Day One: Lockdown 3

It was snowing. The garden was a lovely picture of green and white as the flakes fell steadily this morning at seven o’clock. We were up early for a run into Birmingham, to Heartlands Hospital, for John to have immunoglobulin treatment this morning. The roads were relatively light on traffic and we made our way there easily, with no hold-ups, and John was disgorged from the car at the entrance bang on time.

No bother on the way back either – although the snowflakes were falling thick and fast on the A45 and I began to wonder if we were in for a real snowstorm and would have trouble returning later to collect John. But no, the snow eased, and there was very little to be seen back in Balsall. What we’d had early on was melting away fast.

After the first consideration of looking after John this morning, I decided to consider my mental health next today. Instead of setting to with jobs galore, I went out into the garden and had ten minutes playing on my swing. It was brilliant. Although it was chilly at 1°C , it didn’t feel too cold at all. I am probably losing my marbles, but I chuckled to myself. The thrill of swinging high and overlooking the neighbouring gardens filled me with glee.

Next, I took myself off for a stride around the park, and in particular, Katherine’s Wood. It was a great walk, stopping to chat to fellow walkers at a good distance and pet their dog before making my way through into the woods themselves, where I saw what I think were chaffinches. Makes a change from sparrows, pigeons and blackbirds.

I was just on my way back when John texted to say his treatment was nearly finished. So off I set to collect the ol’ man. No snow now. And all hunky-dory at the hospital – the treatment had gone well, although John said his chair refused to recline so having a bit of a snooze was out of the question.

After lunch, John announced that he planned to sleep awhile. I thought that was a jolly good idea and I would follow suit. In fact, I thought maybe I’d lie on the bed for a while, rather than settle in the sofa.

When I woke up, it was dusk. The sun had set and the sky was blushed strawberry pink. ‘Goodness! I wonder what the time is?’ I thought. It was 16.45. Whaaaat? I had gone for a lie-down at 13.45. Three hours I’d been asleep. Three hours!

Well, there’s not much to say, really, because the day was gone. Managed to rouse myself enough to prepare something to eat for our evening meal and then get ready for Quiz Night. So, guess what? The Christmas decorations had another stay of execution. No bauble removal today. Maybe tomorrow.

Quiz Night lived up to all expectations with lovely company, amusing jokes in between the questions – John was on fire – and a good result at the end.

So that’s it! Day One of Lockdown Three, and Day 294 since the March 2020 incarceration, draws to a close. It was a peaceful and happy day. Of course, the news is anything but peaceful and happy with horrible happenings in America on Capitol Hill, and hospitals here in our own country worried about how they can cope with the volumes of people now forming a steady queue as they fall ill with COVID and hospital admissions now daily top the 3k mark.

Susie Dent’s word of the day is ‘sequaciousness’ from the 17th century – the blinkered unreasoning, and slavish following of another, no matter where it leads. And that leads me to the ‘mubble-fubbles’ – a 16th-century term for a feeling of despondency and a sense of impending doom. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but heaven help us turn the ‘unreasonables’ into ‘reasonables’ otherwise we could be looking at years of civil unrest both here and in America.

In the meantime, let’s spare a thought for all those who became a statistic today.

• 62,322 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours
• Over a thousand, 1,041, people have died, in the community, within 28 days of a positive COVID test in the last 24 hours
• 323 people have died in hospitals on 4 & 5 January from COVID-19

Take care everyone. Stay safe. God bless.