Month: December 2020

Doesn’t time fly when you’re enjoying yourself? As with most other years, I start thinking about Christmas in October, but then, by this time of the year I find I am still lagging behind. Every year it’s the same, so I don’t know why I thought this year would be any different. So it’s Tuesday already this week when I’m still thinking it’s last week. If you see what I mean….. Help! Must get on with all those Christmassy things.

The thing is, I am still digging the house out. It’s going to take me three days to get through all the paperwork that I’ve neglected and is floating about, let alone anything else. Ah, well – good job there isn’t a deadline, eh? Or people coming to stay?

When I wonder what I do with my time I have a day like today. For example, I spent an hour or so sorting out the mountain of drugs that John had been issued with the other day. Then it was another visit to Mum to get her sign the Christmas card whizzing its way to Australia; and then after that, it was another trip over to Heartlands with John – this time for an appointment at the respiratory clinic.

No wonder the time flies – I’m clearly enjoying myself too much!!

After the respiratory clinic we did enjoy ourselves though. I might have commented before that all my jeans are threadbare, so I looked online and found a pair at Next that might do the trick. I ordered them as a ‘click and collect’ over at The Fort Shopping Centre in Birmingham, and we opted to collect them after we’d been to the hospital. It was late by the time we got there – nearly six o’clock, and we’d been pondering what to have for tea. “Oh, look, John. MacDonald’s. Shall we treat ourselves to a burger for tea?” Well, he didn’t need asking twice. These are on the naughty list…. and it was very nice, thank you.

Once we were home, John asked me what I was going to be doing. I thought about my long list and reeled off a couple of the jobs on there. And then said, “I think I’ll sit down with my cup of tea for ten minutes first.” John followed me through to the lounge, whereupon, I told him I had gone tired and wouldn’t be doing the jobs after all. And promptly fell asleep. So I’m going to bed early now …..

In other news, we are wondering whether we have done the right thing in setting up a Virgin account. John was trying to get into the account today, filling the air blue again. He ended up phoning them and, after about an hour, he finally got through to a very nice young man who sent him an email, advising him to click the link. Which he did, only to find he’d set up the account again. He had to phone them up again and get them to delete the duplicate account. Honestly, it seems that it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Watch this space.

Being tired, I am signing off for the day and leave you with the stats as usual.

• 12,282 people were confirmed as infected with the virus today
• 616 people, the highest figure since April, died from the virus today
• 194 people died form the virus in hospitals over the last couple of days.
• It’s a week, now Day 7, since we were put into Tier 3 since Lockdown 2
• And it’s 265 days since we first snuggled in and lock the world out in March

Take care everyone. God bless.

Crikey! It was foggy today wasn’t it? I got up to the palest of days this morning and was glad I didn’t have to go out in it. Then remembered that we were planning to pop over to Heartlands today to collect John’s prescription, after our abortive attempt on Saturday. Ah. OK. Well, I’ll wait until the rush hour has died down then. And I might wait a bit more.

In the end, John decided to come with me for another ‘trip out’. So we waited a little bit more again before we set off. By then, the fog had lifted a bit and it wasn’t too bad a journey at all. On our way there, John began to wonder just how many times we have done that particular journey. “Thousands of times,” I suggested. And it might indeed be thousands. When I’ve got nothing better to do, I might try and do a guesstimate of how many times we’ve trundled from here to there.

At the moment, though, I have got better things to do. I am now digging the house out after my ‘little go’ at decorating, in readiness for the ‘big go’ at decorating the lounge. Which to be honest, is unlikely to be done before Christmas now. I mean, I still haven’t started on the Christmas card-writing or present-buying yet. And then there’s Mum’s stuff to do as well. Ah, well, maybe next year.

So, I spent some of the day dressing the newly-decorated former office, which we are now calling the ‘SnuGym’. Pronounce that however you like! There’s The Snug one end…..

And there’s The Gym, the other….

After sorting out the SnuGym, it was a matter of clearing all the trash away as best I could. That particular job is not yet finished though, as I decided that cooking the evening meal was a bit more pressing, and then the ironing, which had grown into mountainous proportions and was calling rather vehemently.

In between times, John has spent much of the day asleep, only waking and brightening up late on this afternoon. Startlingly, he fell asleep in the car. After we’d called at the hospital, I thought I’d nip into Tesco to see if they’d got any jeans. All of mine are now pretty threadbare. But no, sadly, nothing that was quite right. However, when I got back to the car, there was John – a-snoozing. I’d only been gone ten minutes…. and he continued to snooze for the whole journey back, and then, once we were home, he simply transplanted himself from a cosy warm car seat to a cosy warm sofa and slept some more.

