2020.2.18 The 27th Day of the Wuhan City Closure 中文原文最下
Today the weather is just great! A warm Spring breeze and brilliant sunshine. Just seeing this kind of sunlight fills me with visions of seas of flowers climbing mountainsides.
I don’t think I can stay inside.
I thought I’d be able to stay inside indefinitely. Here I have many amusements – books, Wi-Fi, and movies. I thought I’d be able to hold out until the End of the World. But I just can’t.
Yesterday evening I finally made the Hema Supermarket shipping quota for the day. I finished my order and paid in just five seconds. A new record for me. That made me really happy! I bought milk, bread, vegetables, and fish along with a few snack foods. Receiving the order will be difficult since a barrier seals off the entrance to our building. When the delivery person came in the afternoon, he had to help me by putting the packages to me one-by-one under the barrier. It’s tough being a delivery person these days. Every community does things differently. That causes all kinds of trouble.
When I got back home, I couldn’t wait to open the bread. For nearly a month I haven’t enjoyed the aroma of butter on toast. I didn’t dare eat it right away. I put it in the toaster, took it out when both sides of the bread had turned nicely brown. Then I put the toast in my mouth. How tasty it was! In the days to come it may well be a long time before I again dare to eat unnecessary processed foods.
I also did a very foolish thing. Ever since I have been stuck at home I haven’t been eating any junk foods. This time I seized the chance to buy a cola. So that my parents wouldn’t notice, on the way back home I tore off the outer packaging and put the cola in my coat pocket. After getting home, I figure out a way to get it into my room without my parents seeing me. But even the best laid plans fail. I had forgotten to take the receipt out of the bag and my mother saw it. Not only did she give me a talking-to that lasted a half hour, my cola was confiscated too. I felt very sad about that.
Lately the closure of our community has gotten much tighter. A few days ago I saw some old people walking around without face masks. Far fewer of them these past two days though.
It is very hard to talk sense into middle-aged and elderly people. Everyday on my WeChat group I see friends ridiculing their parents and grandparents. No matter who much they try to persuade, to intimidate or just beg them, they won’t pay any attention to what they are told. They insist on running around outside.
My friend who works in his community every day explodes with anger as he tries to persuade his grandfather and grandmother to get back inside “Every single day they want to go out shopping, and to look at many supermarkets in order to compare prices. Each time they buy only a small bag. When I tell them that they should stay home and not go out, they say that there is no food at home and they will starve to death”. Some people even into loud argument and lose their temper. Someone died of new coronavirus pneumonia in their community but that doesn’t scare the grandfathers and grandmother. There is just nothing that can be said.
To solve the problem of labor shortages in the communities, some institutions and schools who have party members not involved in online classes have arranged for personnel to be sent down to the communities. According to a friend who was sent to a community, they organize group purchases of vegetables in the community. A grandmother who bought carrots went to the community office to complain “This carrot is not fresh, it tastes bitter. The community is trying to poison me!”
I’m really pleased that my parents are solid citizens. They have obediently stayed at home for over twenty days. They don’t complain, they never go out, they just eat whatever I buy. I’ll take good care of them.
Our community has finally started to organize group purchases of food and vegetables online through our community WeChat group. We order directly from the nearby supermarket. Naturally the food we get can compare in freshness, tenderness and appearance with what we choose for ourselves at the supermarket but it does ensure that we are supplied with food. There are eight types of group purchased meals: the legumes set meal, the fish set meal, the pork set meal, the beef set meal, the fruit set meal and the spicy set meal. The meals all come with rice and eggs so there is a good variety of choices. The vegetable set meal costs 100 RMB for 20 pounds. You can choose among eleven kinds of vegetable set meals including 7 – 8 different vegetables you get at random. I was very happy that tomatoes and potatoes, which I have had since the city closed, are included. The set meals are not cheap but not outrageously expensive. Satisfying housewives highly skilled in selecting good food is very difficult.
I don’t know much about vegetable prices so when buying vegetables I always check with mother before deciding what to buy. Now that we are in a state of emergency we can’t be too hesitant in making our purchases. I am a bit confused though. Everyday the news reports on how areas outside Wuhan are sending vegetables to Wuhan. This morning there was a report that Shouguang County in Shandong Province was sending 350 tons of assistance and another recent report that Fujian was sending 600 tons, Hunan 600 tons, Ningxia 550 tons, Jiangxi 300 tons and Sichuan 100 tons of vegetables and 5000 pounds of chicken. Even Liangshan Prefecture in Sichuan Province, an impoverished region, sent 139 tons of cabbage. The reports give no details at all about how this food is being distributed though. I can only appreciate that many areas are sending assistance.
I saw in the news that Liu Zhiming, director of the Wuchang Hospital in Wuhan has died of coronavirus pneumonia died this morning in the line of duty.
I really hope that once the epidemic is over that Wuhan will erect a monument to those doctors and nurses and inscribe their names on it. This city should remember them.
One of my our neighbors, I don’t know which one, played a Jay Chou song on his loudspeakers. It was popular over a decade ago when I was a student. It made me feel nostalgic and brought back memories of the old days. Perhaps because the song came to me through several walls the voice that reached me felt a bit sad. Anyways, I turned off the music I had been listening to. Somehow that melancholy sound reassured me like something coming from another dimension.
A singer I like very much released a new song yesterday evening. I was enthralled! I played that song over and over the entire evening. In this lively song had sunshine, had moonlight, had flowers, had beautiful songs and wonderful movies, and good friends too.
