The Daily Echo; Day 204

Lovely day today, one way and another. First of all, despite the early start with the medics arriving at seven o’clock again, we had a good rest before we set off to meet William, Thomas and Danielle at the Sheldon Country Park. A park that has been recommended to me frequently over the years, but one where we have never been.

Had a great walk – about two miles all told, there and back, so John did well. We had great fun playing Pooh Sticks, throwing stones into the stream, paddling in puddles, watching the aeroplanes take off and land, as well as the trains rumbling by. The weather was mild and very pleasant indeed and we were lucky that it only started to rain as we got back to the car.

Of course, I had as much of William as I could get, a little bit of Thomas and smashing company from Danielle, who is so easy to spend time with. I am so very blessed with my daughters-in-law. Honestly, I couldn’t ask for better. Love them both to bits.

We had a bite to eat when we got back and once it was prepared, I took my lunch into the lounge to eat on my lap while I watched some of Roland Garros. John decided to eat his at the breakfast bar, as it was a knife and fork job. He had hardly had a mouthful when the doorbell rang and it was the nurse come to administer his afternoon meds. Only she didn’t. Nothing untoward, in fact, but I overheard her say to John, “Joy is coming as well. She’ll be here in a minute.” It transpired that the cannular needed changing again, as the one John had got in was a temporary one. The nurse who’d arrive wasn’t qualified. Joy is the ‘Queen of Cannulars’ apparently, and she did arrive, but it was a good fifteen, or even twenty, minutes later. All in all, John was nearly an hour being faffed about with, with his lunch still sitting on the breakfast bar and his tummy rumbling.

The afternoon passed nicely with a bit of tennis, a bit of computer work – John was looking at cars, and I was looking patio table covers – and a bit of a potter about.

I am not really sure what we watched on TV this evening, other than a Panorama programme about the fires in Australia last year – a horrible reminder of how very frightening it was and how devastating, not just for the people who have lost their homes and their livelihoods in some cases, but also the thousands upon thousands of animals who perished.

The reason I don’t really recall what we were watching, is that I decided to try and finalised the one knitting square I have left here at home that is to go into a blanket for people in Malawi. Mum had done a couple of rows on it very successfully when she stayed with us earlier in the year, but when it came to reducing the stitches on the rows to make the square, she got very muddled and it became a bit of a hotchpotch. So I spent the evening unpicking it as far as the diagonal ready to begin again. Had to concentrate very hard, so TV was just background noise really.

Knitting is not something I enjoy, but I thought I’d commit myself to knitting a few squares last year, only to find that knitting doesn’t actually agree with my arthritic hands. So I’ve got a good excuse not to do any more, but I really want to get this last one out of the door. In the meantime, I shall have to think of another way I can help our twinned diocese in Malawi. I’m sure I’ll come up with something.

As the evening wore on, I started to feel tired so thought I might make a start on my daily diary earlier than normal, only to be reminded that we were waiting in/up for a shopping delivery between half past eight and half past nine. Ah. Yes. Had forgotten that. Best stay here the in the lounge then.

The delivery finally arrived dead on half past nine. The driver was very apologetic at being late – he’d had a busy night, he explained. No worries we said, cheerfully, gritting our teeth. We transplanted the shopping into the kitchen and John was doing a good impression of Puffin’ Billy again, so I said I’d manage and he could go and sit down. “I know when I’m not wanted,” he said, as he took me up on the offer.

John had hardly sat down, when the doorbell rang again. See a pattern here? It was the nurses back again. I left them to it and carried on disgorging the shopping into the cupboards. We’d done a big shop and there was a lot of stuff. Fingers crossed it’ll keep us going for a bit.

And that was us today. Another late night, but hey-ho, I am sure I can have a nap sometime tomorrow……

We did watch some of the news today and caught up on the various stories making the headlines, including the Trump story in which he declared he felt wonderful and twenty years younger. Clearly, he’s recommending catching COVID for its youth-enhancing properties…… the man is mad.

In our own country, there have been 12,954 cases of the coronavirus reported today and 19 deaths in the community. The NHS tells us that there were 10 deaths in hospitals between 1 October and 3 October, which is 23 fewer than they reported a couple of days ago and 13 fewer than they reported yesterday. Yes, those figures really add up don’t they? Jeez…..(am I allowed to say that?). Heaven knows what the real figure is.

Locally, there have now been four reported cases in the last seven days in Balsall Common. I thought it might catch up with us….. disappointed it has. Alert! Alert!

Stay safe everyone, and God bless.