Once he woke up though, he’s been on the go. He has very kindly drilled some holes in the walls in the lounge for me, so that I can attach tie-backs for the curtains and he’s been busy on the computer what with one thing and another. The one thing he did was trying to get into the newly opened bank account we took out with Virgin. Eeeeh, the air was blue. Anyway, I think he’s done it now….. phew!

Nothing much else to report today, so here are the stats:

• 14,718 people were confirmed as having been infected the the coronavirus today
• 189 people have died from the virus in the community today
• 122 people died int he last couple of days in hospitals from it
• We are on Day 6 of Tier 3, since Lockdown 2 ended
• And it’s Day 264 since the beginning of our ‘shielding’ in March

Take care everyone. God bless.

…… I went to church. I wasn’t sure that I was going to get there after the cocktails last night, but I was awake in time and so I got up and went. The theme for the day? The Wilderness…… made me smile. Okay, Okay, I get it! We’re in the wilderness where we find stuff out about ourselves….. all is not lost, and from the emptiness there are new beginnings. Right. Thank you. I won’t despair then. I’ll just be patient and wait for different times.

Once I was back from church, John was getting up so we had nice little elevenses together at the breakfast bar. Then, it was time to get on. I was on the final straight on the sprucing up of the annexe room. A lick of paint on the door and a tidy up of the emulsion at the bottom of the wall and……voilà! There we are, all done. Just got to sort out the furniture in there now.

When I’d finished the bit of painting it was lunchtime, so I sat down for a rest before setting off to Mum’s. I left John watching the final of the rugby. He was, of course, rooting for England, but he wasn’t sure that they’d win. The French are always a tricky side and unpredictable. In the end, England did triumph, but only after extra time. John wasn’t so sure they deserved it but, as they say, a win’s a win no matter what.

Mum was very well today, but her memory is shocking. I thought I’d get her thinking about sending a few Christmas cards and went through her address book to see which labels I needed to print out. “Do you want to send a card to Judith?” I asked. She had no idea who it was I was talking about. I went through the relationships of how she knew Judith. Nope. Not a memory of any of the people to whom she was related. We decided to send the card anyway. But that was the pattern throughout.

We got to talking about whether she’d like to send gifts to people. “Well, yes, I’d like to send a present to the people who are important to me,” she said. OK. Which people are you thinking of? Who is important to you, Mum? She was stumped. No idea. I thought I’d kick-start her thought processes, and ask if I might be on the important list. She teased, and thought hard as to whether I was important enough for a present. But it didn’t kick-start any ideas at all. And really, she was sad that she couldn’t remember people. I told her it doesn’t matter, as long as she’s happy. And yes, she said she was. So that’s a bonus.

John thought I’d been a long time at Mum’s. I was a bit longer than usual as I didn’t want to hurry her and cause anxiety. I was only there a couple of hours, but I think it seemed longer to John. Anyway, he’d been thoroughly enjoying himself, first with the rugby and then the Grand Prix that was just starting. So much enjoying himself, that he offered to cook the tea. And he did a brilliant job – it was delicious.

Distressingly though, John is having a bit of a rough time of it. His eyes have been sore for a good few weeks now, so we were delighted when the consultant suggested some additional treatments which should make them easier. The consultant did warn John though, that one of them was ‘stingy and stinky’. We’re not so sure about the ‘stinky’ bit, but they sure are stingy. Poor John is having to put the drops in six times a day with the accompanying pain each time. It’s not an easy time just now. What with that and his chest still wheezing away like a concertina. I hadn’t asked, but prayers were said for him at church today. Hoping it’ll help…..

This evening, John whiled away the time by playing poker on the computer – a new hobby on the free games. Well, at least it’ll keep him off the streets! I spent an hour sorting out the office cabinet in the annexe room. Still one or two business-related items which are settled in there. Tidy, and staying put. Afterwards it was Strictly to find out who was getting the push today.

We haven’t watched much of the news today, but we know that the vaccine against COVID has arrived in the country; the Brexit talks are on a knife-edge and people are still getting COVID and dying from it. Stats below.