Thinking back to what I was like twenty-odd days ago, so very passive and wishing that I could die straightaway and solve all life’s problems, it felt so very much like a dream. Life is beautiful. This winter many have died. Now may those us who have survived really live.
2月18日 武汉封城第27天
今天的天气好得不像话，春风和煦阳光明媚，光是看这阳光就能脑补出漫山花海的景象。
我想我是宅不下去了。
本来以为自己作为一个资深死宅，有剧、有书、有Wi-Fi、有电影，可以在家宅到地老天荒，这次终于知道了，我做不到。
昨晚终于抢到了盒马鲜生的派送名额，5秒下单完成付款，创下了历史记录，超开心！牛奶、面包、蔬菜、鱼都买到了，还买了几份零食。就是收货比较尴尬，因为楼栋门口被整整一排档板封住了，下午派送员送到以后只好帮我把三大袋东西从档板下一点点塞进来。唉，真是难为派送员了，现在每个社区情况都不一样，估计各种尴尬状况都会发生。
回到家迫不及待打开面包，我已经快一个月没有闻过烤面包的黄油香味了，不过也不敢立刻就吃，放吐司机里加热，两面烤到焦黄才往嘴里送，真香啊！接下来可能会有很长一段时间我都不敢吃不需要加工的食物了。
自己还做了件特别犯傻的事情。自从呆在家里以后就吃不到垃圾食品了，这次趁机买了一提可乐，为了不让爸妈发现，我在拎回家的路上拆了外包装，把可乐塞进外套荷包里，回家以后又想尽办法躲过父母的检查成功偷运进自己房间。然而百密一疏的是，放在购物袋里的小票忘记拿出来了，被妈妈看到，不光被唠叨了半个小时，我的可乐也被“充公”了，真是郁闷极了。
最近的小区封闭确实严格了很多，前几天一直能看到有老人不戴口罩在小区里散步，这两天明显少多了。
中老年人真是很难讲道理的群体，每天我都可以在微信群里看到有朋友吐槽爸爸妈妈、爷爷奶奶，无论怎么威逼利诱或是苦苦哀求就是不听劝，非要往外跑。我那位社区工作的朋友为了劝回买菜的爹爹婆婆，每天都着急上火：“每天都要出去买菜，还要逛好几家超市对比价格，每次又只买一小把，跟他们说在家呆着不要出去，就说家里没菜要饿死了”，甚至还有吵架撒泼的……他们社区还有因新型肺炎去世的病例，这样都吓不住爹爹婆婆们，我也挺无话可说的。
为了解决社区人手不足的问题，机关单位、学校里没有网课的党员也都各自安排下沉到社区了，昨天听一个分派到社区的朋友说，他们社区组织的蔬菜团购，有个婆婆拿着买到的萝卜去社区办公室吵架，说“萝卜不新鲜，是苦的，社区是要毒死她”……
我现在是真心意识到我爸妈可以算是良好市民了，乖乖在家呆了二十多天，不吵不闹、没有出门，我买回什么菜就吃什么。我要好好珍惜他们。
我们社区终于开始建微信群团购蔬菜食物了，直接对口附近的中百超市，从品质上来说，跟自己到超市去挑的鲜嫩水灵的菜品当然是不能比的，但是应该也有保障。团购的套餐有八种，分蔬菜套餐、鱼类套餐、猪肉套餐、牛肉套餐、水果套餐、调料套餐之类，米和鸡蛋也包含在内，品种还算丰富。蔬菜套餐100元20斤，11个品种随机7-8种菜品，封城之后我就没吃到的番茄和土豆也有，还是挺开心的。价格不算便宜，却也没有贵得离谱，不过擅长货比三家的家庭主妇恐怕是很难满意的。
我对蔬菜价格不太了解，买菜都是问过妈妈才决定要不要买，况且现在是非常时期，也不能太纠结。我只是觉得奇怪，新闻里几乎每天都有外地援助武汉蔬菜的新闻，从最早山东寿光的350吨援助，最近还有福建的600吨、湖南的600吨、宁夏的550吨、江西300吨、四川100吨蔬菜和5000斤鸡肉……连四川凉山那么穷苦的地方都援助了139吨蔬菜，这些蔬菜到底去哪儿了呢？前两周曾看到超市低价售卖爱心菜引发哄抢的新闻，偶尔也看到有的物业分发爱心菜，但是整体分发情况完全不清楚，超市的菜价也丝毫没有降下来。
各地的援助我也只能心领了。
看到新闻，武汉市武昌医院院长刘智明因感染新型肺炎，在今天上午殉职。
真的希望等疫情结束后，武汉可以为这些医护人员们立一个碑，刻上这些殉职者的名字。这个城市应该记住他们。
今天不知是哪一家的邻居，外放了一整天周杰伦的歌，都是些十几年前念书时听的老歌，格外怀旧和亲切。可能因为穿过了几层墙壁，传来的声音有点闷闷的，但我还是把自己在放的音乐关掉了，这种沉闷的声音好像有种来自异次元的安逸感。
我很喜欢的歌手昨晚发了新歌，可把我开心坏了，单曲循环了整晚。活着真好啊，有阳光，有月色，有花草，有好听的歌好看的电影，还有好朋友们。
想起二十几天前的我，消极得恨不得马上死掉一了百了，真如梦境一般。活着真美好，很多人的生命终止在了这个冬天，能活下来的，就好好活吧。