COVID-19 Circuit Breaker Blues in SG (Week 1)
From 7th April 2020 to at least 4th May 2020, we in Singapore have been advised to stay at home as much as possible, and laws have been passed to forbid gatherings with family and friends who do not live together, both in public or private spaces. There are only some reasons for which we can leave the house, and even when we do, we need to wear a mask at all times unless performing strenuous exercise.
The company that I recently left, IBM Singapore, had already requested staff to work from home a few weeks before the restrictions were imposed, and I was glad to have one less change to adjust to. Still, in just one week, I have gone through many firsts, as a parent to a pre-schooler, as a parent to a toddler, as a resignee, as someone who wants to exercise regularly, as a restaurant customer, and as a son to two seniors, the group of people who are deemed to be more vulnerable to the COVID-19 illness. I share some of these experiences below.
Tuesday, 7th April 2020
Feet Before Feed
The rule of no dining-in at restaurants, food outlets, and hawker centres kicked in on this day. I would usually cycle to nearby coffee shops, park my bicycle within eyeshot, and eat in, partly because I hate to waste disposable containers and cutlery, partly because I’m lazy to clean up, but mostly because I need a locational pause between work tasks. I still have that locational pause, discounted temporally by more than 90%, conditioned upon the use of a free-usable mask. There are tough times, and there are COVID times.
Wednesday, 8th April 2020
2D or not 2D, that is the Question
My pre-schooler has had very little screen time at home in the 42 months since her birth, and we have no television at home. So when the pre-school she attends decided to have daily 30-minute video calls on Zoom, I was worried that she would have problems concentrating during those calls. It turned out to be worse. She could concentrate on the calls, but she was too shy to speak and just looked at the screen, and muttered things very inaudibly. My wife and I had to help amplify whatever she said to the teacher and her classmates. The same was required during video calls with different sets of relatives during the later part of the week. She would warm up after 15 minutes and would laugh audibly occasionally. I hope that she’ll soon get used to seeing people on a small screen and recognise that they are the same people, just flatter and less flattering.
Gov.sg Whatsapp Says Yes!
I was glad to see an official Whatsapp message from the Government that visiting family members for informal childcare was allowed. There was some ambiguity in one of the statements regarding providing for the daily needs of children under 12 years of age, and the message provided some clarity and short-lived respite.
Thursday, 9th April 2020
A Virtual Farewell != A Proper Goodbye
My last day on the job was 13th April, and as social gatherings were forbidden, my manager organised a Virtual Farewell Lunch (which I initially misread as a Virtual Firewall Lunch) call on Cisco Webex on my penultimate working day with the company. My boss had pizza and a chocolate tart delivered to my home about 15 minutes before the meeting, so that the attendees could watch me eat that very pizza and tart. As always, TINSTAAFL, and the cost of the food was my being in the spot for about an hour, fielding questions about why I’m leaving, my favourite projects (which someone in the team rightly deduced is highly correlated with the length of the documentation) and accepting appreciative messages from everyone in the meeting.
Verily, it was awkward at first, but the single-threaded conversation, as is present in most video-conference calls, soon flowed and I got accustomed to people seeing me eat online. I appreciated the messages of gratitude, of best wishes, and fond farewells delivered over IP. I just wished I could have met everyone in person and said goodbye, but as I am moving to a company located just across the park from my previous office, there will be plenty of opportunities for that! Promises were made to keep in touch and to have lunch sometimes, promises I intend to keep.
Friday, 10th April 2020
Health Minister Gan Kim Yong Says No…
I would have sent my two kids to their grandparents if not for a new rule that had just come out the night before: Parents will no longer be allowed to drop off children at their grandparents’ home daily. This was in contrast to an official Whatsapp message from the Government just the day before (see 8th April entry above) stating that visiting family members for informal childcare was allowed. My guess is someone pointed out the risk to seniors from allowing such activity to continue. As we were soon to learn, the situation evolves quickly during these COVID times. Oh, how the grandparents will miss their grandkids…
Saturday, 11th April 2020
NParks Dude Says No…
Sometime in the afternoon, the Park Connector near my home was closed, presumably due to high human traffic which made it harder to keep a safe distance from others. My wife spoke to the NParks officer who was closing off the entry points to the Park Connector from the adjoining roads, and he gave the impression that it would be a permanent measure.
When I heard this, I was sorely disappointed, as this was the running and cycling route that I had grown to love since moving back to the area in June 2019. It links to the East Coast Beach, and from there, to Marina Barrage and beyond. It is also the transit route that I would use to get to the MRT station on a normal day.
Sunday, 12th April 2020
Different NParks Dude Says Yes! And No…
My helper went out to buy snacks and drinks for herself and updated me that the Park Connector was open for use! As welcome as that news was, I later found out that they had closed off the non-paved areas of the park nearby, which meant no access to some small trees that my preschooler loves to climb.
The open spaces encouraged adults or kids not living in the same household to have some common games such as frisbee or football, even though they keep a safe distance from one another. I hope such measures are temporary because with the closure of these common spaces and outdoor individual exercise still allowed, would there then not be more people getting their daily exercise occupying a smaller overall area?
Monday, 13th April 2020
An Almost-lonely Last Day at Work
My last day involved just returning my work-issued laptop and the security pass. I was in and out of the office within 10 minutes and met only 5 people: 1 from IT support, 1 from Crisis Management (think COVID), and 3 security officers. It was certainly not the loneliest last day ever, but it came close.
Trying to Save the Earth, Two Tumblers at a Time
During the press conference held by the government on 3rd April 2020, Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing encouraged people to use their clean containers when ordering takeouts at restaurants (dining-in is not allowed during the Circuit Breaker period). Understandably, some outlets choose not to accept personal containers, over hygiene concerns and for their staff’s safety.
On the way home from returning my work-issued equipment, I stopped by the Starbucks outlet nearest my home, bringing along with me two tumblers, only to find out that they were not accepting personal containers to fill up with drink orders. I would have pre-ordered and paid otherwise, but I was rewarded for my effort nonetheless, with the usual bring-your-own-tumbler discount.
Being the mild caffeine junkie that I aspire not to be, and hating to see two Starbucks tumblers go to waste, I decided to head over to the Alsalam coffee shop that I frequent, to get two teh peng siew dai. The staff there filled up the tumblers, I paid for the tea using my payment app, availing myself of the rebates therein (but sadly, absent any bring-your-own-tumbler discount), and left.
Next week:
- I start a new job!
- I start doing HIIT regularly in my balcony
- I try out some learning platforms
- I get a new iPad
