Day 10 (Community Quarantine)

   OCD- I am starting to defoliate (remove the leaves) of my bonsais. It is one of the most tedious but also enjoyable part of the hobby.   It requires focus and a lot of patience. I have to be careful not to break any branch because it takes along time to grow them, they are very precious. Breaking a major branch, especially the first one could reset the whole development of the tree.

    Its akin to doing surgery. In fact there is a doctor hobbyist I know in FB who use surgery tools to operate on his bonsais, part of his practice to steady his hands, I suppose.  

     With the right background music, working  on a bonsai could produce a state of zen like trance (I really don't know what that is). It is meditative and a good therapy for people suffering from OCD 

   SWEATY NIPPLES- Walking on Ricarte Street, on my way to Primark for groceries, the sun at it's peak, I expect an empty street. But judging from the density of people outside, it seems that the denizens are ignoring the quarantine. A barangay patrol even passed by and just went on its way oblivious to the people who are violating the social distancing rule.

    On closer look, I realized that many of them have no choice but to go outside,  chair on the street, shirts off, sweat trickling down their hairy nipples, smoking, eating, chatting tete a tete.

    When the house is a small room and the door opens immediately to the street, the street is the living room, the kitchen, sometimes even the bathroom.  

    LINE- I am afraid of going to the grocery stores in Dolores, Taytay because of the reported positive cases from the area. So,  I went to Primark Ortigas to buy groceries thinking that the line there would be shorter since it was way off both down town Taytay and Cainta. It was around 1:00 in the afternoon, off the peak hour for shipping too. What are the chances?

    To my surprise (not really that surprise) the line wormed its way far, far back of the building. I am an impatient person. If there are other places I could go to to avoid lines, I would go, rather than wait. Also, the shoppers were buying in bulk while my purchases would be a basket full, at best.

    Maybe there was panic buying because of a Malacanang memo about locking down markets and groceries for two weeks. It turned out to be fake news, yet. Who knows, fake news have a habit of becoming real news in this uncertain time.

    So,  I ended up where I began, at SRS Ricarte. Why did I go to Primark then?

    SRS caters to the sari sari store owners. Their items are mostly in sachets and small packages and that's not good if you're thinking of saving and at the same time cutting down the number of trip back to the grocery.

        At least, I had the chance to look around Ricarte Street.