Month: June 2021

Well, we’ve both had busy days one way and another. John was moved onto a different ward in the middle of the night to much confusion and hilarity; then he has been injected with a radioactive something or other in order for them to do a bone scan.

In his absence, I have had visits to the house by three men. Peter called in this morning to see how the ol’ man is; then the G-Plan chappie arrived to replace the foam in the arm of the chair; and finally the worktop technician dropped by to finish the job he’d started yesterday.

The latter job is now finished – what do you think? Posh, eh? It’s got sparkly bits in and everything – not that you can see it that well in the photo, but believe me, it’s shiny.

Other than that, I think John has been twiddling his thumbs and snoozing. He said he hasn’t seen any doctor of any note, and the one he did see, came in, checked out his chest, wrote some notes and went out again without a hello, goodbye or anything…..

He sounds a bit better today and he says he’s not feeling quite so sickly. Fingers crossed they can patch him up again soon.

I, on the other hand, have been twiddling about with other things – like sorting out the clock that we bought. John had spray-painted the hands on it black, because it was all blending into the wall, and he couldn’t actually tell the time on it. He had fitted it all together again, only to find that the hands wouldn’t go round. I am not sure of the rationale, but another coat of spray paint had been needed and John had obliged.

So I toddled into the garage to retrieve the hands, ready to pop it all back together today. Oh…. er….. hmmm…… the hands were stuck fast to the wood that John had done the painting on. I carefully levered them off, but not before I’d bent one of them….. Not to worry, they were nice and pliable, so I was able to bend it back again easily enough – although it looks a bit wonky.

The only other thing was that the paint had infiltrated the centre hole and also all onto the backs of the hands, making them rather ‘sticky’. I got me sandpaper out and sanded them down. Ta-dah!!!! It’s working.

Doesn’t look much, does it? But I was pleased that I had learned from the master and been able to put that learning into practice. Hope the ol’ man will be pleased when he gets home.

Then, of course, tonight was Quiz Night. We were to be Quiz Masters, and I had started the quiz a few weeks ago. However, to my relief, because I’d done no more, Linda said she had one already prepared, so how about she hosted? Thank you, Linda – that’s very kind.

It was a weird one without John, who really wasn’t up to joining from his sick bed, but I really enjoyed it nevertheless. The Prosecco might have helped……but the good wishes and beautiful, friendly faces are really what did it. Great fun.

• 26,068 people tested positive for the virus today
• 14 people die with in the community
• 263 people were admitted to hospital
• 13 people died in hospitals

Take care everyone. God bless.

Well, apparently, the ol’ man stayed in A&E all night long and was only moved into a ward this morning. He is in a side room, but is feeling a little too poorly to post ‘is ‘oliday pics just yet. He still has a temperature, indicating an infection, but they don’t quite know where that might be. Or they might, and just haven’t told us…..

On a drip, antibiotics and oxygen, he is struggling to get to the loo, trawling everything behind him. He is still feeling sickly and was offered an anti-sickness pill which he took, and which knocked him out into the sea of dreams – those of the weird and wonderful sort – only for him to wake up twenty minutes later distressed and wondering where the hell he was.

In the meantime, and for the third time this year, a doctor came toddling along to ask John if he had a DNR form completed. No, he hasn’t! And it’s not appropriate to talk about it when he’s feeling very vulnerable, thank you very much!! And not only that, it’s easy to get the wrong end of the stick when you’re woozy from a high temperature and pills, so leave him alone!! Alright?

Of course, I didn’t say all that to the doctor when I spoke to her. I was as nice as bloomin’ pie and explained that some clarification might be needed for John if she could possibly do so, pretty please.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I have had a young man in our home all day. He has been fitting new worksurfaces to our kitchen and utility room. And very sparkly they look, too. It is not yet finished, and he will have to drop back in tomorrow to fit a pipe to replumb the kitchen sink, but I think I am pleased with the work he has done. I’ll have a look with a clear eye tomorrow. Feel too tired to properly take it all in today.

