Month: December 2021

We had an amazing day yesterday. It was full.

In the morning, I was rather blessed to be having a massage. This is my new resolution to have a massage once a month in an attempt to keep me calm…… and it did the trick. It was very good, and all those knots that were tying me up were pummelled away until I felt like I was floating on air.

At lunch time, we took ourselves out to meet George and Sue and Dave and Chris for lunch. We all umm’d and ahh’d a bit before we went, wondering whether it would be safe enough and whether we should meet up. However, John was keen and everyone, on balance, thought it would be OK, so we went. We had a wonderful time together. The food was good and the restaurant was COVID conscious, opening a window for us to ventilate the room and social-distancing everyone. We really enjoyed each others’ company as well, of course. Always a treat to meet up with these dear friends. Mind you, we had to laugh at ourselves. The first hour was spent exchanging stories on all our various ailments and comparing notes….. “….and yes, I’ve got a bone in me foot, too!”

Unfortunately, we had double-booked ourselves yesterday, so we only spent a couple of hours together at the pub before we had to come home. The Mason’s ‘do’ had been scheduled for next Saturday but, due to numbers and other factors that I don’t know about, it was re-scheduled to last night.

Therefore, we hot-footed it home for John to change into smart togs and then we went to Guys Cliffe, where we met up with Paul and Freddie and the rest of the John’s fellow Masons. Here, too, we enjoyed ourselves. Great food, lovely company, some carol singing and a prize in the raffle – can’t be bad, eh? When our raffle number came up, Freddie was most excited to go up and collect the prize. Sadly, there was no physical manifestation of the prize, as it was a meal for two at Haigs, the local hotel. Freddie was a little bit disappointed not to come back with something in his hands.

We all enjoyed the carol singing and even Freddie joined in with ones he knew. I was very impressed. Here he is, singing his little heart out to ‘Away in a Manger’ with his Daddy.

We were exhausted by the time we came home last night. All that enjoying ourselves took its toll – tee-hee!

Today was fairly full as well. I spent the morning doing a writing workshop while John started on ‘Mission: Minecraft’. It is Freddie’s birthday tomorrow, so we made the cake. “What sort of birthday cake would you like, Freddie?” A Minecraft one, of course! Except that we are behind the times and hardly know what Minecraft is, let alone make a cake to represent it.

Thank goodness for the internet. You just have to look up ‘Minecraft birthday cakes’ and Bob’s your Uncle. And, fortunately, Harriet had been busy ordering the figurines to go atop the cake, so we were saved.

John made the cakes and sandwiched them together in a Minecraft shape. The only thing left to do was to put grass on top. “Can you do that?” he asked. “I’m worn out.” Well, of course I could do it, but I needed John’s supervision. After all, birthday cake-making is John’s domain, and I wouldn’t want to do it wrong.

So he sat and drank copious amounts of wine while offering lots of marvellous advice to ensure I got the grass right. We think it’s turned out OK – but I won’t post a pic until we have the Freddie seal of approval tomorrow. Always assuming it gets a seal of approval, of course!!

We bought our Christmas tree too, today. So guess what we’re doing tomorrow?

But what to do now, about going out? How safe is it really? With 54,073 people testing positive for the virus today and 132 dying with it, you have to ask yourself whether we should go back to shielding. Mind you, while John was at the immunoglobulin clinic on Thursday the nurse took extra vials of blood to check on his COVID antibodies. I am keeping my fingers crossed that he’ll have some!!

Take care everyone. God bless.

I rather like this Apache blessing that was shared in my writing workshop today – thought you might, too, so I share it with you in all sincerity.

May the Sun bring you
new energy every day
May the Moon softly restore
you by night
May the Rain wash away
your worries
May the Breeze blow new
strength into your being
May you walk gently through
the World and know its
beauty, all of your life.

This poem is doing the rounds, and I rather like it…… what do you think? Made me chuckle in a wry and incredulous sort of way, anyway! I think Brian Bilston has nailed it.

