Covid test (all good); bought butchered pig (super good)

Everyone on our street was asked to get a Covid test this past weekend. If you weren't contacted by police within 24 hours after the test, you don't have Covid. I'm enjoying the sounds of silence on this one. I was more than happy to be tested even if the nose swab was mildly uncomfortable. Lots of people milling around made it feel like it could be a super-spreader event, although everyone was masked. I was surprised that some people refused to be tested -- a couple of our neighbors, for example. People here often seem to focus on the greater good, the welfare of the group. I was told a neighbor got one vaccine shot and didn't think a test was necessary. Testing is as much about those around you as it is about yourself, but I won't waste any more (cyber)space on this topic. If you don't understand the benefits of testing by now, I'm not sure you ever will. We get about 500 new cases a day in Dong Nai, our province, and Vietnam is now recording 10,000-plus new cases a day. The Delta variant is obviously highly contagious; the amount of new cases in the United States is proof of that -- around 150,000 a day of late.  So we continue on lockdown indefinitely here with no word (to me at least) when the situation may change. No word on a vaccine I'm supposed to be on some kind of waiting list for, so ... I'll  just keep ... waiting.
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A guy my wife knows sold us pork that he said his friend has just butchered. Sorry, Wilbur, but this is about the greater good. Maybe that's why the huge spider we called Charlotte came to our house a week or so ago. Anyway, folks, that was some of the most delicious pork I've ever eaten. We got quite a load, so I made pulled pork a couple of times and it was the best pulled pork I've ever made, and daresay, I've ever tasted. My wife's brother has supplied us with wonderful grapefruit three or four times a week, and we lucked into barbecue sauce at the little market around the corner, the only place we're supposedly allowed to go. I will walk to the pharmacy for vitamins, soap, shampoo, that kind of stuff. I do this as much for the walk as the for the items I purchase. My back struggles unless I walk a lot, so I find excuses to walk to the little market. It's not a long walk at all, but it's a little better than nothing. I probably could just go out and take the walk my back needs, but I'm nervous about, and uncomfortable with, mask-less people in front of their houses, some spitting in the street, or coughing (honest to God), so I pass on walking for exercise at this point. The heat makes it rough anyway. And rain kind of just pops up these days, although thunderstorms have been fairly regular at night.
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The guy across the street started pounding on metal with his hammer one morning at 10 a.m. Once he crossed the 20-minute mark of pounding, as our son was being put down for a nap, I got pretty upset and went over and asked him to stop, telling him that Covid prevents us from leaving our house to get away from the loud noise he was making on a Saturday morning. He just smiled at me, so I told him in English I wasn't going to leave until he stopped and I would scream at him the entire time. This is the same guy who creates the welding light flashes and also pounds on metal for hours at a time. He didn't have a mask on, either, so I said let's talk to the police together about the noise and no mask. A neighbor intervened and he packed up his metal and went inside. I really don't think this guy is evil; he's just bored and not that bright when it comes to living in close quarters with people like me during a surging pandemic in his country.
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I'd like to watch the news more to pass the time, but my son Elijah demands attention from any adult in the room, and the ones who leave the room as well. The situation in Afghanistan dominates TV news at the moment, and it's grim, of course. Also, it's not doing much to boost Joe Biden's presidency. My son served a tour of duty in northern Afghanistan, but we haven't really discussed the current situation there.  He just got married, and I just got locked down.  The lockdown is starting to affect my kids, especially at bedtime. They don't want to sleep, and bedtime has become wild time due to the unused energy in the day, I believe. It's fun to watch them chase each other ... until I'm ready to read or sleep. Then,  it's a little less fun.
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My friend in the U.S. has emerged from his near-death ailments more alive than most of us. So happy to hear he's improving daily.