I am not quite sure what I have done all day. I know I got up early to ensure that the path was clear for the young man to do his work. Then I did a whole load of shredding of Mum’s bank statements. Might have spent a few hours watching tennis……. and then watched the England/Germany match – not quite from the start though, because I nipped up the shops to get cat food at 5 o’clock. Guess what? The shops, the village, the roads were all deserted. Can’t think why…..

• 20,479 people tested positive for COVID today. In the last 7 days the increase in positive cases has risen by nearly 73%. I am not sure that opening up without masks or social distancing etc is going to be a good thing on July 19th. Although, of course, now we have a new Health Secretary who says we need to ‘learn to live with COVID’ and suggests we no longer need to publish the data. Hahahahaha…… (sorry, hysteria overtaking me now!) that might be OK in rarefied atmosphere of the Houses of Parliament but I think he needs a reality check.
• 23 people died in the community with the virus in the last 24 hours
• 265 people were admitted to hospital
• 16 people have died in hospitals since 25 June

The vaccination programme is still going on, with ‘no appointment needed’ clinics popping up across the country, which is a good thing, in my opinion. We need to get as many people vaccinated as we can and as quickly as we can. Then on to boosters please…… However, 127,260 people got their first dose in the last 24 hours and 138,016 got their second. That means four-fifths of the adult population has had their first dose and nearly two-thirds, both doses. But what about the children? Let’s not forget the children, please?

Take care everyone. God bless.

So we’re up one day and down the next. That’s how life is, isn’t it? We’re down again today because John is off on ‘is ‘olidays again in ‘orspital. You can expect a photo of the view from his window on Facebook in the next day or two.

He felt poorly this morning with a sick feeling and managed to increase his temperature more and more as the day went on. In the end, we trundled down to Heartlands this evening and I left him in A&E – but not before we had sat there for just under an hour and a half. There were ambulances queuing to drop people off and the waiting room was full. Normally we are straight in because John shows his ‘red card’, indicating that he is at risk of sepsis, but even that didn’t work like magic today. 170 patients they had in the department, apparently.

So that’s all I’ve got to say just now. I haven’t heard from him since he went in so I haven’t had an update. I am presuming that it’s because he’s asleep. Hoping for the best.

• 22,868 people tested positive for the virus today
• 3 people died in the community
• 227 people were admitted to hospital with it
• 2 deaths in hospitals on 25& 26 June – I expect the figures will be higher tomorrow when the data is updated.

Take care everyone. God bless.

Because of lockdown things have been put on hold for many people. The christening of Thomas was one such thing in our family. To delay much longer however, might mean that the boy wouldn’t fit into the christening gown, so today was the day and Michael and Danielle managed to squeeze him into it, which was a relief all round.

We had a smashing service at church, even though it was all socially-distanced and we weren’t allowed to sing or even hum the hymns. Thomas was golden, as were the other two boys, William and Freddie, who sat as quiet as mice for most of the service.

They did make us laugh when the actual water pouring was about to happen, though. They watched, fascinated, as Uncle Andrew tipped the water from the jug to the bowl but a moment later, they had lost interest and were jumping up and down like two Tiggers on the rostrum at the front, entertaining everyone and making their hearts swell.

Church members were thrilled to see the family in church again and delighted to see the children, commenting on how much they had grown and exclaiming how like their parents they were. That’s a good job then.

Here we all are, after the service, laughing like drains because we were huddling up. And Thomas is minus his frock by now…….

We all went back to Michael and Danielle’s for a bite to eat and, although it wasn’t that warm, we all sat outside on the decking. Fortunately, I’d taken a couple of plug-in blankets that are very toasty, and so those of us susceptible to the cold snuggled up underneath them.

