Last Hurrahs Before Clampdowns

2020-10-01Uncategorized Standard

[Photos taken 01 – 11 October 2020, posted online 29 March 2021. Covid wave #4 is percolating, 10-people-max and school shut-downs restrictions were reinstated this past Thursday.]

After two weeks of a seemingly steady flow of 30-new-Covid-cases-per-day at the start of wave #3, the beginning of October brought a sharp uptick which flirted with exponential growth, and authorities finally clamped down hard: Junior colleges went back to distance teaching, and 20 people max were allowed per space in general. Masks also slowly became the general rule.

Right before the clampdown, there were two birthday parties! But as the clampdowns began I managed to go out on walks/jogs for a bit to make up for my now-stopped cafe-excursions. One week into October, we go the news one teacher at Bjarki’s level had Covid, which landed him (and me by extension) in quarantine. But that’s another post. (55-ish images total)

Thursday 01 October 2020

The view from my morning cafe-window. As the max number of patrons was set to 10, I had to give up my morning-cafe-habit, which was probably a good thing overall.

Friday 02 October 2020

Just in time before restrictions were tightened, eight of Emma’s classmates celebrated their birthdays at the local trampoline park. The agreed-upon standard-gift is isk 500 per kid (about $4 or 3 GBP).
Masks were now compulsory for employments that require close personal proximity. Here Bjarki is visiting a physical therapist who helped him with his stretches.

Saturday 03 October 2020

I went for a jog in the Laugardalur area while Emma attended what would be the last ice-skating practice for a while.
That afternoon we attended an actual birthday party!
Guests being guests.
The light outside was nice, and I’d brought my good camera so I took a few shots.
These two like to play in front of the camera.
Silly boys!
Bjarki
Whyyyyyy?!?!?
Emma.
With grandma Ásdís.
The news told us that we were moving to max 20 people older than 15 years old per room. Gyms, bars and clubs were to shut down, but swimming pools remained open at reduced capacity.

Sunday 04 October 2020

Anna’s school principal wrote to announce all “book-classes” were to move to remote teaching. Hands-on classes were still permitted but with some restrictions.
A last-in-a-while cafe-meal.

Monday 05 October 2020

Every time restrictions have been tightened, I get a renewed hankering to go out for a walk. I managed to rope a friend to walk with me.
Fall colors by Anna’s school.
Proof I was there with my weird hat.

Tuesday 06 October 2020

In my little home office, I began wondering about global supply chains as I noticed that my Ikea pillow was the same exact color (mustard yellow) as my bluetooth JBL speaker. That can’t possibly be a coincidence.
The amazing people at the Marel Cafeteria (Bistro Blue) posted this spice-bread recipe that was so incredibly simple that I just had to make it. It’s 3 cups flour, 3 cups oatmeal, 1.5 cups sugar, 2 tbsp cacao, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ginger, 1 tsp baking powder, 3 cups milk into two bread forms, bake at 180C/350F for 60 minutes.
In the baking tins!
Yeah baby!
Somebody pointed out to me that the phone camera has a Food setting. I’ve been abusing it ever since.
After sitting on my butt for too long, I managed to go out jogging.
The new school basketball court finally ready!!
Fall in the air.

Wednesday 07 October 2020

For a while I was pretty good about either going out for a jog, or a walk to break up the days.
Pretty colors are pretty.
Natural bird-food.

Thursday 08 October 2020

The view from my home-office window.
Yet another lunch-time-ish walk.
Saying hi to Buddha.
There’s a lake down there. Soon the hill I was standing on will be fully built.
A way through the lupines towards neighboring Garðabær-town.
Down the hill to go through the underpass on the way home. That electrical substation could really do with a facelift.
All sport-practices got shut down, even the kid ones, until 19 October at least.
I’m such a contrarian. When practices are banned I get really energetic about doing practices at home for a bit. Found this tabata-timer and ran through a set my brother cooked up.

Friday 09 October 2020

Bjarki’s gymnastics coaches set up some home-practices. One of them involved running outside, so I dragged Bjarki out of the house for a bit and we took the long way around the cemetery up on the hill. It was of the walking/sprinting type, and I managed to give myself some lovely shin-splints. Boohoo!
Getting some liquids. That evening Finnur took Emma up to house #2 to make sure everything was ready for winter.

Saturday 10 October 2020

Two of my brothers were interviewed in the local paper about their YouTube channel Birds Of Play, for which my sister-in-law Jóhanna does all the illustrations. That lower photo looks familiar… 😉
Screenshot of the article in question. You can click to enlarge I think.
Anna making bread 🙂
I put down some bulbs. It’s a good thing I took this photo because I had COMPLETELY forgotten about this when I stumbled on this photo in April.
More pretty fall colors.
Using the Food-setting to photograph berries.
More Food-photos.
Still looking nice.
The lights in the backyard have not worked for months… or years. I finally gave myself a few minutes to replace the bulbs.
Success!
Anna’s bread disappearing fast.
Lazy chef time! Hamburgers coming up!
That evening Bjarki’s school principal sent out an email notifying us Bjarki should be put into a processing-quarantine while the tracing and tracking team determined if he should go into proper-quarantine or not, as one of the 8-10th grade teachers had been diagnosed with Covid.

Sunday 11 October 2020

Anna, many many years ago. Thank you google photos. 🙂
Bjarki not quite so many years ago. As the Sunday wore on, it became pretty apparent that there was no real chance of containing Bjarki to his door-less room for a solid week, so Finnur and I decided to swap places. He and Emma came back from house #2, bought groceries for a whole week, and handed them to us at a safe distance, before Bjarki and I set out for house #2 to spend the week. Happily, Anna hadn’t really left her room that whole day, so she was unaffected. Thus began my week in quarantine with Bjarki.