Month: September 2020

‘Here we are again then!’ was a favourite saying of ours when we were youngsters, and the phrase sprang to mind again this morning as I woke up. Nothing much to do today, other than chores – although being a Wednesday there was the quiz evening to look forward to.

We were, of course, up early, to let the District Nurse in to administer John’s antibiotics. John came back to bed after the procedure and snoozed on for a bit while I did a bit of meditation and then decided to get up. The oven racks were awaiting my attention, having been soaking overnight in some weird and wonderful liquid to remove all the burnt-on oils. Cleaning the racks took a bit more elbow grease than I expected, however, as not every single bit of burnt stuff had come off with the soaking.

Once John was up we pottered a bit and then decided on another trip into Kenilworth to buy a chest of drawers. Unexpectedly, the salesman advised that delivery might be before Christmas if we were lucky. In these days of instantaneousness, I was surprised that we’d have to wait. Not that we mind, but it’s one of those isn’t it? Order from the internet and the item usually arrives on your doorstep within a couple weeks no matter what it is. Order from a shop and there’s a sucking in of breath and an air of ‘we’re doing you a great favour’. How times change.

We popped to the garden centre afterwards to see if we could get some gardening gloves and attachments for the garden hose. Gloves? Yes, thank you. Hose attachments? No, not the right make in stock. That’ll be another trip then – or maybe I’ll just order over the internet. No wonder shops are going bust…. Mr Amazon has actually got it right.

We had our lunch catching up on last night’s TV (Bake Off) before another round of nurses arrived at the door; then a bit more TV catch up. Soon after, I started to watch a bit of tennis. It wasn’t long, however, before another late night and an early morning caught up with me and I dozed in front the fire that John had made. Very nice, thank you.

Although a little afternoon nap is very nice, I always wake up a bit irritated. ‘Look at all that time you’ve wasted’ I scold myself, ‘You could have done half of those jobs on your list.’ But they’ll have to wait. Sleep and tennis seemed to be far more important today than jobs.

This evening then, was quiz night with the Centre Stage crew. Even Malcolm and Caroline were able to join in, despite the fact that they’d only just moved into their new abode and the internet signal wasn’t great. The move had gone well but they hadn’t eaten well this evening as the cooker in their new kitchen didn’t get up to temperature. Caroline was eating crisps and downing red wine instead. Sounds good to me.

We had a lovely evening as usual and learnt a few things from the quiz questions but, equally well, promptly forgot quite a few answers as well. Some answers just flit in and then immediately flit out of our memories. Our age? Probably.

Political kerfuffles today with the Trump-Biden debate having been aired last night on TV and it was handbags at dawn by all accounts. Equally, there is constant bickering among our own politicians over the handling of COVID. There seems to be a swell of opinion now suggesting that lockdowns are not the answer and who cares if the old ‘uns catch the virus and snuff it….. Ah, well, I suppose they are right. We have had our lives so time make way for the young ones. As long as COVID doesn’t create health problems for the new generations coming up – we just don’t know about that yet, do we? Goodness knows where it will all end.

Just so you know, and for consistency of reporting, there have been 7,108 people confirmed as infected with the virus today; 71 deaths in the community and 27 in hospitals in the last couple of days.

Take care everyone. Keep on with the hand-washing, mask-wearing and social-distancing. I think it’s all we’ve got at the moment. And peace be with you.

The alarm shrilled in my ear at seven o’clock. I grabbed my phone and, with a frown, switched it off, knowing that another alarm would be chiming an hour later giving me plenty of time to get up and get ready for yoga. Relieved, I settled back under the bed covers and slumbered on. What seemed like one minute later, the doorbell rang. What the….? I leapt out of bed, grabbed a pair of trousers and the keys, hot-footed it downstairs and peeped round the curtain to see who was at the door at this ungodly hour. The District Nurse. Oh. Yes. Had forgotten that. That was why I’d set the alarm for seven o’clock. I’ve often heard the expression ‘I’ve slept since then’ and the full significance was there for me this morning in all it’s glory…… eeeh, if only I had a brain, I’d be dangerous.

John made it downstairs just after I’d opened up the door and let the nurse in. Bless him, he was as bleary-eyed as me. I made him a coffee while the antibiotics were being administered at which point he said, “I’m going back to bed after this,” which I thought was a jolly good idea. However, I decided to stay up and tackle a few jobs before yoga.

Of all the jobs I could have chosen (I have a very long list) I selected one of my least favourite. Cooker cleaning. Generally speaking, this job hasn’t been properly tackled since the beginning of the year. It’s one of those jobs that I am very happy to relinquish to A.N. Other, should anyone offer. Historically, well, in recent years, it has been dear Philomena who has regularly cleaned the cooker. Ever proactive, she’d arrive at the front door with special liquids and rubber gloves and plastic bags to contain the oven racks, and she’d set to with enthusiasm. I could never quite understand why this job would be appealing in any way, but Phil always took her duties seriously and was always happy to help and deal with any of my least favourite jobs. Missing her in many ways, but especially missing her when I’ve got to roll my sleeves up and deal with real dirt.

