Month: March 2021

Sunday, they say, is a day of rest, so I thought I’d do that today – and managed not too badly until later on in the day when I suddenly felt overwhelmed and extremely irritated.

It started well. Dear Linda texted, as she often does on a Sunday, to see if I wanted anything from the shops. As it happened, I didn’t need anything and, with John being in hospital, no newspaper was required either. So I wafted about in my dressing gown this morning, chatted to John for a bit, read my book for a bit, wandered outside to inspect the pond to see if the frogs had been busy yet (and they had), completed the census and generally mooched about.

A bit later on, I had another text from Linda: ‘Have left you a little something in the porch…..’ Ooooh, how very nice! I went to see, and there was a bunch of my favourite flowers – tulips – and a four-pack of Flakes! Another favourite. Honestly, that is just fantastic isn’t it? I really have got the very best friends.

John wasn’t too bad today – still on oxygen but not too depressed and coping. The consultant called in to see if he’d had any side-effects from the bronchoscopy yesterday. Nope, all good. The consultant had no news, however, as to what was found as a result of the procedure – perhaps we’ll find out tomorrow.

We’re waiting to see what they will do next. Interestingly, they keep bleating on about John’s symptoms being post-COVID. John keeps telling them he hasn’t had the virus, but they point to the positive test that was done and say ‘look, there you are’. John retorts with ‘look, there were three other tests within the same time frame that say negative’. Anyway, heaven knows…….

This afternoon I went over to Mum’s, having promised to trim and set her hair ready for her birthday tomorrow. Not that she would remember, and probably wouldn’t really care, but now I feel obliged, as the carer says things to Mum like: ‘Anne’ll visit you, I’m sure, this week,’ and, ‘Anne’s promised to come and do your hair. You’ll look lovely then, won’t you?’ Oh, gawd….. in the olden days, it was the guilt trip driven by Mum. Now it’s the guilt trip driven by her proxy……

The hairdressing went well, despite Mum being a bit wobbly on her pins and needing aid to get in and out of her chair. While we were waiting for Mum’s hair to dry and set, I noticed that there was a fair bit of dust on her furniture. Not surprising really, as the cleaner abandoned ship when this last wave of COVID reared its ugly head and I’ve only vacuumed the flat. I got the duster and polish out and sparkled up her lounge. She loved that, of course, and was very grateful – although she had had no idea that there was dust anywhere.

When I got home, I started to plough through a few jobs – and that’s when I thought I’d got too much to do and too short a time to do it in….. ‘Come on, Anne, you can do it,’ is my favourite mantra – and mostly, I can.

However, I was feeling irritable. So irritable in fact, that I growled at Shadow when he started miaowing for his tea. ” Oh, shut up!’ I said, reaching in the cupboard for some food for him. And then it dawned….. I had been using polish at Mum’s – no wonder I was irritable. I have no idea what is in a can of polish, but it never agrees with me, and I am always grumpy whenever I use it. That, of course, is my excuse for not doing housework at home…… tee-hee.

So, there we are. A day of half-rest…..better than nothing, eh?

I haven’t watched the news today, but I do know there’s rioting in Bristol and find myself not surprised. I also know that there’s flooding in New South Wales in Oz, which prompted me to text Graham to check whether they are affected. No, he said, they are on high ground so should be OK. However, their local town, Lismore, is likely to be affected again. Last time there was heavy rain, the levee was breached and whole town flooded. However, Graham did say that they’ve had 60ml of rain in the last 24 hours. Crumbs….

On the COVID front, the numbers seem about the same, which is good news.

• 5,312 people tested positive for the virus today
• 33 people died in the community with the virus in the last 24 hours
• 17 people died in hospitals on 19 & 20 March
• And it’s Day 74 for Lockdown 3; Day 362 since Lockdown 1; Day 370 since our self-imposed Lockdown 1

Take care everyone. God bless.

This is a stock question that John and I ask each other, first thing in the morning, and it’s no different now, even when the ol’ man is in hospital.

So, his plans were to have a rumbling tummy again until they took him down for the bronchoscopy – and he wasn’t at all sure at what time of day that would be. My wish winged its way across to him on WhatsApp: ‘Hope it’s soon and it goes well.’

Luckily, it turned out to be soon enough and he texted me just as I was setting off to take his clean PJs and bits and bobs to him: ‘Just going down now,’ he said. Righty-ho. Delivery of clothes, etc. won’t harm in absentia. ‘OK.’ I replied, ‘Just setting off now. I’ll phone you later.’

