Isolation Day 74

Life slowed to a very gentle pace today. I took John his breakfast in bed which signified not only a leisurely start to the day, but a leisurely rest of the day, too. No rush to get jobs done. No rush to be sorting things out. For a change we let the world just be. We let the day unfold and present itself to us.

There were some proactive moments, however, mainly to do with John’s health, but once we’d got these out of the way we did a fair bit of inspecting the back of our eyelids, resting our bums on seats, or turning our faces towards the sunshine.

The first proactive bit was, of course, driven by my anxieties over John’s chest. After the nebulised antibiotic last night, he wasn’t quite so well and so, for some reassurance, a phone call to the respiratory team was in order. The nebulised antibiotic doesn’t always suit everyone, so the advice was to leave it and see how things are by Monday. In the meantime, if John could offer up another sample, that would be good……… Ah, OK, then. Sample bottle? The respiratory nurse said she’d send one, but in the meantime, get one from the GP surgery. Ha!! easier said than done!

I phoned the surgery and explained what I was after. Yes, no worries, we can provide that. A friend will collect? Yep, yep, we’ll hand it over to him, fine, no problem. Friend, i.e. Peter, phones the surgery to check they’re expecting him. No…….sorry, who is it for? Why do you want it? Who has authorised it? We’ll get back to you…… Three quarters of an hour later and still no phone call to confirm or deny the request, Peter phones me to explain the delay.

I phoned the surgery and explained what I was after. Let me check the system. Who is it for? What’s his date of birth? Why do you want it? Who has authorised it? Oh…. hang on…. there’s something here on the system… yes, yes, that’s fine. Tell your friend he can collect. Success at last. And thank you, Peter.

A little bit of pottering in the kitchen before lunch, making up two weeks’ worth of John’s pills, sorting the washing, and generally tidying before Linda arrived with a few bits, mainly ready meals for Mum, from Sainsbury’s. We had a lovely ‘path chat’ for a while before we reluctantly thought we’d gassed enough, and it was time to go. ‘Shopping Washing’ is now de rigueur of course, so time was spent on that once again.

Mum finally emerged from her cocoon at about 12.30, having been woken and mildly encouraged to get up at both 10.30 and 11.30. She was reluctant, even at that late hour, to winkle herself out of bed, hugging the bedclothes to her; but she made a joke of it and we both had a laugh about it, before she finally swung her legs out of bed and wriggled her feet into her slippers.

Naturally, by then it was lunchtime, so we all went and sat out in the garden, sun-worshipping, whilst we ate our food. Mum stayed out a good while before beckoning to me that she’d like to go inside. Before she went though, she watered the seeds she’d planted the other day, which are now seedlings. I’m excited to see them grow – not so sure Mum’s bothered though!

Having had some Messenger conversation this week with an old acquaintance, who used to run a book club, I was invited to join in again by ‘Zoom’ this evening. I downloaded the book onto my Kindle on Wednesday, but what with one thing and another, I hadn’t got very far in reading it. So, this afternoon, I was determined to get through a bit more of the book. I settled the comfy cushions onto the swinging chair and snuggled in. John sank into a reclining chair beside me, and soon he was gently snoring. The sun was warm; it was so very, very cosy underneath the canopy of the swinging chair; and John’s snoring was so very soporific……so, inevitably, I succumbed to gentle snoring too. It was bliss.

I did manage to get some of the book read, and it was just sufficient to have a bit of conversation about it this evening, thank goodness. Inevitably, everyone had different ideas about whether the book was any good or not, but I am enjoying it sufficiently to plan to read it to the end if I can. It was good though, to join in a conversation that wasn’t about the latest political storm, or corona virus, or the weather, or even John’s health!! I was refreshed by the warmth of welcome I had among the group, most of whom I didn’t know, and the relaxed chat that ensued.

Before all of that, though, I had had a lovely ‘path chat’ with Margaret and Chris, who had called in with chocolate. I was delighted to see them as I had been thinking of them only on Wednesday, but the days had slipped by and I hadn’t been in touch. An extra pleasure was offered to us all as well, when Jaime stopped for a chat as she was striding by on her walk with a friend.

Then, a little later on, Chris Price called in….. she’d texted to ask if I needed anything from Sainsbury’s. Well, Linda had just bought me the ready meals for my Mum; I was hoping (expecting?) Malcolm would offer me some staples from the Co-op tomorrow, so what could I do but ask for luxuries? Erm….. can you stop by the ice cream aisle and pick up a box of Magnums, please?

And there we are. Another day of doing nothing, working the whole day through – tra-la! I raised a glass to absent friends at seven o’clock, mourning the loss of our long weekend in Hampshire, and tittered at the various comments the college girls made on WhatsApp throughout the evening – which just about sums the day up really – lots of passive activity that has kept us amused.

Not amused by the response from my MP Saqib Bhatti though, about the Cummings/Johnson affair; nor amused by the latest corona virus figures from the government. 2,095 infectees; 173 deaths in hospitals; 324 deaths in all settings yesterday by 5.p.m. NHS figures are offering us 36 deaths yesterday, with 88 having been confirmed for the day before, and 114 on 26 May 2020.

Friends are now making plans for 6-member gatherings as from Monday, but it’s still giving me the willies as to how on earth we are going to play out this next phase. Oh, I know!! Stay at home, be alert…..isn’t that how it goes?

God bless, everyone.