• 15,539 people were confirmed as infected with the virus today
• 397 people died from the virus in the community today
• 132 people died from the virus in hospitals over the last couple of days.
• Today is Day 5 of our Tier 3 since Lockdown 2 ended
• And we have spent 263 days ‘keeping safe’ since the first Lockdown started in March. We have been huddling at the back of our cave as much as we can.

Take care everyone. God bless.

That seems to be what we say whenever we have flitted about and generally not done a lot during a day. We’ve flipped and flopped. And, I mean, what can you do with a wasted journey?

I phoned the respiratory nurses yesterday to let them know that John’s prescription was coming to an end and more drugs were needed. “No worries,” she said, “I’ll do the prescription and put it ready for you in the pharmacy. You can collect it on Monday. Oh, actually, I think they are open tomorrow – either Monday or tomorrow for collection whichever suits you.” Great, lovely, thank you.

So, this afternoon we poddled over to Heartlands, only to find the pharmacy was closed. I was kicking myself. I had a niggling feeling that they might close at lunchtime and thought, too late, ‘should have made the trip in the morning.’ Ah, well, Monday will have to do.

John was grumpy that they were closed. He’d been nice and cosy at home watching the rugby when I said I was going to set off. He said he’d come with me – I think he perhaps felt obliged to. Anyway, he wasn’t best pleased to find it had been a wasted journey. I followed the advice that we’d had yesterday at the ‘Exploring Faith’ group and tried to live in the moment and enjoy what I could. It resulted in lots of inane comments all the way home…. ‘ooh, look, the sun’s shining’; ‘wow, look at that dark cloud over there’; ‘aah, listen to that music, isn’t it lovely?’ John stopped listening to me about a third of the way home. I don’t say I blame him really. After all, you can’t get away from the fact that it was a wasted journey…….

Other than that, I did manage to get the door painted in (what-we-are-now-calling) the annexe/granny room this morning. I won’t bore you with a photo though. It’s white on white, so nothing to see here. D’you know? One more coat and the room will be finished. Zipper-dee-doo-da! *Does a little dance*.

Having said that, of course, we still haven’t decided on the function of the room. Now that we have decided to stay at home and not have any visitors at Christmas, the idea that I had of Mum staying there, is now scuppered. So we no longer need to hulk the bed downstairs and set it up, after all. So far, we have one office cabinet and one cross-trainer in there. Not that cosy really, yet….. hmmmm…..

However, this evening was a bit more exciting. We had a cocktail evening. I was cooking our evening meal and thought, “I know, I’ll have a Brazen Hussy.” This is one of my favourite cocktails and has absolutely nothing to do with how I behave, of course. John is an expert cocktail maker, so he willingly got out all the ingredients and the cocktail shaker, and all the accoutrements until it was done. Ooooh, it was delicious. So yummy in fact, that I had to have another one….

I am not quite sure what John was drinking – he couldn’t remember the name of his cocktail – but I do know that it had dry ginger in it. Whatever it was, I think he enjoyed his concoction, too. The only thing is, I am wondering whether I will actually make it to church in the morning now……

Also this evening we did telly-watching. All my chosen programmes. Strictly, of course. But after that, there wasn’t much that we fancied. I ended up flicking through channels then plumping on a catch-up of the programmes on Channel 5 about the The Great Plague, just to cheer myself up. John went to bed. Ah. Not a programme to your taste then, dear?

We haven’t watched a great deal of news today but we are aware that the Brexit talks are still a bit iffy. And, of course, the COVID stats are about the same as they were.

• 15,539 people have been confirmed as infected with the virus today
• 397 people have died as a result of contracting the virus in the community
• 207 people have died from the virus in hospitals over the last couple of days
• Today is Day 4 of Tier 3, after Lockdown 2
• And it’s Day 262 since we chose to stay home and be circumspect around others last March

It’s still a case of being cautious and masking up, keeping our distance and washing our hands, isn’t it? Take care everyone. God bless.

The certainty of our lives has changed over the last year, leaving us all feeling that we’re wandering about in the wilderness just a little bit now. We are often confused by the advice from government members who have, for a while now, stopped claiming to ‘follow the science’. But we are following the science, and said scientists are definitely recommending that we do not get together this Christmas. So we’re not. The upshot of which left me feeling even more in the wilderness, once we’d made the decision yesterday.

That is, mind you, until I went to the church hall this afternoon for a meet-up with the little Bible study group I belong to. Guess what the topic was? The Wilderness. Couldn’t have been more apt. And the discussions were so helpful, from such lovely, thoughtful friends. They may be clichés, but to understand that: ‘it’s OK not to feel OK’; to ‘be mindful of, and appreciate, the now’; and ‘you’re never too old to learn’, was brilliant, because the ideas tossed around just peeled another layer from my sadness and self-centredness, making me feel such a lot better.