I arrived at the QE and struggled to locate the car park we normally park in, and ended up in one which required a little walk. Ha! Not going to get away with half an hour free parking then! I toddled along to the security guard by the lifts. “Have you reported to reception?” he asked. Erm…no…. no signs to say I should, but hey-ho. I duly reported to reception. “Delivering clothes? Report to the volunteers’ desk over there.” and she waved me away. Okay…. I toddled over to the volunteers’ desk.

“Fill this form in – name, address, phone number, date of birth, inside leg measurement….” I was half-way down the form when I looked up and told the chap that John had a bag to send down. “Ohhhhh… I wish you’d have told me that before you started filling the form in. Stop. Stop! You need to report to reception….”

Back to reception, where the girl phoned the ward to let them know I would be going up. The only thing is, they are very busy (and probably short-staffed) on the ward, because there was no answer. By this time, there wasn’t half a heck of a queue of people behind me……”Can you come back later, or another day, to collect your husband’s bag and just drop yours in to the volunteers’ desk?” came the enquiry. Well, I could. But to be honest, it’s bit of a trek from Balsall Common to the QE, so I’d really rather not. Just then, the phone call was answered, however, and I was the happy recipient of a little slip of paper to hand in to the security guard by the lifts……

I hung about outside the ward John was in, for a good twenty minutes, buzzing the intercom, and buzzing again and again every so often. I could see people inside but they were all intent on doing something and not detailed to answer the door. Fed up of waiting, I started to look around in the corridor to see if I could see a likely suspect who could go in and grab someone. Ah-ha……. here we are! A couple of medics, pushing a patient on a trolley – oh, look, it’s John!

He was pleased to see me and, of course, I was pleased to see him. He’d been and had the bronchoscopy procedure and was just on his way back. “Put the bag on the bed,” he said, as they pushed him through the double doors. The medics promised to bring his returns back out with them when they came. “Speak to you later!” I called as he disappeared down the corridor. I had no doubt he would hardly remember our encounter. He was looking far too relaxed from the drugs he’d just had……

The medics were some time sorting John out once they got him back to his room, doing observations and checking he was OK. So I waited outside the ward some more. Definitely not going to get half an hour free parking, but would I even be in the hour’s parking price range now?

I speed-walked back to the car park and paid me money. Phew! Just within the hour. Hopped in the car and went to the barrier. Pushed the ticket into the slot – and it was promptly spat out again. And again. And again. Moved the car to the other barrier where the ticket was spat out there, too. Oh, for goodness’ sake!! (Or words to that effect). I finally spoke to a disembodied voice, which told me to press this button, then that button, and try again. I finally got out of the car park a good ten minutes after I’d paid for my ticket.

What are your plans for the day? Oooh, I think I’ll spend half of it just hanging around, waiting………..

This afternoon, I popped over to Paul’s. It was Ellie’s birthday today – goodness me, she’s twenty! I stayed for a while, to watch her blow her candles out on her cake, and join in the toast to her. It was lovely to see them all. I so miss them and the thrum of family life. I tell you, it doesn’t feel like it’s getting any easier, folks.

I did start to watch a bit of the rugby this afternoon, but saw the carnage and decided I wasn’t in the mood to torture myself – not even for the love of my husband so that I could talk knowledgeably to him about what had gone on. And, as it turned out, John didn’t watch it either, for the very same reason – we agreed that there’s enough agony going on without that.

On the COVID front, it’s more of the same – figures bibbling about at the same sort of numbers as the week previous.

• 5,587 people tested positive for the virus today
• 96 people died in the community with the virus in the last2 4 hours
• 36 people died in hospitals with the virus on 18 & 19 March
• And it’s Day 73 for Lockdown 3; Day 361 for Lockdown 1; Day 369 for our self-imposed Lockdown 1

If you are so inclined, please spare a thought for my most beautiful and dearest friend, Dawn, and her sister, Alison, as they mourn the loss of their very much-loved Mum today. Sad news on a day of hope as we hit the Spring Equinox, isn’t it?

Take care everyone. God bless.

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.

…..and WhatsApp and Messenger and email and Messages and phone calls….. lots of communication from all sources today. And thank goodness for them all, that’s what I say.

Early on and first thing this morning it was a WhatsApp chit chat to John to check how he was. He likes to lie to me and he said he was OK. Before I had chance to probe further, there was a voice call on WhatsApp from Graham. What was I doing for Mum’s birthday next week? They were trying to order a nice afternoon tea from Haigs and a food hamper from M&S, but technology wasn’t cooperating for the latter and Haigs weren’t delivering on Monday. Thwarted.

