COVID-19 Walking - First Day

The 1st May on Workers' Day we were finally allowed to leave our homes between 6:00 and 9:00 am to exercise following five weeks of lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa.

It was 6:40 am when Maggie and I started out on our walk. I found an exercise app and started the clock. The morning was spectacular with the sun warming up a cloudless sky. The air was clean with not even a breeze, a great introduction to start exercising and enjoying less cabin fever for some time.

At first it seemed as if we were two lonely walkers in our immediate neighbourhood and we said, "Look! we are the only ones interested in keeping fit." But a little while later we passed another couple walking in the opposite direction. Then a lady cyclist on a mountain bike came speeding past us. From there, a few blocks from our house more people were taking advantage of the new freedom granted to us.

We followed our usual cycling route around the Afrikaans high school. The canopy of trees on either side of that road is a lovely sight. from the bottom of the road we could see three more walkers in the distance. having reached the top of the school we turned left to walk to the other side of the school and start our walk back home. 

We laughed at the female voice on the exercise app which continued to cheer us on with "great stuff, you're doing well" and so on. I said to Maggie that it's a good app if you are a lone walker because then you have some company at least.

There were very few people on the streets walking, running or cycling than one would have expected. Later on we saw on the TV that lots of people had flocked to the shopping centres. 

Here in South Africa we are behind the rest of the world because the COVID-19 cases are only starting to rise dramatically now. The nationwide lockdown is playing havoc with businesses being forced to stay closed. We are losing incomes and it's a very worrying and uncertain time. I'm sure the same applies all over the world. We are all fighting something invisible, which is completely foreign to us and it doesn't discriminate against rich or poor.

Today, we look forward to some more walking. The weather report says things will be the same as yesterday - blue skies and moderate temperatures (a high of 20° C). In about 40 minutes it will be Maggie and I accompanied by the talking exercise app.