Month: September 2021

Goodness gracious me! It’s been a belter today, hasn’t it? Not that I’ve particularly spent anytime outside to enjoy it, but still….

This morning I decided to prep food for tomorrow. I forwent my yoga because I’d got a tickly cough. It’s not COVID, but it’s a silly thing which I didn’t want to take to class for fear of upsetting everyone.

So, instead, it was food for tomorrow. We’re having guests round, don’t you know? I am not much of a fan of puddings but I thought that’s what I’d do – sort out a few bits for dessert. What with one thing and another, it took me all morning however, with the obligatory trip to the shops of course, because I didn’t have all the requisite ingredients.

John meantime, decided to have another go at the wall. His footings are so good that he had to get the kango hammer out. At least he put his ear defenders on, which I was pleased to see – and apparently, Pete came and gave him a hand again this afternoon. Not sure how much there is left to do, but he’s getting there.

We both flopped onto the sofa at lunchtime tired after our exertions before we were up and at ’em again. For me, however, I was facing a very leisurely afternoon. John was still dealing with the wall. My plan? Visit Philomena.

It was the first time I’d ventured over to where Phil lives. She had been very excited to move into some sheltered accommodation in Earlsdon, 9 months ago, and which has absolutely everything anyone would ever need.

And it was a wonderful place. Phil has a beautiful flat, and the complex itself has a shop, a coffee shop and bar, a restaurant, hairdressers, gym and so on. Fabulous. And we had a great time, nattering away nineteen to the dozen. Not only that, but Phil looked very well and happy which was nice to see.

This evening we have sat, with every door and window open, in an attempt to get some breeze through the house – it got so very close and stifling here. The moths joined us, too, attracted by the light, so manoeuvres were implemented to eliminate them. A lot of wafting involved. Finally though, we were both so tired that we just abandoned ship and decided to start the nightly bedtime routine instead.

COVID is still a hot topic, too. 37,489 people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours; 209 people died (check that number again, folks….209) in the community and 56 on 5 & 6 September. 905 people were admitted to hospital.

It’s going to be another hot day again tomorrow, apparently – might get the paddling pool out….. Take care everyone. God bless.

We often like to take a trundle out to Baddesley Clinton, where they have a bed of dahlias at this time of year. In the past, we have gone along with Pete and Dawn, or even on our own, to witness the wonder. Last year, of course, with the unexpectedness of COVID, there were no dahlia beds, and we thought no more about it. But this year, we were hoping there’d be a fabulous display……. only to find that the dahlia beds have been replaced by pumpkins!!

It transpires that the dahlia beds have been overtaken by disease and they are no more. Ah, well, never mind, we took a trip out there anyway, chauffeured by Pete and Dawn, accompanied by Jack, and had tea/coffee and cake at the café instead, before taking a look at the pumpkins swelling in their by beds by the hundreds.

It was a beautiful morning and we enjoyed ourselves. We made strategic stops at every bench available and admired the view. We scampered into shady corners to avoid the sunshine as it scorched the earth beneath us, before we made our way back to the car. It was super. I think, however, that we were probably half an hour too long enjoying ourselves, because we had to fold Dawn into the car afterwards, and John landed with a thud on the back seat, with a sigh of relief at having a comfy chair.

After his rest in the car and following a continuation of a discussion we’d been having recently, John was fired up to remove the front wall in the garden when we got back. I was fired up to do nothing at all. I sat and watched the cricket while John beavered away in the hot sunshine, wheelbarrowing heavy bricks back and forth to the skip. “I think I’ve done too good a job,” he said. “Mmm?” I murmured, looking up from the cricket. “I mean, I did too good a job on building the wall in the first place. It’s got deep footings and I’m not even at the bottom yet…” Ah…. I see. Fortunately Peter came round for half an hour and helped with one or two bits before it was time for a cuppa and a rest, and they sat and had another good old natter before Pete went home again, wishing John good luck with the rest of the wall demolishing.