I spent a good forty minutes chatting to Graham and agreed to order the food hamper this end instead, and see what I could do about the afternoon tea. Gail wasn’t feeling too clever today, having had chemotherapy on Friday, so she was abandoning Graham in favour of her bed and letting him sort out Mother’s gift. And quite right too – after all, he is me Mum’s son. Oh, hang on, a minute – who’s sorting out the gift? Oh, that’ll be me then….. However, they did do their best to get the orders in – you can’t ask more than that, can you?

I phoned John about half past nine and had the good fortune to catch the consultant in the room, pulling his beard and ruminating on John’s situation. “Have you managed to establish what’s wrong with John yet?” I enquired – I thought the direct approach was best. “No, we haven’t,” he said. “But he is in the right place, and we are going to hang onto him for a few more days yet.”

John, of course, isn’t happy. He is falling into the depths of despair – and who can blame him? He’s bored to death in a room on his own. He doesn’t really feel a great deal better and the medics have no idea what is the matter with him. Not only that, but they are forever poking and prodding him. Last night he had a CT scan, and he now has bruise the size of Africa on his right arm.

I finished chatting to John about half past ten, and got ready for online yoga (Zoom). I cleared a space in the computer room so that I could follow the class on screen. John has the laptop in hospital so I bypassed the SnuGym today. It all worked very well though, so I am not complaining. Mind you, we had a ten minute relaxation at the end of the session in which I fell asleep. It was the sound of Jaime’s lovely singing bowl that woke me up. Good job, or I might still have been there now.

I hurried round to get ready for my singing lesson at one o’clock – only to find that I had missed a message (on Messenger) from Melissa first thing, to check I was definitely going to take a class today. Lesson at one o’clock? I texted her back at ten to one: ‘Sorry I didn’t see your text!! Yes, happy to do a lesson today if I haven’t left it too late??’ Ah…. shall we do the lesson at two o’clock instead? OK, fine by me. More Zoom.

After my lesson, in which I didn’t sing flat or screech the high notes, I drifted about a bit, tinkering with this and that, for the afternoon. I ordered the M&S food hamper Graham had suggested. Unfortunately, the email that was supposed to confirm the purchase never did arrive, so I was on the phone to M&S to find out what had happened. “I’ll let the IT department know…..” the customer service chappie said. Ha! Will the email ever arrive? And, more to the point, will the hamper?

I phoned John after I’d eaten my evening meal and discovered that the ENT consultant had been to visit. He’d waggled and woggled John about, only to conclude that it’s nowt to do with his ears, nose or throat. John was even more depressed than he was this morning.

He had given a good impression of having had a reasonable afternoon, sending us videos of the Air Ambulance helicopter landing and transporting a casualty into the hospital. Although, I should have read the signs when he said he was going to post the helicopter taking off again, but he couldn’t be arsed.

Despite saying he couldn’t be bothered, the ol’ man did, however, video the ‘copter setting off, which I found very exciting, but it took all of a minute which John found too long, and he sent the following message with it: ‘Tomorrow I will film some paint drying’. Hmmmm. What to do? My poor, darling husband. How to boost his spirits? I don’t know. His solution was spirits. “Bring me a bottle of whisky?”

Michael phoned just before eight. He has got such a lot of work to do for his degree and he is also finding life a challenge. Let’s face it, in normal times, we’d be having the kids for a weekend to give him and Danielle a break; we’d be cooking food or taking the kids to the park and we’d just be there – all of that is so sorely missed by everyone. These are tough times, aren’t they? You think it all might a get a little easier, but it doesn’t.

This evening, I zoomed some more and chatted to the College Crew. Lovely to see everyone and we had great conversation on all sorts of topics. Brilliant. That’s what I like. But…. there I go again – I’m missing them, too.

Not sure what to read into today’s COVID figures, but here they are for your delectation.

• 6,303 people tested positive for the virus today
• 95 people died in the community with the virus in the last 24 hours
• 47 people died in hospitals with the virus on 16 & 17 March
• And we have lived through too many days to count since lockdown really, but I give you the number anyway: Day 71 for Lockdown 3; Day 359 for Lockdown 1; Day 367 for our self-imposed Lockdown 1

Hold us in your prayers, please. Take care everyone. God bless.

I was keen to get up and go out for a walk this morning, but the weather was grey and overcast and uninviting. I am sure it would have been lovely had I gone, but really, I couldn’t ease myself outdoors this morning. Instead, I tidied the kitchen before toddling over to Mum’s to let the podiatrist in.

