Month: April 2022

We’re still sniffling with a blooming cold each, and I wasn’t sure whether the hairdresser would let me into the salon this morning. I phoned her up to reassure her that I’d tested negative for COVID and she said I could go, as we’d both be wearing masks. A relief, really, as my hair had gone beyond the stage of looking alright and I was beginning to feel very bedraggled.

Despite feeling better for having had my hair cut, it wasn’t long before I decided that I didn’t feel great. I did a spot of ironing but abandoned it in favour of sitting in front of the TV instead. Series Two of Bridgerton beckoned……

John is feeling marginally better, and he was on sufficient form to work out all the ins and outs of the energy bills he’s been wrestling with. Equally, he was feeling well enough to go into the garage and potter about restoring some more of the Lotus this afternoon.

After a while, I was feeling chilly – not surprising really, as we had a window open to allow the fumes from the new varnish on the desk to dissipate. I lit a fire rather than turn the heating up, and it felt very cosy – just right to coddle me in my head-cold misery. John, too, enjoyed the open fire ablaze in the grate, as he came in from the garage – and was grateful for the warmth as he settled in for a nap. Made me smile, though….. it’s April. It’s Spring. A open fire at this time of the year? Ah well, why not?

This evening was Quiz Night. I took a caffeine-laden Lemsip beforehand because we were Quiz Masters this evening and I didn’t want to let anyone down. I was glad we did the Quiz. Talk about giggle. We laughed until our sides ached over some of the answers being considered and the jokes being made. It was a real tonic and did us such a lot of good to be among such good friends. Counting my blessings, folks.

We are not sure of the accuracy of any of the COVID figures right now, but I seem to know quite a few people who have succumbed. And, with the message being put out that no-one needs to do LFTs or wear masks any more, it puts me on edge as to how we are going to manage our social lives from now on – especially with weddings on the horizon and other gatherings in the offing. I mean, we can hardly ask people to do LFTs now that they have to paid for, can we? Interesting times to come, I think.

For what they are worth, these are today’s figures from the government website: 389,368 people tested positive for the virus in the last 7 days – this is down by 30% (well, what a surprise); 1,194 people have died with the virus in the last 7 days – up 11.6%; and hospitals admissions are up, too, by 3.7% with 16, 419 people having been admitted in the 7 days. That’s quite a lot of people, isn’t it?

Take care everyone. God bless.

John is amazing. Despite the fact that he still has a cold and not yet back to walking fitness, he trotted out to the shed to take a look at a rather sad looking freezer. The seal has gone and ice has frosted up the whole of it pretty much. I’d removed everything at the weekend, but wasn’t keen on unplugging it just then, as the water would soak the floor of the shed. “We need to defrost the freezer and get rid of it,” John said earlier in the day. “Oh yes, we do!” I replied, but didn’t do anything about it.

Anyway, this evening, he came in the house, only slightly out of breath, and said, “I’ve unplugged the freezer and got it half out of the shed….” OK. Marvellous. So here we are – a dead freezer, keeled over on the path and looking very forlorn. The cat was interested though…..

We’ll have a go at wheeling out to the front another day – maybe tomorrow?

In the meantime, we have resurrected and brought alive the desk that used to belong to Harriet’s father. “Do you want the desk?” Paul and Harriet had wondered, as they were clearing the house – and we had said ‘yes’. So we took delivery of it and I thought I’d have it French Polished. Here it is, in all its glory and forever to be known as ‘John Fielding’s Desk’.

Looks good, no? Although I may have to change my curtains now – I am not sure the mahogany and the burgundy colours go together!

In other news, John has battled all day with facts and figures relating to energy bills. He phoned the energy company to query the hike in standing order required, only to be told they needed evidence of power consumed over the last few years. Honestly, you’d think they’d have that at their fingertips, wouldn’t you? But no, the customer has to do the work to prove that the hike is inappropriate.

Meanwhile, I had a day of rest and sat and watched TV all afternoon. I am now nursing a cold, too. Lucky me.

Take care everyone. God bless.

Yesterday was a full day for me one way and another, but not arduous at all – and another day of recuperation for John.