I wished I hadn’t bothered with the cricket. Wickets fell like the pins at a ten-pin bowling alley, one after the other. In despair, I gave up when we were not enough for 8. I was still weary, but had a walk up to the shops and back, and then did some more sitting down before I got the tea ready.

And that, was more or less it, for the day.

Just the 41,192 people testing positive for the virus today; 45 deaths in the community and, apparently, only 10 in hospitals on 4 & 5 September which, if true, is good news.

Hope you’ve all enjoyed the warm weather today – it’s been a cracker, hasn’t it? Take care everyone. Keep up with the mask-wearing and keeping your distance as much as you can to save the lives of others – it really isn’t over. ‘Learning to live with the virus’ is no good at all if we end up dying from it or suffering from long COVID for years to come, is it? God bless. Prayers have been said for each and everyone of you.

What a cracking day it’s been! Not only did Mum come for dinner, but those members of the family who could, came to see her. And, on top of it all, it was very nice weather!! I thought we were never going to see the sunshine again, but it certainly shone brightly today.

Regrettably, I was too busy enjoying myself to think about taking photos of everyone together, as was John, but Michael had the presence of mind to catch Mum and me together just before she went home. She looks good, doesn’t she?

I ran around this morning to get a few nice things for lunch and prep them. I had intended to give Mum some lunch about one o’clock, but the Sutton Sleaths said they’d eat with us too, so I aimed for a very late lunch at 3.30 instead. Mum wasn’t all that hungry so didn’t mind a wait for a late lunch. So it all went swimmingly.

Paul said he’d come with Freddie about 2 o’clock. Disappointingly, Harriet had a bit of a cold and didn’t want to share (thank you). The Sutton Sleaths phoned as they set off and thought they’d arrive about 3. A little voice piped up in the background, “Is Freddie there?” Yes, William, Freddie’s here. “Can I play with Freddie when I get to yours, Grandma?” A nice little overlap of cousins would be just the ticket, Michael suggested. Well, we really didn’t mind Paul and Freddie staying longer, at all.

Grandma Hazel was thrilled to see everyone, and was particularly taken with the great-grandchildren, of course. Although Thomas wasn’t having any of the offer to sit on great-granny’s lap, thank you very much.

She made us laugh, though, at the things she said and did. She couldn’t keep her hands off Paul’s hair. “You’ve got such lovely auburn hair,” she kept repeating. “And so have you, haven’t you, Freddie?” Freddie, being a good boy nodded appeasingly. I am sure he has no idea what auburn means. But he will.

We had at least 15 renditions of ‘I was born under a wandering star” today. I’d had four renditions of the bloomin’ song in the car journey to Balsall before we’d hardly started! “That’s my favourite song,” says Mum. You don’t say? But I sing along with her and we have a laugh at the end of it and say how we enjoyed singing it together.

I think Mum really enjoyed her afternoon, but was tired by the end of it. So tired, in fact, that Michael had to heave-ho her into the car for me to take her home. When I’d collected her, she’d nipped into the car as nimble as you like, but it was a bit of a struggle later on.

I handed her over to the care staff at her home, along with boxes of tissues and a box of chocolates. All afternoon, she’d searched about her person for a tissue, finally finding one tucked under her jumper, neatly folded. After using it, she’d neatly fold it up again and pop it back under her jumper – until she lost it in the loo, where it went the way of all tissues – down the U-bend. In its absence, she resorted then to using her blouse. “Mum!” I said, shocked, “Don’t use your blouse!! Here’s another tissue for you.” She looked sheepish and clutched the new tissue close to her. Not sure if she ever actually found it again once she tucked it up her jumper, but still….

When I got home from dropping Mum off, I am not sure how the revelation came about, but it transpired that the box of chocolates I’d given Mum was only half full….. “Oh, I wondered what those were,” said John, “I’ve been eating those.” I thought he was joking, of course, and had to ask him three times if he was serious. He was deadly serious. Yep. He had no idea what they were on the dining room table for, and had helped himself. “Well,” he reasoned, “the box was already open.” Oh. Ah, well, I don’t suppose Mum will notice a few missing from the box.