That all worked well and the visit was short, so I was able to get back home in time for singing at 11.30 on the ‘Couch to Chorus’ sessions I’ve been doing with Opera North. Before I left, however, I spent a few minutes with Mum sharing a photo with her and the Order of Service from her friend, Hazel’s, funeral. She had forgotten that Hazel had died and was upset all over again, but was pleased to have the Order of Service. I offered to read the eulogy for her, but it was two sides of A4 and she said she wouldn’t be able to take it in. I did read the first couple of lines which mentioned her in dispatches though, and she was delighted to have had a mention. ‘The two Hazel’s’….ah…. happy times.

“Mum, I’ll have to go now,” I said, after we’d finished looking at the Order of Service. “I’ve got an appointment at 11.30. I’m singing.” Mum looked at me, wide-eyed, and I could see the old grey matter working. “But you can swim already,” she protested. I laughed. “No, not swimming. I’m singing.” I grinned. “Slimming? You don’t need to slim!” she said, shocked. I laughed some more. “No, I’m singing!” I replied again. She finally got it and burst into laughter. We had a good giggle over it, so I left her happy.

Once home, I logged onto the singing session. Unfortunately, I missed last week’s run through and so I was a week behind – and this was the last session before a ‘grand finale’ next Tuesday. I struggled. Not only was I unable to recall all the tunes, but I found I couldn’t sing either. Flat as a pancake. Screeching the high notes. Burbling. Hmm….. even a glass of water didn’t help. Ah, well, it was nice to listen to the choir mistress sing anyway, so there was some pleasure in that.

This afternoon, I rang John and we had a lovely long chat. At first, there was a lot of puffing and sighing as we struggled to find things to talk about but, after a while, we got the hang of it and got going. Inanities; often mundane topics; and sultry conversation, but it was comforting nonetheless.

There is still no news as to what might be the matter with John, other than the things we already know. No explanation as to why he’s wobbly yet. And, he is, of course, getting a bit fed up now. His room is chilly, so he’s wearing his overcoat all day, and slinging it across the bed all night. I do hope they come up with something soon. I need him home.

After we’d had a chat, I went up to the postbox to drop a couple of letters in, and then decided to carry on with a walk to Katharine’s Wood. The sky was a brilliant blue this afternoon and the sun was shining. It was such a lovely walk, listening to the birds singing and enjoying watching the dogs and children gambolling about the fields with their owners/parents. Bliss.

Must’ve tired myself out though because, when I got back, I made a cuppa and sat on the sofa intending to watch a bit of TV, only to promptly fall asleep. An afternoon nap? I don’t mind if I do.

I had a lovely few minutes on a video call with Michael at tea-time, which absolutely filled my heart. Michael was at the bottom of the stairs, encouraging Thomas, who was doing his best to crawl up the stairs. Danielle and William were at the top encouraging Thomas up. Oh, it was lovely. One of those moments to treasure. Thomas, of course, not content with trying to crawl but insistent on trying to stand and walk his way up. Beautiful.

This evening it was Quiz night and everyone was there, including John from his sick bed in hospital, and Nigel and Hazel, who are up to their eyeballs in packing up the contents of their house, ready for a move. Great, great fun with plenty of repartee and decent questions to trouble our heads over. Even John was on top form. Just what I needed as a pick-me-up.

The COVID situation continues to be steady, and the vaccination programme continuing apace. There is a bit of a kerfuffle over the AstraZeneca vaccine still, and threats from the EU that they might prevent the Pfizer vaccine being exported to us. Honestly, handbags springs to mind.

• 5,758 people tested positive for the virus today
• 141 people died in the community with the virus in the last 24 hours
• 45 people died in hospitals on 15 & 16 March
• Lockdown 3: Day 70; Lockdown One: Day 358; Self-imposed Lockdown One: Day 366

It is St Patrick’s Day today and Harriet’s birthday, so I am reminded of the poem I read out at Paul and Harriet’s wedding, which holds sentiments I wish for everyone today and the future:

May the road rise up to meet you. 
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face; 
The rains fall soft upon your fields 
And, until we meet again, 
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

 Take care everyone. God bless.

A year ago, we had been watching the news very carefully and considering how best to respond, on a personal level, to the incoming threat of a new virus that was killing people on the continent. And a year ago, we took the decision to shield and protect ourselves as best we could. A year ago, on Monday 16 March, we buckled ourselves in for the ride.