I left the racks soaking in some kind of noxious liquid while I skipped off to yoga, which was a great success once again and I could actually do it. Except one thing, mind you. It appears that my core muscles are missing. Try as I might, I was unable to pull myself up from a lying down position…… ah, it seems that a little more training might be required.

After yoga I came home and did a bit more on the cooker cleaning, but decided, at the last minute, to leave the racks to soak overnight. John got up at lunchtime and thought he’d have a day of rest today, so we sat and chatted for a bit before I got the brunch. This wasn’t as exciting as it might have been, but John just fancied marmalade on toast. So that’s what we had, followed by a banana. We were settled then on our backsides for a bit, until the nurse arrived to deliver the second dose of antibiotics.

I did a few more jobs, but John rested some more on the sofa, armed with a pint glass full of water. This is an attempt to improve his blood pressure, which is rather low. “Anne!” the nurse called from the dining room, “You need to make sure John drinks plenty of water every day.” Oh, right. We’ve been told.

I spent sometime sorting out John’s tablets. We have decided though, that we are going to give in and ask the pharmacy to make up his drugs into monthly blister packs, because the time it takes to set them up is amazingly time-consuming. And there is always the fact that you’ve got some of one sort of drug left over and not enough of another, so we are always playing catch-up and match-up. John took over the job of drug-sorting from me a good while ago now, but he is seriously fed up of doing it. So why not ease the pain, eh?

I think I was watching a bit of Roland Garros, so lost track of time, and prepped our evening meal a bit later than normal. John fell asleep on the sofa, but when he woke up I said dinner would be a bit late. “No worries,” he said, looking at the clock, “we’ll still be in time to Zoom in on the chat with the Uni crew at 7.30.” Right.

There should have just been enough time to eat our meal and whip upstairs to the computer room to get chatting but – there’s often a ‘but’ – I hadn’t bargained on one of the cats bringing me a ‘gift’ into the kitchen. Not sure which cat was trying to please me, although I suspect Rio, but there, in the middle of the doorway was a fledgling pigeon. Definitely dead. Mutilated, in fact. I’ll spare you the gory details. Had to do a bit of cleaning up, didn’t I? Well, we’re going to be a bit late for chatting now.

As it turned out, we were only ten minutes late but had trouble logging on, so we joined in the conversation fifteen minutes in. It was good fun to see everyone though and great to see everyone looking so well – and amazing to think that it’s fifty years since they all met as they settled into halls of residence at Leeds Uni. Some great laughs this evening and, surprise, surprise, John and Pete agreed with each other at least three times today. Heavens, Evans, what’s going on??

A bit more Roland Garros before bed-time (and the gorgeous Nadal) and a nice cup of tea which John made and handed to me before disappearing from the lounge. When he didn’t reappear I thought he must have gone to bed. But no, he was wrestling with the online supermarket ordering system and had decided to see if he could get a shopping slot. He has, but it’s a week away. Uh-oh, it’s started. Loo rolls anyone?

7,143 people infected with the darned virus in the last twenty-four hours; 71 people have died in the community and 26 in hospitals since Sunday. Lockdowns in the Northeast and probably the Northwest sometime later this week. Fun and games, eh? Thought you’d still want to be kept up to date…..

Wherever you are, stay on your toes – watch out, watch out, the virus is still about! God bless.

I was up with the lark this morning, despite having gone to bed late and not able to sleep awfully well. John wondered why I was up so early. My answer was, “Because I want to.” That was it – that was all. I thought I might find a bit of motivation if I greeted the day a bit earlier than I have been.

It proved to be so. I spent a lovely hour or so in the garden. The sun was very warm and it was fantastic to be among the trees and plants, tending them and snipping away at dead heads. The idyll was over a bit too soon, though, as we were due to be at the hospital for John’s antibiotic infusion just after lunch.

I had the bright idea that, after I’d dropped John into the clinic, I’d nip along to the very large Tesco in Yardley and see if I could buy myself some jeans. I had promised myself and the world that I wouldn’t buy any clothes this year, with the exception of a pair of jeans – and the time has come. My cut-offs are shredded at the knee, which would be alright and fashionable, and I would probably get some more wear out of them if it was just that. But they’ve gone on the bum too, and I am sure that’s not a very pretty sight. My longs have also gone in exactly the same places, much to both my amusement and my irritation.

I duly dropped John off and made my way over to the shopping centre. I looked on the app to see how densely populated the COVID situation was in that area and it told me that there are five cases. I hesitated. Should I venture into Tesco after all? I decided not. I went into Peacocks instead, where there were no customers. Found a pair of jeans that looked like they might be alright, but realised that there’s no trying on. Ah. “It’s OK,” said the shop assistant, “you’ve got two weeks to bring them back.” Oh. I am not going to be coming over to Yardley for another three weeks-ish. Not making a special journey if they don’t fit. So I left it and scuttled back to the car sharpish in case any bugs were following me. Now, where’s that pair of jeans I was looking at on-line?

I drove back to the hospital, parked in a side road and sat in the car reading my book for just a few minutes before John texted to say he was all done – ‘Waiting in reception. No rush.’ I didn’t rush, but I was there in about two minutes. All in all, the trip was over and done with extremely quickly, which we were both very pleased about.

