If you live abroad (ie not UK), what's life like in your country?

[purrswhileheeats]

Apologies if this has already been done

Here we have to obtain a permit to go out and must carry ID; police are stopping motorists and pedestrians and handing out on-the-spot fines to anyone found without both, no exceptions. Local FB pages inundated with expats complaining they 'can't use the sunbeds on the beach' or complaining they've been fined for not carrying the correct documents.

Weirdest thing though is seeing how the locals have changed. They are passionate, loud people who usually greet each other with handshakes and kisses; I have never seen a nation so subdued. So strange too how a country of queue-refusers can suddenly comply with social distancing, will they go back to normal 'once all this is over'?

@mrsnec I would be very surprised if they let tourists in in June!

I think increasing police presence is better than raising the fines again for now and it does seem to be working. DH said up until a few days ago he was still seeing the old cranks outside the coffee shops in some of the villages but not now and he was surprised everyone was following protocols at the queue for the cashpoint yesterday. DH said the kiosk and bakery have perspex screens up. He didn't say anything about full masks anywhere. I've not seen anything as I can't remember the last time I went out! It's not bothering me though. When we first moved here I had a choice between village house in the middle of nowhere or apartment in the centre of town and I am happy with my choice at the moment. Cabin fever has not set in.

I did wonder about tourists coming back in June especially when the UK are still building more field hospitals. It's one of DH's blokie mates. He's split up with his gf whilst on lockdown and she's BA crew. My parents were due over now but changed their flights to October. I'm gutted I won't see them but DSF is in the vulnerable group. They said they'd book new flights if restrictions were lifted sooner and that's probably the more sensible approach. We never got round to booking anything and I'm ok with all travel plans being on hold for now. Changing bookings just seems like another headache at the moment.

@AgentProvocateur I decided as it’s 39 today I’d leave the cycling for another day!

I’m ok for grape! Stocked up before lockdown (only place where I noticed a bit of panic buying!) - though I note home delivery is now up and running!

Australia here. The current situation is calm. I live in a residential area near the centre of Sydney. Actually the streets are a little busier than normal as I think that people are working from home and taking exercise in the local area. Normally sydneysiders would drive to the gym, the beach or other activities. But now they are keeping it local. The park over the road has loads more people than usual.

Shops are still busyish with the shopping centres offering hand sanitiser. Cars are still on the road, although the traffic is definitely less. Construction work is going on. We stay at home mostly, but usually go to the shops once every 2-3 days and go for a cycle or a walk everyday for a bit. There is a calm atmosphere and I haven't come across any unpleasantness between people (but then that is life here anyway).

@UtterlyUnimaginableUsername I'm in Ireland, I thought all masses were cancelled?

People generally are adhering to social distancing however you'll always get the odd few who don't have any respect for it. Groups of youths hanging around in gangs and it was on the news a couple of weeks ago that a group of them had surrounded an old man on a zimmer and a nurse and coughed on them, then refused to let them pass. So there is that ilk who will never care. But yeah, the town I live in, only some takeaways are open, supermarkets are all enforcing social distancing and enforced hand gel and wiping down of baskets. Police stopping cars and checking where you're going.

Generally everyone is doing as they're told. I felt like a fool today in lidl though, only one with a mask on.

Much of my state lost power in a huge snowstorm last night. Many people now won't have power for up to a week.

We have a generator and I desperately wanted to invite my older neighbours over, feed them, let them have a shower, warm them up etc. Fortunately the power is now back on.

@mrsnec and @dimotikopp the police presence has stepped up in Paphos and I've also seen a Civil Defence vehicle patrolling today.

I feel desperately sad for the Cypriots with Easter being postponed, especially the older generation

In Norway. Government announced that kindergartens and grades 1-4 are opening up 20 April. Normal life will be gradually reinstated. It remains to be seen how that goes...