I don’t suppose many of us could have imagined or predicted the ride we’ve had and how the runaway train would continue. In fact, one of my friends chuckled down the phone to me at the time, and said, “We’ll laugh about this in a couple of weeks, won’t we?” I think she thought I was mad when I said I thought it might go on for a year, or even eighteen months. Yet here we are, 365 days later, still gorging on chocolate, still downing gallons of wine and tuning into mind-numbing TV in an attempt to stifle the sense of longing to be out and about.

Despite the introduction of the vaccine, there is still no end in sight for us. John continues to be among the vulnerable, even though he’s having treatment to boost his immune system every three weeks. So we battle on, ever hopeful and finding happiness where we can.

John, however, is still in hospital undergoing still more tests with more and more medics scratching their heads. It is possible, of course, that John has had a low-grade infection that has taken him off his feet and snatched his breath away, and as time goes on it may heal itself. I am hoping so anyway. I suppose they will get fed up of trying to find anything soon and just send him home with a ‘see how you go’ note.

For me, it’s been a day of waiting. First thing, I took the car into the garage for its service. Peter very kindly collected me and brought me home, and then we waited. “I’ll phone you when they tell me it’s ready,” I said to Peter, “They said it’ll probably be just after lunch.”

I don’t know what time you finish your lunch, folks, but by almost three o’clock I was beginning to wonder when I’d be getting the phone call. In the end, I phoned the garage. “Oh, it’s ready,” said the receptionist breezily, “I’ve just got to do the paperwork.” Harumph.

I was also waiting for a phone call from Mum’s podiatrist. Last time she was tended to was in October 2020, so it’s getting a bit desperate now. When I phoned for an appointment last week, the administrator said, “We can’t just book an appointment now, you know. Every case has to be triaged first on the telephone.” Ah…. and so today I was waiting…. and the podiatrist phoned about half past two. I got excited thinking it was the garage, of course. Nope, it was the triage call, which consisted of me saying my Mum needed her feet doing and the podiatrist saying, “I believe you. Right, I’ll come tomorrow,”

I nipped up to Homebase this afternoon, once I’d collected the car, to pick up a pot of paint. I thought I might give the new utility room a once over. There were very few staff on duty, and it was looking very sorry for itself. I wonder how long that business is going to last?

Once home, I suddenly went very flat and found it difficult to drag myself around to do anything of note. I did manage to get a little walk in, but I didn’t go far. I managed a wander round the garden, but I felt listless. I cooked something to eat, but wasn’t really looking forward to it. So, this evening I did that thing of plugging myself into the TV and ignoring any jobs that needed doing. The kitchen is still a bit of mess from cooking. Ah, well, maybe tidy up tomorrow?

And on the waiting theme…. it feels like we’ve been waiting for a year. Waiting for lockdown to end; waiting for hugs to be re-instated; waiting for a Sunday lunch with the family; waiting for a birthday party – we’ve had a 70th birthday and a 40th birthday go by without a gathering – and so on.

I realise, naturally, that our lives have changed for ever, and we have to stop waiting. But I can’t help but look over my shoulder at the way we used to live our lives, and want some of the same again. Those spontaneous outings to the pub; the family dropping in for a barbecue; a visit to the cinema or the theatre; our annual trip to Ragdale Hall. Yes, please – I’d like a bit of that again.

It may be possible to enjoy some of those things again, if the incidence of COVID continues to fall. Fingers crossed.

• 5,294 people tested positive for the virus today
• 110 people died in the community with the virus in the last 24 hours
• 36 people died in hospitals with the virus on 14 & 15 March
• It’s Day 357 since the original, official lockdown in March last year.

And, for your delectation and commentary on current affairs, the word of the day (courtesy of Susie Dent) is ‘throttlebottom‘: a bumbling, inept individual in public office. So named after Alexander Throttlebottom, a character in the 20th-century musical comedy ‘Of Thee I Sing’.

Take care everyone. God bless. I leave you with this reminder from Charlie Mackesy. What would we do without his wonderful take on the world, eh?

It’s Monday. The start of a new week and anticipation of new beginnings with fingers crossed that the medics will finally find out what’s causing the ol’ man to be dizzy and wobbly on his feet. Although, to date, they are still very much scratching their heads and can’t find anything wrong. They seem to have done all the tests under the sun and asked all the questions they can think of, and no answer is yet forthcoming.

