Ad Hoc Diary entry, April 24th - Lockdown

Here in Siem Reap, we are under lock down for two weeks, curfew too.

Not quite understanding the rules, I have been staying in and feeding myself on what little food I have available. The two plastic bags (of eggs and tinned ‘sardines’) given by my landlady, came just in time.

Each day I look in the refrigerator (the freezer ran out of leftovers a while ago) to see if I can get by without going out for yet another day. Usually I can. I finished the milk some days ago and so have coffee, black, for breakfast. Bread finished before the milk.

Afternoon ‘Tea’ which might, perhaps, have usually entail a pastry, or donut or two, is taken with ‘sweetend creamer’(it’s a palm oil substitute for condensed milk) sans, well, anything else. Literally, as well as metaphorically and symbolically - Tea for One.

Dinner is whatever was left over from scrabbling around for lunch. Luxuries (like chicken breasts) have long since been devoured. Tins of mixed beans and those curiously always green peas, have finished as have the eggs and the first tin of sardines. Couscous has done its duty well (several times) and today was the turn of the final tin of ’sardines’, and the tricolour pasta I bought on my last shop. This is not a time to be a picky eater.

Can I last one more day? I could, if I ate two meals of Chinese sausage and processed cheese squares so, maybe not.