Meanwhile……William remembered that, yesterday, he was having a very good time with ‘Daddy and me an’ Grandpa – us three…’ and was keen to do it all over again. I am not sure how keen the grown-ups were, however, when faced with this……

William presented them with a very complicated car to make, which takes years (we know, we made it with one of the boys many years ago), so they came up with this. It may not look much but, by gum, it doesn’t half go! (It’s got some mechanism in it that speeds it along, somewhere!!). William was thrilled. And it kept them all quiet for a good hour. Heh-heh.

So, just for the record: 37,011 people tested positive for the virus today. 68 people died in the community, 985 people were admitted to hospital.

Enjoy the week ahead folks. It threatens to be good weather. Stay safe and God bless.

“What are you doing today?” John wondered as we sat at the breakfast bar. “I thought I might do a bit more rummaging,” I replied. “What about you?” John thought he’d try and clear down the side of the house. Since the trailer tent went to new owners, it’s revealed a bit of a messy area, and he’s been itching to get at it ever since. “Right,” I said. Both jobs to be undertaken with the aim of putting rubbish into the skip before we send it back this week.

We sat there a bit longer, chatting, and then John wondered again, “What are you doing today?” Oh. “I thought I might do a bit more rummaging…..” I replied. “Ah, yes. You already told me that, didn’t you?” I nodded. Phew. I was glad it was him who hadn’t been listening, and not me…..

Anyway, I went upstairs to do a bit of faffing about on the computer, some grocery shopping, paying some bills and so on, before I started rummaging. John, meanwhile, went outside and did the clearing that he’d been longing to do.

John fulfilled his side of the bargain and put several bits into the skip. I never did fulfil my side, however. I took a phone call from Michael – they were coming over to view a house in the village and did we have anything in for lunch? Of course, I immediately go into overdrive and abandon all previous plans. No rummaging for me today.

We all ate lunch and then we toddled over to look at the house for sale – apart from John and William. William would like to stay with Grandpa, thank you very much, and sit and watch a bit of TV. Now, this is becoming a regular thing – I think William enjoys his Grandpa’s company, and snuggling into his arms while they cosy up and watch a programme. How lovely is that?

Disappointingly, the house wasn’t a match for Michael and Danielle’s requirements. It was a very lovely house but the garden was non-existent – and that is a real requirement for them. You gotta have a nice bit of garden for the kids to run around in, haven’t you?

Unable to find a house that meets what they both want is proving very difficult and this sent Michael into a very pensive, almost despairing, mood. He’s beginning to wonder if they will ever find a house that will suit…… Come on, houses! Reveal yourselves!!!

After the house-viewing, we played in the garden and then went up to the park for a play there. The weather turned out to be lovely and it was great fun. By the time we got back, it was tea-time, so the family stayed for tea, too. Very nice. Ah….. how wonderful to be with some of the family for the day.

On the COVID front, things are much the same. 37,578 people tested positive for the virus; 120 people died in the community, with data for those dying in hospitals available on Monday. 985 people admitted to hospital. All within the last 24 hours. Anyone surprised?

Look after yourselves. It’s tough but we’re not giving up. God bless.

I happened to look back at the blog from this time last year, thinking I’d post a photo from then, to show ‘how it was’, and one from now to show ‘how it’s going’, but I was waylaid in my search, because I started reading the blog I wrote on 2 September 2020 and I had to smile, because this is ‘how it was’……

Jack was cleaning and polishing the car in readiness for our trip to Cath’s holiday home in Norfolk and then I wrote: ‘No sooner had Jack left than Michelle and Tim arrived. What joy! It is more than year since we’ve met up (might even be two?) and so I was delighted to greet them.’ That was then. And this is ‘how it is now‘, today: Michelle and Tim called in this morning.

Well, well, well – who’d have thought it? A year, almost exactly, to the day, for a Broadribb visit.