John is slightly happier though, in that he has a ‘room with a view’, which makes languishing in hospital a lot more palatable. Made me laugh though. When packing his bags he is pretty specific about what he does, and doesn’t want to take with him and, this time, the dressing gown was a casualty. However, he was chilly in the night last night and his thoughts turned to whether he should ask me to take him his dressing gown across……. chuckle, chuckle.

Anyway, I imagine that if they can’t find anything wrong with him they’ll be sending him home shortly. The only trouble is, I don’t know what to do with him at home when he feels poorly. It’s all a bit beyond me. I normally have something up my sleeve in the nursing stakes but I’m really not sure what’s best this time. Ah, well – we’ll see.

In the meantime, I pottered about at home doing nothing very much, but it kept me busy all day. For saying I wasn’t born to do housework and disliking having to do it, I seem to be doing an awful lot of the blooming activity in retirement. So there was the cleaning of the bathrooms, vacuuming, dusting, mopping, washing and ironing all to do. Yes, I know, don’t do the ironing….. but it’s sheeets…..

I did spend some time out in the garden though, as the weather was so lovely and it was mild. I didn’t bother doing any gardening – that would have been a step too far after all the other stuff I’d been up to – but just floated about, admiring the lovely spring flowers that have burst through and are shouting their colours to me every day. The sight of the flowers and the sound of the wonderful birdsong lifted me up no end. Feast your eyes on this lovely lot, folks.

In other news, we are seeing more and more unrest and dissatisfaction with the way the country is being run and the decisions being taken. So much so, that instead of a simple vigil for Sarah Everard, it’s now turned into a protest about protesting. Eeeh, dear – whatever is the world coming to?

With regards to the COVID situation, the numbers seem to have lowered slightly, which has to be good news; but the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine has been halted in several European countries due to concerns over blood clots. Is it hysteria? I don’t know. I am hoping it’s a blip and that’s all.

• 5,089 people tested positive for the virus today
• 64 people died in the community with the virus in the last 24 hours
• 42 people died in hospitals with the virus on 13 & 14 March

Stay safe everyone. Look after yourselves and enjoy the spring. God bless

Mothering Sunday, and I planned to ‘go to church’. Woke up at seven o’clock and thought I’d snooze on for a bit longer, only to find that… gosh, it was half past nine already and the service would be starting any minute. What to do? Church in bed, of course.

As soon as church was over, I realised I hadn’t heard from John, so I rang him. He said he thought he wouldn’t phone me early so that I could have a long lie-in, it being Mothering Sunday and all. How lovely of him. Anyway, he wasn’t too bad – still on oxygen, which is helping no end with his breathing. He even had a little go at running on the spot for a few paces this morning.

“Do you need anything, john?” I wondered. “Ah, well, now you mention it….” He did. More PJs and eye drops and drugs…. oh, and grapes would be good, if you’ve got some spare. “They are planning to move me over to the QE soon,” he said, “so it might be better if you bring the things today, rather than wait.” Right. You’re on.

It turned out to be very lucky in the end, because I did get a wriggle on and shoot over to Heartlands and drop John’s stuff off – about ten minutes before the transport turned up to cart him off over to the other side of Birmingham. And he’s now got a room with a view but the puddings aren’t as exciting.

The medics are still baffled as to what is going on with the ol’ man and he continues to be ‘an interesting case’, with junior medics doing their training on him. “We’ll just take a drop of blood, Mr Sleath. From an artery rather than a vein to check for x/y/z, if that’s OK?” Painful. “Oh, Mr Sleath, that one didn’t work – the machine is broken so it didn’t give a reading. I’ll just take a drop more from another artery….” And then a third time. Poor John – he’s like a pin cushion and has been poked and prodded all over. And no, it doesn’t hurt when you press there.

This afternoon I was booked onto another one of the Writing for Wellbeing courses. It was so wonderful to spend two hours with like-minded people and to be offered ideas about which to write. I loved it. Especially the bit where I pretended to be Roo, from Winnie-the-Pooh, and wrote all about my experiences of learning to swim in a stream. Glug-glug.

Afterwards I shot over to Mums. However, because I was in such a hurry to get there, I forgot half of the stuff that I was supposed to be taking. I’ll have to go back tomorrow. Ah well. “Hello,” she said, cautiously, as I came in through the door. I asked if she was alright. “Yes, I’m fine,” she replied, mystified as to who was behind the mask. I undid the mask and flashed a smile at her. “Oh, it’s you!” she laughed. “Didn’t you recognise me, Mum?” No, she hadn’t, and couldn’t, with my mask on.