After years of sitting on the fence and watching from the sidelines while John discusses politics with anyone who will listen, I find myself getting more and more interested as I get older. Weird that. I think it’s because I’m looking for a decent legacy to leave our children and grandchildren and suddenly finding that it’s all seemingly turning to ash. Or Big Brother.

Anyway, enough of that for now and back to the mundane of the day. We were up early to trundle over to Heartlands for John to have his immunoglobulin treatment today. And this is the rather glorious sight that greeted me as I pulled up the blinds…..

I sat in the kitchen, eating my breakfast, watching the sky change from minute to minute as the sun came up. From dark blues to pale blues and greys, then to oranges and reds and purples. It was brilliant.

We drove over to Heartlands a little later than normal – it takes a bit of time these days to get ready – and then I came back to do a spot of ironing before shooting over to Mum’s care home to take the document that the solicitor had asked me give to her.

I wasn’t at the care home long, because they didn’t actually have a slot for me to fit into for a visit and, not only that, there was an ambulance on site and the staff were pre-occupied with that. Still, said document was delivered and I made my way back to Heartlands to collect the ol’ man.

I was a bit early, and he was a bit late, so I sat in the car and demolished a whole packet of Minstrels while I waited. No wonder I am putting on weight. Beer, chocolate and mince pies seem to be the order of the day at the moment.

John came out of the clinic with a very exotic bruise on the back of his hand. He’d been asked to keep the cotton wool pad firmly over the place where the canular had been, but he decided he’d do his laces up before it healed, and he started leaking all over the place. That’s going to look very pretty over the next week or two.

Other than that, all had gone well and we came home to some cheese on toast before I set off for badminton. John spent the afternoon sorting out mechanical things. He was in his element. I am not going to tell you what the mechanical things were – it’s a Christmas surprise……

I thoroughly enjoyed my game of badminton. There were some better players there today and so it was relatively challenging and I found my competitive edge coming to the fore. Regrettably, my legs don’t move quite as fast as they used to, so if anyone does a drop-shot on me I am done for.

Once home, I sat with a cup of tea and the intention to go for a long soak in the bath. We all know that the path to hell is paved with good intentions, don’t we? Instead, I had a long sit on the sofa and quick bath……

This evening was marvellous with a lovely chat to the college crew. There were only four of us this evening, but it was cosy and enjoyable. Blessings……

So we are getting off today’s Merry-go-Round now and thinking about bed. But, before we settle for whatever night’s sleep we get, I am sparing a thought for all those affected by the virus today and all the days gone before. Lives have been ravaged in some cases by it and more will again in the future. I am pleased that we are to wear masks again though, and there are a few measures in place to keep us all a bit safer.

50,867 people tested positive for the virus today; 148 died in the community with the virus; 813 people were admitted to hospital; and 51 people died in hospitals in the last 48 hours.

Take care everyone. God bless.

Some days are like that, aren’t they? Full from beginning to end. And it was a good full from beginning to end, so we are quite happy as we get ready for bed.

John was particularly looking forward to the day because Richard was coming to visit. “What shall I do for lunch?” I wondered, offering a few alternatives. “I thought we’d just go out to The White Horse,” said John. Right – well, that would save on cooking!

This morning then, I pottered about doing the standard things before I popped over to Leamington to Mum’s solicitors. I had been having fun and games in trying to get one of her pension companies to take note of her new address. ‘We need everything in triplicate and originals.’ Of course, I had sent the ‘original copy’ of Mum’s Power of Attorney document to someone at some time and found I no longer had it. “Cough up another tenner for a duplicate” is the standard response from the solicitor. Ah well, it’s only money after all, isn’t it?

Once I had collected the relevant documents and signed several others – ‘here’s one to take to your Mum’ – I was on my way and home in no time at all. The process made me smile though. I mean, Mum no longer has any interest in formal bits of paper, but I still have to hand her the document and let the solicitor know I have done so. I will, of course.

When I arrived home, Richard was already settled in. A couple of cups of tea and a big chinwag later, I checked with John what they were doing for lunch. “How about bacon butties?” said John. “Did you buy bacon?” I asked. No, came the reply. “Or bread?” No……. “It’ll have to be the pub then,” John grinned. So off they went.