John was still feeling under the weather, so I left him in bed in the morning and took myself to Berkswell Church to hear the Banns being read for Lucy and Tom. Pete and Dawn weren’t able to go to hear their daughter’s Banns read in person unfortunately, being trapped at home with COVID in the house, but the rest of the family were all there – and no-one in the congregation shouted out that they knew of a just cause to prevent the marriage, so that was good news.

Although it was quite a long service, it was very good and I enjoyed it. We were all in one area and masks were worn so it felt safe. Whether it actually was safe is another matter of course, so we’ll see.

Afterwards I nipped over to our friends, Linda and Brendan’s, to offer condolences on the death of Linda’s Mum. Despite the sadness, they were both relatively cheerful but looked exhausted from all the to-ing and fro-ing they are having to do. Hope it gets better for them soon.

At home, John had recently got up and was watching TV. Having checked he was OK, I popped up to Oakes’ Farm Shop to get the Sunday Roast. We planned to have lunch about two o’clock because I was off out to Yoga at 6p.m. and I didn’t want to be bending and stretching on a heavy meal. Happily, it all went to plan.

The Yin Yoga practice was a two and half hour session, so I arrived back home just before nine o’clock. Then I remembered I had the sheets on the bed to change, so the blog had to wait. I had been looking forward to going to bed but……… mind you, so was John and he had to wait for sheets to be put on – tee-hee.

And today? A bit more yoga this afternoon which was lovely. It came at the end of a day when I’d been busy again. This time, sorting out the odd sock pile before going for a walk with my friend, Moira, from church. We had a good old stride out and, from Moira’s house we did a circuit of 5.6kms, which I thought was good going. But then Moira reminded me that I’d walked from my house to her house, which is about a mile, and then, as we went our separate ways, I had another half a mile to go……all in all, I thought I gave John a run for his money and probably did about 8 kms in the end! Go me!!

This morning the solar panel man came to measure up so I had to put away my sock pile and concentrate on what he was suggesting. Fortunately, John was well enough to join in and make decisions about where wires might go and so on. Fingers crossed we get the panels fitted by the end of May. Knowing our luck, I expect we’ll get them fitted after all the sun has been and gone…….

John is feeling a bit better every day now, although not fully recovered from this nasty cold, but I think he’ll be back to walking again by the end of the week. Fingers crossed anyway. Suffice to say, he’s a bit fed up about feeling poorly again. Healing vibes people, please?

Take care everyone. God bless.

I have always said that I am not keen on prep – especially of the decorating kind. However, today I was doing some prep that I really didn’t mind. It’s all in aid of helping get things ready for grandchild Number 7.

Danielle has been given a date for admission mid-April, and so we are washing baby and toddler clothes as well as clothes for Danielle to fit into after the baby is born. Oh, and sorting out odd socks. Goodness me, why is it that children take off one sock and throw it into the ether, never to be found again?? We have a bagful of odd socks to which, ever optimistic, we think we might find a mate. Hehehe – some hope.

So today I was ploughing through the washing, drying and pressing of clothes ready for them to placed, at the ready, into wardrobes, drawers, cupboards and tallboys.

I was uninterrupted in my task because John is feeling under the weather and stayed in bed for much of the day. We are confident he is not suffering from COVID because we’ve done oodles of Lateral Flow Tests and sent off a PCR, about which no-one has phoned to tell him to take the anti-viral drugs. Well, no-one has phoned yet, anyway.

We did agree that it might be wise to start the emergency anti-biotics though, ‘just in case’, as he is coughing well and it sounds like whatever he’s caught is on his chest. We’ll see how we go.

I had promised to go over to the Kenilworth Newbies this afternoon to help put the children to bed. Michael was having a well-deserved night out with his PhD cohort and, although the children are easy, a second pair of hands always helps when you are heavily pregnant, doesn’t it?

John made it downstairs about half past two and ensconced himself in his chair wrapped in a blanket. He didn’t feel well enough to go out with me however, so I delayed my visit for a couple of hours in order to minister to him a bit. Before I went, I left him strict instructions to drink plenty of water and to cook a ready-meal in the microwave. He was happy to do that, so off I toddled.

