A day of rest

Sunday, they say, is a day of rest, so I thought I’d do that today – and managed not too badly until later on in the day when I suddenly felt overwhelmed and extremely irritated.

It started well. Dear Linda texted, as she often does on a Sunday, to see if I wanted anything from the shops. As it happened, I didn’t need anything and, with John being in hospital, no newspaper was required either. So I wafted about in my dressing gown this morning, chatted to John for a bit, read my book for a bit, wandered outside to inspect the pond to see if the frogs had been busy yet (and they had), completed the census and generally mooched about.

A bit later on, I had another text from Linda: ‘Have left you a little something in the porch…..’ Ooooh, how very nice! I went to see, and there was a bunch of my favourite flowers – tulips – and a four-pack of Flakes! Another favourite. Honestly, that is just fantastic isn’t it? I really have got the very best friends.

John wasn’t too bad today – still on oxygen but not too depressed and coping. The consultant called in to see if he’d had any side-effects from the bronchoscopy yesterday. Nope, all good. The consultant had no news, however, as to what was found as a result of the procedure – perhaps we’ll find out tomorrow.

We’re waiting to see what they will do next. Interestingly, they keep bleating on about John’s symptoms being post-COVID. John keeps telling them he hasn’t had the virus, but they point to the positive test that was done and say ‘look, there you are’. John retorts with ‘look, there were three other tests within the same time frame that say negative’. Anyway, heaven knows…….

This afternoon I went over to Mum’s, having promised to trim and set her hair ready for her birthday tomorrow. Not that she would remember, and probably wouldn’t really care, but now I feel obliged, as the carer says things to Mum like: ‘Anne’ll visit you, I’m sure, this week,’ and, ‘Anne’s promised to come and do your hair. You’ll look lovely then, won’t you?’ Oh, gawd….. in the olden days, it was the guilt trip driven by Mum. Now it’s the guilt trip driven by her proxy……

The hairdressing went well, despite Mum being a bit wobbly on her pins and needing aid to get in and out of her chair. While we were waiting for Mum’s hair to dry and set, I noticed that there was a fair bit of dust on her furniture. Not surprising really, as the cleaner abandoned ship when this last wave of COVID reared its ugly head and I’ve only vacuumed the flat. I got the duster and polish out and sparkled up her lounge. She loved that, of course, and was very grateful – although she had had no idea that there was dust anywhere.

When I got home, I started to plough through a few jobs – and that’s when I thought I’d got too much to do and too short a time to do it in….. ‘Come on, Anne, you can do it,’ is my favourite mantra – and mostly, I can.

However, I was feeling irritable. So irritable in fact, that I growled at Shadow when he started miaowing for his tea. ” Oh, shut up!’ I said, reaching in the cupboard for some food for him. And then it dawned….. I had been using polish at Mum’s – no wonder I was irritable. I have no idea what is in a can of polish, but it never agrees with me, and I am always grumpy whenever I use it. That, of course, is my excuse for not doing housework at home…… tee-hee.

So, there we are. A day of half-rest…..better than nothing, eh?

I haven’t watched the news today, but I do know there’s rioting in Bristol and find myself not surprised. I also know that there’s flooding in New South Wales in Oz, which prompted me to text Graham to check whether they are affected. No, he said, they are on high ground so should be OK. However, their local town, Lismore, is likely to be affected again. Last time there was heavy rain, the levee was breached and whole town flooded. However, Graham did say that they’ve had 60ml of rain in the last 24 hours. Crumbs….

On the COVID front, the numbers seem about the same, which is good news.

• 5,312 people tested positive for the virus today
• 33 people died in the community with the virus in the last 24 hours
• 17 people died in hospitals on 19 & 20 March
• And it’s Day 74 for Lockdown 3; Day 362 since Lockdown 1; Day 370 since our self-imposed Lockdown 1

Take care everyone. God bless.