Interestingly, last year, we sat out in the garden and the weather was chilly, so we stepped indoors, keeping a safe distance. This year, we sat in the lounge because the weather was chilly, also keeping a safe distance, with the windows open and a CO2 monitor to keep an eye on saturation levels.

In COVID terms we now know, definitively, that the virus is airborne, and ventilation will help with keeping the volume of bugs at bay. Also, we’ve all been vaccinated – although there’s no data yet on how effective that is, in transmission terms, for the Delta variant.

We had a lovely time with the Broadribbs as usual, because they are very good company, but there had been an upset because Michelle’s car had been pranged in the hotel car park where they stayed overnight last night. The driver hadn’t stopped and reported the incident, so now it’s hunt the culprit.

Michelle had spent a fraught morning speaking to the insurance company, the hotel manager and the police. I think she felt a bit better when she left our house though, because she’d finally managed to report the incident online to the police, who hadn’t been able to take a verbal report last night. “Sorry, madam,” they’d said, “You’ll have to report it online.” The hotel internet wasn’t secure, of course, so no reporting could be done from there. Honestly!! Such bureaucracy makes me grind my teeth. Whatever do people do who haven’t got access to the internet?

After Michelle and Tim had left, we grabbed a bite to eat. I am not sure if it was the food itself that had a soporific effect or whether we are just feeling our age, but after lunch, it was ‘watch-the-cricket-and-snooze-time’. We did absolutely nothing this afternoon. Just whiled away the time, pretending we were actually there at the Oval, and resting our eyes whenever the mood took us.

This evening we watched a film about how time flies and how we may regret putting things off until later, not following our dreams. It was a bit of a trashy film but it gave me food for thought. I am a great procrastinator. Maybe I should ‘have a go’ at the things I dream of. Yes. Maybe tomorrow……..

So, just so you know, the COVID figures are still not going down. Funny that. Can’t think why…… which brings me on to people’s behaviours and beliefs. I had a run-in with a woman at the pharmacy today.

The pharmacy has a policy of 2 people in the store at any one time. Being mostly a law-abiding lot here in Balsall Common, there are often streams of people waiting outside to go in. Anyway, I had been in a queue, but there was no longer a queue and I was in. There was one other, vulnerable lady in, who had been recently discharged from hospital.

The pharmacy assistant had just stepped into the back of the shop to check on our prescriptions when a group of three mask-less adults and two children opened the door and half-bundled themselves into the shop. In the absence of the assistant and knowing that the lady was vulnerable, I turned and said, “It’s only two people in the shop.”

“What?” came the reply. “Two people, it says on the door,” I re-iterated, indicating the notice on the door. “What? Are you the police?” said one of the women. “No, but that’s the store policy,” I said, standing my ground. “Well, COVID’s not as bad as it was,” retorted the woman, a little bit aggressively. “I think it is!” said I.

Anyway, the upshot of it was that the group fell back out through the doors and went off down the road, but not before the woman shouted through the glass at me, “Shut up!” Oh.

How can you believe that COVID is not as bad as before? This is ‘how it was’ this time last year – 1,508 new cases and 10 deaths. This year? This is ‘how it’s going’ – 42,076 new cases today, 121 deaths in the community and 45 on 1 & 2 September in hospitals. Not as bad? Not as bad…..???? Oh, Lord, give me strength.

Take care everyone. As you see, it’s still not over….. anyone got any conspiracy theories on it all? God bless.

It’s Thursday. That must mean that it’s housework day…… or not, as the case may be. It’s so daunting to tackle all of the housework in one go, and we’ve agreed, after a bit of an abortive attempt today, that maybe we won’t try and do it in one go, after all. Especially as I’ve been doing yoga and badminton on a Thursday, not leaving much time for housework. So, if you arrive at our house and it’s messy, you know why.

Thursday is also bin day much to John’s excitement and so he’s been out already and put the bins on the front drive. Honestly, this is what our lives have sunk to now – housework and bins……must get a grip.