It was a marvellous afternoon with an intimate few celebrating the momentous occasion. We chatted easily together, ate and drank, and played. All good and very memorable. Michael and Danielle were excellent hosts as usual and we wanted for nothing.

Danielle’s family had to leave first, of course, as her parents were driving down to Poole to catch the ferry back to Jersey; Paul and Harriet stayed until late afternoon, and we stayed, stayed and stayed because we couldn’t drag ourselves away.

And that was our day. Perfect.

• 14,876 people tested positive for the virus today
• 11 people died in the community with it in the last 24 hours
• 227 people were admitted to hospital with it
• 234,441 people had their first dose of the vaccine
• 199,505 people had the second dose of the vaccine
• 84% of the population have had their first jabs
• Nearly 62% of the population have had both jabs now.

Take care everyone. God bless.

We were just whiling our morning away in bed, browsing our phones and generally not getting up, when John reminded me that he was planning to drive into Coventry to hand over an item he’d sold on eBay to the purchaser in Coventry, and would I go with? Well, of course, I’d go with him.

But we were both reluctant to leave our cosy bed this morning and, in the end, it was all a rush to get out through the front door, minus breakfast. Never mind, we’d soon be back home and we’d have a nice brunch.

Harrumph….. maybe not. On our way back home, we called into B&Q to buy dingy beige paint to replace the Duck Egg Blue that doesn’t go with the tiles, and then a reminder buzzed on my phone. Oh, what’s this? I knew I was babysitting Freddie this afternoon, and I had it in my head that it was at 2 o’clock. As the reminder went at 11.30, I thought I’d better check with Harriet what time they were expecting me. Twelve o’clock, please. Their afternoon appointment was at one. Oh….brunch was on hold.

We had a good cup of tea when we got to Paul and Harriet’s and then John went home and said he’d collect me later. Freddie and I had a great time together and I also ate some food, for which my belly was calling. First, we played Minecraft on the TV – well, Freddie played – I just watched in amazement and learned that there were Creepers, Zombies, Spiders and Skeletons. And you could also knock or burn houses down if you wanted, or leave a stray cow down in the pit into which it had strayed and fallen…….hmmmm….. lovely.

After we’d had enough of that game we went outside to go on a ‘bug hunt’. It was great entertainment and I was surprised at just how many varieties of spiders there were in the garden, We were obliged to make a bug trap out of a yoghurt pot, of course, to put bugs into for further examination – wood lice, spiders (that didn’t stay) and a ladybird all went into the pot that had been lovingly furnished with pebbles, sticks, leaves and grass. It was very good fun.

John came back later, disguised as a JobSquad technician, bearing tools to mend the downstairs loo that I had inadvertently broken (twice). Freddie was fascinated to watch the ol’ man at work for a while before we went upstairs to his room.

All of Freddie’s books were in the spare room, following a decorating activity on his cupboards, so we slowly gathered up as many of them as we could, to put them back onto his shelves. It took us a very long time. We couldn’t help ourselves and stopped every few minutes to read a book that took our fancy.

Then the grown-ups came home to spoil our play and to show us what they had been out buying. Paul had bought himself a replacement watch for one which had been broken, and Harriet brought home a little necklace. All very, very nice to be able to treat yourself occasionally, isn’t it?

We said our goodbyes then and set off home, taking a detour via Waitrose to buy a few bits and pieces and their very delicious Thai ‘take-away’ kit, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Another day of un-paleo food. We’d better watch out…… don’t want the ol’ man to be ill again.

This evening we caught up on TV viewing, dipping and out of the footie, which proved to be interesting matches in many ways, but probably the right people won.

At the six o’clock news, there was no mention of a Hancock resignation, but by ten o’clock…. boom! There it was. Goodness me, what shenanigans among our ruling party, n’est-ce pas?

• 18,270 people tested positive for COVID today
• 23 people died in the community with it in the last 24 hours
• 227 people were admitted into hospitals as a result of the effects of the virus
• And, being the weekend, there are no figures for those who may have died in hospital
• Those who have been vaccinated with the first dose is nudging the 84% of the population now; and just over 61% having had both doses.

