Month: February 2021

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.

It’s the beginning of Lent and Ash Wednesday today, which represents an opportunity to think of all the things we do and say that we are most sorry for. An opportunity to think about improving our habits. Traditionally, it’s the beginning of the 40 days when we give something up. In recent times, people are choosing not to give up, but to give more during this time.

I don’t know about you, but I am exhausted and not sure I can give anything up. I might be able to give something more though. It’s a bit twee, but perhaps a random act of kindness, even if it’s not every day? And hey, note to self: how about a random act of kindness from me to me, too? Now there’s a good place to start.

Anyway, onto today in which we were up betimes this morning. It was a hospital trip today for John’s regular, three-weekly slot of an appointment at nine o’clock, for an infusion of immunoglobulin. Apparently, he’s allowed to self-administer this treatment at home but, instead of sitting for a morning being waited on, reading a book and snoozing, he’d have to fiddle about, injecting himself every day. We’ve decided that a day out every three weeks is a better option just now.

What is particularly pleasant at the moment is that there really isn’t an awful lot of traffic. So the trip, for which we used to allow an hour, can be done now in just over twenty minutes. So we were up, washed, dressed, breakfasted, medicated and nebulised (John, that is) and on our way by 8.30. And I had dropped John off and was back home by 9.20. Can’t be bad, eh?

Whilst John was being infused, I listened to my little ‘note to self’ and spent the morning taking it slowly, starting with a little pamper session, then some general odd-jobs, before I got distracted with having found a brass object that needed polishing. Spent a happy hour doing that, before John texted me to say he’d nearly finished his treatment and would I toddle back to collect him, please?

The infusion session had gone well – much better than the previous one – but, as always, John has felt tired all day since. Mind you, he’s been bright enough to have had a bit more of a go at the wine cabinet he’s making, and to play poker this afternoon – so not too bad.

The wine cabinet is looking very good, and I am very pleased with it so far. There’s a little bit more twiddling to do before it’s finished, and I am hoping John won’t ask me his usual question of, ‘do you want to be able to use it, or do you want it finished?’ Of course, I’d like it finished…..

This afternoon, while John was busy with the cupboard and his poker, I spent a while on the computer doing the shopping, tinkered about in the kitchen making some lemon curd and then sat in our bedroom to practice my singing, which I am so enjoying. I might get the hang of it yet. We’ll see.

I also spent some time trying out several pairs of binoculars this afternoon, in an attempt to see if I could watch any birds in the garden. Binoculars are always a bit of a problem for me, however. Being squint-eyed, of course, the lenses don’t quite line up right. Not only that, when you wear glasses, you can’t get the eye-sights close to your eyes. And the binoculars are heavy. All in all, it’s a bit of a fight to see anything.

Also, standing by the window, the little devils know you’re looking at them the minute you lift the binoculars to your eyes, so they fly away, don’t they? And then you’re left staring at a barren bush, or thinking you’ve missed the actual spot and spend five minutes searching, only to lower the binoculars and find out that you were right in the first place. The little buggers have disappeared – tittering to themselves probably.

So the day passed fairly uneventfully and then it was time to eat our evening meal. Michael phoned just as we were sitting to eat, with a minor disaster unfolding at his house. The pipes under the taps in the kitchen were leaking. Of course, who would he ask to help him sort it out? His dad, of course. John had some sound advice, but we are not sure if it’s cured yet. Fingers crossed they don’t come down to a flooded kitchen tomorrow…..

After we’d eaten, we sat for a while before Quiz Night, and I caught up with Harriet. She’d had a busy day settling Ellie into her new flat, which looks lovely. A lounge, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom – it looks ideal for a single girl. I do hope she’ll be happy there. Harriet is obviously worried about her dad, but it sounded like he’s beginning to recover, but all good vibes are still needed please!

Quiz Night. The highlight of our week. It is such good fun and it is so very nice to see everyone and hear their news. With two of the couples house-hunting, there’s lots of stories to tell. Then the quiz itself is always challenging and we are often surprised at what we do know – but clearly, also what we don’t know. I really don’t anything about music. It’s a good job that no-one listens to my lame answers in this category – well, not normally anyway. Tried one answer today and we stayed with it only to find it was the other answer we’d thought of and discarded. Oh, well.

While we’ve been keeping ourselves healthy with pills and other tricks to keep us going, such as Pfizer or AstraZeneca jabs, there are still those who are sick with COVID in hospitals. But the trend is still down, so hope flickers once more.

