Apocalypse now

I don't need to tell anyone about the steps being taken to prevent the spread of the Corona virus. The television news here has just informed us that schools are going to be closed for the next few weeks; congregations of more than 100 people have been banned. As a result, many business sectors are in trouble: airlines, hotels, restaurants, concerts, railways......

I haven't been feeling well all week: I had a slightly sore throat and a cough on Sunday which has gotten worse over the past few days. Yesterday I felt bad enough to come home at lunchtime: my head was woolly and I am coughing and sneezing frequently. I don't think that I have contracted the Corona virus as I haven't been anywhere that could have led me to catching it, but who knows. I went to our clinic this morning and was almost told off: the new rules are that the nurses will make home visits. I had a temperature of 37.7°C which is higher than what it should be but not too high to worry. After two rounds of paracetamol, the temperature has gone down, but I'm still coughing and/or sneezing. Maybe it's just as well that I'm staying at home.

At around 5 pm, the wind suddenly picked up. Predictions for weather for today and tomorrow are very strong winds and heavy rain; the rain hasn't come yet but the winds are so strong that trees are falling down all over the kibbutz. Just after 6 pm, the electricity went off ... really apocalypse now. Of course, our telephones had only about 30% charge, so it was time to bring out the candles. Our emergency light didn't work. The picture on the left was taken about 20 metres from our house: we're just out of the picture on the left hand side.

The electricity came back after about half an hour and the first thing that we did was to charge the phones as well as this computer on which I am typing. 

God knows what tomorrow will bring ....

Edit: the power went off again at about 19:45. It sounded like another tree  outside our house fell. Three people have just come in and are standing on our balcony, chopping down part of a tree. I'm typing this with one finger on my phone which miraculously has connected somehow to the internet. The people who came in are now in the garden, chopping down what is left of a eucalyptus tree. Someone sent us a video of a tree in the entrance to the kibbutz whose branches were touching a power line; the branch caught fire. Maybe I'll be able to make a photo of it.