We may still be in the wilderness, still not knowing what is going to happen and having to face a future with less certainty than we had, but it’s good to know that we’re not on our own.

I was already is a relatively good mood when I got to church this afternoon because, this morning, I had got up and got on with the wallpapering in the old office. I was very glad that John was up and about when I started the job, too, because he was my rock and support all the way through. I kept nipping out to him to ask him how to do this, how to do that and, “Can you just come and have a look at this bit and tell me what I should do here, please?” The main sticking point was, would there be enough wallpaper? And there wasn’t. Oh, groan. No matter, John to the rescue. “If we cut it like this, and put that bit there, it should be OK.” So…. what do you think, folks? Can’t see the join, can you? Well, I can’t anyway!

So, despite the fact that I thought I might not put many Christmas trinkets out this year, one of our favourite things to do is to string fairy lights over the arch in the lounge that takes you from the old part of the house to the new. Time had taken its toll on some of our lights, so I used the ones we normally put up there on the the tree. “Shall we nip to the garden centre and buy some new lights, John?” I suggested about four o’clock. He was cosy in the lounge watching TV, but thought a spot of fresh air would do him good, so we did. We got the lights….. aaand, a couple of other impulse buys later and we were on our way home. Any idea what the impulse buys might be? Mmmmm….. chocolate, of course!

So, that was our day, really. Uplifts from our own endeavours, church friends and the family today, who WhatsApped us – including a video of Thomas listening to Jungle Bells and jingling along and melting my heart. Some days, it’s just good to know that people have got your back, isn’t it?

Today’s stats are less encouraging than recently though:

• 16,298 people have been confirmed as infected with the virus
• 504 people have died from its effects today in the community
• 181 people died from its effects on 2 & 3 December in hospitals
• We’re into Day 3 of Tier 3 here in Balsall Common, after Lockdown 2
• And Day 261 of keeping ourselves to ourselves as much as we can since we started in March

Take care everyone, and really look after yourselves. Follow the science…..it might save a life. God bless.

……. but not as we know it.

We have made the excruciating decision this evening, en famille, that we will keep ourselves to ourselves this year. Well, that’s going to be different, isn’t it? But sensible. No point isolating and keeping our distance all this time only to blow it at the end of the year.

For a while, we had been hoping that everyone could perhaps self-isolate for a couple of weeks before Christmas so that we could all spend it together. But it’s really not possible. Paul and Harriet have their girls to think about and bring home for Christmas and, as are Michael and Andrew and Christiana, they’re working right up to Christmas. So, there we have it. A family conference confirmed this evening what we thought would be the case, and we now have plans for a remote celebration instead. Ah, well, maybe it’ll be the full family do next year.

Other than that momentous decision, we have had a typical sort of day. Despite the fact that I had had a couple of glasses of wine last night when we were doing the quiz, I felt bright enough to take part in the Zoom yoga class, offered by Jaime, this morning. I was surprised and chuffed that I was fit enough to do all the poses she was suggesting, so felt good afterwards.

Funnily enough, I felt tired though. So I sat on the sofa to recuperate and caught up on some telly watching. It wasn’t long before it was lunchtime and I hadn’t actually got up off my backside. John said he’d prepare the lunch, which was very nice thank you, and then we took a trip into Birmingham to collect the prescription, which was now ready, for some eye drops. It was a bit of a jaunt, through filthy weather, and a slow journey. The M6 was full of slow-moving traffic, down to 40 miles an hour in places.

When we got back, I popped up to the local pharmacy to collect the remainder of John’s prescription. This was today’s haul – just a few more eye drops…..

For the last day or two, I have been promising myself that I’d do the wallpapering in the snug, and today was no exception, but by the time we got back from the hospital it was dark and I was weary. Maybe tomorrow.

Instead of wallpapering, I decided to decorate the Christmas tree. Freddie and I had got as far as putting the fairy on it but that was all. I spent a happy hour doing that, but listlessly sifted through the remaining decorations and decided I’d perhaps streamline the house decorations this year. Now that I know we won’t be having guests, I think I might just concentrate on finishing painting and decorating the snug and the lounge instead of putting Christmas trinkets out.

There’s not much else to report today. So, just the stats, then….. with the incidence of COVID cases slowing, is the lockdown/tier strategy working?