• 12,718 people tested positive for the virus today
• 738 people died in the community with COVID in the last 24 hours
• 246 people died with the virus in hospitals on 15 & 16 February
• Today is Day 43 of Lockdown 3; Day 330 since the official lockdown day last March; and Day 338 since John and I began our hibernation

And the little, big things: Arthur is still doing OK – he is now sleeping in a cot, wearing lots of layers to help him maintain his body temperature; the weather is warmer so we might sit outside for a bit at the weekend; and the grandchildren are adorable and fill my heart every time I talk to them on a video call. Counting my blessings.

Take care everyone. God bless.

As you know, I have a very long list of things to do. In fact, it’s never-ending, because as soon as I tick one thing off I replace it with yet another. However, I was rather pleased that I might have shifted one thing from the list today. A little snagging job from the lounge refurb.

We have a lovely old wooden fire screen that Richard bought us donkeys years ago when we first moved into the house. On one side, I have a piece of creative art, done by Michael when he was about ten, I think, and on the other, I have piece of wallpaper that matches whatever we have in the lounge. So, today, I stripped off the old and put on the new.

Actually, I thought it was going to be a simple job, but the old wallpaper put up a fight and it took me quite while to scrape it off. Then, with the space for the new paper being smaller than the width of the roll, there was a lot of fiddling about to get the new piece to fit. Once I’d completed it, I proudly put the fire screen in place. Ta-da! John nodded approvingly, only to then observe, “Isn’t the wallpaper upside down?”

I didn’t think it was, having quite carefully and deliberately put it into place, but he was right. Darn it!! I had put it on upside down. Ah, well, will anyone notice? I expect they will if John did…… back to the drawing board tomorrow then – or will I? Might leave it as it is and then I can tick that job off the list.

A completed job that I can tick off the list though, was the tidy-up of the dining room. All decorating materials are now bundled into the utility room, the table is back to its small size, crockery and cloths have been put away, Christmas candles have gone upstairs and it’s now in a state where I can see the wood for the trees and actually consider how we might re-decorate it. Hmmm….. it’s a smaller room than the lounge, but I think it might be a bigger job. We’ll see.

John was also at his job of creating a wine rack/cabinet today, giving it a second coat of paint and working out how to fit the door. That man is a genius. It’s going to look great once it’s done.

At lunchtime though, we both had a sit to watch the news. We hadn’t been brave enough to watch the cricket carnage this morning, so we thought we’d just catch up on what exactly had happened. Within minutes, however, we were both snoring our heads off. Honestly, you’d think we’d been running marathons, not just faffing about with little jobs at home. John woke up before me and very kindly spread his rung across me to keep me warm. It was a struggle, I can tell you, to get on with things this afternoon after that.

John played poker and did some more on the cupboard this afternoon while I paid bills and tinkered with paperwork in the computer room. I had intended to get up into the loft and do some sorting out there, but the day ran away with me and I really couldn’t be bothered to climb to the top of the house and crawl around up there. Maybe tomorrow?

Meanwhile, the news on the COVID front continues to be a bit more positive with fewer cases and deaths. It may be improving, but it is still heartbreaking in individual cases as people battle the illness, its after-effects and, in the worst cases, the loss of a loved one.

• 10,625 people tested positive for the virus today
• 799 people died with the virus in the community in the last 24 hours
• 224 people died in hospitals with the virus on 14 & 15 February
• Today is Day 42 of Lockdown 3; Day 329 since the official ‘stay in your houses’ command; and Day 337 since John & I agreed to batten down the hatches

And as for some other things that catch my attention: little Arthur is doing OK and has moved into a side room with his Mum. Fingers crossed they both get some sleep tonight. My amaryllis is still fantastic, with all four blooms out now. And I tried to learn what the difference between a hedge sparrow, a tree sparrow and a dunnock was today……

Take care everyone. God bless.

It’s an interesting concept – ‘the beginning of the week’. Interesting, because every day feels the same these days. It’s no wonder that John asks me a hundreds times a day, ‘Is it Monday?’ or ‘Is it Tuesday?’ etc. You can see how easy it will be to drop into the realms of: ‘S/he doesn’t know what the day of the week it is! Do you think s/he is alright?’ We do know who the Prime Minister is though, so we’re OK so far.

Anyway, Monday started with the horrible news that England are embarrassingly behind in the second test, having collapsed their first innings. I’m not hopeful that they are going to claw anything back on this one. Dare we switch the cricket on tomorrow morning, that’s the question?

