2020-03-23
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There hasn't been any new lockdown measures for a couple of days.
There has been more mentions in the media about the possibility of
limiting traffic within the country. There has also been talk
about people who have decided to leave the cities and isolate
themselves on the countryside. They are talking of these people
being a possible burden on the healthcare system in these areas.
I suppose that logic is just fine if the chances of catching the
virus and spreading it is the same.

I don't meet anyone here on the farm, though. I go to the store
once a week, that's it. I can be a lot more successful at staying
isolated here. Also, if I had the disease I most likely wouldn't
have to be hospitalized anyway.

Well, in any case, the way these two themes have been mentioned
lately in the media, I am worried there could be a small chance I
will be forced to go to my official residence. That would mean
going back to the capital where the hospitals are really starting
to be at their capacity from what I can tell.

This is probably quite a small chance indeed, but it got me
worried in any case. The way the government is acting is sort of
like they lack the imagination for how bad the situation easily
could be. I can imagine how the food supply is interrupted by
this thing. In a situation like that we want everyone who is able
to hone their gardening skills. We would want people to be on
the countryside. I hear that in Russia that is what they are
telling people, go to your datsa.

I have travelled some, and the strongest memory from Russian 
far east was how they had these abundant gardens on their back
yards. Just in the regular suburbs. I suppose they had gotten the 
message from the Soviet collapse or before: You cannot trust
the government to take care of you with some one-size-fits-all
package. It is much better if there are a multitude of different
strategies of all sizes. We have let these supply chains become
more and more concentrated over decades and we have forgotten
how fragile they are.

I don't have time to learn all my great-grandparents knew about
agriculture. I worry that I won't even have a chance to try.
Well, hopefully they will only restrict the travelling and not
actively come after us. I know it is absurd to entertain the
idea, and I am aware this probably sounds paranoid, but I am
writing this down to remind myself that it really did seem like
that.

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