The Old Curiosity Club discussion

Dear Curiosities,

I know that almost everywhere pubs have to close for the time being and that public life is coming to a standstill - all of which is a necessary evil to take us safely through these hard times.

Therefore, I consider myself quite lucky to have haunted out this new place here, The Railway Arms, which is, like a lot in Dombey and Son connected with the Railway. This place really has a lot to offer, and I could spend hours enumerating all its charms but they will all fade into the background when I acquaint you with the Railway Arms's major advantage - a sheer unlimited supply of - virtual - toilet paper! Something to write home about, if not exactly "on", these days.

I wish you all, and all your relations, health and the best of luck, my friends!

Thinking of toilet paper reminds me of hand sanitizer and the story from yesterday of the man who bought 18,000 bottles of hand sanitizer and was trying to sell them on Amazon and Ebay for $70 a bottle. They removed them from their site from what I understand.

I thought we'd be fine having our small group meeting here tomorrow night since we only have 15 people in it, but now the President and our governor have said we should only have groups of less than 10, so group members are calling me telling me they aren't coming. At least I don't have to clean the house this way. :-)

I feel somewhat like Charlton Heston and Edward G Robinson in the movie Soylent Green. As they scrimped through necessities like they were gold bars. I believe that movie was set in 2020. How prophetic.

I seem to be okay on most supplies except for paper towels. None to be purchased anywhere right now.

So I am dicing what I have into quarters and attempting to extend my limited supply. Yes. Of paper towels.

There aren't any here either. The entire paper products isle is empty in every store around us. Even paper plates and tissues, I don't know why.

Kim wrote: "Thinking of toilet paper reminds me of hand sanitizer and the story from yesterday of the man who bought 18,000 bottles of hand sanitizer and was trying to sell them on Amazon and Ebay for $70 a bo..."

Just think of our beloved Christmas Carol and picture this nasty hoarder having to drag his miserable carcass through eternity with 18,000 bottles of hand sanitizers hanging from his neck in his afterlife :-)

Okay, I'm reading Dante at the moment, and this may show :-)

John wrote: "I feel somewhat like Charlton Heston and Edward G Robinson in the movie Soylent Green. As they scrimped through necessities like they were gold bars. I believe that movie was set in 2020. How proph..."

Today, I felt reminded of that film as well but the striking difference is that Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson lived in an apocalyptic world whereas in our societies, there are warehouses full of toilet paper and food. Only people do behave like idiots, which forces wise people like us to emulate them ;-)

I went to the store this morning, and while one might not be able to get his preferred brand of paper products, the store had started to restock the shelves a bit. Anecdotal, I know, but hopefully a positive sign. Frozen dinners were abundant, but frozen vegetables were scarce. Go figure. Maybe this health scare has people rethinking their nutritional needs. Or they've been looking at their investments and realize they can't afford ready-made meals.

In for a penny, in for a pound -- Barkeep! I'm feeling self-indulgent. Bring me a mudslide!

At the Blue Dragon, Peter said: If I need a square or two I need first to cross the US/Canada border.

I'd love to be a good neighbor and share, Peter, but I think we've be thwarted:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cana...

I saw that, Canada is building a wall. :-)

Mary Lou wrote: "At the Blue Dragon, Peter said: If I need a square or two I need first to cross the US/Canada border.

I'd love to be a good neighbor and share, Peter, but I think we've be thwarted:

https://www...."

Thanks Mary Lou. I wonder if the border authorities could be convinced my visit to your garage essential. Might be they would even ask me to pick up a couple of extra rolls for themselves.

For those who are bored - some Jane Austen/coronavirus humor from the Twitterverse. :-)

https://twitter.com/OtherPens/status/...

Good stuff, Mary Lou

I love it! Of course I shared it on facebook too, where all my janeite friends are gathered xD

“Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.”

Mason Cooley

Peter wrote: "“Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.”

Mason Cooley"

Perfect!!

Peter wrote: "“Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.”

Mason Cooley"

I really love that quotation, Peter! My problem now is that the thoughts in my head are going round and round at the moment, and I cannot get myself to do a single task. It's like mental paralysis. If there were an enemy to fight, something visible to oppose - but this form of invisible threat makes me crack up.

It's hard to concentrate on Dombey and Son but when there are moments I can concentrate, I am struck with the beauty of that novel.