Despite the shocking cricket news, I was up and about reasonably early, even so far as to thinking I might go for an early walk. I didn’t in the end – it was mightily foggy until mid-morning when the sun burst through, and by then I was in the throes of more tidying. I did, however, walk round to Mum’s just before mid-day, so I got a bit of exercise.

John was up about 11.00 and, after he’d done his medical bits, of course, the day was already half gone. But he was keen to be getting on with creating a wine rack/cupboard/shelving today, so he cracked on. He was still sorting it out when I got back from Mum’s and has really worked hard on it for most of the day. So much so, that by tea-time he was exhausted and had to go and have a lie-down.

Mum, on the other hand, was on top form. Humming her way round her flat, happy as a sandboy. I got there just before the carer, who had come to serve her lunch, so that worked quite well. I was in the middle of changing the sheets on Mum’s bed because it had suddenly dawned on me that, since Tracy (Mum’s cleaner) had abandoned ship at the beginning of January, I wasn’t sure that the bedsheets had actually been changed. The carer confirmed my fears – no, they hadn’t done them. And, of course, neither had I. Fortunately, Mum is the cleanest of people so nothing too untoward at all really. Anyway, the carer said they can do them if I just put a request in. Well, that’s rather good news. It wasn’t a job I was particularly looking forward to.

Once I was back from Mum’s I prepped some lunch. Then, as we sat eating our lunch John started musing as to how many calories there might be in it. We are wondering why we are staying fattened during lockdown. Of course, I have put it down to too much chocolate and wine. But no, possibly not. It might be the rather luscious food I am serving. In fact, our ‘snack’ lunch turned out to have almost a thousand calories in it…..hmmmm……. time to check out what I am serving at each meal then. I wondered why I struggle to do my waistband up.

This afternoon, I spent time rummaging in the loft. I was looking for something particular – an old heirloom – which proved elusive until the last minute. Before I came across it, I naturally came across other treasures, which I had forgotten we’d still got, and which delighted me. Some of the items had belonged to John’s grandma and parents, so held a lot of sentiment. So it was a dreamy sort of afternoon. Old photos too, of course…..

On the COVID front, several friends are reporting no side-effects from their injections or, if they’ve had any, nothing much at all. I have to report however, that I am still suffering with a very red arm. Goodness me, I do like to make a fuss….had to report it on the Yellow Card system that I just learned about today. Every day’s a school day, isn’t it?

I am pleased, however, that the incidence of COVID is lessening. This is good news and I do hope that we don’t all go mad when we’re let loose and it all starts up all over again.

• 9,765 people tested positive for the virus today
• 230 people died with it in the community in the last 24 hours
• 138 people died with it in hospitals on 13 & 14 February
• Today is Day 41 of Lockdown 3; Day 328 since the official announcement of Lockdown 1; and Day 336 since our-self-imposed lockdown

So, I am still praying for all those affected by COVID – especially Harriet’s Dad who has caught it while in hospital being treated for pneumonia. Please send positive vibes. It’s a worrying time.

Take care everyone. God bless.

Ah…. Valentine’s Day! A day for loving each other and ourselves. The latter, a lesson I am still learning despite my advancing years, which you would have thought would have taught me a thing or two by now!!

Anyway, it was a peaceful day. We didn’t stretch ourselves too much. Just took the pleasures of the day as they came. The lying in bed, the chatting to family members, the pains aux raisins that were hot and luscious straight from the oven, the watching of cricket, tennis and rugby, and finally, a delicious evening meal, lingered over.

The weather wasn’t so great today so we didn’t venture out. It was grey, rainy and windy, so we just looked out of the windows hoping that the birds would come and fill their faces. We saw some – the pigeons were looking hopefully at the food, but were too fat to even think about hovering or clinging on to the side of the pots. There were magpies, but they were more interested in the insects and seeds in the grass. So, we saw birds but none on the feeder. Ah, well.

This afternoon, I had a look at Michael’s paper that he’s preparing for submission. Fascinating stuff, but he’s got a heck of a deadline to meet. Not sure I’ll be able to keep up….

This evening, after he’d watched rugby and enjoyed it, John helped with prepping the evening meal, which was nice, and we enjoyed the food – some of which was paleo and some wasn’t….. another treat. However, by the time we’d finished our steaks, neither of us were up for the dessert, so that went back into the fridge for another day. Oh, dear, we can’t put it away like we used to!

