Keeping COVID at bay – Day 153

Our plan was to do a bit more on the ‘man-shed’ and some child care in Sutton today, but we erred on the cautious side and didn’t go, as Danielle had woken up with a bit of a sore throat. In all likelihood, it’s fatigue creating the problem with a troublesome wisdom tooth, but we thought we’d play safe.

It meant that I had a happy hour or two this morning, scrolling through lots of ‘lock down’ photos on my phone and arranging the ones I particularly liked into a photo book. The book is Book One, as the photos were from March to May. There’s still June to August to go. If the books turn out well, I shall put together the second book and enjoy flicking through the pages on winter nights to come. The photos show that it hasn’t been all bad during the lock down, after all.

John has spent the day on the front drive, scooping up the stones and shifting them into a very big pile. The sieving hasn’t started yet apparently…… He’s getting down to the hard core and then he’ll start. What a job. It feels like it’s going to take forever. But I think he’s enjoying it. There’s a sense of achievement with each shovelful and a sense of purpose as it’s piled up ready for sorting. Fingers crossed he gets through it all!!

In the meantime, my best intentions were just intentions. I never actually got around to doing many of the jobs I had set myself. Some time ago, Rona had asked me if I had watched the series ‘Flesh and Blood’, which I hadn’t. Just after lunch and before starting on my list of ‘things to do’, my plan was to delete a whole pile of programmes from the planner. We seem to have hundreds of programmes that we may not watch but I came across this series as one of the first things recorded on there. I thought I’d start it. Well, folks, I finished it. Just binge-watched the whole lot this afternoon. Great fun, but felt guilty then, as I hadn’t done any jobs. And I’d also demolished a whole bar of fruit and nut chocolate……

The guilty feeling soon went away as I began the task of putting away the shopping that had arrived. The ‘putting away’ also involved a pre-job – that of clearing out the fridge first. One of those tasks that I’d been putting off for a little while. It’s done now, and re-stocked with lovely food and drink, including a nice bottle of Prosecco just chillin’ and ready for me to drink.

In amongst the various goods I’d ordered were bits and pieces for Mum. Rather than fill my fridge with her things, I thought I’d drop them round to her flat before I cooked our evening meal. It’s actually a week since I called in, but I have been keeping tabs on her via the app that her carers use to report on their activities. She was, of course, pleased to see me, but she had a bit of a panic attack when we weren’t able to find her hearing aid batteries. She was as deaf as a post, with last week’s batteries having gone flat and, because I was wearing a mask, she couldn’t lip-read so hadn’t got a clue as to what I was saying.

We finally found the batteries in a box that I had carefully placed in the ‘cubby hole’. However, neither of us could remember where we’d put it at first, so a thorough search had to be made. Bit of a laugh when we found it though, and a relieved Mum when she could hear at last.

She was a bit miserable though today. I asked her about the girls who come in to look after her and she revealed that they don’t stay very long. Well, her memory isn’t great, so I wasn’t inclined to believe her. I explained that they are there for an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening. She shook her head and said, very firmly, that they didn’t stay an hour in the morning. I described the activities they are tasked to undertake and she shook her head and firmly said again, no, they weren’t doing them.

I have to confess I hadn’t looked at the detail of how long they were staying in the flat on the app. I was just checking whether she was happy, and they had left her safe and well. I did a check this evening and found that she is probably right. We’re paying for an hour, but they are only staying for half of that. I think the wires have got crossed somewhere and I shall have to follow it up. But she is safe and well despite feeling sorry for herself today.

I wore my mask when I visited Mum today, and can’t make up my mind whether it is necessary or not. Answers on a postcard? She tells me that not all the carers wear a mask and she doesn’t, so it seems a bit daft. Anyway, it’s precautionary at least for now.

COVID-19 related deaths are reported at an all-time low today, with just three on the government’s website and two confirmed for the Thursday on the NHS site. As at four o’clock today, I,012 people are confirmed as having been infected.

This seems like fairly good news to me. Take care everyone.