Once we were home, we had ourselves a luscious lunch – smoked salmon, poached eggs, freshly-picked tomatoes and a bit of beetroot all stacked high on one of John’s paleo rolls. A knife and fork job and absolutely delicious.

After lunch John went out into the front garden again to finish sorting out his trailer, getting ready to sell it, and plant the flowers we’d bought the other day. The front flowerbed looks lovely.

I watched some more tennis at Roland Garros, bemused by the fact that the players are all wrapped up against the cold, and there is no audience. It brought to mind memories of happier times watching tennis on holiday in Provence with Mike and Lynda and Linda and Brendan. In the heat of flaming June, Linda and I, fortified by large glasses of white wine, struggled to get a TV signal to watch the exciting matches then, amid the heat-generated thunderstorms rumbling all around. No white wine today and the tennis seemed laboured. All in the eye of the beholder, I have no doubt, as I looked back at times past with rose-tinted spectacles.

Other than that, I did a few chores – particularly cleaning, to a spotless shine, the downstairs cloakroom, which the District Nurses would use later on in the evening when they came to give John his night-time antibiotic.

We ate our evening meal on our laps in the lounge, gawking at the TV and feeling indignant over the Test and Trace situation portrayed by the Panorama programme. No-one knows what to believe any more, do they? The government says the system is the best thing since sliced bread. The reporter on Panorama was suggesting otherwise.

Afterwards we chose to watch a film, which was interrupted half-way through by the arrival of the nurses. The drug was quickly and efficiently administered by the now familiar nurse, Joy, and she was pleased that John was actually reasonably well. I was pleased too. Having been here before, Joy knew our home and just got on with the job – no need for any particular niceties or introductions.

I was also pleased to hear that the incidence of COVID infections is less than yesterday with 4,044 people having been confirmed as COVID cases; 13 deaths in the community and 8 in the last couple of days in hospitals. Fingers crossed that the rate is coming down again.

Goodnight, God bless and peace be with you all.

It being Sunday today, I thought I’d do Sunday things. Got up early, had my annual wash and brush up (it is September, after all) before setting off for church. I had a quick scrabble around in the cupboards to see if there was anything suitable to take with me, as it was Harvest Festival, and I managed to fill a box full of stuff. I was relieved about that. We were all supposed to be taking fresh fruit and veg though, but I hadn’t been to the shops to oblige that particular part of the bargain, so tinned, dried and packet food is what they got. Whatever the donation though, I am sure it will be helpful to someone.

It was a weird old service though. I mean, we normally sing our hearts out to ‘We plough the fields and scatter’ but it’s just Kim singing and playing while we follow the words on the screen, now. We didn’t walk up and offer our harvest goods, while we grin at each other shuffling up and down the aisle, either. Just held ’em up while Father Peter said a blessing. No hugs or handshakes when we acknowledge each other for the peace either, just a bow of the head and blink of the eyes in the hope that you’ll catch someone’s eye and disappointed when you don’t. It all felt a little hollow – and then that sets you thinking doesn’t it? I’m always a wobbly Christian, but even more wobbly now.

It was still Sunday when I came out of church and so promptly did another Sunday thing – visit Mum. Before lockdown, that was often my habit – to call on her on the way home. But of course, I have only been to church twice since March, so the habit is a bit broken.

She was delighted to see me of course. She was sitting in her now beloved all-singing, all-dancing chair that used to be Aunty Mollie’s, and which she wonders from whence it came, every time I visit her. She was very cosily wrapped in a blanket and very happy. I stayed for a couple of hours doing a few jobs for her, including filing some correspondence away and throwing other correspondence out. My rummage in her filing cabinet revealed a little stash of photographs, which I thought she might enjoy looking at, so I took them through to her. She certainly did enjoy them and turned the pile over several times. One photo was of a brand new teddy sitting on her sofa at her house in Coventry, bought for her many years ago. “Ah…. look there’s Ted.” she said fondly. Then, again, as she turned pile over for the second time, “Ah…. look there’s Ted.” and then, on the third time, it was, “Ah…. look, there’s Ted again.” I gently told her she was probably back at the beginning of the photos……. so she relinquished them then.

I brought washing home with me, intending to get on with it, but John suggested we might go out and look at more furniture. We still have a few things on our list and are after a new nest of tables to place alongside people when the hordes visit, as well as a new coffee table to set between the two sofas. We’d also like a new dining room suite – again, to accommodate the hordes when they come for dinner. We didn’t see anything we agreed on, although I did see a lovely dining room table. But the trip set us both thinking. Will we ever have the whole family round again? Will we ever have the parties we used to? Not least because once we’re allowed to we might feel we’re a bit beyond it. So then, what style of furniture do you buy? Should we be downsizing? I don’t know, it’s been a funny old day, with what seems like the wind of change very much firmly blowing us into uncharted waters.

On our way home, Paul phoned to say they were just passing by our house and where were we? We laughed, “We’re just passing your house!! On our way back from Leamington. We’ll be home in fifteen minutes.” But not to worry, they’d been shopping and didn’t want to wait. They were just dropping a bottle of one of my very favourite wines, Pouilly–Fuissé, to us. God bless them. Such thoughtfulness. Thank the Lord for sons – and daughters-in-law, of course!