I took the opportunity to do a bit of a clean-up of the fridge while they were out, to see if there was anything edible in there for my lunch. I managed to retrieve some sad salad and ate that before they were home again. And then it was more chin-wagging ten to the dozen. Richard was so enjoying himself that he postponed his visit to the gym and stayed on beyond his original planned departure time. “I’m not outstaying my welcome, am I?” he wondered. No, of course he wasn’t – we don’t see him so frequently nowadays, so it was just delightful to enjoy his company.

Richard left at tea-time and then, this evening, it was Quiz Time! Fun, as always. A cracking quiz with some really good questions – and some great questions that engendered debate, which we all love to do. Lots of laughter and wonderful camaraderie. Here’s us thinking hard……and giggling, too.

And thus we slipped from one activity to the next as smoothly as you like today, with barely a pause for breath. And pretty much all of it involved the pleasure of socialising and friendship. Great stuff.

Talking of socialising – the PM is still saying ‘there was no party’ at No. 10 last December, despite the chuckling of the then press secretary, Allegra Stratton, and other aides about the gathering, in a rehearsal for a journalists’ briefing. Let’s face it, it feels like an Orwellian scenario, doesn’t it? What next I wonder?

Nothing to see here. No rules broken. No crime committed……

51.342 people infected with COVID to day. Nothing to see here.

161 people died with the virus in the community today. Nothing to see here.

729 people admitted to hospital with the virus today. Nothing to see here.

45 people died in hospitals in the last 48 hours. Nothing to see here.

All animals are equal.

Take care everyone. Keep up the good work on the mask-wearing, distance-keeping and lateral flow testing. God bless.

I never know what to think about a Tuesday. It’s a day that is neither here nor there. However, regardless of its place in the week, I treated it like any other day and hoped it would treat us well. And, as it turned out, it did.

I made my way to yoga this morning, despite the wind and the rain, and came out afterwards feeling a lot better than when I went in. This particular session is ‘Somatics’, which is all about using the mind-body connection to help you review your internal self, and trying to heed the signals your body sends out about areas of discomfort or imbalance – or even where you might be ‘mind-numb’ to a particular bit of your body.

Aligning and re-aligning your body, trying to take account of it and trying to work out which bit is doing what is hard. Which bits of my body are on auto-pilot? And can I re-discover them? The movements may be small, but I find that there’s lots of bits of my body that I have trouble being aware of.

After the yoga session I shot home and collected Rio, the white fluffy cat, who insists on leaving his white fluffiness everywhere around the house. I took him to the groomers to see if some of the white fluffiness could be tamed. Usually, I leave it too late and the groomer has to spend a good hour or so wrestling with the tangled and matted fur. I felt virtuous today though, because I had booked him in before the knots and tangles had kicked in.

“Do you want to wait in the car?” asked Sam, the cat groomer. “Yes, OK – how long will you be grooming Rio, then?” I asked. “About 15 minutes,” came the reply. Wow! That was good news. So we were in and out in no time at all. Still cost the same though……

Once home, I got on with more Christmas stuff. There are still plenty of parcels to wrap! John was watching a programme called ‘Succession’. It certainly seems to be aptly named – there seem to be lots and lots of episodes in the series – a succession of them, in fact!

I was doing the wrapping upstairs in our old bedroom. But I did spend a fair bit of time running up and down the stairs to ask John if I should order this item for X, or wrap that for Y. It kept me fit anyway. John was internet shopper extraordinaire and did all the research to buy all the decent gifts. Nearly there……

When he wasn’t checking stuff on the internet, John was doing a spot of DIY. We have a new system. We have a little black book in which I write down all the jobs that need doing. John has a look at the list and does the ones he can, when he can. And today, it was the family bathroom’s turn – a new handle on the door! Much to my relief – I will now be able to open the door easily, without fighting it. Previously, we had a round door knob there which was quite large in my hand, making it difficult to grip and not at all conducive to my rather arthritic hands.