She was well but, as always, forgetful, claiming to have seen this or that for the first time, or to have ‘never seen that before’. I came across the photo album I’d done for her when she was ninety. She was thrilled to browse through it and then lovingly stroked the cover, saying, “Ninety! Gosh, I’m ninety! Who’d have thought I’d get to ninety.” And bless her, she had no idea how old she was actually going to be this coming birthday. “Ninety-five? Can I have that in writing?” she said. I wrote it in the calendar on her birthday, and she sat looking at it, marvelling over it for a good five minutes.

Later on, once I was home, I decided to treat myself and sit and watch the final of ‘Dancing on Ice’. Disappointingly, I had missed a couple of calls from the boys while I was at Mum’s which is in the depths of a black hole with no signal whatsoever, so I was incommunicado. Ah, well, perhaps they’ll phone back, I thought, and one of them did. Catch up with other one tomorrow maybe?

• 4,618 people tested positive for the virus today
• 52 people died with the virus in the community in the last 24 hours
• 32 people died in hospitals with the virus on 12 & 13 March
• And we are on Day 355 since the beginning of lockdown last March; and Day 363 since John and I enclosed ourselves in our home voluntarily. (I know, I know, I said I wasn’t going to put these figures in but the urge overwhelmed me)

In other news, I, and many others, lit a candle yesterday in peaceful vigil for the murdered Sarah Everard. Many are now outraged at the way the police treated those women who chose to hold their vigil at Clapham Common. It’s a strange world we are living in and strange times we are going through. These times bring to mind the lines from the hymn ‘Father hear the prayer we offer’:

Father, hear the prayer we offer: 
not for ease that prayer shall be, 
but for strength that we may ever  
live our lives courageously.

I certainly pray for courage now. Courage to speak up if and when need be. Courage to challenge the now established customs that impinge on women’s rights. Heavens above – it’s Women’s Lib all over again, isn’t it?

Take care everyone. God bless.

So John is still languishing at Heartlands Hospital. He got excited when they moved him from one ward to another, and anticipated some interesting information when the doctor called in to see him, only to be told that they were simply holding him in that particular ward until a bed was available at the QE.

“How are you feeling, John?” I asked. “OK,” he said, “if I don’t move around much. I’m fine just laying on the bed, but out of breath if I get up and move about.” And still wobbly. Of course, he stay laying on the bed all day.

Mind you, there was a panic this morning. His laptop wouldn’t work. Now that is news. He was looking forward to watching the rugby, and the room he was in looked promising, with a free TV. Only to find the TV didn’t actually work and the laptop was, therefore, definitely required. But, of course, as only he can, he magicked something from somewhere and got his laptop working in time to watch the games this afternoon. And bliss…. England actually won a game. A good game at that. Something to be cheerful about at least. ‘Winning’ texted Paul to his Dad. ‘Yes. Happy bunny now’ John replied.

I, on the other hand, swanned about this morning until Michael phoned and wondered if I’d like to go over to the park and see the children. That got me galvanised. And we had a wonderful afternoon. Although, when I arrived, there were dark clouds looming and I thought we might get soaked. As it turned out, just before we set off, the heavens opened sending hailstones raining down on us, so we scuttled into the porch to await the storm passing. We had the porch door open, to let the air circulate – a situation that puzzled William, who was keen to shut it and stop the little pieces of ice landing inside.

The storm did pass fairly quickly and so we set off. It was breezy but no longer rainy or any hailstorms and we had a great time, walking past the pond, through the woods, along the football field, where youngsters and their Dads were playing a game, and then on into the playground itself. We wiped the play equipment dry as best we could with titchy bits of tissue, spare masks, and William used his gloves. “Ah….. William, you’ll have wet hands if you do that,” Michael warned. Too late. Wet hands ahoy. William took his gloves off to dry and tucked his hands into his pockets to keep warm.

We had a mosey through the woods and came upon a tree that looked a likely candidate for climbing. Michael thought he’d have a go. William went to help, tripped over a tree stump and, with his hands still in his pockets, face-planted into the muddy undergrowth. Oh, dear. Devoid of wet wipes, and only the well-used bits and bobs we used to wipe down the playground equipment available, it was a bit of a scrabble around to find something with which to clean William’s face. We finally found something that was suitable, and Michael gently tended William’s wounds. Not too bad, just a bloody nose and lip. “Would you like a snack, William?” Michael asked once the crying had stopped, and water had swilled the bloody mouth out. William nodded. A nice veggie straw took his mind off the shock and hurt of falling over and we made our way back home, hands firmly tucked inside coat sleeves, rather than pockets, to keep warm and avoid face-planting again…….