We had to laugh at ourselves though. We thought we’d dress for dinner. Ah…. if only we could squeeze ourselves into the clothes hanging in our wardrobes. John went upstairs first whilst I busied myself with the last of the cooking. Puzzingly, he didn’t come back down, so I, too, went up to change. I found him, in amongst a lot of discarded clothes, laughing away, to tell me that nothing fitted. Well, I was alright, Jack, because I squeezed myself into the LBD that I’d worn recently for the Murder Mystery. I knew that fitted me…..

In the end, John abandoned all and simply came back downstairs in the one shirt and pair of trousers he’d managed to find that were something like. He looked nice as far as I was concerned. Not sure what he’s planning to do with the clothes that don’t fit. He says he’s going on a diet. I’d join him except that I don’t think it’ll work for me…..

Better news on the COVID front today, which has cheered me up – and I am hoping that, whatever happens in the next few weeks, the majority will have learned how to avoid transmission of the virus so that we can ‘play out’ again in March/April.

• 10,972 people tested positive for the virus today
• 258 people died in the community in the last 24 hours
• 162 people died in hospitals on 12 & 13 February
• It’s Day 40 of Lockdown 3; Day 327 since the beginning of Lockdown 1; and Day 335 since our self-imposed lockdown.

Take care everyone. God bless.

🎶🎶 Saturday, Saturday! 🎶🎶 Thought I might have to get my dancing shoes on to keep warm today!

So, this morning I was having a lovely snooze. John had brought me a nice cup of tea and I was snuggled beautifully under the covers. But then I heard him cursing and blinding. Oh, dear, what is it? It was only the blooming boiler that had gone off, wasn’t it? Ah, I see, time for a shuffle and a wriggle to keep warm. Should I call the plumber? No, we’ll wait. See if it sorts itself out while it’s switched off. And, do you know? It did. Clever John. I didn’t have to do the shake, rattle and roll to keep warm, after all.

Shortly after the boiler had decided to behave itself, we got up. Firstly, the doorbell had rung with a delivery (another little project that John has got going on) which prompted me to run downstairs, half-dressed, to answer the door. And then, secondly, Paul texted to say he was coming into the village and were we going on our ‘regular’ walk to the park? Of course we were!

But by heck! It wasn’t half cold!

We were lucky and found a disabled parking spot – the very last spot in the car park – and got out to say a surprised ‘hello’ to Paul and Freddie. Freddie was jittering with the cold, as was John. John actually got back in the car to wait and keep warm while Freddie got his togs on before we set off.

The wind was bitter. Of course, I was very busy entertaining Freddie with ‘look at this frozen puddle/let’s break the ice/let’s find a bit of ice that looks like glass/let’s pull your gloves up’, so I felt warm enough. John, on the other hand, was standing watching. We walked on a bit and decided to shelter in the little woodland among the trees, which broke the wind’s force and was slightly warmer. “Do you want to play in the park, Freddie?” I asked. His eyes lit up, “Yes, please,” he said, and he charged, racing like a gazelle, towards the playground.

To be honest, I think I was excited as Freddie to be out playing. “Tig!” I said, patting him on the shoulder and running away. Well, that was it then. We ran around for the next half an hour so, tagging each other and Daddy, who came and joined in after John had decided he would forsake his walk, as it was too blooming cold to stay out, and he’d gone to sit back in the car. Round the swings we went, past the slide, hopping onto the see-saw, swizzling round and round on the spinney thing (which I didn’t try today), clambering over the now-defunct roundabout and leaping onto the swings. Off the ground, you couldn’t be caught. On it, you were fair game.

Oh, we had such fun. My heart was full and it was such a delight to have chanced upon them in the park. When Paul had texted I thought maybe that it would be simply a walk. But, of course, my heart did a fillip when I saw that Freddie was there too. So what else could I do, but play? More please…. more…..

And then, of course, this afternoon there was rugby to watch. The Six Nations always holds us in thrall, so we were glued to the England/Italy match before switching over to the Scotland/Wales match. The former wasn’t that exciting really, although England did play better than last week. However, the Wales/Scotland match was a stonker. But, I wonder, has the Welsh team cast a spell on the teams they play? Last week, Ireland had a man sent off, so Wales played against 14 men, and won. This week, Scotland had a man sent off, so Wales played against 14 men, and won. Interesting… watch this space… I reckon they’ve got potions. Well, being Welsh, you’d expect them to have something up their sleeve, wouldn’t you?

Clearly, nothing much got done again today. I did do the ironing while I watched rugby, however. But what a shocker! The sheet I had taken off the bed to wash proved to have a hole in it!! I am sure it’s not that long since I bought it – can’t be ten years surely? These sheets have a 10-year guarantee, but can I remember where I bought the dratted thing? No. Ah, well, Dunelm to the rescue, I hope.