This evening it was my little prayer group meeting. I had tentatively asked the group if they’d mind doing a lateral flow test before we met. Two of the group replied but I didn’t hear anything else from the others, so I thought maybe it was a ‘no-go’ and so, disappointed, sent my apologies.

However, late this afternoon one couple sent their results through: ‘We’re clear’ they declared; another then declared the same; and then another, until I felt confident enough to go along to the meeting. They had taken it as a ‘given’ that they’d do a test and hadn’t replied to the email as a result. And boy, was I glad to be there. It was such a wonderful evening, with lots of friendly fellowship and great discussion in a very cosy home. Marvellous. It was rather lovely to turn my thoughts to spiritual matters this evening.

We are still ‘living with COVID’ of course, and that means 45,691 people were reported as infected with the virus today. It also means that people are ‘dying with COVID’ – 180 of them in the community reported today and 713 people admitted to hospital. 59 people were also ‘dying with COVID’ in hospitals in the last 48 hours.

Still, as long as we can have parties, we’re alright, aren’t we?

Take care everyone. God bless.

A little something from my favourite wordsmith, Susie Dent, who says… ‘On this windy day, a reminder that to ‘bloviate’ (19th century) is to bluster or speak at length whilst saying very little‘

We knew we were going to be busy this afternoon for an hour or so, looking after the Sutton Sleath grandchildren while Michael and Danielle went across to the hospital for a mid-term scan and check-up on the baby. But what we hadn’t expected was that we’d spend most of the day with them – and it was lovely.

I thought today’s arrangements were going to be tight for time as I had an appointment with the cat groomer to tidy Rio up this morning, so I phoned to check whether she could sort him out pronto. She could have done, but she suggested an appointment for tomorrow instead. Well, that made things nice and easy. No rushing about.

Mid-morning however, Michael phoned to say he was going to call in. He’d been to Kenilworth to interview a childminder and, because of the rain, there was going to be no park play for the children, so could they come over to us for a cuppa? We rarely say ‘no’, not wanting to pass up an opportunity to spend time with the family, so guess what? We said ‘Yes, please call in’.

The Sutton Sleaths, minus Danielle who was working, duly arrived and the fun began. Upstairs, downstairs, in my lady’s chamber and generally wherever there looked to be anything interesting, we played. The Scalectrix came out, as did the Duplo, the Bouncy Tigger, the glowsticks, the imaginary space ship, bouncing on the bed with Grandpa, nursery rhymes and dancing…… and so on. We had fun.

Michael wondered whether it might be a better idea to leave the children with us while they went to the hospital, rather than us trundle over there. We nodded eagerly. Yes, we were all settled into playing and the thought of upping sticks didn’t appeal.

Michael went home. We carried on playing and then sorted out some lunch. ‘All OK?’ Michael queried while they were waiting at the hospital. Yes, all OK….. ‘Of course they’re OK! They’ve got food in front of them!!’ said Danielle, when she saw the picture I’d sent.

It’s not the best photo in the world, but they were tucking in and really didn’t want to be disturbed.

Thomas was tired after lunch. “Do you want a little nap?” I asked him. He nodded. “Yes,” he said. So I popped him into the large buggy and rocked him for two minutes before he was sound asleep.

That left William full rein. More Duplo, the pretend food, disco lights in the space ship and the Marble Run came out. We were just grappling with the Marble Run when Michael came back to collect the children. John and I were rather grateful. I’d had a go at putting the dratted thing together, then abandoned it to John, who finally abandoned it to Michael. Great fun once it was set up, but such a fiddle to set up in the first place!!

Gosh, we’d had a ball. Thoroughly enjoyed ourselves with such an unexpected pleasure of entertaining the children at our house. Soul food, folks, soul food.

Soul food is essential right now, I think, as we all remain mindful of our situation with the various variants of the coronavirus lurking about. The Omicron variant is now doubling its infection rate every couple of days apparently and seemingly sometimes avoiding detection on the Lateral Flow Tests, too. The little devil.

The official figures report 51,459 people infected with the virus today. There have been 41 deaths in the community and 10 in hospitals over the last 48 hours (although that figure is likely to rise as the weekend figures are fully included). 811 people have been admitted to hospital today.