I just managed to get toilet paper in a shop! 16 rolls of finest paper, and I didn't have to kill more than 2 people and bribe half a dozen of them :-)

I heard that in France people hoard wine, and in the Netherlands, they apparently hoard crisps. With us Germans (and apparently also in the U.S.) it's toilet paper. At the check-out I said to the girl that I will never again speak slightly of toilet paper in my life, and she replied she wouldn't go as far as that, but certainly never again complain of toilet paper being too raspy :-)

The Last Package of Toilet Paper

The title of the new post-apocalyptic thriller about the worst that can happen when civilization crashes.

Fills that hole left in such books as Earth Abides and Station Eleven, which fail to show how wretched post-apocalyptic life can truly be.

Okay. I'm done with that joke. Promise.

Xan Shadowflutter wrote: "Fills that hole left in such books as Earth Abides and Station Eleven, which fail to show how wretched post-apocalyptic life can truly be...."

I do remember reading Station Eleven and thinking, so... their phones don't work? That's the dystopia?

I know it's worse than that but yikes there was a lot of talk about phones in that book.

Julie wrote: "I do remember reading Station Eleven and thinking, so... their phones don't work? That's the dystopia?"

Yes, there was, and I think that's because Mandel was comparing pre- and post-apocalyptic societies, showing how much closer people were to one another, how much more they relied upon one another, in post- rather than in pre-apocalyptic society.

The phone connects us to the world but at a distance. We are superficially connected to one another, friendship at a distance, friendship on the cheap. Loss of closeness and intimacy are the prices we pay for connectivity.

I see Station-Eleven -- I always want to say Seven-Eleven -- as a critique of current society and not a critique of post-apocalyptic society. One of my favorites.

PS: The phone is one of the greatest catalysts of social change. Right up there with fire and the wheel. It is that life changing an invention, I think. I can't imagine having kids and not being a speed dial button away from contact. We're stuck with it, and thank goodness we have it.

Tristram wrote: "I just managed to get toilet paper in a shop! 16 rolls of finest paper, and I didn't have to kill more than 2 people and bribe half a dozen of them :-)

I heard that in France people hoard wine, an..."
Yes, the crisps are weird. Who needs crisps that badly? Although, tbh, we bought them too this week. I hardly ever eat them, my husband has an allergy for their main ingrediënt and it's no fun eating them on your own (I'm a social eater, so much is clear). However, with all those pictures of empty crisps-shelves I got a craving for them xD I had only one sack of them though, and husband risked his health helping me eat them. To make matters worse, they were paprika-crisps, so he has to not eat nightshades for quite a while to get back to full health :-P

But the Dutch have hoarded toilet paper too. And frozen veggies.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-...

From the New Yorker article: Esther Summerson is one of the great heroines of literature, in part because she understands the vital importance of social distancing and isolation, even when it is hard.

Oh, bullshit.

I haven't read it yet but one thing I know: Ester Summerson is certainly no great heroine of literature :-)

I quit reading after that sentence. Even literary license has respectable limits.

Yay! I found a store that stocks a limited supply of toilet paper each day, but you have to go when the store opens, because it sells out in a couple of hours. So, I got a 15-pack. Everyone in the store got the same thing. When I first got there, I saw four people leaving in succession, each one with a 15-pack under their arm. I thought, oh no, I'm already too late, but I wasn't. No one was talking either, just silently on a mission and super-focused. It was so weird and funny.

This toilet paper talk reminds me of a previous discussion we had, wondering why all the characters in Dickens had a maid and considered maids a necessity. I looked into that. It's because the maid was the one who emptied and cleaned the chamber pots, multiple times a day. The job was considered too gross for the average respectable person. Plus, I imagine, the maid saved time and inconvenience. They'd change the pot immediately, so it wouldn't sit there and stink. So, it totally makes sense why people considered maids a necessity. As a modern person, this detail never occurred to me.

Alissa wrote: "This toilet paper talk reminds me of a previous discussion we had, wondering why all the characters in Dickens had a maid and considered maids a necessity. I looked into that. It's because the maid..."


Alissa

Yes. Perspective is always important and your comment makes perfect sense. It seems that even a person of limited means had a maid-of-all-work. For all those unspoken and rarely acknowledged people who were maids one wonders what their stories must have been. I shutter to think.

Kim wrote: "https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-..."

I agree that Esther is not one of the great heroines of literature. The idea of social distancing, however, is interesting in Bleak House. Jo contracts small pox. The disease is then transmitted to Esther's maid and then to Esther. In each case we see a form of social isolation. In each case that form of prevention was unsuccessful.

Let’s hope social distancing is more successful this time around. At least now we have Netflix and the internet, and, of course, The Railway Arms, which will remain open for us to congregate.