Not only is there rugby for our pleasure during these winter months, but there’s cricket, which we watched in bed this morning, and also tennis. Whoo-hoo! Whoo-hoo! My favourite! Spent the evening watching the Australian Open highlights while John fiddled on his laptop, chuntering to himself about his gains and losses on the poker table.

Not bad, eh? All that sport to watch, family to see from a distance and a lovely warm house to boot. I mean, we chatted to Michael and William on a video call, as well, and watched William exulting in his new soft play tent/tunnel that Danielle had bought – plus Thomas later on. Lucky us. Lucky, lucky us.

On the COVID front, all the talk on our networking groups is ‘Have you had the jab yet?’ and, mostly, yes, everyone is having the jab. ‘Are you OK? Which one did you have? AZ or Pfizer? Did you have any side-effects? Hope you feel better soon’ and so on. It’s lovely to know everyone is interested and concerned for each other. I love my friends and family.

• 13,308 people have tested positive for the virus today
• 621 people have died in the community with the virus in the last 24 hours
• 254 people have died in hospitals on 11 & 12 February
• It’s Day 39 of Lockdown 3; Day 326 since Lockdown 1 was announced; and Day 334 since John and I hunkered down.

Stay safe everyone. Double-masking is now the thing, I hear. God bless.

I have been counting the lockdown days as best I can for the benefit of the daily blog. However, I have wondered whether I might have miscounted how many days it is since we originally shut our front door against the world, so I thought I’d check back.

The official ‘lockdown’ date was Tuesday, 24 March 2020. 325 days ago. John and I made a decision that we’d withdraw the week before, on Monday, 16 March 2020. 333 days ago. So, yes, one way or another, I think I’ve gained/lost some days somewhere. Apologies to those who have been counting with me.

Anyway, it was the volume of time that got to me today. It just seems such a long time since we were free and able to do as we pleased. I know we are all making the very best of it and some days are easier than others, but I saw, stretching before me, months and months of more of the same and I felt a big, black hole of despair open up.

It’s even invading my dreams now, and I woke up the worse for wear this morning, having been on the losing side of a game of ‘Risk’ against John in the night. The rest of the dream was also weird and wonderful – with a tsunami overwhelming us; the pharmacist at the local chemist forcing us to sit in a special, ‘lie-back’ chair to talk to her; and the assistant forcing us to talk to a microphone in the wall while she listened to its output, not six inches away. No wonder I was out of sorts today.

So, all those best intentions of ‘jobs planned’ were put on hold. The painting of the porch or the windowsill – nah, not today; the clear out of the dining room – not that either; the tidy-up upstairs – oof! no thank you; practise my singing? read a book? do yoga? look at Michael’s work? Erm… no, none of those either. The day felt too black to be attempting anything.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t all bad today. By mid-afternoon, I had brightened up a bit and managed to strip the bed and get the washing on. I’d ordered some shopping from the Co-op which was delivered promptly, and I’d done the usual ‘washing the shopping’ before putting it away. I’d opened the post, had a little go on the cross-trainer, and John was suggesting a walk in the freezing cold air.

The walk was exceedingly welcome but it was very cold. John walked a bit better today and we didn’t have quite so many pit-stops as we’d had yesterday. But there was a moment when he’d had enough and I offered to run and get the car. But no, Mr Determined was going to finish the walk by hook or by crook, so he did.

Once home, we cracked open the hot chocolate to warm our bones, and very welcome that was too. Of course, at that point, I decided I definitely wasn’t going to be getting on with anything so I sat and caught up on a few TV programmes.

Then, as these things do, thoughts of the family drifted into my mind and I started thinking of them all and missing them once again. Most particularly, I started thinking about Paul and his 40th birthday coming up at the end of the month. What the heck are we going to get him? He never wants for, or hankers after, anything very much, because he’s pretty contented with what he’s got. So it’s an awkward one – I spent hours this afternoon scrolling the internet for ideas. And how are we going to celebrate? Heaven knows. All suggestions welcome.

I think Andrew must have read my mind though today, because just as I went into the kitchen to start cooking the evening meal, he phoned. And it was lovely. He cheered me up no end. He is such good company and I was grateful to be able to talk to him. He was also cooking his evening meal as we chatted, so it felt very companionable to be doing the same thing at the same time. Not only that, I think his chef’s vibes rubbed off on me and our evening meal turned out to be absolutely delicious.

