Have you fallen into a daily routine based on the Current Situation? Here’s a typical day for us here in Paris:
7:30am – Wake up, say “Let’s get the show on the road”, get going, eat breakfast, clean up kitchen.
8:30am – Watch Lester Holt and the NBC Nightly News broadcast from the previous evening online.
8:50am – Process shock and dismay at situation in the U.S. based on the NBC news.
9:00am – Peruse email and social media, read latest French and European lockdown news and directives, daydream about traveling again or just sitting at a sidewalk cafe.
10:30am – Shower, get dressed, review (and possibly ignore) daily To-Do list.
11:30am – Do chores and cleaning, respond to emails, write blogs posts, do personal accounting. Marti works on her freelance projects, while I read the Washington Post online.
12:30pm – Think about making lunch, select a wine.
1:00pm – Make lunch, eat it, and clean up the kitchen.
2:30pm – Prep to go outside: put on outdoor clothes and face covering, take passport, take shopping bags, print and sign required “explanation of presence outdoors” form, spray anti-viral air cleanser in the apartment.
2:45pm – Get out of the apartment for a walk, possibly around the perimeters of two nearby closed parks, maybe stop at the grocery/bakery/butcher/wine shop on the way home.
3:45pm – Return to apartment, liberally apply hand sanitizer, wash face coverings, wash hands, put groceries away, air out the apartment.
4:00pm – See what we missed on social media, read books, write emails, etc. FaceTime/Skype with friends/family in the U.S. who are 6-9 hours behind us.
5:30pm – Apero (cocktail) hour, sans friends.
6:30pm – Think about making dinner, select a wine.
7:30pm – Make dinner, eat it, and clean up kitchen.
8:30pm – Fire up PBS Anywhere, Netflix, etc. on the boob tube and watch something good.
10:00pm – Hit the sack.
Then, as my friend Robert would say, “Rinse, Wash, Repeat”.
Once a week we clean the apartment and twice a week do laundry. Every night we thank our stars for surviving another day in “Lockdown Hell” and appreciate just how good we have it, and say a prayer for those who don’t.
What’s your daily schedule like?
Au revoir!
The Occasionally-Examined Life 