Well… sort of. I mean, you can’t help but be happy, even in your unhappiness, when you see the grandchildren, can you? And so it was today. An underlying malaise because the ol’ man is still in hospital, but a sudden brightening of my mood when Danielle said she was planning to go for a walk in the park with the kids this morning. Don’t mind if I do.
We coincided, and had a lovely walk along the yellow brick road, discovering recently-planted trees, lots of molehills and a variety of daffodils. We walked on to Lavender Hall Park, where we played for ages on the apparatus that was there. William was in his waterproofs, so no bother today about getting a wet bum or wet hands today. All good.
Near the swings we found some stranded worms, however, and we thought we’d rescue them and put them back on the grassland. That was it then, of course, and William was obsessed with finding every single worm on the path and rescuing it. Like the Paw Patrol, we were on a ‘Rescue Mission’ and couldn’t possibly fail…..
On the way back, we stopped at La Delicia in the village and treated ourselves to hot chocolate. “Would you like cream and marshmallows with that?” the girl asked. Well, what a daft question to ask a three-year old. Of course he’d like cream and marshmallows! It was delicious.
Once we were home, we paused for a while for ‘porch play’. Well, porch-cum-hall-cum-stairs-cum-playroom. I said I’d seek out the toys that I had moved from the lounge, and William was on his way to collect toys of his own choosing before you could say ‘how’s your father’ – where does that expression come from? – and we were well into playing then, for a good while. Thomas had no sense of ‘no, you’re not allowed in’ either, and crawled his way beyond the threshold, Mr Curiosity itself. Danielle half despaired. I grinned. I was happy.
I’d have liked to have kept them all longer. Under normal circumstances, I’d have been offering them all lunch and snuggling the kids down for an afternoon nap while Danielle and I had a cosy chat, but we’re in lockdown, so it was all cut short and they left at lunchtime.
Danielle texted me later though. She was happy – Thomas was in his cot fast asleep; William was crashed out on the sofa and Chester had got ‘in on the action’ and was snuggled alongside William too. Danielle might get five minutes peace…..
This afternoon I pottered about putting washing on and having another tidy-up. How can one person make such a mess, I wonder? Ah, well. I thought I’d just have a little sit down while I waited for one load of washing to finish……..and woke up just in time as it came to an end.
In other news, I spoke to John early on this morning and he said he was ‘nil by mouth’. Ah-ha, I thought – a bronchoscopy today then. However, a bit later on when we chatted, he said he’d been down for a lung function test and was now allowed to eat. Hmmm… didn’t think that test meant you couldn’t eat, but what do I know?
Despite being told he could now eat and, “I’ll just go and get you something” from the nurse, nothing appeared, so John was hollow until tea-time. After tea, the doctor called in to see how the bronchoscopy had gone. “I didn’t have that procedure today” John told him. Oh. Ah. Hmmm…. the bronchoscopies, like the CT scans, aren’t as readily available as the doctor had thought. Nil by mouth from midnight tonight, so maybe tomorrow then?
This evening, I watched Comic Relief and found my bank account a little lighter than it was earlier in the day. Some harrowing stories among the funny sketches and you know your money is going to be spent well. Half-way through, Harriet phoned, which was lovely. Haven’t had a long chat to her for ages so it was a delight to mull stuff over. Her Dad went back into hospital this week though to be treated for an ongoing chest infection. There’s always something, isn’t there?
On the COVID front, there’s a steadying of the numbers.
- 4,802 people tested positive for the virus today
- 101 people died in the community with the virus in the last 24 hours
- 40 people died in hospitals with the virus on 17 & 18 March
- And it’s Day 72 for Lockdown 3; Day 360 for Lockdown 1; Day 368 for our self-imposed Lockdown 1
Take care everyone. God bless. And continued prayers if you are so inclined – thank you.
Poor John, that’s just rubbish for him
Yep