I came home at tea-time, bringing with me a couple of plants that Michael and Danielle seem to be intent on killing off. “I’ll take them to the plant hospital, shall I?” I offered, teasing. So I was busy sorting the plants out when Paul phoned wondering if I’d like a take-way curry. He and Harriet were planning to get a meal from our local take-away and he’d drop one in for me if I’d like one. Hmmm…. difficult choice – left-over pork from a couple of days go? Or a curry? I agonised for all of three seconds.

While waiting for the take-way to be ready, Paul came and did a porch visit, which was just lovely. So good to sit and chat for a few minutes in his busy life. I really enjoyed it.

And so Mother’s Day came early for me today. Michael had bought me some lovely chrysanths – which I was delighted with – and also, unexpectedly, and an absolute bonus – he gave me a heart-shaped wall-hanging of pebble art that Danielle had made. Beautiful. And when Paul arrived this evening, he came bearing a large bouquet of lovely pink and white flowers. Gorgeous. What a lucky girl. Wanna have a look?

So that’s it for today folks. I am not adding anything else. No stats on the current COVID situation. No reference to anything that has been happening in the news today. I don’t want to spoil the memory of a contented-‘ish’ husband, a fabulous afternoon, and an enjoyable evening.

Except this, courtesy of Harriet:

Take care everyone. God bless. Happy Mother’s Day wherever you are.

An exhausting day, busy doing nothing….. actually, not quite true, but it felt like I didn’t achieve much today anyway.

I was up and about reasonably early with a view to cracking on with the ‘stuff on me list’. I did do some of the things, but the activity was interspersed with conversations with one or two people throughout the day and then, this afternoon, I dozed on the sofa and woke up exhausted, so it feels like a ‘neither here nor there’ day…..

John was put onto a six-bed ward overnight, put onto oxygen and a saline drip. The doctor visited at one in the morning, sometime later and then again this morning. The cancelled CT scan from yesterday is to be re-instated, because the x-ray they took showed signs of infection and they wanted to check what’s what. So that’s on the cards, but he hasn’t actually been wheeled down to radiology for it yet.

There seemed to be no taking account of John’s dizziness/wobbliness, so I took matters into my own hands and emailed his haematology consultant to ask who was co-ordinating John’s care, given that his condition is across a variety of disciplines. Paneesha very kindly phoned me back and said that, really, John’s situation with his blood condition is now stable and it would probably be another discipline to lead on his care. He would, however, get one of the team to go and have a look at John.

He was duly ‘looked at’ and it was suggested that they might transfer him over to the QE into the transplant unit. We’ll see whether that happens. In the meantime, he has been moved from the six-bedder to a single room. That makes it a bit more dignified for him – in that he can stagger to the loo himself, without having to hang onto a nurse…….. I know, any excuse, eh?

Anyhoo…. we shall what happens tomorrow and what they find out. At the moment, they seem to be concentrating on the ol’ man’s chest. Well, who wouldn’t? It’s a very fine chest….tee-hee.

Being of an exhausted persuasion this evening, I thought I’d do the blog early and go to bed early too. So here we are. Looking at the daily stats. I found myself incapable of watching the news today – it seemed to be all dark news items and doom and gloom. Couldn’t cope with it so switched it off.

The scientists seem to be agreeing with me (you heard it here first folks!) that the virus figures look like they are plateauing. I do hope it isn’t a signal that there’ll be an increase in cases. I shall bawl my eyes out if we can’t get together with the family properly soon.

• 6,609 people tested positive for the virus today
• 175 people died in the community in the last 24 hours with the virus
• 69 people died in hospitals with the virus on 10 & 11 March
• The rate of vaccinating people is also slowing, too. At the beginning of February, it was an average of 442k people being vaccinated in a seven-day period. At the beginning of March, it’s down to 280k people being vaccinated in a seven-day period. Not sure what that is all about either. Must do some digging…..

I am still not sure how clever I’ve been at counting the days since lockdown was announced last March, but I think we are on Day 353 (or maybe day 354); and Day 361 since voluntary incarceration.

And, it’s such a long time since the grandchildren have been over properly that heartbreakingly, William asked his Mum and Dad if he could ‘go to Grandma’s house’. They responded with the normal platitudes of ‘soon’ and ‘we’ll do a garden visit’ etc. William, however, said, “Not in the garden, Daddy. I want to go into Grandma’s house.” Me, too, William, me, too – I want everyone in!!!

Take care everyone. God bless.