Had to laugh though, as Paul and Harriet were hovering outside our house, who should be trawling the streets for food bank donations, but The Lions? Harriet, apparently, had to to scrabble in amongst her recent purchases to make a donation. Mind you, I bet they feel virtuous now…..

They didn’t see us, but we passed them just as they were leaving the village and we were just arriving in it. Once we were home, John decided he was going to do a bit more work out the front, and I decided I was going to sit on the sofa and watch the tennis from Roland Garros with a Magnum to keep me company. When John finally came in, we did a bit of TV channel-hopping at which point I promptly fell asleep. Another afternoon nap…… eeeh, I must be feeling my age. Or was it because I didn’t go to bed until two in the morning last night?

When I finally woke up, it was beyond that other Sunday thing of a roast dinner, so we ate up left-overs instead. And John decided to welly a bottle of white wine, so he, too, had a snooze on the sofa, before we finally ended up watching another round of the archaeological dig at the HS2 sites. This time, it was Birmingham, which was intriguing – and distressing to be reminded of the terrible conditions the people lived in. They came to Birmingham in hope but often died beyond hope, with evidence of physical ailments such as rickets, cholera and TB.

The news offered us fewer COVID infections today with 5,693 people affected, 17 people having died in the community and 12 in hospitals in the last couple of days. But it’s the weekend, so I am hoping it’s the true number, and not the limited reporting that’s making the figures look slightly better.

Tomorrow is another new day, bringing a new week with lots of things to look forward to. Face the wind of change and embrace it. Best foot forward folks. God bless.

“We’re busy doing nothing, working the whole day through……. trying to find lots of things not to do….”

Yes, that’s us. On some days, anyway. Some of the time we toil away at whatever presents itself to us and then, some of the time, we just while away the time sleeping or puzzling or chatting or TV watching.

This morning was a case in point. I was awake at seven o’clock and contemplated getting up early to go for a stroll, but rolled over again before I getting myself out of bed, and then falling back to sleep. The next time I awoke, it was to my own tuneful snoring, and it was nine-thirty. I thought I’d stay cosy for a bit longer, however. John, after all, was still snoozing too. All in all, it was mid-day before we finally got out of bed. I have no idea what I was avoiding, but I certainly didn’t want to get up today, despite the sunshine streaming in through my bedroom window.

By the time I wafted down the stairs, John was trawling the internet for products to buy from B&Q and hoping to do a ‘click and collect’. However, we found that the B&Q nearest to us was ‘browse the store yourself’ only. So we set off to browse and to buy sand, cement and paint. What a palaver on the sanitising of the trolleys…..much needed, I know, but oh, dear…….

Having had a rather unsettling experience recently with the temporary loss of one of his hearing aids in the long grass at Abbey Fields, John has decided that while we’re out and about and mask-wearing, he’ll leave his hearing aids at home – just in case the act of whipping off his mask also whips off the hearing aid into the ‘never-to-be-found-again’ ether. That may have been the reason that he didn’t register a nice young man offering to help with the heavy bags of sand and cement. It was only when we got to the car and were hefting the bloomin’ things into the boot, that he said he’d ignored the offer. Shame. Could have done with a young, burly man attending to our sandbags.

We took a detour on the way back from Coventry, via Kenilworth and the furniture store, to take another look at sofas and cabinets. We tried a few sofas out, but came back to a suite that we’d seen last week and decided to buy it. I think John is trying to cheer me up. In fact, I was cheered up by the purchase and by the fact that we got a good deal on it – including the promise of them taking away our old sofas, which will save all that angst at the point of the new ones being delivered. Regrettably, delivery isn’t until early 2021. Although, to be honest, we don’t really mind. We’re not in any rush.

We were just about to close the deal in the shop when my phone rang. “Hello? Mum? Where are you? We thought we might call to the front of your house and stand on the pavement to wave at you on our way home from swimming.” It was dear Paul and Freddie. I wasn’t going to pass up the offer. “We’ll be back in about twenty minutes,” I said. Although I hadn’t counted on the salesman taking twenty minutes to write up the invoice, but there we are – they were waiting outside when we got back.

What to do? The pavement is very busy. So we opted to go to a local recreation area instead. One where we could sit in our own chairs and get out our own toys, to avoid cross-contamination from the general, unwashed public.

It was a great success, and a very lovely get-together. I did a lot of clucking like I always do, and Paul took the mickey, like he always does. We wrapped John up in blankets to stave off the windy weather, and he warmed his feet and legs by the fire we made. I played with Freddie and the men had ‘men-talk’. Freddie insisted on looking for blackberries and, although the season seems to be more or less over now, we found one or two for him to take home. We also picked a lovely ripe apple growing locally, which was deliciously crunchy and which he ate when he got back.

The thrill of seeing them is always tempered by the farewell as the visits can never be long enough for me these days. But I felt just totally, totally, blessed to have had an hour and a half together. Huge virtual hugs were sent and received, along with lots of blown kisses as we waved them on their way.