@Thinkinghappythoughts I’ve been wondering what will happen when they start to list restrictions here. It must be a very tricky decision because we have very few cases and very few deaths so far, yet the restrictions are causing huge economic suffering.
Hopefully soon they will start to ease some of the harder restrictions - get children back to school, shops and cafes open but with fewer numbers allowed in, whilst keeping people working from home as much as possible, keeping borders shut for the time being etc.

List=lift

NZ here. We have police road blocks stopping people travelling to holiday homes over Easter. We are halfway through our month lockdown. Everyone seems pretty calm and most people are following the rules. Our neighbourhood grocery store is starting to be better stocked after a few weeks of shortages. The weather has been great which has made this whole process easier.

I’m in a regional costal town 4 hours north of Sydney. So far in our town we have 29 cases with one death. I’m an aged care worker and our home has gone into lockdown which means only staff can come and go, no visitors.
I’m a nursing student and I’m about to start a two week clinical placement in our local hospital as NSW health is allowing students to do their clinical hours, private hospitals are not. With it being a Easter we’ve had an influx of people even when people are told not to travel. Be interesting to see if the numbers increase in a couple of weeks.
As said before by previous posters our government made good choices early with shutting the borders and quarantining travellers. My heart breaks for countries hard hit and am praying this will end soon. My thoughts are also with people who can’t organise funerals for their loved ones. We are very fortunate in Australia.

I'm in Brisbane, and every day , like pp I'm thankful to live in Australia. The government made good decisions early on, closing the borders to international travelers and then closing the internal state borders to keep people from moving around.

The children are on holidays now , but most kids were staying home before that happened. We still don't know if the schools will open after this Easter break.

People are not locked in, but we are told to stay home unless going to work, to study or for essential shopping. Shops are well organised and supervised and I haven't seen anything untoward happening at all. Some food lines are rationed but you can get what you need.

Another one in a crown dependency. Same as @LittleMissnotLittleMrs reports.
Lockdown from the day after the UK. I'm front line Healthcare and the Health service seem to be more proactive here. I've been tested after contract tracing identified me as being at risk. Luckily I was negative so could return to work.

Hi everyone, I have just seen online that all our supermarkets are now closing the non-food items aisles off. We have been shopping in the village supermarkets this week but I could do with a few other bits has anyone else noticed this? We're a 20 minute drive from our big supermarkets so only go when we absolutely have to. (They're the only ones that sell Sheba and the cat won't eat anything else) strike through fail there.

It means no aisles of doom In Lidl apparently and all the others can't sell clothes or hardware etc . I've already done home delivery for things to keep the kids occupied but I feel wierd about doing too much home delivery it's just not a thing here!

@mrsnec I went into the massive alpha mega just over the highway today for the first time in a month. They only had one door open and we're counting people in and out, distancing in the queue etc. I didn't go upstairs where they sell towels,bedsheets etc, pots,pans and kitchen/garden equipment so couldn't tell you if any of that was taped off,but I did go to the so easy in my village on Sunday,and they had taped off dried pulses, alcohol and fresh veg (as the supermarkets are not allowed to open on sundays) pasta,rice,dog food etc was fine to buy and not taped off,along with cigarettes,crisps, chocolate, envelopes etc that you could normally buy at a beriptero. It was bizarre!

@ dimotikopp it's office supplies I'm running out of. I feel really bad getting the guy from Public to do a 50km round trip on his moped to bring me a ream of paper and a printer cartridge when I'd normally just grab it off the shelves in Sklavenitis. That's just an example I hope things are relaxed a bit soon.

I'm still hearing that the Easter celebrations could happen in May yet we have an event locally usually at a similar time of year which is a strawberry festival which is cancelled. I feel a bit confused at the moment. It's like nobody is on the same page. Some countries increasing restrictions and some countries loosening them etc and in the UK I have friends on fb who do all sorts of jobs but can't work at the moment. There's cabin crew thinking they're going back in June yet teachers who don't think they'll be back until September and it makes no sense.