I am mindful of all those who are troubled and in distress right now – for whatever reason – and am saying a prayer for them all. ‘Double Trouble’ is how it seems to me when there’s COVID about, because nothing is quite straightforward.

Take care everyone. Let’s keep our distance, wear our masks, ventilate indoor areas and do lateral flow tests frequently, as a courtesy to those we know and to those we may yet know. God bless.

Susie Dent’s Word of the Day today is ‘mubble-fubbles’ (16th century): an overall feeling of despondency, low spirits, or ill humour.

Not me today, folks!! Not me!! I hope it’s not you either.

On a Sunday, I always turn my thoughts to spiritual matters. Today, however, I found myself rushing along on practical matters with the spiritual just hovering along underneath. I avoided the church service online; I decided against joining in a wonderful celebration of our church having been ‘seeded’ 150 years ago; and I metaphorically walked on by, when I should have sat in quiet contemplation.

I am not sure why I wasn’t ready for the spiritual today. My mind was elsewhere. So no ‘Sunday thoughts’ today. That sometimes happens – but tomorrow is another day, and maybe it’ll come to me then.

I did, however, watch ‘The Chorister of the Year’ on BBC at lunchtime, and thoroughly enjoyed that. The contestants are such stunning musicians and singers at such a young age that I am always amazed at their talent. And I love to watch the programme because it always reminds me of John’s Mum. She, too, loved to hear the angelic voices piping into the rafters.

So, what were we doing all day? Well, John was extremely tired today and, no sooner had he got up, than he fell asleep in his armchair this morning. He fell asleep in the armchair this afternoon, too, and watched TV for most of the day. We especially enjoyed the Grand Prix, which was a ‘stop/start’ affair and exciting overtaking manoeuvres. No walk today – the ol’ man simply had no ‘oomph’.

I faffed about with Christmas cards this morning before I sat down with our Sunday breakfast treat – a pain aux raisins – and settled to watch last night’s episode of ‘I’m a Celebrity’. I had just finished my bun when the doorbell rang. It was Harriet – on her way to collect Freddie from his sleepover at the Sutton Sleaths. “Have you got a sack truck?” she asked. “Paul has just talked to John about it?” Oh, right.

Being as I was still in my dressing gown…… I ran upstairs to quickly get dressed and ask John where said sack truck was. John gave me specific instructions on how to find the sack truck, and I handed it over to Harriet as she disgorged a couple of items from the boot of the car for us to keep at our house.

Erm…..oh….. well…… yes….they will come in useful for looking after the children, I guess. Paul and Harriet had been emptying the loft of their old house in readiness for an exchange of contracts this week. They sent a photo of their hard labour…… Crikey! Rather them than me! And I can see why a sack truck might be needed!

I went back to watching TV after Harriet left and started watching ‘The Long Call’, before I went back to the Christmas cards. I think the programme might be good – anyone watched it?

Of course, I had Mum’s cards to think about as well on the Christmas card front. Earlier in the year, I had sent ‘change of address’ cards out to several of Mums friends and relatives. However, there were several people I hadn’t notified, and I suddenly realised these people were on her Christmas card list and they needed to know. All good, except I thought I’d make life easier and print address labels off from the computer. Ha! Spent three-quarters of an hour trying to get the blooming printer to work!!!

Ah, well, I had had a very pleasant hour beforehand, chatting to Michelle. I had heard via the grapevine that she had started a new job, so I was interested to know more. We had a lovely chat – so very nice to catch up. Zoom is brilliant, isn’t it? Not as good as face-to-face but such a godsend.

I have been monitoring the Omicron progress and the scientists are pretty convinced that this variant is highly transmissible. I am not sure of the veracity of one report from Norway which suggested that people caught the virus after using a room that had been vacated by a group of 150 people who were infected. The suggestion being that the virus hung about in the air as a result of stormy weather, causing the ventilation system to possibly invert, thus keeping aerosols in place to accumulate…….. I shall check that one again, but I really hope it’s not true because, if it is, there’s a worry in schools and universities particularly.

