No, Donuel, things have no changed all that radically for us, but then we are seniors who work at home anyway. But our town is very different.

This morning we went shopping with the wrinklies at the crack of dawn, when the carts were still relatively clean and the cabbages had not be handled by half the county. Only the pop and candy aisles were fully stocked; stuff we (and le tout Stratford) need was in limited supply or not there at all. Fruit and veg prices are through the roof ($2.49 a pound is the new 99 cents), while fuel prices have dropped to levels not seen in 25 years.

The theatre festival (a very big deal) has cancelled all rehearsals and performances until June, and laid off the actors and musicians. That is unprecedented. Unlike similar festivals in Europe (such as Glyndbourne and Bayreuth), which are almost entirely government-funded, the Stratford Festival gets about 60 percent of its revenue from the box office, and of course ticket sales have tanked. God alone knows how we'll fix that.

Stilly, you asked about my fancy gloves. I should have bought the ones that cover the fingertips; the open-tip style help, but not nearly enough -- my right index finger is gun-metal grey right now this minute. Book productivity is better but not as good as it could and should be. I'm generally too twitchy to concentrate for long, and I spend too much time on the Internet checking for news updates.