No longer leukaemia…… but isolation, Day 23

Well, Day 23 was not a bad day!! The weather was pretty good, being sunny and warm, and we had some great highlights today.

First off, our heating engineer, Steve, phoned to say he’d be arriving at lunchtime. He made sure we weren’t infectious, promised to don a mask and gloves on arrival and keep his distance. I promised to do the same. Such a nice chap and absolutely knows his stuff – unlike the young man yesterday, apparently. Steve made no criticism of yesterday’s man, but within minutes he had identified exactly what the problem was and set about rectifying it – a faulty motorised valve.

Anyway, at the end of it all, I asked what I owed, but Steve said nothing to pay. Technically, the heating system is still under warranty. But, I mean, I couldn’t let him go empty-handed, could I? He said he’d be happy if I wanted to give him something for a drink. So I did that, and we were both happy. Fingers crossed that the problem is cured, but I have every confidence that it is.

Secondly, we were just generally pottering about, tackling those isolation-induced, self-imposed jobs, when the doorbell rang. It was Livia – with a bunch of tulips to show she’s thinking of us. Wow! How unexpected and what a wonderful surprise. We chatted for a bit – she, a good way down the path, and me, in the doorway. At that moment, I thanked God for kind and thoughtful people.

Those isolation-induced, self-imposed jobs include the ol’ man using his creative skills once more. This time, it’s the kitchen bin! Having bought a couple of bins, one for recycling and one for general waste, it was time to try and place them neatly into the row of existing cupboards. It has involved all sorts of sawing, screwing, gluing and wriggling the pieces together, but honestly, it’s a really good job. Not finished yet though…..

By mid-afternoon, it was time to winkle Mum from the sofa and out into the garden for a little toddle. Reluctant as always, she wrinkled her nose at the thought of going outside. But boy, once out there, she thoroughly enjoyed herself. Especially playing at being Goldilocks. ‘Let’s sit here in the sun, on the swinging chair, for a while.’ she said. But the sun’s in her eyes. ‘Let’s move to that bench there.’ Sun’s still in her eyes. I tell you what, Mum, I’ll run and get your other sunglasses, see if that makes any difference. It didn’t. ‘Let’s try that bench up on the patio.’ Nope, still no good. In the end, we moved chairs and a table onto the lawn, and she was happy. We sat, contentedly, sipping drinks, taking in the bird-song and making daisy-chains. Nice.

Then, after our evening meal it was time for the now weekly quiz, with Centre Stage friends. I thought it was a tough one this week – probably because I didn’t ‘bring a bottle to the party’ this time. Despite having to think very hard, it was fun and delightful to see everyone, even remotely, again – which made me thoughtful and conscious of counting my blessings.

The direct, face-to-face contact with people, both yesterday and today, brought our isolation into a sharp focus of thanksgiving. Grateful for our home, friends and family as I think of the 5,492 people not so lucky and now infected with the virus; and the families and friends of those who’ve died – a further 938 of them as of 8 o’clock this morning. We are now carrying totals of over 60,000 people infected and over 7,00 dead. Lordy, Lordy – it’s all getting a bit hard to compute.