How careful are restaurant owners, and governments? And how are they in different countries - and how different are different dinner guests?
Singapore Travel Restrictions
My family in Singapore, and my family In the UK, wondering when travel will resume, are watching Singapore from afar, we watch for changes every day. Regulations change fast, responding to changes in cases reported and hospital admissions. It is well regulated and it seems to work well.
The latest news, October 3rd, was that Singaporean residents returning home could quarantine at home. So a husband and wife returning to Singapore could stay at home and order food in, or bring some back with them from overseas. (Bearing in mind any import restrictions.)
What would we want? Thick cut marmalade. Summer pudding in a freezer box. Crumpets? Cucumber - is it allowed?
Meanwhile, what are people doing in England. (I shall replace people's names with letters for privacy reasons)
Memorial Dinner at a Club
A memorial dinner has been arranged in the private room of a club, the Civil Service Club. However, the guest of honour, widowed Mrs A, will not attend the memorial dinner for her husband who died a year ago.
B says:
We try to work out how to help her. How could she avoid strangers sitting beside her on trains to London?
You are supposed to wear masks on the trains. But it is not enforced. Many people don't wear masks.
She could travel in a car with a couple, who would sit in the front seats, so she would be solo in the back. Would that do?
No. She is concerned about the restaurant.
Is she afraid of being too close to others in the restaurant? With a large number, we could book, either a private room, or the whole restaurant. The guests would be only her friends, people who know her, and her age, and her worries, and are concerned for her, and will follow any instructions.
She could sit at the head of a T shape table, like a bride in a wedding. She would face forwards in the middle of a short table. The others would face each other down the long table.
She says it is not the twenty or more people who will be attending the dinner in a private dining room. She is concerned about the other members of the public who will be going to other events and passing her in the doorways, halls and stairs.
Seats By Doors
My friend, D, anxious about Covid-19, had asked to sit by the door and a window. She hoped to be near fresh air.
However, I felt this had not proved a successful position. We were seated by the front door, and arrived early, so numerous people arrived after us, and passed our table. We should have moved tables early on, but I didn't realize until later how much traffic there would be, first people arriving and later people leaving.
Before we left, I went to the toilet, which was conveniently nearby, on the ground floor.
I came back as another couple, who had stopped to speak, were leaving. For a moment, I felt left out. Then I realized I had avoided being breathed over by yet another pair of people.
Mingling Reduced
It made me appreciate that Singapore had done the right thing. Singapore reduced mingling and mixing. At times it closed restaurants, allowing only take away collections, with restrictions on the numbers inside the room, spaced queuing at the collection counter, or collection table, and Uber delivery.
When Singapore's restaurants were allowed to re-open, in the next phase, regulations limited tables to five diners. Then down to two, as the numbers of cases in the community go up and down.
Mingling
Another regulation also preventing people from mingling and talking to people at other tables. The restaurant owner told us about this at the doorway on arrival. He risked being shut down for a week or two or more, if government inspectors saw people mingling.
Touching Food
E says
My mother in law ordered chips. She had more than she needed. When I asked for one she took one and handed one to me. At the end of the meal She had one left over she handed that to me.
She also tried to hand a piece of bread to me.
F says
Shared Bread
At a family meal, my father in law tore the bread into chunks and put them on a tray which was handed around. I think he should have worn disposable gloves.
Hand Washing Bowls
G says
What happened to the idea we saw at a (Muslim) restaurant in Morocco, and in Jewish restaurants and homes, and Chabad dinners, that a bowl or jug of water was passed around with another bowl for dirty water so everybody could take mini towel and wash their hands in running water and dry on a different cloth to others.
It doesn't matter whether you just washed your hands before sitting down. You must be seen to wash your hands.
H says
Restaurants can offer wet wipes.
Double Dipping
I says:
I ordered a dessert and my spouse said he would share it with me. I ordered a dessert. Other diners at our table of six said they were too full to order dessert. Then our daughter said she would share it. We joked, bring six spoons.
In the event it was a large dessert with ice cream. We all took a spoonful.
Then everybody started double dipping. That means putting cutlery, which has been in your mouth, back in a communal bowl!
Either the restaurant staff, wearing gloves, should have divided the dessert it into six portions. Alternatively, they should have given the dessert plate to one person, with a serving spoon, so the customer could dole out the dessert to the others.
G says
Sneezing
At a meal at home in our family bubble a family member sneezed over my bare arm. I felt the droplets. I now keep a box of paper tissues on the table within reach of everybody. I try to sit away from others.
H says
We were having coffee at a relative's home. I saw them put their thumb inside a cup. I had previously seen their wife carry a used glass of water with her finger inside the glass. I think you should never put your fingers and thumbs inside a glass or a cup. If it's a cup, use the handle. That's what the handle is there for. Not just to stop your fingers risking getting burned. To ensure you don't touch the rim or inside of the cup. Similarly with a glass, you should keep your fingers and thumbs outside. If it is a waisted cup, hold it be the middle. If it is a bowl shaped glass, hold it with two hands. The effort of carrying two or more lots of drinking glasses, is less than the effort of visiting somebody in hospital.
To sum up, with some forethought, and the courage to speak up, we can protect ourselves and others by wearing clothes with sleeves, with more wet wipes, jugs of handwashing water, boxes of tissues, disposable gloves for those handling food, serving spoons for any dish large enough to be divided.
Recommended Websites
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/singapore/entry-requirements
About the Author
I am Angela Lansbury, not related to the actress, nor the other people of the same name on LinkedIn. I am British born. I have lived in Spain (winter home) and the USA. My family has lived in or often visited the multi-racial USA where Spanish is an increasingly prevalent language, in multi-language Singapore which has signs in the four official languages which include English and Chinese, in Spain, and multi-language Switzerland where you see French, German, and Italian.. My interest in languages was helped by having long-term au pair girls from France, Germany, Spain and Italy. I have written travel articles for numerous magazines and newspapers and spoken on radio and TV in the UK, USA and Australia.
You can link up with me on Facebook and LinkedIn. See my books on Lulu.com and Amazon. Or speak to me at meetings of speakers' clubs which are part of Toastmasters International. I belong to Harrovians in the UK, and in Singapore to BHA and TCA as well as Singapore Online.
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