The Daily Echo: Day 186

We had a plan this morning. I was going to meet Danielle and the boys at a garden centre. Got quite excited at the prospect. John was going to stay home and talk medical stuff with one of his consultants. Well, the latter happened but we didn’t get to the garden centre, as William has a sniffle and we thought we’d better not risk it….. ah, well, next time maybe.

The upshot of John’s medical consultation was, ‘Let’s send you for (another) MRI scan.’ If in doubt, scan it! Hopefully, the scan will tell us what is making John’s back ache and feel crunchy. Fingers crossed. Then, they may be able to offer suitable physio, or an ointment, or a tablet, or something. And then maybe he won’t be so uncomfortable. Hope so anyway. On the other hand, they may say that shifting stones in the front garden isn’t to be recommended for a bad back? Best not say that too loudly though, as he’s half-way through and doing a grand job and we’d both like it finished.

So John was up and at ’em pretty promptly this morning, keen to get the reluctant stones sifted, cleaned and put back into place, and I was still in a ‘drifty’ sort of mood since my original plans were thwarted.

However, having had another disturbed night last night, coughing and spluttering, I decided the best course of action was to try and track down the source of the problem today – so that became my mission for the day. As far as either of us can tell, the irritation to my asthmatic chest isn’t coming from the garage. There are no discernible pots of paint, cans of petrol or thinners open to prompt a reaction. I wondered, then, if it was simply the house dust mite. Having been away for a few days, perhaps they’d had a proliferation spree.

I set to, therefore, in spring cleaning our bedroom. I mean, it’s not long since I did a deep clean, but perhaps it wasn’t deep enough. On and off, we both laboured at our individual tasks trying to break the back of them until all of a sudden it was half-past six. Good grief. Where did the time go? “Are you Zooming with your girls this evening?” John asked. Oh. Do you know, I had totally forgotten it was Thursday. “Gosh, yes! And I am supposed to be hosting as Anita is away!! Better get on with some food then!” I exclaimed.

We ate and then I dutifully set up the Zoom meeting. Had a grand evening with everyone, who were in good spirits despite anxieties about medical issues and the latest COVID situation. “Will we be still Zooming at Christmas do you reckon?” Liz asked. “If we are, we’ve all got to wear Christmas hats.” Linda laughed – she had found a whole load of silly Christmas hats in her cupboard just today as she was looking for something. As sure as eggs is eggs, I think it likely that we’ll still be video-conferencing at Christmas, more’s the pity. Strikes fear into your heart, doesn’t it?

Despite that sinking thought, we had a very good natter this evening. The Zoom session didn’t time out as anticipated after forty minutes and we chatted on for two hours. It was very comforting.

The reality of the COVID situation, and the local lockdown in force which says we can’t visit each other’s homes, hit me like a train this afternoon. I was planning to drive over to Nuneaton and drop the key back to the house we had borrowed in Norfolk. Blithely made all the arrangements and was mentally preparing my afternoon, when it suddenly hit me that I couldn’t go. That’ll be sending the key in the post then. Grrr……

With 3,395 cases of the virus confirmed today and 21 deaths in the community, and six in hospitals yesterday, the figures remain alarming, and more measures are being put in place to try and contain the spread. Newcastle was another town being put into localised lockdown measures today, and we are seeing the whites of the politicians’ eyes as they try to defend their management of the pandemic in our country. Locally, it’s generalised to state that there have between nought and two cases here.

Well, we’ll keep plodding on and hoping for the best. But it’a bit wearing now, isn’t it? I’d just got my hopes up that we were going to be able to widen our social circle physically but, nope. Not yet. Testing us just a bit more. However, I am thankful for everything we have – the kids, the grandkids, friends, neighbours and relations who come up trumps – it puts it all into perspective, doesn’t it? Reminds us as to what is important in our lives.

Keep washing your hands, keep your distance and keep soldiering on – that’s now my motto. Take care everyone. God bless.