Isolation Day 69

Having banged on about my kitchen (which still isn’t finished), my dear friend Michelle asked if she could see a pic of it so far. No worries, I said. I’ll send you a video. Well, the video I took was too big to load and so the video was never sent. Since then, apart from the time when I cleaned all the cupboards down, the kitchen has constantly been a mess. However, today it was tidy. I videoed it again and the pics were sent. Whoop!! Whoop!! Tomorrow, of course, it will be messy again, but there you are. I’ve had a nanosecond of tidiness and I feel gooood. (Does a little dance…..)

After the cancellation of an appointment with the bathroom yesterday, Mum felt up to her weekly wash and brush up today, so we tackled it. For once, it was very successful. Mainly down to the fact that I had bought hundreds of curlers for her hair, so it wasn’t quite so scraped together, but also because we did some imaginary play, just like I do with the grandchildren; she loved pretending to actually be at the hairdressers, offering to pay her money for her hair set, plus a little tip. We had a laugh about it, but it buoyed her up for the rest of the day, which is always a bonus.

Being Sunday, I went to ‘church’ in spirit, if not in reality, and joy of joys, Kim played the piano for our first hymn. I am so missing his music, so I was delighted!! Then both the reading by Linda, and the sermon by Alison, were delivered beautifully – and gave me food for thought. And, despite the ‘cummings’ and goings in Downing Street, I lit a candle of hope this evening, as I always do at the appointed time each week, in an effort to remind myself that the world isn’t wholly populated by disingenuous people.

John and I had a couple of natters on the phone today, but I am not sure they helped, really. He’s stuck in a room, more or less staring at the four walls, as his usual access to entertainment is limited, and not only that, he just wants to get on doing stuff. Although I think he is feeling a bit better physically, that’s not much good if the mental state takes a dive, is it? I phoned up the ward, to ask them to see what they could do to support him, but today was probably ‘not a lot’, so I’ll have another go at getting in touch tomorrow. But I am worrying because I can’t physically be there for him, which I normally am, of course. Darned virus!

Had a couple of ‘awww’ and LOL moments today though, over the grandchildren, which lifted my spirits. Just after lunch, Paul sent through a video of Freddie, riding his bike round and round the island in their kitchen, naked, apart from his socks! I have no idea why he was naked – perhaps he’d been in the paddling pool, but oh, it so amused me!! He was as happy as a sand boy, his little face lit up with glee and giggling his way round his ‘track’. It’s definitely one for the 18th birthday party, that one!!

Then later on, Michael sent a picture of William, lying on the new decking that had been installed yesterday, looking up into the sky, with his hands behind his head. He also looked as happy as a sand boy as he watched the clouds go by. Oh, my, how I miss being in the company of those boys.

After the blustery-ness of the last two days, it seemed to calm down a bit this afternoon, so I had a wander out into the garden to ‘survey the estate’, as they say. Just to be part of the outside, to smell the heady perfume of the jasmine climbing up the back wall, to feast my eyes on the flowers in bloom, and to anticipate the emergence of those yet to bloom, was manna from heaven. Sat on my swing and began to muse about life….and wondered what will be thrown at us next…..it’s getting hard, dammit!!

Or at least, it’s not getting any easier, with the virus still bouncing about in the population, albeit to a lesser extent than previously, with 2,409 people having succumbed to infection according to the official figures today; 171 deaths in hospitals and 118 deaths in all settings. 28 deaths in hospitals according to the NHS figures for the same time period (5 p.m 23 May 2020), with 70 having been confirmed for the day before.

But it’s mind-bending to try and think what we are going to do as time goes on. It’s the weirdest prison sentence ever, isn’t it??

In the meantime, God bless. Take of yourselves and remember to smell the roses.