After being out in the fresh air, and after the exertion of having to open his wallet wide this afternoon, John sat down in the lounge to watch the qualifying rounds of the Russian Grand Prix, while I did a spot of tidying up and cooking the tea. Bless him, he missed the outcome of the qualifiers, as he fell asleep. By all accounts, it was very exciting with Vettel spinning off in the second round, and Hamilton not even having posted a time by the time the round was red-flagged. Knowing Hamilton though, I expect he’ll have done his Houdini thing and posted a good time to be fairly near the top of the grid at least.

We watched TV this evening and, despite the fact that we struggled to find something we fancied, it was midnight before we switched it off, having got involved in one of these American murder-mystery documentaries.

Haven’t watched any news today, but the internet tells me that there are 6,042 people infected today with the virus and 34 deaths in the general community and 10 in hospitals over the last couple of days. Still nought to two cases in Balsall Common, however.

What words of inspiration can I find, to keep me, and us, going? Well, I am sourcing much comfort from Charlie Mackesy’s book, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, just now, and his recent offering is: “Everyone is a bit scared,” said the horse, “But we are less scared together.” Take care and God bless.

After a lovely holiday, relaxing and not a care in the world, being home is a little more eventful as we settle back into our routine. The routine, of course, includes hospital visits. So, this morning, it was the regular trip to the Haematology Clinic.

We didn’t have to be there until eleven, so we whiled away most of the morning in bed just luxuriating in our lovely bed and bedroom, enjoying the fact that we are lucky to have a great roof over our heads. When we finally scooped ourselves out of bed, we realised that we were certainly going to be late. We’d enjoyed relaxing just a few minutes too long.

Fortunately, the hospital wasn’t very busy and no-one complained that we’d arrived after the appointment time. At least, I don’t think they did. I sat outside in the corridor while John went into clinic for height, weight and blood tests. He then beckoned me in when he was called into the consultant’s room, so that I could also listen to what was being said. Two heads are better than one in these situations, we find.

We saw Dr Lovell again, who is always upbeat, and has a great sense of humour. After a bit of banter, he concentrated on the results of blood tests and so on. It turns out that he wasn’t so happy about John’s chest and, on reviewing the sample John had sent off earlier in the month, said how did John fancy a couple of weeks in hospital?

Oh. Well, we weren’t expecting that. Admittedly, John’s breathing has been getting less and less good since we got back from our jaunt to Norfolk, but I put that down to him overdoing it and perhaps breathing in mucky air from the mucky jobs he’d been doing. Ahhhh. no. It transpires that John is growing exciting things in his chest – four of them, in fact – and needs yet another course of antibiotics. We both looked a bit stunned. “Well, how far can you walk, then, John?” Dr Lovell probed. Not far really. Gets out of breath coming up the stairs. Coughing a bit. “Hmmmm. Let me phone the respiratory nurse.”

The conversation went like this, “You know our mutual friend? Yes? John Sleath? He isn’t breathing quite so well, can you fit him in for a course of antibiotics? Not, like in the next twenty minutes, but next week? You can? OK.” Fortunately and to our relief, the arrangement isn’t for a fortnight in a hospital bed. It is for one day in Outpatients to have a canular fitted and the first dose of antibiotic administered. Then a fortnight of Community Nurses visiting every day for the rest. Hey!! You know what? We’ve been here before!!! Better than a stay in hospital though. Fingers crossed…….

Naturally, John felt a bit fed up on the way home, but he’d perked up by the time we got home and got on with being Mr Determined again and went out onto the front to potter about with a few jobs there. He had planned to jet-wash the drive, mend the trailer and plant the flowers we’d bought yesterday. He went out to do all of that at three o’clock this afternoon. He came back in after nearly three hours, having spent the time mending the trailer. Jet-washing and planting? Maybe tomorrow? Methinks his eyes are too big for his belly……. or his thoughts are too big for his body, anyway.

Of course, the home routine includes lots of hospital visits. Our diary is now full of them. Haematology in 4 weeks time; Respiratory clinic in 3 weeks; the Musculoskeletal team want an MRI scan in just over a week’s time and an ECG is booked at the end of October – oh, and we have flu jabs booked….. not to mention the fact that before he left clinic today, John was trundled round to the nurse for three immunisations……. John certainly keeps them all busy over at Heartlands!

I am exhausted just thinking about it. John is exhausted being a part of it. However, we both faced the world this afternoon and got on with a bit of what we wanted to do. John, as I say, got on with his great plans and me, I thought I’d do a spot of ironing but, if time allowed, I’d shampoo the upstairs carpets. In the end, I just did the ironing while watching a film about Judy Garland, starring Renée Zellweger, which I thought was really good. Well-crafted and well-portrayed.

It being Friday, John had said on the way home, “Curry night, tonight?” to which I had said yes. We ordered about six-thirty, and then sat down for a rest after our afternoon’s exertions before its expected arrival at 7.30. We were pleasantly surprised when it arrived half an hour early so we tucked in with gusto to assuage our rather rumbly tummies. Lovely.

