Today was William’s birthday and I felt sad that we weren’t going to be there to celebrate with him. However, looking at all the photos of the day they have had, it looks like we wouldn’t have been able to keep up. He looked so happy in every photo – and I was particularly moved by the little video of him as his birthday cake arrived to the song ‘Happy Birthday’ – it was an absolute picture of pleasure and anticipation. Heart warming.
Harriet called in first thing this morning to collect the one or two gifts we’d got here for William as she had a very large gift for him that needed transporting across. I was delighted to see her again today and, once she’d arrived in Sutton, there was a lovely doorstep photo she took of Freddie and the Sutton Sleaths. Melted my heart.
So, despite the disappointment of not being there in person, I was a very happy bunny with the updates early on – set me up nicely for the day ahead – and throughout the rest of the day.
We needed it as we’d decided that we’d go on another furniture hunt today. John looked up as many furniture stores as he could find in the locality and we set off on a little jaunt to sit on a lot of sofas and at a fair few dining room tables. Had great fun, but after a while, all the sofas started merging into one, and we weren’t sure which ones we liked and which we didn’t and which stores they were in. Might have to do it all again now that we’ve come home and measured up again.
In some ways it was quite an enjoyable trip. We sank into each sofa to try them out and we put our feet up. We’d sit there for a while to test them and even, on one or two occasions rested our eyes to test them for sleeping size. We found quite a lot of sofas that we definitely don’t want, and some that were positively revolting. John, however, was seduced by one arrangement that had a little centre piece in it which was designed to hold your cups of tea. I was seduced by one that was in the shape of an arc. But we both agreed on the fact that we’d like leather again. Our existing sofa has served us very well.
As we left Coventry to make our way to Solihull, John noted a McDonalds. “Would you like a Big Mac, John?” I wondered. “No, it’s alright,” he said, with longing in his voice. As we arrived in Solihull we drove past another McDonalds. “There’s a bit of a queue at the drive-thru, isn’t there?” John observed. I gave a non-committal answer. As we left Solihull, we saw McDonalds in the distance. “Do you want a McDonalds John?” He smiled, “Oh, go on then, if you insist.” So we bought a Big Mac each and parked in a lay-by to eat it. It’s long time since we’ve done that (it’s not on the diet sheet, you know) and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We’re both keeping our fingers crossed that we don’t pay the price for it tomorrow one way or another.
Not much else to report today. We came home, and John did a little bit more stone-shifting while I inspected the back of my eyelids for a couple of hours. I was woken up by the cat making himself comfortable on my lap, using his claws to mash a nice little place to sit. Ouch.
We decided that the TV viewing that was on offer this evening wasn’t our cup of tea so we resorted to picking up programmes we’d recorded, such as the one about the serial killer Dennis Nilssen, which we found fascinating.
We didn’t watch any news today but I gather that the Corona virus figures are still high and the debate goes on about what we must do to mitigate the risks. I also understand that the government ministers are now saying it’s ‘all our fault’ that the virus is spreading. Possibly. Nothing at all to do with the push to get everyone back to work and out into pubs and restaurants, of course….. But we’re going to be briefed tomorrow morning by the scientists, I hear, to ‘explain how the virus is spreading and the potential scenarios’ as we go into winter. That’ll be Christmas cancelled then.
Anyway, 3,899 people have been confirmed as having been infected in the last 24 hours; 18 people have died in the community but just one in a hospital setting yesterday.
We are hoping that our shopping trip was COVID-free. We did our best to sanitise, mask up and keep our distance, but we were sitting on sofas….. that was a scary thing to do. But we are now taking the view that we can’t hide at home for ever – there has to be a balance for our mental health’s sake – until they tell us otherwise and the inevitable second lockdown is announced!!
What else to say, other than take care everyone? My daily prayer, of course. Look after yourselves and all those you love. God bless.