The Daily Echo: Day 195

“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.