This evening, still being Friday, was kick back and watch TV. Once again, not a great deal to entice us to watch this evening, so we checked on catch-ups and recordings to see if there was anything there. Unexpectedly, we enjoyed Episode One of ‘Britain’s Biggest Dig’ – a four-part documentary about the archaeological finds as they plough up swathes of Britain for HS2. This first episode concentrated on the area of St James’ in London and it was fascinating – just the scale of the dig, let alone what they found. Looking forward to watching Episode Two sometime soon.

We did watch the news today and understand that more restrictions are being placed on cities like Leeds, Cardiff and Swansea, with London on the ‘watch list’. Nearly 7,000 (6,874) people have been infected today; 34 (on the 28-day rule) have died in the community; and 25 in hospitals in the last couple of days.

Take care everyone. God bless.

We had a lovely morning. We braved it and went to the garden centre to meet up with Danielle and the kids so that she could choose a couple of shrubs for her very decorative pots which sit outside their front door. I was anxious, having discovered that there are COVID cases in the vicinity, but we double-masked, quadruple-sanitized and got nowhere near anyone. It was so good to see the children and William was pleased to see us, but Thomas had a quivery bottom lip when I leered over the pram, wearing my outer space gear, to cooee at him. I quickly retreated, not wanting a bawling baby as we walked round the shop.

We loved seeing the grandchildren again, but we are definitely missing that beautiful intimacy that we had. Especially with Thomas, who really isn’t going to recognise us for a while, because we have a different coloured face every time we see him. Mine was red and pink with flowers on today, John’s was spotty and wordy with ‘keep your distance’. Charlie Mackesy, artist and author, represents our hope, though, beautifully…….

We enjoyed our little trip. Danielle found a couple of nice shrubs and we bought some bedding plants that John plans to plant out in the front garden. I also made an impulse buy – a little solar lamp in the shape of a hare. Apparently it has to stand outside for a couple of days in the sunshine before you switch it on. Well, that’s going to be fun isn’t it? Waiting for it to work? Is there going to be any sunshine in the near future?

We were also looking at hedging, as some of our hedge in the back garden has died off. The garden centre had a good selection, but we thought we’d better do some research first into what’s best to buy before plunging in. That brought us to thinking about visiting a different garden centre, but I was thinking of a cup of tea before we went anywhere else, so we came home. We settled on the sofa with our drinks and had a little snooze – again. Oh, dear, this is getting to be a habit.

A little while later we woke up and sheepishly thought we’d better get on with a few things, having abandoned the idea of going to another garden centre today. John was keen to get planting the front flower beds, and he also said he’d have a go at jet-washing the block-paved drive. It’s a while since it was done. Off he went, and it was a good while before I saw him again. I think he even stayed out there during the heavy showers and the hail storm. He’s a very determined man.

I, on the other hand, stayed in. I was keen to try out my new carpet shampoo machine. Well, I say new – not exactly, because I’ve had it for quite a long time and, before I actually used it, Michael and Danielle borrowed it. And then, of course, I used it at their house while they were on holiday. But it’s the first time I’ve tried it out in my own home.

Obviously, it will depend on what the carpets look like when they are dry, but generally, I think they came up quite well. The machine certainly had a lot of dirty water in it anyway, so I am sure that the carpets are cleaner than they were. Shadow, the black cat, certainly seemed to approve, as he spent all evening laying first on this bit, then on that……

As the daylight began to fade, John came in. Made me laugh. He looked like the ‘Monster from the Deep’ and was a tad grubby. I think he was wearing most of the dirt from the drive……. He peeled off the outer layer of clothing and then made his way, very carefully and rather gingerly, to the shower, trying not to drop any dirt anywhere on the way and trying to ease his aching limbs into working again.

It transpired that he hadn’t done the planting up after all, though, being keen to get the jet-washing done. Difficult to see in the dark, but what I can see looks good. Finish it tomorrow maybe?

We chose not to do any more physical work this evening and just plonked ourselves in front of the TV. Not that there was much on, really. We started to watch the series ‘I hate Suzie’ and ploughed our way through one episode. We weren’t keen, although the reviews have been very good. Anyone recommend we persevere with it?

It was a fairly pleasant evening, despite the fact that we thought TV was a poor show. John lit a fire to banish the chill in the air, and we sat cosily in front of it. Lovely. And we both ate chocolate. Uh-oh…. it’s started……

We watched the news today and note that there are more cases of COVID. 6,634 to be precise. 40 deaths in the community. 1,542 hospital admissions; 228 people on ventilators and twenty deaths in hospitals in the last couple of days. Balsall Common is still showing as nought to two cases.

And today the tracing app was made available to everyone who has a smart phone. I haven’t downloaded it yet, but I expect I will. It feels awfully scary though – although I suppose it is no different to the existing technology that tells Big Brother what I am doing every day, is it? Or is it?

Life is no longer as we knew it, though. Gotta adapt, I tell myself…….gotta adapt. I expect I will, but I’m finding it hard, despite the wonderful people around me whom I love and care for me.

Keep at it everyone. Stay safe and God bless.

I thought I might get out for a walk today and got up, full of good intentions. Only to watch the rain pouring down and thinking, “Oh, I’ll go in a bit when the rain has cleared.” The rain did clear, and it was a quite a good afternoon with the sun trying to poke through the clouds, but I never got my walk. I was too engrossed in having a good go at the kitchen.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I don’t know if it was yoga yesterday that helped clear my brain-fog but I have felt better in myself today, wanting to get a few things sorted out. I didn’t feel the lethargy of the last few days today, having had a reasonable night’s sleep and waking up relatively refreshed.