Today’s figures are still too high for comfort in my opinion: 43,992 people infected; 54 people died in the community; and 812 people admitted to hospital.

Sometimes, it’s all rather overwhelming, isn’t it? I wonder if this is why the spiritual was an undercurrent today – I am thinking about how to keep us all safe.

In the meantime, I know we must take care of yourselves when we feel like that. Here’s another Charlie Mackesy reminder of how to do it……. spot on.

After the excitement of the last week when we have entertained, or been entertained non-stop and generally enjoyed ourselves, we found we couldn’t sleep last night. John had a ‘toss and turn’ night and I woke up at 5 a.m. and then found I couldn’t get back to sleep.

I pottered downstairs just before eight and had breakfast and so on. John came down just after eight and was surprised that I was up before him. He thought he’d left me sleeping like a baby.

I busied round with this and that and was surprised that by the time I’d done a few chores it was still only 10 o’clock. It felt like it might be long day.

“What are your plans for the day?” John asked. My plan? To make inroads into the Christmas card writing and Christmas gift-wrapping. I’ve started but there’s still a long way to go.

It’s the little things, isn’t it? For example, last year, I bought some small gifts to put inside home-made crackers; saved loo rolls for said purpose; bought the ‘snaps’ and chose just the right paper to wrap them in. In the end, I didn’t make them because we were locked down. So this year, I am hoping to have them ready for the family dining table. The job has been on my list for months. And yet, here we are, three weeks before Christmas and I haven’t even started the darned things yet!!! Might have to buy some yet……

This morning, before the clouds scudded across ominously, John was determined to go for another walk. So we took ourselves a walk along the ‘Yellow Brick Road’ – which took a little while because it wasn’t half windy. After a sleepless night and the exertion of a walk, John was pretty tired so, while I scribed the Christmas cards in the dining room this afternoon, he availed himself of the opportunity for a snooze.

Anyway, that was more or less what I did all day – faffed about with Christmas stuff.

In between times, we did have some pleasant interludes chatting to friends and family on the phone, and even had a minute or two on the doorstep with Paul and Freddie, who had called in to collect some bits and pieces to take to the Sutton Sleaths. Freddie had been invited over: “I’m going for a sleepover!” he announced, excitedly. Paul looked relieved. Not that you want to get rid of your children, but just for one night it’s nice to have a bit of respite, isn’t it?

William was excited; Thomas was excited; Freddie was excited. I am not sure how the adults over in Sutton were feeling, but it looked like the event was going well. Here are the children enjoying a ‘midnight feast’ in the garden and a ‘late night’ film.

We’re planning an early night. No late night film or midnight feast for us – unless, that is, we can’t sleep again and we end up coming downstairs to while away the night.

In COVID news, there were 50,584 cases of people who tested positive for the virus yesterday, and 42,848 today. In the last 7 days, 315,731 people had reportedly contracted the virus. Those are the reported cases. Thousands upon thousands of people poorly. Lordy, Lordy.

143 people died in the community yesterday with the virus; 127 today. 827 in the last 7 days. Hundreds of people dead in a day; even more hundreds dead in a week.

Scientists are urging everyone to take all the precautions they can against the new strain of the virus, Omicron. Basically, because they don’t know how it is going to sweep through our population and they suggest that it is better to be safe than sorry.

The government, on the other hand, is telling us to ‘wait and see’. Well, we know how that’s turned out for us previously, don’t we? I think I’ll listen to the scientists…… how about you?

‘When we have each other, we have everything’.

Sending love to you all.

And prayers for strength and resilience to support each other, come what way.

God bless

Today was a day full of happy togetherness – although there was a disappointing start to the day.

We had invited Pete and Dawn, and Carol and John round for lunch. We were eagerly looking forward to it when we got a text: ‘We are very sorry but Peter has gone down with a cold…..’ Oh, noooooo! Pete and Dawn were not going to be able to come. We were all very disappointed.

Carol and John were still on their way though, so instead of enough jacket potatoes in the oven for six of us, it was reduced to four with a toast to absent friends.