Peter wrote: "Kim wrote: "https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-..."

I agree that Esther is not one of the great heroines of litera..."

Two days ago I walked down the hill to the Nature Path. I turned onto the path, and lo and behold it had turned into Times Square. I've lived where I live for 10 years and never seen the path this crowded. The only way I'll be able to walk at a safe distance from others is by walking in the woods, and maybe not even then.

I'll allow that Esther is a maple syrupy kind of heroine, because she has overcome adversity several times in her life. We know this because she keeps reminding us of how wonderful she is. She is also Dickens only female narrator. What she isn't known for is social distancing. Not even a little bit.

Alissa wrote: "This toilet paper talk reminds me of a previous discussion we had, wondering why all the characters in Dickens had a maid and considered maids a necessity. I looked into that. It's because the maid..."

From my present-day perspective, I'd say that it would be extremely awkward for me to know that someone else empties a pot which has been used by me for ... well, you know. I think I would be too ashamed to look that person in the face or give them orders of any kind. I'd rather empty that pot myself and have the maid believe that I am above such things as defaecation. But then, strictly speaking, we are all above defaecation, aren't we?

I went shopping today and can say that social distancing seems to be working here: People took care not to be near each other, and they used the trolleys to ensure there was a distance between themselves and other people. Last week, you could still see people picnicking in the park, which I think distasteful, seeing that doctors and nurses are working day and night to save lives.

When a colleague today sent me a mail saying that we should all practise social distancing now, I replied that nothing much would change for me, and she said that she knew I'd be able to read between the lines.

Social distancing seems to finally be working here. By working I mean people are starting to do it, I haven't a clue whether it's working or not. We were thinking of going to our daughter's house this weekend just to visit with them and the report for the day by the governor and secretary of health of Pennsylvania (I think that's what she's called) came on, and the governor said he didn't want people going anywhere unless it was life essential which made me feel guilty even thinking of going anywhere. Then a few minutes later my daughter texted and said she thinks we should wait for a little while to get together. I didn't ask why, but I'm pretty sure she was watching the same thing I was. Oh, I almost forgot, poor, poor Esther.

Alissa wrote: "This toilet paper talk reminds me of a previous discussion we had, wondering why all the characters in Dickens had a maid and considered maids a necessity. I looked into that. It's because the maid..."

Now I am so very glad I was never a maid.

Tristram writes: Two days ago I walked down the hill to the Nature Path. I turned onto the path, and lo and behold it had turned into Times Square. I've lived where I live for 10 years and never seen the path this crowded.

Interesting because I have been noticing that although the cases in Germany are quite high for a relatively smaller country that the deaths there are really fairly low, thankfully. I had been wondering what you are doing right there. Hope that continues.

An interesting thing happened to me today: I went to my Getränkemarkt today - this is a place where they sell all sorts of beverages, but also some convenience articles like crips, peanuts etc. - and bought some mineral water and a bottle of gin. I asked the assistant whether they also had tonic water. He said, yes and showed me. I asked whether they had Schweppes. He said, yes, and showed me. I then tried to make a joke and asked whether they had toilet paper. He said, no, and I replied that it was a pity because it had started so well. Then he looked at me and said, "You are a regular customer, aren't you? You come here quite often." - I truthfully affirmed the man's statement, and then he said, "We have toilet paper for regulars, it's in our warehouse." And he disappeared in order to come back with a packet of toilet paper.

Frankly speaking, I never knew they were selling toilet paper in the first place. I only wanted to crack a joke. Now, I've got 50 rolls at home - more than before the Corona crisis. More than ever in my life. I think I'll make it an ambition of mine to increase this to 100 rolls. - My sister is desperate for toilet paper at the moment, and I decided to help her. I quoted Mrs. Chick to her, saying "You must make an effort, dear." :-)

Bobbie wrote: "Tristram writes: Two days ago I walked down the hill to the Nature Path. I turned onto the path, and lo and behold it had turned into Times Square. I've lived where I live for 10 years and never se..."

Bobbie,

Actually the Nature Path experience was Xan's.

As to Germany, I have heard that most of the people infected are between 29 and 59 years old, unlike in Italy, where many older people are infected. Another aspect is that despite a policy of cuts in the health system, German hospitals are still quite well-equipped. Hospital-acquired infection is not as common as in come other countries, although it is certainly a danger.