The reality, of course, is that everything takes for ever these days though, and the simple task of tidying and cleaning the kitchen took me all day, what with one thing and another.

John, however, was feeling less perky, having worked hard on the garden yesterday and having had great success with it. Once he was up, he slid onto the sofa and stayed there almost all day – the only break being a visit to the doctor’s surgery for some treatment. I think he did some good telly viewing though and probably caught up on a good few programmes.

He was delighted to receive a little note from the neighbours this afternoon, congratulating him on the job he’d done out the front. Gosh, that was a surprise, but a delightful one.

Then he spent some time researching gates on the internet this afternoon, which is going to be the next bit of the project. Many years ago, John built beautiful wooden gates to go across the driveway and the pathway, but they eventually rotted away and had to be ditched. And when the business was operating from the house, gates would have just been a nuisance. But replacements may now be in the offing. This time, however, we may go for something that won’t rot. We certainly don’t want to be fiddling about with painting, oiling or creosoting wood every year now!

After our lazy/busy day we got ourselves ready for quiz night this evening and, once again, we had an hilarious time. Some of the questions we’d had before, but naturally, we argued about the answers because we all remembered them differently. Sometimes we got them right having remembered correctly, and sometimes we got them wrong, absolutely adamant that we remembered that this was the answer. Only to be surprised that we’d actually remembered the answer wrongly. Such great company – nobody minding whatever the answer we come up with as it’s light-hearted fun. Well, for most of us, anyway. It’s just Nigel who takes it so seriously………makes us laugh and he laughs at himself, which is a good thing.

We had some shenanigans with the internet though, with Linda and Brendan’s connection not working well and they had to resort to the picture being projected from Linda’s computer and the sound from Brendan’s. Nigel and Hazel’s screens kept freezing every so often, although only momentarily, but it meant that crucial information was missed, leading to lots of repetition and general hilarity. Great fun and such light relief after the ‘down’ of the local lockdown. Thank the Lord for good friends.

A bit of excitement today though. In the clear out, John had come across the trickle charger that I’d borrowed from Malcolm during the first lockdown, so I thought I’d better return it as I no longer need it. Texted Malcolm, with no real expectation that he’d be packing to move house this week, but hey presto! Yep, moving on Tuesday. Crikey! That was unexpected and quick!! Very sad that they will no longer be resident in the village. It has been so comforting to know that they are just round the corner. Ah, well, times change, don’t they? Although they aren’t going far just yet, so we’ll have them around for a bit longer. But not only that, Nigel and Hazel have their house on the market too, so they’ll be off soon as well. Both couples moving to be nearer their children who now have children of their own. It’s a generational thing, isn’t it? But not us, not yet…..

Not really going anywhere much, and wondering whether we should be going out at all now. Why? Because 6,178 people have been infected with the virus today. That is a lot of people. 37 people have died. 1,469 people in hospital – 134 of them new admissions today and 211 of them on ventilators. 10 of them have died in the last couple of days. The question is, should we be risking the exposure now and should we be locking ourselves in again? Locally, there are between nought and two cases according to the app so maybe that’s OK…….

Take care all. Do what you’ve got to do, but stay safe.

When lockdown started we had to give things up. One of the things I gave up was my yoga class. When classes came to a screeching halt, Jaime thoughtfully posted lots of wonderful classes online on YouTube, so that we could all follow at home. Unfortunately, during lockdown I felt like my strings had been cut and I didn’t log in to the classes very often. Have absolutely no idea what stopped me, but there we are.

In the summer, however, restrictions seemed to be easing, the incidence of the virus seemed to be lessening and friends were encouraging us to venture out. Come September, Jaime offered to put on face-to-face classes again and so, in the spirit of being brave, I signed up, crossing all fingers and toes that we’d stay away from the virus and stay safe. Classes started up again when the school term began, but I didn’t immediately go as we were away on holiday. Today, therefore, was the day to start back and I went along this morning.

I really, really enjoyed the class. So great to be bending and stretching again, and resting my mind. Brilliant. All socially distanced, sanitised and mostly masked. I enjoyed it so much that when I came home, having made myself a bite to eat and a cup of tea, I then sat down on the sofa and promptly fell asleep. Heaven knows what Jaime put in the yoga class!! I slept for over an hour – and on such a sunny day too. But I hear the chorus: you must have needed it!

And now, of course, we’re all hoping that it’s not the last class before another lockdown….. I really don’t want to have to face the self-motivation required to exercise on my own! Oh dear, kick-starting tips anyone?

John, meanwhile, has been on his determined journey, to finish sorting out the front garden. The stones, having been thoroughly washed and blow-dried, sitting pretty, looking suitably coiffed and attracting compliments from the neighbours no less, are done; so John can now move on to digging over the front flower beds which haven’t been touched for years.