Be careful everyone. The horrid virus is still out to get us, so we must do everything we can to keep it at bay. God bless.

I am not sure that I can do the day justice today. I don’t have the words – for a change, I hear you say!! So a short Blog….

I was up early, having heard the bin men banging about outside and having suddenly remembered that we hadn’t put the bins out…. too late, they were halfway up the road and our green bin was still out the back. I did manage to get the general waste bin out though….

I was pleased to have leapt out of bed early. We were taking a trip. We had booked in to the restaurant where Andrew works, and lunch was at twelve.

We got ourselves ready and set off on the dreaded M6/A14, only to find it wasn’t so dreaded after all and we had a good journey enabling us to arrive in good time in Cambridge.

Having arrived early, we sat in the car for half an hour to rest before setting off across Jesus Common to the restaurant. We were still a few minutes early, and so we sat outside in the garden, enjoying the rather balmy weather, listening to a trilling blackbird, and waving and grinning sheepishly to Andrew as he whipped in and out of the stores at the back of the restaurant. The experience had started very well indeed.

I don’t know how to describe the food and the service, but it was all exceptionally good. Not a single item on the menu to turn our noses up at. And the food and drink kept coming – an extremely accomplished tasting menu, served by very pleasant staff – well, I suppose you’d expect that in a two-star restaurant really, wouldn’t you?

We were so engrossed in the food and drink, chatting to the staff, having a tour of the kitchens and shaking hands with the Head Chef, Mark Abbot, and the owner, Daniel Clifford, that we took no photos at all. But here’s the menu and some fellow-chef’s comments about the restaurant, just in case you’re interested……

With our tummies full, we managed a few words with Andrew before we went back to the car. He had no time to stop and chat for long as he busy, busy, busy cleaning down and getting ready for the evening service.

But we were thrilled to have seen him in his natural habitat. Not only that, but Chef, i.e. Daniel, was extremely complimentary about Andrew’s work, going so far as to say that they planned to pin his feet to the floor so that he couldn’t leave as they valued him so much. Well, that was nice, wasn’t it?

We drove home tired, but on a high. We had had a great time. Great memories created today.

• In the meantime, the COVID figures for today were as follows:- (and we hope that there was nothing in our vicinity today…)
  • 15,810 people tested positive for the virus
  • 18 people died in the community with it in the last 24 hours
  • 224 people were admitted to hospital
  • 5 people died in hospitals with the virus on 23 & 24 June
  • 221,534 people were dosed with their first part of the vaccination today
  • 177,813 people were given their second dose.

Stay safe everyone. God bless.

We have had a day of backwards and forwards-ing, but with a cherry on the top as we were celebrating Thomas’s First birthday today. Here’s the birthday boy himself, under an archway of balloons…..

But first up, we were travelling over to Heartlands Hospital early on this morning for John’s three-weekly immunoglobulin infusion. There is a shortage of said item in the UK however, and the sessions have now been moved to monthly. Fingers crossed that there is no adverse effect from that. No-one has said the shortage is related to Brexit yet – we are still waiting for the reason to be disclosed.

I dropped John off and came home with a long list of jobs to do, one of which was to apply the Duck Egg Blue wall paint. The only thing is, now that I’ve got some of it on….. I don’t really like it. I hadn’t thought carefully enough about how it would go with the colour of the tiles, which are a clotted cream and apricot colour. John agrees – he has turned his nose up, too. Ah, well back to the drawing board. Off to Homebase/B&Q as soon as I can get there….

Once John had finished at the hospital, I collected him. We nipped into the pharmacy in the village to see if we could sort out various medications that hadn’t arrived for John, and then grabbed ourselves a non-paleo Cornish Pasty from La Delicia deli. Such a naughty treat – which we thoroughly enjoyed. Reminded us of our holidays by the seaside.