So, there we are. A day of two halves really. Hopefully tomorrow will be a full day of OK-ness. Fingers crossed. I know I have nothing to feel fussed about really, being so very blessed, but there are some days…….

The news is better, however, on the COVID front, with the trends down in almost every area and many of my friends texting or phoning to say they’ve had the jab. Hope springs eternal.

• 15,144 people tested positive for the virus today
• 758 people died in the community with the virus in the last 24 hours
• 250 people died in hospitals on 10 & 11 February
• And today is Day 38 of Lockdown 3

Little Arthur is still making progress, the pigeons are getting fatter by the day on our bird seed and my amaryllis is splendid. Enjoy.

My lovely friend Kaye called this morning. She brought with her ‘spring’, in the guise of daffodils. How very wonderful. Cheered me up no end. Not only because the flowers were an expression of hope, but because I haven’t seen her for such a long time. Last time we met up was at her house, under her gazebo in the pouring rain, supping teas and coffees, hoping that the virus would go away and we could get back to ‘normal’. I reckon that was last Autumn. Since then, of course, we have hunkered down and basically hibernated the winter away. Anyway, it was a great surprise and a delight to see her. How marvellous that she should think of me. Heartfelt thank you.

After she left, I hot-footed it to the SnuGym for Jaime’s yoga class. Confident that I’d set everything up about fifteen minutes earlier, I thought I would just slide into class, with a couple of minutes to spare, and get going. As it turned out, the lead had fallen out of the laptop and it was dead. No class waiting for me, after all. Had to set the whole thing up again and I was a good few minutes late. I wasn’t best pleased, but after a minute or two of Jaime’s excellent narrative I soon relaxed and sank into my yoga bubble.

Then my second pleasure of the day – my singing lesson. Oh, how I am enjoying that. I learned today why I think I can’t sing and also some breathing techniques to overcome the problem. We started on a different song, which is slightly less tricky than the previous one. Melissa recognised the difficulties I was having – namely, pitching a tune, keeping the timing and singing with any power – all of which, of course, are the key ingredients to actually singing a song. And because I was having trouble with the basics, she’s chosen a song that’s much simpler. Might be able to sing this one. Must practice.

John, meanwhile, stayed in bed this morning until nearly mid-day and then spent the next hour faffing about with his medications. Great excitement today though. He has used the last of the ‘sting-y’ eyedrops that were prescribed, so he’s hoping that agony will be over for a while.

He then busied himself gluing the windowsill down that he’d made the other day and sealing all around it with silicone. Looks a lovely professional job – but then, you’d expect nothing less, would you? Very pleased with it, we are. *Does a little dance* Mind you, I’ve gotta paint it now…..

John passed on lunch, so I made myself a bite to eat before running back upstairs to the computer room to read some of Michael’s work on his recent studies. I didn’t get very far though because it was soon time to open the barber’s shop in the kitchen, and cut John’s hair. “Can you cut it long?” he asked. I wasn’t sure what to make of that. “Long?” I wondered. “Well, not short.” he said. Ah… I see. It’s winter and we want a long haircut. I cut it long.

I had been hankering for a walk for much of the day but obviously, other things had got in the way. However, after John had finished at the barber’s, we donned our winter coats, muffled ourselves up with scarfs, pulled on warm shoes, gloves and hats, and set off. “We’ll walk to the Post Office and post these letters first,” I suggested, “and then, if you’re up to it, we’ll do the Yellow Brick Road circuit before calling at Pete and Dawn’s to drop some little cards off.” John nodded agreement and off we went. The trouble was, he brought Puffing Billy with him again, so we took our time and spent a while pausing to let others go by/admire the scenery/avoid a dog/listen to the birds singing and so on. So, by the time we got to Pete and Dawn’s, it was dark and they were eating their tea. We just dropped the cards in and went on our way – no chatting for long today.

It was bitterly cold though. The wind was particularly biting and our noses were like little red buttons on our faces by the time we got back home. Despite that, we thoroughly enjoyed our exercise and were pleased we’d made the effort.

Once we’d unwrapped our layers, I started prepping the tea. “Do you want me to do anything?” John asked, in that hopeful voice that says ‘I hope not’. Well, of course I didn’t need him to do anything – interference in the kitchen? Whatever was he thinking?

This evening, John played poker and fiddled about on the computer while I chatted to the girls in the ‘Bibliophiles’ Book Club I belong to. It was a delightful chat and I really enjoyed listening to their views about the book that we’d read. I do feel blessed. What pleasures there can be in life, eh? Even on Zoom.

