Bin Day

Thursday. Bin day. Always an exciting moment, isn’t it, when you put your bins out? No? Is this what it’s come to, then? That, in our household, we are so devoid of any excitement that a trip to the tip, and putting the bins out, is now classed as ‘entertainment’.

I mean, we had an exciting day. We woke up reasonably early but, with nothing pressing this morning, we stayed in bed, drinking tea and reading books, scrolling through social media or doing puzzles. I was only forced out of bed by the fact that we were due a shopping delivery at mid-day, so I had to be up.

The shopping arrived at about a quarter past twelve and I spent the next thirty minutes washing the shopping as is my wont, before it was singing lesson time. John, meanwhile, drifted towards the computer to have a look at the poker hand he might have picked up.

The singing lesson was great as usual, except that every little hang-up I have about singing has now emerged, and I haven’t even got to the end of one song all the way through to my, or my singing teacher’s, satisfaction. There is so much to think about. Your breathing – not from your throat, or your chest, but from your diaphragm. And don’t hunch your shoulders, then control your breath as you sing – not let it out all in one go. All that, as well as sing in time and in tune. It’s tough. But Melissa (the singing teacher) is very patient and assures me that I am not the worst student she’s ever had. “You’ve just got to get some confidence, Anne,” she said, smiling at me. Yeah, that. Well, I’ll try.

Anyway, no sooner had the lesson finished than it was time to go to the tip. Oooh…. a trip out. Lovely. The sun was shining, although it was a bit chillier than yesterday at 8 degrees. John had already loaded up the car, having cut up all the bits of wood that we wanted to be rid of. Mind, I was a bit bothered as Puffing Billy was in residence, and I didn’t think John was too good with his breathing today.

Nevertheless, we made the trip to the tip with no mishaps, despite me nearly overshooting the entrance again. John was not awfully amused. As we drew up to the the little cabin to check ourselves in, he teased, “Oh, look, I’m sure they’ll remember you from the last time we came and you tried to park the car. ‘Here she comes,’ they’ll be saying.” I just gave him a withering look and drove on.

John managed to chuck a bit of the debris into the skips, but was soon beaten and had to sit in the car, however. Puffing Billy was enjoying his holiday a bit too much in John’s lungs today.

Once we were home, we rested for a while – I mean, we’d been up, oooh, all of three hours by then – before John was drawn to poker again and I went upstairs to the computer room to try and order supplements for the old man.

I’d been having trouble accessing the on-line supplement shop for a while and, in the end, I’d ordered from an American site in early January. However, the supplements haven’t arrived, and John is pretty much out of everything. The nutritionist sent me a link, but it still wouldn’t let me in, so I ended up phoning the company in desperation. A lovely girl helped me, and soon I was in and ordering. Well, that was good news.

This evening, John watched TV while I Zoomed in on the college girls. Had a lovely chat to everyone and pleased to hear the good news that everyone has had their jab or having it in the next day or two. Everyone was well, which was nice to hear, and all the families are well, despite the odd scare here and there with children’s health. Thank the Lord that those who had been poorly are now nursed back to health. The NHS is just ruddy marvellous, isn’t it?

I am hoping the NHS is going to be marvellous tomorrow and phone me back about John’s chest. He was too puffed out to even put the bins out tonight, despite his excitement that it was bin day. I have left a message with the respiratory team to tell them that I don’t like the sound of it. It’s like a concertina at the moment, which can’t be right. If they haven’t phoned me by…. hmmm, now, let’s be reasonable about this…. say, ten o’clock, I’ll be phoning them again. Prayers please, for those of you who are so inclined – thank you.

In the meantime, the COVID numbers are still lessening, so that’s still a positive.

• 12,057 people tested positive for the virus today
• 454 people died with the virus in the community in the last 24 hours
• 204 families mourn the loss of a loved one who died in a hospital in the last couple of days
• Today is Day 44 of Lockdown 3; Day 331 since Lockdown 1 began; and Day 339 since John and I chose to stay home and shield.

Take care everyone. Stay safe. God bless.