I shot off to the dentist’s first thing to see if he could put another dressing in the cavity that was left by the removal of my tooth, as it was still niggling. All done and dusted by 10.30, I was home and prepping lunch. A great start to the day. In fact, I could hardly believe my luck. Every traffic light turned to green as I drove home and it felt like I sailed along as smooth as you like.

Carol and John arrived a little later than they’d have liked, however, having got stuck on the M42 while a burned out lorry was dealt with. ‘Delayed on M42 be about 15 minutes sorry x’ texted Carol. No worries – it gave me chance to fish out a bottle of mulled wine…..

It was so lovely to see them. We rummaged through our minds to try to remember when we last caught up with each other – had we gone to them? Or had they come to us? We don’t know but it felt like an age since we last met in person.

As soon as they arrived, that was it – non-stop talking for nearly five hours; non-stop laughing; non-stop empathy and understanding; just non-stop friendship for the whole of the time they were here. Gosh, it was wonderful. But so sorry that Pete and Dawn couldn’t join in.

The plan was that the Brandreths would set off home again before it got dark. We were enjoying ourselves so much that dusk began to fall before we noticed though, and it turned out that some of the journey was going to be in the dark after all. However, a note to say they were safely home reassured us that the journey hadn’t been too bad.

“Next time,” we said to each other, “next time, we’ll stay over. None of this rushing home in the dark malarkey.”

Within an hour of having waved goodbye to the Brandreths, the Kenilworth Sleaths arrived on the doorstep for some respite care. What a week they have had, having new central heating installed. It was a pretty chilly week in which to do it – no warmth and no hot water.

Not only that, but they had finally emptied their old house of the furniture they had left there to ‘dress’ it while it was for sale. The additional furniture is now cluttering up their new house and, for five minutes, some calm surroundings were required. Goodness me, they are worn out.

I, of course, was in my element with Freddie and we had a lovely time together while the three remaining adults snoozed their way through all the stories we read. I know they were bedtime stories but, really, that was ridiculous….. hehe.

We sat and watched MasterChef by way of relaxation, after the Kenilworth Sleaths took their leave, and we were highly impressed by some of the candidates. I do love a bit of MasterChef.

As a result of a Fabulous Friday with Friends and Family, I haven’t been keeping up with the news. Therefore, I have decided not to sully the blog today with the COVID figures. Let’s face it, sometimes, you just want to remember the good stuff, don’t you?

However, before I go – Susie Dent’s Word of the Day is ‘dumfungled’ (19th century) meaning: used up, worn out, and approaching stupefaction.

Yep, that’s me in relation to quite a few things………how about you?

Look after yourselves everyone. I wish you a wonderful weekend whatever you are planning to do. God bless.

P.S. The dressing in my tooth has fallen out already……..

It was a day of exercise today. John was due down to the doctor’s surgery for a consultation about his chest so that they could check that they have everything on course for him, so he walked there and back. I was delighted he did – although it was a bit icy underfoot and I did wonder how he’d get on, but he was fine and I am sure the walk did him good.

I went off to yoga this morning – having missed so many sessions due to my tooth business, Jaime suggested I catch up and do a couple of Thursday sessions as well. It was all good and I found muscles and bits of my body I had forgotten about.

Once home, I decided I’d have a go at making a Paleo Christmas Cake. We made one last year and it was delicious. The only trouble was, I had to pop to the Co-op first to grab a few missing ingredients and that set the timings back a bit. “John…….” I wheedled, “will you be able to take the cake out of the oven, or shall I wait until I get back from badminton and make it then?” All good, no worries – John could take it out of the oven while I was out.

I set the timer on the oven. Then I thought I’d better add another timer, because I know John doesn’t always hear the one in the kitchen. I put a timer on his phone. I told him what I’d done. I handed him his phone and I went out in total confidence that all would be well.

I had a really enjoyable game of badminton, despite the fact that I was fairly rubbish, not having played for weeks. And when I came home and walked into the house, I thought what a wonderful smell of cake greeted me. “Smells lovely!” I called to John. “Yes,” he replied. “Have you had a look at it yet?” No, I hadn’t looked but I would do in a minute when I was sorted after the badminton session.