In other news, the general trend of people infected with the virus is going down although there were 13,494 cases today. There were however, fewer people dying with it in the community – 678. There were 267 people who died in hospitals on 9 & 10 February too, which is also fewer. Cone on, people, we can do it!!

Little Arthur is doing OK having regained his birth weight and (see photo) my amaryllis is be-oo-tiful.

And, for those asking, it was my Mum ‘wot wrote the poem’ that I posted yesterday, from a collection of poetry she wrote about ten years ago. Who’da thought it?

Take care everyone. God bless.

Despite my best intentions, I never did complete any job really, today. I was too busy enjoying myself doing other things.

We got up reasonably early and pottered about, getting breakfast and tidying the kitchen, which seems to have a mind of its own and is always untidy. I started on a little clear-out of the dining room, but didn’t get very far before I left John to his medical ministrations and whisked myself upstairs to Zoom in on dear and lifelong friends, Sue and Rod.

I don’t think we’ve been in touch since just before Christmas, so it was delightful to see them and chat away. They both looked so very well and happy, even though lockdown is as frustrating for them as it is for the rest of us. They thought I looked well, too. It’s amazing, isn’t it, that lockdown makes you look well even when you’re feeling a bit off par because you’re missing your family. It was also amazing that we found so much to talk about, and the time went by so quickly that it was soon lunchtime before we knew it and the goodbyes were said.

By the time I got downstairs, John had finally finished his medical stuff and was suggesting it might be time for something to eat. Between us, we prepared lunch and, then, after we’d eaten, because it was such a glorious day with the sun shining on the fast-disappearing but sparkly snow, we thought we’d take a walk.

John took ‘Puffing Billy’ with him on the walk and we stopped at various times to ‘admire the scenery’. It was chilly, but exhilarating. We took a short circuit along the path that takes you round the marshland area in Lavender Hall Park, and enjoyed several interludes with dogs and their owners. Some really cute dogs in the park today and very nice owners.

Once we were back at the house, we thought we’d hop in the car and run over to Sutton to drop off an essential item that had been left behind with the washing the other day. It was a lovely run there and back, and we were pleased that the Sutton Sleaths had a moment to spare to say ‘hello’ before they got back to their busy lives. We also brought back a whole pile of junk that is to go to the tip when we next go. We’ve got a slot booked for next Thursday and we are beginning to think this is the new highlight of our lives, and something to look forward to.

I decided I really didn’t want to carry on faffing about in the dining room when we got back, so we made a cuppa and I sat and watched ‘The Chase’ while John investigated something on the computer. And then, after our evening meal, it was Quiz Night again. How quickly the days rush by and how quickly a Wednesday appears on the horizon once more. It’ll soon be our turn to be Quiz Masters again and we’ve only just got over the effort of doing the last one!

However, it was a great evening. Interesting quiz, to which I had almost zero answers and, it’s at times like these that I realise how little I know about politics, music, geography, IT and history. Oh. That’s pretty much a whole quiz, isn’t it? Ah, well, thank goodness for the rest of the team members who knew stuff and made me laugh throughout with their wit and clever answers. Quiz night = keeping me sane, thank you very much.

All in all, it was a day of nothing startling or dramatic, but we made our way through it gently and took it easy. No rush, no pressure, just as it came.

Of course, not everyone can do that, so once again, I am thinking of everyone who is in trouble or pain, from whatever cause, today, and sending positive vibes.

• 13,013 people tested positive for the virus today
• 1,001 people died in the community from the virus in the last 24 hours
• 315 people died in hospitals from the virus on 8 & 9 February

The lockdown is having some effect, but we really don’t know how to plan our lives and what we will be allowed to do and when. I am hoping for garden visits at the very least in early March. John’s got his heated blanket to keep him warm, we’ve got a patio heater and the rest of us can run about like lunatics to keep ourselves warm.

In the meantime, I am delighted to feast my eyes on the rather beautiful amaryllis I had for Christmas, which is just beginning to bloom, and to succour my soul with poetry. See what you think – see if it does the same for you. God bless.

Sunshine is my dawn
Moonshine is my night. 
This, from the day we were born, 
Forever, engaging light.

Be thankful for the gift you've been given.
Help those in more desperate need. 
Bring sunshine to their dawn, 
And into their eyes, rays of light.