At home, we were confronted with deliveries. We had ordered a box for the garden to keep the cushions in for the outside furniture. It turns out to be huge. I had ordered a parasol stand, too – which turned out to be very heavy. And then there was a another heavy bag on the doorstep – of dog food, this time. The delivery man hadn’t even tried to heave it into the porch. This last delivery is a throwback to me having looked after Chester a few weeks ago when the food order was diverted to my house. Ah…. must change the address.

Our plan was to go over to the Sutton Sleaths to see Thomas on his big day, sometime this afternoon. The family had gone to Drayton Manor for the day with Danielle’s parents, Bernie and Marie, who are over from Jersey for ten days. We were to join them all once they were home.

Michael phoned to say they were delayed – thoroughly enjoying their time out in Thomas Land. No worries, we said. It suited us to go a bit later. John could have more shut-eye, having come home from the procedure this morning feeling very washed out and tired. And I could get on with the painting.

Once it was time to go, I loaded the car with all the essentials – the dog food, the presents and the cake, which I herewith present to you:

Not only was the cake designed to be visually musical, but it also played music as well. A lovely, long, drawn-out piece that you may recognise, called ‘Happy Birthday to You’. We all enjoyed it anyway, but Thomas was a bit gob-smacked by all the attention, I think. He did, however, join in the music side of things, raising his arm to the beat. What a cutie.

It was nice to see Bernie and Marie, who looked very well and very bronzed from the Jersey weather. We’re not jealous at all.

We had a lovely time at Thomas’s party. Even William said what a great time we were all having. He did amuse me though. The sight of the parcels was very exciting for a little boy aged 3, and he announced very solemnly, that, as he was a ‘big boy’ and Thomas’s brother, he could open the gifts for him. He did a good job of it too.

He was especially thrilled with the musical rocking horse that Bernie and Marie had bought. So enamoured, was he, of the tune and sounds that could be played at will by pressing the horse’s ear, that he repeatedly pressed the button. We adults could not agree that the tunes and sounds and volume were to our taste. Our instinct was to say, ‘Turn the pesky thing off!’ but instead, it was a reasoned, ‘William, I think that’s enough for now, please switch it off and we can play it again a bit later.’

We are now tired but happy to have spent time among the family.

COVID is still of interest, with 16,703 people testing positive for the virus today; 21 people having died with it in the community in the last 24 hours; and 204 people admitted to hospitals.

8 people died with the virus in hospitals on 21 & 22 June; and the NHS has delivered 207,647 first doses of the vaccine and 167,988 second doses to people up to 4 p.m. today. 83% of the population has now been given the first dose and just over 60% have had their second.

That’s got to give us hope, hasn’t it? Take care everyone. God bless.

It’s been an interesting day, one way or another.

With no Quiz Night tonight because some of our members are otherwise engaged, we thought we’d got all day to sort ourselves out with our respective jobs. But it’s been a day of hiccups…..

Plan for Anne: Do more painting, with the aim of getting it finished, before we set off to town for an eye and hearing test, and shopping for shoes. Actual event: mostly phone calls to the hospital and trawling the calendar to establish what appointments John had this morning. Result: a little bit of painting, but not enough.

Plan for John: Construct Thomas’s birthday cake, the relevant parts having arrived in the post yesterday (all will be revealed tomorrow). Actual event: see above, plus medication to take…… Result: no attempt on the cake in the morning.

Revised Plans: Just go to town for eye and hearing tests and shoe shopping. Actual event: No hearing test – I missed the appointment (don’t ask); John was exhausted by the choosing of a new pair of glasses, so went and sat in the car. Parking ticket placed prettily on the car because we weren’t displaying a Disabled Badge.

Well, there was an explanation for that….. the dashcam fell down from the windscreen and knocked the badge onto the floor…… Result: We decided against going shoe-shopping after all. Shall we appeal the £35 fine or forego the pair of shoes?