• 14,879 people were confirmed as having contracted the virus today
• 414 people died in the commnity from the effects of COVID today
• 189 people died in hospitals from the ffects of COVID in the last couple fo days.
• And we are out of Lockdown 2 now, into the Tier system
• But it’s Day 260 since we first isolated in March.

Take care everyone. God bless.

No darling Freddie to wake us up this morning. We just woke up to the memories of a wonderful couple of days and the hope that there’ll be more to come with all the grandchildren sooooon.

The news that there is a vaccine about to hit the streets is fantastic. We know that we won’t be first in the queue, but the fact that there is one on the horizon has boosted us no end. Which means that there is hope on the horizon too, and we might be able to see the family unrestricted sometime next year. Fingers crossed anyway – even if it’s late into the year. This time next year, Rodney…..

I came down to the earth with a bit of a bump this morning though, I must confess, and immediately missed the company of a youngster. On the other hand, I did get on with jobs that I wouldn’t have done otherwise. If Freddie had been here, I wouldn’t have cared about the jobs, but as he wasn’t, I thought I might just as well get on with them. Put all those galloping thoughts about the family into a compartment, and on we go.

So it was back to painting and decorating and tidying. Before I started anything though, I decided I’d make a list to keep me on track. Crikey! I had a list three pages long!! There is so much to do and I am still a bit slow. For example, I did a bit, then thought “Oooh, a cup of tea would be nice. John? Would you like a cup of coffee? I’m making tea for me.” And then there’d be a little sit down to drink tea and coffee. Then a little while later, it would be, “John! I’m making a spot of lunch. Do you want any?” Then a little sit down while we had a bite to eat. Mid-afternoon, it was more tea and perhaps a bit of fruit. Late afternoon, it was a case of, ‘I think I’d better get on with the quiz for this evening.’ and another sit down at the computer this time. No wonder nothing much happens in the decorating line…..

Mind you, I did spend a fair bit of time looking for a lost roller. A teeny, tiny little thing that had shot off a piece of specialist equipment John was using to fit the rear windscreen on the Lotus. I had gone into the garage to put the paint pots up onto the shelving and could hear John puffing and blowing – and generally cursing, too. “You OK?” I asked. There was a growl or two and it transpired that the fitting of the rear window wasn’t going to plan. Not helped, of course, by the loss of the teeny, tiny roller.

No worries, I thought, I’m sure to find it quickly. Erm… nope. Nowhere to be seen. I know, I thought, I’ll sweep up and it’ll just roll into my dustpan. Nope. OK. Time to get the big guns out. Got the big broom. Nope. Still no luck. By now, I was praying to Saint Anthony. Dawn tells me he has never failed her yet. And he didn’t fail me either. No sooner asked for than the said piece was found, hiding behind a piece of upholstery. Not sure if it helped John fit the rear windscreen any easier, but I felt I had done my bit.

We had the quiz evening tonight and a very enjoyable time. Although, it must be said, that as I was quiz master, I am not sure how much anyone else enjoyed it. I don’t know how it is, but I always seem to choose difficult questions…..We normally come out with about 75% of correct answers. I have only set the quiz twice and the first time, the team answered 53% correctly. Oh. Today it was about 67%….. Oh. Oh, dear. And I thought the questions might be easy as we’d had some of them before. Ah, well, I’ll try harder next time.

So, I still haven’t started the Christmas decorations, even though John rushed out on Monday to buy the tree in anticipation of me and Freddie getting on with it. It’s got the fairy on the top, but that’s all. Maybe tomorrow? Yes, maybe tomorrow. Well, that’s if I’m not decorating the snug….

There are still a fair few people infected with the virus and too many dying from it. By now, of course, we know people who have been infected and died from it. But it’s always a shock isn’t it, when you hear of someone else you know who has succumbed? We received our first Christmas Card this morning, only to find a note in it from my friend with whom I worked at OCR, telling us that her husband had died from the virus in February. It was a very sobering moment as we read through her note.

Today’s stats, then:

• 16170 people have been confirmed as infected with the virus today
• 648 people have died from the virus today in the community
• 194 people have died from the virus in hospitals over the last couple of days
• Today is day 28 of Lockdown 2
• And we are on Day 259 since we started our self-isolation in March.

Even if you are not the praying sort, please spare a thought for all those in trouble just now – whether it be through illness (COVID-related or otherwise) or in financial difficulty. There’s such a lot of it about. And, in the meantime, take care everyone. Stay safe and God bless.