I think it’s about 30 years since John built the little extension on the side of the house, to make the lounge into a little L-shape. A cosy area, away from the thrum of daily life – first it was John’s study area and then I encroached, working from home. Over the years it’s been many things – and mostly, just recently, it was the children’s play area until we made it into the library. I waited and waited for a library and now, I’ve finally got one. I thought I was made up at that. But what we have now, must surely put the icing on the cake!!! We have a windowsill in there! Just one – the other one is yet to be crafted, but what a beauty the one we’ve got, is.

You may ask, didn’t we have windowsills before now? And the answer would be, no. We had painted plaster but not proper, wooden sills. With the advent of the lounge decoration, John has thought how nice it would be to finish it all with a flourish and create lovely sills in front of our new windows. *Does a little dance* Eeeh…. he’s gone and done a proper job – and, you never know, we might be civilised yet. Thrilled, I am, thrilled.

In other news, I spent the morning reading in bed. John also spent much of the morning in bed, but he did get up before me. But I was determined to finish my book. It’s the ‘Bibliophiles’ Book Club on Friday, and I didn’t want to be embarrassed at not having finished it. It was a cracking book, too. I really enjoyed it. ‘The Birth of Venus’ by Sarah Dunant, if anyone’s interested.

Once we were up and about we both had jobs to do. Obviously, John’s was creating, from scratch, the windowsill I may have mentioned. Mine, was to finally vacuum and mop the floor in the porch following its makeover with new windows and door, and generally start to get it ready for painting. Yup, another paint job. Of course, the cleaning spilled into the downstairs cloakroom, the hall and up the stairs, so everything took a little longer than I expected. But it’s a bit tidier anyway.

However, it feels like we’re living in one of those little sliding puzzles we used to have as kids. Remember them? You move one tile along so that you slide another onto a different row, before shifting it, or another one, to get it into place.

So…. in order to set up the lounge and library, I cleared it all out and stuck things I didn’t want into the dining room. Now then, I’m aiming to have a go at decorating the dining room at some point. So I’ve gotta move all the stuff upstairs. With me, so far?

The children’s toys and the Christmas decorations were also transplanted from the lounge and library into Andrew’s ‘living room’ on the first floor i.e. ‘upstairs’. Hmmm…… I don’t think I can move the clutter from the dining room until I’ve shifted the stuff ‘upstairs’ into the loft, or taken it to the tip…… *shudders at the thought of throwing things away*. Still with me?

Anyway, the first step in the sliding puzzle was to sort out the porch. Confused? Well, it was so that I could move the chair and walking stick stand back to their rightful places from where they were ensconced in the dining room. I’ve taken one step in the right direction anyway. The full picture is yet to emerge……..Next!

I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted just writing about it, so you can imagine that after we’d eaten our evening meal we just flopped on the sofas and relaxed this evening. More sliding puzzle games tomorrow, no doubt – unless I get my paintbrush out. Now, which is it to be, I wonder?

In the wider world, we are hearing that many of our friends are now moving along the escalator towards having the vaccine, with several having had the jab, and others having got them booked. Good news that. Not that it’s going to make a vast deal of difference to our way of life from what I’ve been reading. We’re still likely to catch the lurgy but, joy of joys, not so likely to clog up the hospitals because the infection won’t be quite so severe. Mind you, I wouldn’t want it to be much more severe than the reaction to the vaccine – it wasn’t very nice, even that.

Prayers, then, are with all those who are suffering from the virus and its effects, as well as all those who are struggling because of the lockdown situation. It’s exceedingly hard for everyone, but for some, it’s an especially tough time in these winter months. Mind you, I did declare to John, with some glee, that it was light at about 5.30 this morning and was still (nearly) light at 5.30 this evening. That’s 12 hours of daylight folks!! We just have to get up to see it……..

• 12,364 people tested positive for the virus today
• 1,052 people died in the community with the virus in the last 24 hours
• 265 people died in hospitals on 7 & 8 February
• The rate of admission to hospitals is declining – down 22% last week.

We are not absolutely sure when our lockdown will end now, of course, given the concerns about the new strains of the virus and so on. I am counting the days. Today is Day 35 of Lockdown 3 and Day 327 (I think) since Lockdown 1.

But how confident are we of those who are making the rules? It feels less and less liberal – or perhaps I am reading the wrong information – when you hear that someone coming to the country could face 10 years in prison for failing to declare the original country from whence they have travelled. Ten years? Goodness me – there’s generally a lot of sticks and not many carrots being offered now, as far as I can tell. People behave best when there’s reward, don’t they?

Take care everyone. Stay safe and God bless.