WARNING! RUN ON PUZZLE TABLES

When was the last time you finished a jigsaw puzzle? Since I was born before the dawn of television, jigsaw puzzles were a popular entertainment for kids. During the winter, we always had one going on a card table in the living room. I don’t know when or why that all ended, but by the time I was in high school, the puzzles were gone. In the decades that followed, I didn’t know anyone who worked them. But Covid-19 lockdown changed all that. Stuck at home, with nothing much to do but read and watch TV. Suddenly, jigsaw puzzles took on a new luster. Around Christmas, we decided to invest in a jigsaw folding table. But it turned out to be difficult. Warning! There’s a run on puzzle tables.

Why would anyone spend the money on a single purpose table? Because puzzles –the good ones, anyway—take time to complete. Maybe even weeks. Our living room space was cluttered by two card tables—one for the stray pieces, and another for the work in progress that had been started. We got on Amazon and looked for tables. We didn’t want a puzzle board, we wanted a stand alone folding table. There weren’t many to pick from. Googled puzzle tables and found a metal folding table we liked. It was more expensive than we anticipated, but what the heck. Ordered it and waited for it’s arrival.

The table never came. The manufacturer kept sending us notices that the delivery would be late. And then, about a month later, they said they had run out of stock, and we wouldn’t receive one at all. Bummer!

Back to Amazon. Ordered a Hammacher Schlemmer deluxe model. Same thing happened. First they gave a delivery date, then they said they’d run out. So, we went straight to Ham/ Schlem. They, too, procrastinated on delivery. Kept postponing the date. Until finally, yesterday, Fed Ex brought the table to our door.

Did you know that jigsaw puzzles are good for the brain? They prevent cognitive decline, improve memory and problem solving ability, also, increase your IQ.

Warning! There’s a run on puzzle tables during this pandemic.

July 31, 2020July 31, 2020

HAVE ROAD RAGE DEATHS INCREASED?

A man was shot to death in my Indiana city yesterday. It happened in a Kroger parking lot at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Reportedly, it was a case of road rage. Strange as it may seem, another road rage fatality took place at approximately the same time in Laurel County, Ky. Our town is relatively peaceful. Most serious crimes are drug related. This is the first crime of its kind that I can remember happening here. Have road rage deaths increased during the pandemic?

The stress of covid-19 may trigger more homicides due to Road Rage — Have Road Rage deaths increased? Two similar shootings occurred Tuesday afternoon in neighboring states.

Statistics on covid-19 cases and deaths are updated every day. It would be interesting to publish a separate set of stats on crimes caused by the stress of the entire pandemic. According to National Public Radio, robberies have declined overall during the pandemic, but shootings and killings are up.

The BBC reports domestic abuse has increased by 20% worldwide. Child abuse cases have increased at about the same rate. According to the National Sexual Assault Hotline, there has been a 22% increase in monthly calls from people younger than 18. In the majority of these cases, the perpetrator was a family member, and the abuse was escalating in frequency and severity.

A Kaiser Family Foundation poll, showed more than half of Americans — 56% –reported that worry or stress related to the outbreak has led to at least one negative mental health effect. Those include trouble with eating or sleeping, drinking alcohol more, frequent headaches or stomachaches, shorter tempers, and other health problems. Among frontline health care workers and their families, 64% reported worsened mental health, as did 65% of those who had lost income.

Consequently, at some point in time, we’ll have to decide which is worse? The disease itself, or increased violent crime, poverty, nervous breakdowns, drug overdoses, and all of the other miseries of a prolonged quarantine.

We’re in the midst of a national mental health crisis. Will the the stress of the covid-19 pandemic lead to more cases of road rage? I have to believe that it will.