Newly-revised plans: Eat lunch then get on with our jobs because we’ve got loads of time….. Actual event: To be fair, John did eat lunch and get on, but I didn’t. I watched more tennis, this time from Eastbourne, before I went back to my painting. Result: most of the skirting boards complete with a second coat of paint and the Birthday Cake started to take shape.

John has worked wonders this afternoon with Thomas’s birthday cake. He may be an amateur, but to me he is a marvel. I’ll post a photo tomorrow (don’t want to spoil the surprise). However, it has taken all of his determination and lots of creative thinking to get it finished.

Meanwhile, I was busy with prepping for painting the actual walls in the utility room, which took a lot longer than I had thought. We had been sloppy on our last painting job and left the overspill of paint on the door surround. Took me most of the afternoon to get it all cleaned off ready for masking up and loading my brush with the Duck Egg Blue for daubing the walls.

I had just taken the lid off the paint pot when John’s phone rang. It was Harriet. “Is your wife there?” she asked John. I was. “I need you,” she said, in a wobbly voice. Her father, seriously ill at home, looked like he’d take a turn for the worse and could I babysit? Of course I could. I put the lid back on the paint pot and set off, leaving John to do more battle with the cake.

I didn’t stay very long at Paul and Harriet’s in the end as Paul had arrived home just before I got there. He and Harriet went round to her Dad’s, then Paul came back to do the bed-and-bath routine for Freddie. If you are so inclined, positive thoughts and prayers are needed for the Kenilworth contingent, please.

After we’d eaten our evening meal tonight, I decided that the light was too poor to be painting, so have done very little, while John has laboured on the clearing up tasks. It’s good for him…….isn’t it?

COVID. Cases increasing, do you reckon? Well, what a surprise…..

• 16,135 people tested positive for the virus today
• 19 people died in the community
• 211 people were admitted to hospital with it
• 7 people died in the last two/three days in hospital with it

Do take care everyone, even if you’ve had your jabs. God bless you and all those you hold dear.

Meanwhile….. round at the Sutton Sleaths, their lounge looks like this…..

You may recall that we decided to change our broadband and TV provider. Switch from Murdoch to Branson. And today was the day.

As it happened, I had gone out for a well-needed haircut and, by the time I got back, the Virgin van was outside, the front door wide open and rolls of cables were waiting on the path, ready to be unrolled. I stepped inside the house and made my way to the lounge, where a young man, mask-less, was standing talking to the himself, it seemed. Ah… no, John’s voiced floated out from the library area round the corner.

The engineer was recounting how difficult it was going to be to put cables everywhere, nay, anywhere, in our house. And not only that, there would be additional and miles of cables snaking round the house, upstairs and downstairs and in My Lady’s Chamber, for each of the tellies. Plus the cable for the Broadband.

Oh. We hadn’t known all of that when we made our decision. Naïve, maybe, but we had expected something like the service we were already getting from our current provider. You know, a Wi-Fi enabled system. I suppose the giveaway is that the provider is offering a cable service………

Ah, well back to the drawing board. But not before we had hissed at the engineer to put on a mask whilst in the house, and then spending over an hour on the phone to Virgin, and another half an hour to Sky.

Change? Of course we don’t mind change. But we’re both secretly rather happy to be keeping all the luxury of the telly options we have now. Psst…. don’t tell anyone.

We finally sorted out our predicament and we both went back to the other important jobs that we’d planned to do. John’s of course, was the Birthday Cake. “We need butter and icing sugar for the butter icing,” John said, “Have we got any?” Erm…. no – well, not enough. We’d have to go and buy some. John was game. “Anything else you need?” Carrots and sweet potatoes, if you’re going.

Bless him, he did well. Managed to get all the things he needed and walk there and back to the Co-op. Slept for a couple of hours though, after such a momentous day of turmoil over the TV and a walk with a heavy bag of groceries. He woke up just in time for the footie.