Upon inspection, I thought the cake looked a little scorched. John looked sheepish. “Did you forget to take it out of the oven?” I asked. “Well….. when the timer went on my phone,” he said, “I thought it was a reminder for my tablets……” And no, he hadn’t heard the oven timer either.

Ah, well. We think it might be alright. I trimmed the scorched edges and we’ll see tomorrow when we eat it for lunch. King Alfred? Eat your heart out! John’s giving you a run for your money!!

After our exertions today, we were both keen to sit down for a while and just flop. I groaned at the thought of cooking the tea. John said he’d do it, which I thought was really kind of him. So I sat and was waited on at tea-time which, I have to say, felt rather nice.

In the news we are hearing a lot of kerfuffle about No. 10 holding parties in the midst of lockdown last Christmas. Heaven knows what the truth is, but it is beginning to feel like ‘The Boy’s Club’ can do what it likes while we maunder about the restrictions and mostly do as we’re told.

COVID cases are up today with 53,945 people testing positive for the virus – up by nearly 3% in the last 7 days. Pause……..let’s just say that number again, shall we? Fifty-three thousand, nine hundred and forty five.

141 people died in the community today. 41 people died in hospitals in the last 48 hours.

700 people were admitted to hospitals today.

And 1.2 million people are reported as suffering from Long Covid. One point two million.

Hot chocolate, anyone? It’s the only thing keeping me sane……

Take care. Things are sent to try us but every day we go again.

Susie Dent’s Word of the Day yesterday? ‘Apanthropy’ (18th century): the desire to be away from other people and to be left alone.

Ha!

And one more for luck – Susie Dent’s Word of the Day today is ‘eye-servant’ (16th century): one who only works properly or follows the rules when they are being observed.

We had our priorities today. First up: go for a walk. The weather was fine and, buoyed by yesterday’s success, John was up for another stride out. I was up first and popped to the Post Office to send parcels to Australia while John had his breakfast and a strong cup of coffee to get him revved up for stepping outside the door.

We had a bit of a debate as to where we should go but, in the end, we plumped for Katharine’s Wood. Being a Job’s Comforter, I thought it might be a bit far. However, John donned his determined apparel and we set off.

Sure enough, the ol’ man made it and we had a really good time. We met a gentleman on the way and he walked with us for a while, chattering all the way before we parted company and made our way back. I was delighted that we’d had such a nice walk. More of the same, please.

John was also delighted to have a lovely long chat to Richard on the phone once he was home. It’s been a while since we’d been in touch, but it was wonderful to hear Richard sounding so well and relaxed. There are plans afoot for a visit, so fingers crossed the current situation with the virus doesn’t stop those plans.

This afternoon I left John downstairs while I did some prep on the computer for our Quiz. John settled into his chair and inspected the back of his eyelids while I was away, exhausted from his ramble this morning.

And then, of course, this evening was Quiz Night and great fun was had by all. It’s so lovely to catch up with everyone on Zoom, and we plan to continue now that half of our number are scattered to other corners of the country. We had a laugh as usual and there was a great camaraderie amongst us all. Lovely.

Sorry to say that Nigel was in bed nursing the after-effects of his booster vaccination this evening, so didn’t join us. However, Hazel made up for it and she had plenty of right answers to the quiz.

Lots of people have tested positive for the virus today: 48,374; with 171 people having died with it; and 706 people having been admitted to hospital. The numbers of people who died in hospitals in the last 48 hours count up to 50 in the last 48 hours; and there are increasing numbers of people being diagnosed with the new variant of Omicron, with 8 more cases in England today. Not many, and we are waiting to see how it pans out, so watch this space.

In the meantime, I don’t know about you, but I am beginning (after nearly two years’ experience at it now) to settle into a rhythm of how to manage our time, our visits to friends, and to entertain. Zoom and Skype have been wonderful inventions enabling us to catch up with friends and family across the world; and along with the vaccination programme, masks and keeping our distance, the Lateral Flow Tests have given us some confidence to mix.

Take care everyone. Keep up the good work. God bless.