To say that the front garden has been neglected is a bit of an understatement. My view being that, while we had workmen and work vans coming and going, skips and trailers adorning the drive, and all sorts of equipment around and about, there wasn’t a lot of point in trying to make the front look pretty. It’s been a working yard for many a year. And then, when lockdown came, I shut the front door and refused to go out of it, pretty much, so wasn’t interested in doing anything there. But John is rectifying that now. He’s on a mission.

I have no such mission just at the moment. Still feeling incredibly flat and deflated and unable to drive myself on in any direction particularly. Still can’t be bothered to read and yet I have a list of interesting books as long as your arm on the reading list. I still haven’t quite finished decorating the kitchen. Must get around to doing that. Maybe tomorrow? And I haven’t even started decorating the former office-cum-gym-cum snug yet. Maybe the day after?

Anyway, after I woke up from my little nap, I faffed about a bit and then took myself into the back garden to see what I could do there. Did a bit of snipping and watering, and planted up the rosemary plant I’d bought while we were in Norfolk when we visited The Old Rectory. I also replanted the peony corms that John had dug up for me before we went away. Some of the plants needed rescuing having suffered from lack of water in the last couple of weeks, but hopefully they’ll all survive. We’ll see.

So that’s as exciting as it’s got today. After the delight of the yoga class it just been trundle, trundle, trundle. How’s your day been? Enjoy Boris’s little talk? I didn’t. I am jaded by the shilly-shallying, and the inability to have a firm policy on handling the COVID situation. It’s not as if we don’t have examples from other countries to follow. I know nothing is perfect and can’t ever be, but social and work restrictions aren’t the answer to killing off COVID, even if they are the answer to mitigating the risks for a while. But how long for? Anyone taking any bets?

Nearly 5,000 people have been infected with the virus today. 37 people have died in the community. 1,319 people in hospital with it. 181 people on ventilators and 14 people have died over the weekend in hospitals. The infection figures are on a par with the beginning of the first wave. It’s warming up and it ain’t good because I don’t think it’s going to stop there.

Holding on……

God bless – keep safe and let’s not get blasé about the hand-washing, mask-wearing and social-distancing, eh?

We say, “God, I’m tired. Not sure why……” and scratch our heads as to what is making us weary. Of course, in our sane moments we know exactly why we’re tired. John has had a couple of disturbed nights and, during the day, has been demanding that his body work very hard when he’s been shifting stones. Me? I just go to bed late!

Today was one of those days. Both feeling tired, but ploughing on, and then collapsing in a heap at the end of the day.

I was up relatively early to go to Mum’s. A medical appointment at 10.30 meant getting to her flat at 9.30, to be sure she was up. Which she wasn’t. She smiled lazily as I opened her bedroom door. “Hello, dear,” she said, “How lovely to see you.” Regrettably I had to shatter the illusion that I was there just for a casual visit. I knew she wouldn’t remember she had to be up early. She was a trooper though, as she gamely threw off her bedclothes and swung her legs over the side of the bed.

Fortunately for me, the carer arrived just then and she took over the washing and dressing routine. There was no time for breakfast, but I did make Mum a cup of tea. She made laugh though. I made the tea with lots of milk so that it would be cool enough to drink before we set off. She never drinks her tea hot, always leaving it to go cold, so it was a surprise when she said, “Well, this is a bit cold,” Both I and the carer burst out laughing – oh, the irony!!

The visit to the surgery was quite successful, but Mum was a bit distressed by having to wear a mask, and made a bit of a fuss. “I can’t breathe,” she cried. Ah. Well, she could, but was panic-stricken by the warmth of her breath behind the mask, and her imagination went into overdrive. We were seeing the nurse for a blood test and check up for diabetes. The nurse took pity on her however, and said halfway through the consultation, that she could take the mask off. Mum was all smiles then.

I was finally away from Mum’s at mid-day. I had offered her breakfast when we got back and while she was eating it I popped to see the warden. By the time I got back the hot lunch had arrived. Oh dear, that confused her. She didn’t know if she was coming or going, bless her.

John didn’t stop for lunch until he’d finished sorting out the stones. I ate lunch and afterwards, did a spot of ironing. Then, excitement of excitements, it was time to go over to Sutton to meet the Sleaths in the park. No longer allowed to meet in our homes and gardens, we were lucky that the weather was so beautiful today. We sat on the grass and played with the bubble kit I’d bought William (and one for Freddie). William ran and ran and chased the bubbles for ages. Had great fun.

Thomas grinned and gurgled when he was awake and slept soundly in between times. It was such bliss to spend a relaxing hour or so there.

At Michael’s we looked through the front window at the new toys William had had for his birthday, pressing our noses up against the window pane like kids at a sweetie shop. Well, it was just like that, as William offered us ‘ice-cream’ from his new ice cream cart!

Then it was time to go home and have a chat to Andrew before we had our tea. After which, a little doze on the sofa was the order of the day before it was time for bed. “Wake up! Wake up! It’s bedtime!!”

We kept well away from others in the park and wore our masks and did lots of hand sanitising again. Hoping it’s enough to prevent infection. Today’s cases nationally are still high – 4,368 – with 11 deaths in the community and 3 in hospitals yesterday. Locally, the app suggests it’s still between nought and two cases here.

Ready for lockdown number two anyone??