The Daily Echo: Day 213

Another glorious morning. The sun was shining and it really was lovely outside. Unfortunately, I didn’t take advantage of it and go out for the walk I’d promised myself. That was because I got stuck into one of the books I’d ordered, and the time just disappeared from me this morning. Enjoyed myself though.

Not only did I while away the hours reading, but there was a threat that John might come home today. I had promised I’d clear this or tidy that, so I got a bit of a scoot on to do what I’d promised. As it happened, John phoned for a chat just as I was transporting children’s toys upstairs. Clearly, having done absolutely nothing since the beginning of lockdown, I am not at all fit and the ol’ man could hear my heavy breathing as I trundled up and down the stairs. He wondered what the heck I was doing.

I was also on the phone to him as I put away all the washing in the bedroom. Well, that was amusing. John’s cupboard was a bit of a muddle so I thought I’d just tidy it before popping the clean jumpers onto the shelves. Grabbed all the jumpers that were in the cupboard and put them on the bed. ‘Oh, that one’s been worn,’ I noticed, ‘I’ll put it in the wash’. There seemed to be a few like that. Soon, I had a big pile of ten jumpers that had been worn and were ready for the wash. John’s philosophy is that a jumper might do a second or third time, so he has a shelf of jumpers that have been worn but not yet in the wash because he’s going to use them again. Hmmmm…….. nah, I’m washin’ ’em!!

John was on a promise. He could come home. Just wait for the prescription to arrive and off you go. In the end, it was about three o’clock before he got the green light. I quickly cleared the work surfaces, and checked on the washing and drying before I put my jacket on, grabbed the car keys and set off. The journey to the hospital was via the air machine at the petrol station however, to reflate the tyres. One of them has a horrible habit of slowly, but surely, deflating much more quickly than its sisters and, true enough, it was well down.

All pumped up and ready to go, I set off and had a good journey to Heartlands, despite the flow of traffic building up to rush hour. John was there, at the entrance, ready and waiting when I arrived, so his bags were bundled in the boot, he was bundled in the car and that was it, we were heading home.

Once through the front door it was a nice cuppa and a sit on the settee for a while before John decided he might have a snooze while I cooked our meal. He lay down, wrapped himself in a blanket and closed his eyes. Ah… bliss.

I woke John up about an hour and a quarter later to come and eat. “Gosh, that was quick,” he said. Oh? No. You’ve been asleep sweetheart, so it just seems like that.

After we’d eaten, John opted out of Quiz Night. He was too tired and thought his little grey cells weren’t up to it. I decided that I would join in, and I am jolly glad I did. I am feeling rather meh, and it did me good to have a natter to dear friends.

Mid-way through the quiz, John came up to go to bed and called into the computer room to say hi to everyone. He is still a Puffing Billy and struggled to speak as he arrived. This bothers me, but the discharge letter suggests all’s well, so we’ll see. I am going to keep my beady eye on him.

So, there we are. Fingers crossed we’re on an upward trajectory to better health.

Talking of upward trajectories, the numbers of people infected with COVID-19 today is 19,724 of which 680 were admitted to hospital. 137 deaths in the community. Nearly five thousand people in hospital, with 516 of those on ventilators. 45 people died in hospital on 12 & 13 October.

The government has introduced the new ‘tier’ system today, too. This tells us that the risk in our particular area is high and we are in Tier 2. We can’t see anyone indoors, but we can operate the ‘rule of six’ now, and meet others outdoors, including in our gardens. Yay!!! That makes me happier than I was before.

Locally, the number of cases in our village is now 16 in the last seven days, inevitably higher than before. We gotta keep washing our hands, folks; keep our distance; and, of course, wear our masks. This is now a new way of life – sad, isn’t it?

Take care everyone, God bless.