Sem Lockdown, Day 13

"Good evening, fellow citizens, and welcome to this evening's special broadcast. Our servers are set up so that we can connect with you, so we are fully ready to hear what you have to say about the celebration of Pasqual.

Just before we start, I'd like to acknowledge that our Commanding Officer has confirmed that the release of the new home testing kits will take place between the end of this week and the beginning of next week. We will be targeting areas with less cases in the first instance and then we will spread out to other areas from there. Please note that, if you believe you are developing symptoms, you should still take one of the current swab tests and put your results on our website so we can continue to gather as much data as possible. If you need a new swab test, you can quickly contact your nearest military hub by entering the number '742' on your device. Please only call this number if you need to. Thank you.

Now, here's Kain with your favourite tales of Pasqual."

****** 

"Good evening Sem, and welcome to tonight's slightly different segment!

Loads of you have already been in touch and are appearing on my screen with descriptions of your reason to call. Thank you for this. Please continue to put a description in the bar, that's a real help for me.

First we will go to Teresa Tachibana with the tale of her grandfather, Tachibana Haruto. Hi, Teresa!"

"Hi, Kain!"

"I hope you're having a nice evening, Teresa. Would you like to tell us your story?"

"Yes, certainly! I hope you're having a nice evening too," she says excitedly, "My grandfather was one of the first people to arrive on Sem. He was the first to discover fossilised dung from the volturassic period when he was digging out one of the original farms in my home village in Secat. Of course, he didn't know what it was at first and it was only a bit later on that we found out what was going on. He thought it was a precious stone and used to rub it for good luck!"

"Wow, that's pretty gross. Thank you, Teresa!"

"No problem!" She laughs.

"Right, now we've got a call from Yussuf Kayode. How are you? What story do you have for us?"

"Hello, Kain! I hope everything's going well in Alpha Radio Station 1. I was inspired by the sharing of your Pasqual story to offer a short anecdote from last year's Pasqual celebrations. My cousin was participating in the aloofplant tea competition, she was growing her own and everything, and had to pull out because we had a family dinner the day before. The kids trampled the plants when they were playing in the back. We had to leave because she got so upset and the kids got a talking to from my husband when we got home. The next morning we woke up to two mugs of aloofplant tea and an apology letter from them to give to my cousin. It was such a thoughtful thing for them to do, even though my husband and I usually prefer a coffee in the morning."

"That's an adorable story, Yussuf! I hope the kids are better behaved this time round, you wouldn't want them misbehaving so badly during lockdown."

"Oh, my fingers are crossed!" he laughs.

"Okay, we have time for just one more," says Kain, "This is Max Vilaró with a story from the past. Hi, Max!"

"Hi, Kain. Every Pasqual, we remember my grandfathers' deaths, not only to treasure their memory, but also because they formed part of our planet's history.

My parents met because their fathers were both part of the crew on one of Piscanturia's first industrial fishing boats and their funerals happened on the same day. They were out on a boat during a big storm one evening and the captain leapt overboard. It was a major disaster and was known as 'The Sem's Bountiful Fish Tragedy', given the name of the boat. Some of you listening will probably remember it. Anyway, the two of them were able to relate to and comfort each other and they bonded and later fell in love. Since then, it has become a family Pasqual tradition to put a homemade replica of the boat on the kitchen table to pay homage to them both and remember the darker side of Sem's history. Thank goodness working conditions for fishers changed after that incident, even though I wouldn't be here now if it happened."

"That's an amazing story, Max. Thank you very much for sharing that with us. Strangely, the four of us were having a debate about whether or not we should remember the darker side of Sem's history during Pasqual. I definitely think we should. After all, we moved here after our previous planet as destroyed so it makes sense that there was a lot of trial and error.

Anyway, that's all from me. I hope you enjoyed sharing your Pasqual stories with us! I most certainly enjoyed hearing them. Here's Miles with latest crāpulavirus updates."

******

"Good evening, people of Sem. I hope you enjoyed sharing your stories with us. It was really nice to listen in.

The release of these new tests should really help us to understand what the spread of infection looks like so far and will hopefully our aid us in returning to our ordinary lives.

One of you asked if there has been any change in the guidelines for crāpulavirus. The advice still remains the same: stay indoors, keep your surfaces as clean as possible, wash your hands regularly, if you are experiencing a bouncing fit then please stay as safe as possible, don't have any late night parties and don't play music late at night.

There are no further updates today so I shall pass over to Akira with the weather now."

******

"Good evening, Sem. I hope you've been enjoying the nice weather as much as you possibly can. It is pretty difficult to condition yourself to stay inside when it's so lovely outdoors, thank you for being pacient and abiding by the rules.

Tomorrow, Secat will go back to experiencing the weather typical of the wet season, with far more showers occurring across the country. The temperature will drop to 10 degrees centigrade and the wind will pick up significantly. The effects of this will also be felt in North Simul Santu, but the rest of the country will be dry with a temperature of 14 degrees centigrade. Piscanturia will also be sunny and dry with a warmer temperature of 16 degrees centigrade. More snow clouds will begin to form over the North Pole, but the West and South Poles will remain dry.

Back to you, Captain."

******

"Thank you, Akira. 

I hope you all enjoyed discussing your favourite Pasqual stories with us this evening. It was good fun to hear your tales from the recent and not-so-recent past.

Remember to continue complying with the guidelines, it won't be too long before we get to leave our houses and get back to our ordinary lives, we just need to hold out for another while to make sure we get over the worst of the spread of the virus.

Thank you as always for your attention and co-operation. To play us out now is a song from Akira.

Goodnight, fellow citizens."

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