am I going to blog about for the next 11 days, until I reach my promised “100 Days of Lockdown” milestone? Early in the lockdown I didn’t have much trouble coming up with daily blogging inspiration, even when I essentially didn’t leave my house for weeks at a time. I would write down my thoughts, feelings, and ideas as the day went along, and I was often bursting to share them by evening.
Nowadays…yoh. The struggle is real.
I still have thoughts and feelings. I’m still cooking and reading and exercising and knitting and watching Netflix and listening to podcasts. But none of it seems blog-worthy anymore.
I can’t squeeze any more water out of this rock today. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
How have I never blogged about 44 Stanley Avenue, the coolest shopping and dining complex in Joburg, which is only five minutes from my house?
I guess it’s wrong to say I’ve never blogged about 44 Stanley; I’ve mentioned it countless times over the years (see here and here) when writing about specific restaurants or shops that are there. But I’ve never written a dedicated post about 44 Stanley as a destination and it’s about time I did – especially now, with the holidays upon us.
I’ve been dreadfully uninspired lately, struggling to think of anything I want to blog about despite having a long list of great ideas (many of which you, my readers, provided in September). I’m finding it hard to feel positive about life at the moment. But on Saturday Thorsten and I got the chance to visit Indwe Park, an indigenous garden and sculpture park in Braamfontein, and I knew I had my topic for today.
In 2020, I published a blog post with tips for Americans living in South Africa who wanted to vote in the U.S. presidential election. I thought about simply resharing that post this year. But then I realized: 1) I want to write a U.S. election post that will be fun and informative for everyone, not just other Americans; and 2) Believe it or not, the U.S. presidential election stakes are even higher in 2024 than they were in 2020. So I’m introducing you to some really cool Americans in Joburg – one who I’ve known forever and two who I just met – and tell you a bit about who they are, why they live here, and why they vote.
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It makes me smile, when I see it.