Pimms, anyone?

The sun is shining, the tennis is in full flow at Roland Garros so it was surely time for Pimms this afternoon. Yep, I had a drop left in the bottle and all the other requisite items – including all the foliage – so a tumbler of the lovely stuff was made up. Delicious. It certainly helps when you’re doing the ironing, I can tell you.

We had got up early this morning to be over at Heartlands by half-past eight. John had an appointment with the respiratory team to do a lung function test. “How long will you be, do you think, John?” I asked. He thought it would be a couple of hours. Right – in that case, I’ll nip over to Solihull for a spot of shopping.

The main purpose was to get a front door key cut, but I thought I might have mooch about – there were one or two things on my list, non-essential really, but useful to have if I could have a browse and see just what I was after.

Hahahahaha. The shops don’t open early any more, do they? It just shows how long it is since I last went shopping. With the the exception of Next, most shops advertised their opening times as 9.30. Half an hour to kill. I browsed the shoes in Next and thought how ugly many of them were. Then I thought I’d toddle over to Timpson’s to see if they were open and they were, so I was able to get the key cut.

No sooner had I done that little job and was savouring the idea of browsing the shops for the first time in eighteen months, than John phoned to tell me he’d finished. Blimey! Already? Yes, the procedure didn’t take as long as he’d thought. Oh, well, it was probably a good idea not to wander through the shops given current COVID infection rates.

En route home, John took a phone call from the immunologist – a telephone appointment scheduled for eleven o’clock, but he’d phoned early. I pulled over and, kerbside, we chatted through the latest in John’s care with regards to immunology. It’s all going relatively well, not so many infections now that he’s having infusions of immunoglobulin. “Ah, good” said the doctor, “I have to flag up to you, though, that there is a national shortage of immunoglobulin. We may have to reduce your dose to share it out to others. We’re reviewing everyone’s situation. I’m not saying we will take it away, but I thought I ought to let you know it’s under review.” I wonder if they have a board up in their conference rooms too, saying ‘who do we not save?’. Not that I am cultivating the cynic in me at all, you understand.

Once we were home, John thought he might have a bit of a snooze, but I am not sure that he did. He was scrolling through something or other on his laptop and then moved onto the computer. He was watching the bidding on the quad bike for one thing, and ordering items to buy for another.

I spent the rest of the morning in the kitchen, making some gluten-free, dairy-free desserts ready for our visit to Pete and Dawn’s tomorrow. Desserts are not normally my thing, but I really enjoyed my time in their preparation today. I am hoping that they will taste good. They should do. They are John’s tried and tested recipes which he has sampled over and over again in the last couple of years.

This evening it was Quiz Night. Another enjoyable evening with lots of fun and laughter, some good questions and some good answers too. It’s amazing what we can extract from our addled brains, despite our advancing years….

With regret, the numbers of people testing positive for COVID continues to increase, although the better news is that the hospitalisations are still steady and it’s expected that the vaccination programme is helping reduce the severity of symptoms for people.

7,540 people were confirmed as positive with the virus today and six people died in the community. Two people died in hospitals on 7 & 8 June.

Make the most of what we have today, everyone, to stay safe. Keep keeping your distance; sport a mask; and avoid vast crowds if you can. I am definitely not keen on another lockdown. What say you?

God bless all those who are suffering today.