Still, I think that we in Germany are just at the onset of the crisis and that more hospital cases will also lead to more deaths because the capacities are limited. Strictly speaking, in order to get a more accurate death rate, you ought to consider that most people who die die about two weeks after the first symptoms showing, and so you would have to divide the total of infections of two weeks before by the current number of deaths. That would give a higher percentage.

On the other hand, one can assume that there is a high number of unreported and unnoticed cases, which will, again, lower the percentage.

Let's just hope that in a few weeks we will all be able to enjoy the sunshine in the company of our friends and remember that what we usually take for granted is not to be taken so.

May God bless us all, my friends!

Tristram, Oh, that clears things up. I thought it was odd that you said in another spot that your country was following the social distancing.

I don't know where you are from Xan, since I can't see your profile. Hope all is well there.

Tristram wrote: "An interesting thing happened to me today: I went to my Getränkemarkt today - this is a place where they sell all sorts of beverages, but also some convenience articles like crips, peanuts etc. - a..."

What are you doing out and about anyway? I heard earlier today that groups of more than two people are banned in Germany, although I'd hardly call two people a group. How is that working for the four of you? :-)

Germany Bans Groups of More Than 2 to Stop Coronavirus as Merkel Self-Isolates

Chancellor Angela Merkel went into isolation after learning that her doctor had tested positive.

BERLIN — Germany on Sunday barred groups of more than two people from gathering, and Chancellor Angela Merkel later said she herself was going into isolation because her doctor had tested positive for the coronavirus.

Ms. Merkel said she would isolate herself at home effective immediately after learning that a doctor who vaccinated her against pneumonia on Friday was infected, her office said in a statement. The chancellor will be tested regularly in coming days while carrying out her duties from home.

News that their leader was in quarantine quickly overtook headlines about the far-reaching social-distancing measures she had just announced.

The new rules, which will be in place for at least two weeks, are among the strictest imposed by any country on movement outside the home, and they came as global infections surpassed 300,000 and the death toll topped 13,000. In Germany, the number of confirmed cases had risen to more than 23,900 by Sunday, with more than 90 deaths.

People will still be allowed to go to work, and to leave the home to care for relatives, shop and visit their doctors. Meetings deemed essential and exams can still take place, and people will be allowed out to go outside to exercise or get some fresh air — as long as everyone keeps a distance of 1.5 meters, or four feet, from one another.

Ms. Merkel’s announcement, made after a telephone conference with the governors of Germany’s 16 states, came after restrictions were put in place by the state of Bavaria, which on Friday severely limited movement outside the home.

In a major concession to the new reality, the German government also planned to take on debt for the first time since adopting a law requiring a balanced budget after the 2008 financial crisis. It is expected to approve an exception and borrow tens of billions of euros to help companies survive the looming recession and to secure millions of jobs.

Bobbie wrote: "Tristram, Oh, that clears things up. I thought it was odd that you said in another spot that your country was following the social distancing.

I don't know where you are from Xan, since I can't s..."

I live in Maryland between Baltimore and DC.

Really? I thought you lived in New Jersey. I don't know why I thought you lived in New Jersey, but I did. Living between Baltimore and DC made me wonder if the traffic is horrible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1nEn...

Tristram wrote: "I went shopping today and can say that social distancing seems to be working here: People took care not to be near each other, and they used the trolleys to ensure there was a distance between them..."

Same here. And it sounds odd, but it is good to read the Dutch are not the only stupid ones. Around here people now say 'the Dutch down-to-earthness (nuchterheid) turned out to be Dutch stupidity instead'. But if even the disciplined Germans were acting stupid ... It still is disgusting though.

Kim wrote: "Really? I thought you lived in New Jersey. I don't know why I thought you lived in New Jersey, but I did. Living between Baltimore and DC made me wonder if the traffic is horrible."

The traffic is okay, although it did once take me hours to drive from Dulles airport to Odenton Maryland. I mean hours, when it would normally take one hour. You have to be smart about which way to take the beltway, and that depends on the hour. I spend a lot of my time in northern Virginia, Fairfax, which is where I want to move.

I would never live in New Jersey. Grew up in New York and would never live there either. I could handle moving back to Vegas, but it isn't my preference.

Why don't you just do the sensible thing and move to Pennsylvania? Then we could see each other now and then anyway. As for moving to New York, I'm not sure we're even allowed to go there right now.

About NYC, I've always wondered how many bridges and buildings you can erect before the island sinks. Manhattan was probably 1,000 feet above sea level when the Dutch arrived. Now look at it.

My profile is locked to everyone?

Yes, it seems to be

Okay, thx. I'll unlock later.