In the meantime, I was still on with the decorating. Another coat of ceiling paint and that bit is complete – *does a little dance* – and the first coat on the woodwork.

But I was puzzled. As I painted a soft, snowy, virgin-white colour onto the woodwork, I wondered why we had previously chosen a dingy beige? All was revealed as I came to an area that had not been degraded by the sunshine, or the heating, or the dust from the garage…..the paintwork had been white…. It’s funny isn’t it, how you don’t really notice a creeping change before your very eyes? A bit like the state of the country, methinks.

However, I think we’ll be pleased with the change of décor when it’s finished, even if we’re not having a change in TV provider.

We watched the football this evening and thought England played marginally better than the other day. Well, they must have done, mustn’t they? Because they won!! They are going to have to up their game considerably if they are to beat anyone else though, in my humble opinion. Time will tell.

I wish COVID would stop upping its game though. More infections today.

• 11,625 people tested positive today
• 27 people died in the community
• 225 people were admitted to hospital in the last 24 hours. I’d like to know how many COVID patients are discharged, though, wouldn’t you? I have visions of more and more people being stuffed into hospitals and never coming out…..
• And deaths in hospitals totalled 21 over three days, since I last reported the figures

Take extra care now, everyone. With infections rising, you never know if it’s the person you are talking to who is a carrier, do you? God bless.

Yep. Prep. Preppity-prep-prep-prep.

I’ve started on the decorating of the utility room, folks. And I’ve gone for Duck Egg Blue. I’m sure it’ll be nice – whenever I actually manage to slap some of it on the walls. In the meantime, there’s an awful lot of preparation to do before I get to the nice part of decorating where a new colour transforms a room.

So mostly it’s been clearing work surfaces; washing skirting boards, walls and the ceiling; rubbing down the woodwork; fillering the cracks; mopping the floor (don’t ask) and painting the ceiling. Woohoo! I did actually manage to get a lick of paint on one surface anyway.

The aim is to have it painted before the new work surfaces arrive next week. Fingers crossed I’ll find time to do it. I know it’s only a small room, but we seem to have a busy week ahead and gone are the days when I relished a packed calendar. I mean, if we’re busy, when am I going to find time for my nap?

John, meanwhile, spent the morning in bed and was finally geared up and ready to roll at about lunchtime. He spent a happy hour dealing with the paperwork for the quad bike which he sold the other day, and then dismantled the brand new clock that we had bought on Friday. Lovely clock. Large. Specially purchased so that John could easily see the time. The only thing is that the whole thing blends in with the room and the hands are very difficult to distinguish. So he’s painting the hands black…..

Next up, it was all the planning to bake Thomas’s cake for his first birthday. Seemingly now a Grandpa tradition. The contents of the baking cupboard were unearthed to establish exactly what was needed from the shops to complete the cake and then a trip to the shops to fill in the gaps.

Wonderful aromas soon emerged from the kitchen and in a very short space of time the cake was ready. Mmmm…..it’s going to be delicious. He’s just got to create the masterpiece now…..watch this space…..

We are looking forward to seeing Thomas on his birthday, at which time he will have had a couple of afternoons in nursery. Danielle goes back to work next week, and so he’s having two or three trial days. Ouch – painful, isn’t it, to wave your little one bye-bye at the nursery gate? I’m re-living the whole painful experience with them, as I have with each of the grandchildren. I’m such a softie.

And that’s us today. A good day all in all, even if we have worked our little socks off.

And the COVID figures for your delectation, just because I’ve started so I’ll finish….

• 10,633 people tested positive for the virus today
• 5 people died in the community in the last 24 hours
• 226 people were admitted to hospital with the virus
• And, seemingly, no deaths in hospitals – I am sure that will change by the time the data catches up tomorrow…..

Look after yourselves. God bless.