Not a peep out of Freddie overnight. I half expected a midnight wanderer, but no. He stayed in bed until 7 o’clock before tapping on our bedroom door. I was already awake, anticipating the early morning call, and he came scampering in, grinning all over his face as he hopped into bed with us for a half an hour snuggle. Such bliss.

What got us out of bed, of course, was the promise of the ice cream he’d made the day before. Unfortunately, it was very disappointing. The recipe had called for strawberries, of which we had none, so we had used raspberries instead. What we failed do though, was sieve the blooming things, so the ice cream had little seeds all dotted through it, which didn’t suit Freddie at all. What a shame.

Never mind. “Let’s make a cake.” he said, “oh, and can we do the orange hedgehog, please?” Then, two minutes later, “Can we go to the park? And we need to go into the garden.” Then a minute after that, “We haven’t decorated the Christmas tree yet…..” I suggested we make a list for him to decide what he wanted to do first, and that worked a treat – well, nearly……

Freddie charged back upstairs after the disappointing ice-cream episode to tell Grandpa all about it and let him taste it. Meanwhile, I promised to make volcano eggs for breakfast. Great squeals of laughter and frivolity drifted down the stairs as I worked. Whatever was going on? Ah…. “Grandpa’s tickling me!!” yelled Freddie, with great glee, going back for more.

After breakfast, we made the orange hedgehog (Christingle) of which Freddie ate half and saved half to take home. He also ate half of the bowl of sweets we’d poured out to make it easier to put them on the cocktail sticks. Nice follow-up to breakfast. “Let’s look at the list.” Freddie suggested after we’d finished the orange. Ahhh….. chocolate cake…… and ‘can I lick the bowl?’

Mid-morning, I thought I’d better check on what time Harriet planned to collect Fred-Fred so that I could prepare him for going home. We were driving into Birmingham for a hospital appointment just after three, so with regret, he couldn’t stay all day. Nearly broke my heart when he said, echoing my own sentiments of yesterday, “But Grandma, there’s still so much to do! We haven’t been in the garden yet, and can we go to the park?”

We did go to the park and had so much fun playing in the Katharine’s Wood, seeking out dragons and finding their nests. We even followed their trail. Watching the birds in the hedgerows and listening to their song lifted our spirits no end. “Listen, Grandma!” said Freddie, as he stopped in his tracks, wide-eyed, when he heard a flock of sparrows twittering in the woodland. Then he raced off, over the football field, heading straight for the skate park where he spent fifteen minutes, rosy-cheeked and happy as a sandboy, charging up and down the concrete mounds.

Disappointingly, the visit to the park ended on an upset though, as we were walking home. Lots of great puddles to splash in and OK to do so as Freddie was wearing his wellies and his splash suit. The only thing is, that neither of those pieces of clothing were able to save him from tripping and diving headlong into the largest puddle there was. Oh, dear, bless him. He was very upset, having grazed his elbow and hand. He walked home very miserably indeed and no amount of cajoling cheered him up. In the end, I carried him for the last hundred yards home and that helped. But blimey! He isn’t half heavy….

Once home, Grandpa had the beans on toast at the ready and so we started on lunch. Just at that moment, Harriet and Catherine arrived. I think it was a good job Catherine was there, because Freddie was already saying, “But we haven’t…..” and about to list all the things he wanted to do but we’d not had time for. The thrill of Catherine and the thought of taking a massive chocolate cake home with him distracted him, and there no tears on leaving. Well, not from him, anyway.

A wonderful interlude to this horrible lockdown and I am so uplifted by it that I am sure it’ll keep us going for a good while. We certainly need it.

Our visit to the hospital was a good one this afternoon, in the sense that we now know why John’s eyes are so sore and he has come home with a prescription for four or five more things to use….. It’s good that he has some products to help but, of course, it’s distressing to know that there’s even more stuff to remember and think about each day.

When we got back home, we surveyed the scene and we were reminded of that card from Wrinklies.com…… and we nodded at each other, laughed and said, “Let’s clear up tomorrow.”

Thank the Lord for such a good couple of days though. Marvellous.

The same can’t quite be said for everyone who’s been affected by the virus today though, of course, with the stats as follows:

• 13430 people confirmed as infected
• 603 people died in the community
• 203 people died in hospitals
• We’re on Day 27 of Lockdown 2
• And Day 258 since we first self-isolated in March

Stay safe everyone. God bless.