As usual, I acted my shoe size and not my age when I arrived in Kenilworth, playing with the children to my heart’s content. And come bedtime, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the bedtime stories – including some old favourites: Shirley Hughes’ ‘Chatting’ for Thomas; and Beatrix Potter’s Squirrel Nutkin & Mrs Tiggywinkle for William. Brought back such very happy and fond memories…..

A good day for me, not so good for John who was already back in bed when I got home at about nine o’clock. Hopefully, a good night’s sleep will improve how he feels and he’ll be bit better tomorrow. I mean, he’s got to keep going on the walks, hasn’t he? No lounging about in bed, for goodness’ sake……..

Take care everyone. God bless.

We are delighted to report that March is at an end and the totting up of miles walked and monies raised for the Anthony Nolan Trust’s ‘Jog 30 miles in March’ have been counted. Total miles ‘jogged’ i.e. walked? 30.5 miles. Total monies raised between the Facebook Page, John’s JustGiving Page and private cash donations? Just over £800. We are calling that a result!!!

What a triumph over adversity. John, whose middle name is ‘Mr Determined’, never gave up and doggedly bashed out the miles come rain or shine. I was ready to stand proxy ‘just in case’ but was never needed. He did it all himself. What a man.

John has declared that he intends to carry on walking as often as he can because the exercise has really helped in conditioning his strength – great news that he can climb the stairs to fetch what he needs now, without necessarily having me run the errand. Let’s hope that the motivation will continue.

And so to today. John felt a bit tired this morning and had a bit of a snuffly nose. No idea where that has come from – the fields of rapeseed, which are bursting out their pollen just now? Maybe. But, just in case, I jumped into my panic suit and insisted that he do a Lateral Flow Test, because we planned to visit Carol and John this afternoon. All clear – phew!

My test was clear, too, so off I went to yoga, which was great. Felt so much better for the class, apart from the fact that balance wasn’t my thing this morning and those side planks? Oh, Lordy!

Once I was back from class, we bustled about to get ready to go up to Carol and John’s for lunchtime. John was still snuffling, so I jumped into my panic suit again, and insisted that he do a PCR test ‘just in case’. The only trouble was, he’d not long had his breakfast and then he was just enjoying a cup of coffee. Oh…can’t do it yet. OK, we’ll wait half an hour then. “I’ll just nip up to the Cross household while we wait,” I said to John, “I’m just going to drop a ‘get well’ gift in for Jack on the doorstep.”

I chatted to Pete and Dawn from the drive for ten minutes or so and then went back home. John was still drinking his coffee. Oh, blimey! “At this rate we’re never going to get going,” I groaned. “I’ll do the test in the car on the way,” John suggested. I jumped into my panic suit again, and thought that might not be the safest way to conduct the test. John waved away my concerns and so we set off.

Half an hour into the journey, John rummaged in the glove compartment, “Want a chocolate?” he asked, as he popped a couple of Minstrels into his mouth. “No, thank you,” I replied, my eyes glued to road. I wasn’t saying anything. 30 seconds later, the penny dropped. “Oh, damn! I’ll have to wait another half an hour before I can do the test now,” John grinned. Hey ho.

Anyway, he did the test when we arrived and we posted it off, so I got out of my panic suit for a few hours – especially as the snuffles seemed to be disappearing the longer the day went on.

We had a fabulous afternoon at Carol and John’s. Dear, lovely Carol was celebrating her birthday today, so how brilliant that we could join in. We socially distanced as best we could and had windows open and all negative LFTs, so we were confident in enjoying each others’ company.

We ate posh snacks and posh cookies and drank pink Prosecco adorned with raspberries; Carol and I went for a walk while the men nattered; and then we had a Christmas dinner. Yes, that’s right – a beautiful 3-bird roast and all the trimmings, roast potatoes and all the veg. Oooh, it was delicious!!

I say that the men nattered – well, they did, non-stop all afternoon. Ha! But so did Carol and I – non-stop all afternoon and well into the evening. I might have said this before, but it is so good to be among dear friends.

Here’s the Birthday Girl, looking fabulous.

Take care everyone. God bless.