However, we did cosy up in the lounge this afternoon. I know it’s not ‘cold’ cold, but with meteorological autumn now officially arrived, it felt chilly and we needed a cheer-up, so we lit a fire this afternoon. It was lush. I do love toasting my toes by the fire.

I did a bit more rootling for photos this morning before I went to yoga, but didn’t come across anything particularly exciting for the purpose of ice-breaking at Cath’s son’s wedding. More rummaging tomorrow, I hope. I have found some hilarious and touching photos of the family at large over the years though, so I might share a few with you when I get organised….. which, of course, might be never, because life seems to be fairly hurtling by at the moment! It’s all the housework and bins….

More of the same on the COVID and political front which I find distressing to think about so I am trying to focus on some positives instead. and there are quite a few of those – particularly when the family send me photos of the grandchildren….. this one of Thomas, entitled ‘FFS’ made me laugh, anyway. I do love a curious child, don’t you?

Take care everyone. God bless.

Here are the figures by the way, lest you think I’d forgotten: 38,154 new cases of COVID today; 178 people died in the community; 68 on 31 August & 1 September in hospitals; and 848 people admitted to hospital with the virus.

I’m off for an early night now. Night, Night.

We were in and out of the house like ‘Jack-in-a Boxes’ today. So much so, that when my badminton partner phoned to see if I was planning to go to the club tomorrow, she wondered if we’d actually gone away because the cars never seemed to be at home.

John had his immunoglobulin infusion this morning, so we were up with the lark and on our way to Heartlands well before our normal breakfast time even. We had a good journey there, and I dropped John off with an airy wave and his promise to text me when he was ready for collection later.

Home again, I thought I’d call into the local car wash. The white car was looking a little grubby, having travelled up to Belper last Friday and Cambridge on Monday. In fact, you couldn’t see the spokes on the wheels – they were as black as the ace of spades instead of a nice, shiny silver.

A little potter about the house and back into Birmingham for the pick-up. John’s infusion had gone well, and he felt OK – which was lovely, because sometimes, it doesn’t always work out like that.

This afternoon we each did our own thing – me to sort out some of Mum’s photos. Catherine, my cousin, had phoned to see if we have any family wedding photos that she could use as ice-breakers with the future in-laws, who are travelling over from Korea to attend her son, Christopher, and his fiancée, Yein’s, wedding in a couple of weeks.

As usual, I enjoyed rummaging through the boxes to see what might turn up and reminisce on times gone by. Disappointingly, I didn’t find very much in the way of wedding photos but I am sure that what I’ve found will be of use – might do a bit more rummaging tomorrow.

John spent time on the computer this afternoon, doing some correspondence and looking at houses for Michael and Danielle. The house-hunting is proving to be very daunting – and it turns out that they seem to like different things in a house….. oh, crumbs….. I am sure there’ll something in their price range that they can both like, won’t there?

In the late afternoon, we toddled off to Warwick to look at a house there with Danielle while Michael was at work. Lovely house. But no, not right. Too near a busy road; too small a garden and too tiny a lounge. Back to the drawing board again….

And then this evening, it was Quiz Night! Yay! It’s three weeks since we quizzed because some of the others in our group had things to do over the last couple of weeks. And what fun we had. Nice quiz – to which we actually knew some of the answers, thank you very much – and so we scored reasonably well. Thoroughly enjoyed seeing everyone again. It was extremely uplifting. But ‘Get well soon, Nigel!!’ who was in bed with a tummy bug.

Obviously, it’s nice to be uplifted when the news is so depressing. The weather is going to be rubbish; the COVID figures are rubbish; so is the political climate; and the situation in Afghanistan continues to be rubbish. It doesn’t help that I am currently reading a book about a family fleeing from the war in Syria and all the dark times they are encountering – might stop reading that for a bit and choose something else a little lighter…..

35,693 people tested positive for COVID today; 207 deaths in the community; 68 deaths in hospitals on 30 & 31 August; 842 admission to hospitals with the virus.

Schools are back next week…….

Take care everyone. Stay safe. God bless.