Hello, Monday!

John said he didn’t sleep too badly last night but I had a rubbish night’s sleep. Awake every half an hour or so with a little cough – the residue of the sniffles from last week – and a bit of an irritant, if I’m honest. Blooming thing. I was proper awake at 4.30 and did that thing of wondering whether I should get up, but resisted temptation.

In the end, when we woke up this morning, John said, “Let’s just lay in bed this morning.” Well, it seemed a good idea to me, even though I wasn’t in ‘sleep’ mode any more. I answered a few emails/text messages; made a phone call; and was just about to settle down with a book, when the front doorbell rang.

It was dear Caroline. She was in the village sorting out a bit of furniture to sell, so thought she’d call in. How wonderful!! “Come in! Come in! You can – you’re allowed! Would you like a cup of tea?” Yes, please – Caroline came in and we sat and had a cup of tea. We were still conscious of being careful, so kept our distance, and I left the front door ajar to get a bit of air circulating. But, oh, how absolutely blooming marvellous!! It was so good to be able to chat uninhibited for as long as we liked in the comfort of our home. More please.

It was nearly mid-day before Caroline left, and the visit had set me up for the day. I felt very chipper. We sorted out a bit of brunch and then started working out what the rest of the day might look like. John decided he’d do a bit on the breakfast bar, so set to. I decided I’d do a bit of sorting of Mum’s bit ‘n bobs.

We both worked steadily for a while, and then we drifted into the lounge for a rest. My plan, I boldly announced, was to walk up to the Tesco shop and drop our dead batteries into their recycling box, then nip up to the flats where Mum used to live, to take some strip lighting that will fit the flat for the future occupant, and then walk round to the Crosses, to offer a belated birthday present to Jack. Hmmmm….. Yes, sounded a good idea, thought John. He’d walk with me. In the meantime, what about a bit of lunch?

I decided on a stir-fry. Ah… needed a few mushrooms. “I tell you what, John,” I said, “I’ll nip up to Tesco now, get the mushrooms and drop the batteries off, and then we’ll do the other bits of the walk after we’ve eaten?” OK – all good. Except we ate, and then I read my book, John fell asleep and no walking round to anywhere or anyone’s took place.

In fact, John slept until gone six o’clock this evening. He’d clearly worked hard on the breakfast bar. Once he was awake again though, he thought he’d better have another go, so he’s been fettling away for an hour or two this evening, too.

I had a reasonable sort out, and have made a decision about what to do with some of Mum’s things. We had thought we might try and sell things on eBay, but I think I’m going to look into setting up an Etsy shop instead and see if things’ll sell via the vintage way. A fiver apiece would be OK, cos there’s lots of bits and pieces, despite the fact that lots went to charity. We’ll see.

We did manage to have our main meal at just-gone-lunchtime so, in theory it was a snack this evening. However, by the time we’d faffed about it was half past eight and John had already tucked into the chocolate bar. What to have then? A banana or something along those lines was what we opted for. Not sure that’s quite enough really, but still. We’ve yet to get the hang of this idea of eating big at lunchtime……

We had a lovely chat to Michael this evening and then we looked at the time and thought, “Bedtime!” So here we are – last job of the day – write the blog.

Current COVID figures are showing as 2,439 people testing as positive today, 3 people who have died in the community, and 3 people died in hospitals on 21 & 22 May.

I know I am a Job’s Comforter but these figures belie the current concern over the latest variant. There is confusion over whether people in certain areas are being advised not to travel outside of their own areas or not, but the scientists are definitely telling us to be very cautious.

According to some reports the variant is 50% more transmissible than other variants, and cases are rising fast in the North-West and London, and there are certainly some nearer to our neck of the woods in the East Midlands.

I am still waiting to see what the Government will do about the last bit of the roadmap. Will they allow further restrictions to be lifted? Or will they start suggesting local lockdowns instead? Flip a coin……

So that’s us. Hope I sleep better tonight – but there seems to be a full moon…..

Take care everyone. God Bless.