Isolation Day 78

We are anticipating taking delivery of a new garage door sometime this week for John’s ‘man-shed’. This necessitated us having to do a ‘bit of a tidy’ at the bottom of the garden and shifting the old garage door. The tidy up wasn’t too bad, but the existing garage door was a bit unwieldy, so we simply staggered from the ‘man-shed’ to the swing, plopping it down two or three times before we got there, puffing and blowing a little bit, and then leaning it up against the frame of the swing. I am hoping that the wind doesn’t blow too hard this evening, otherwise there is going to be an almighty clatter….

The order for the new door was put in weeks and weeks ago, but the company has confirmed a delivery date of between the 2nd (today) and the 4th June. Fingers crossed it arrives. I am planning to ask the delivery men/women/people to walk the new door down to the bottom of the garden. If the simple request doesn’t work, I am planning to cajole them and play the ‘my husband is too ill and, being a very small female, I am too weak to move it…..’ card. A ploy I cannot normally agree with, but we are living in very strange times – so strange that I would be shocked at myself if I’d could have seen the future me thinking such a thing ten years ago. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Other than that, I have lived in a state of anxiety all day today. Heaven knows why. Nothing untoward has happened – although I did have a weird dream, which I woke up to, so maybe that set me off for the day.

I have been anxious about all sorts of things. For example, John’s cough; and as to whether he needs more medication. I persuaded him to provide a sample that we could get down to the surgery to check the state of play, so we’ll see. Paneesha’s secretary phoned this morning too, to tell John that he needs to go to the ‘walk-in’ clinic on Thursday, instead of doing a telephone consultation on Friday. I am anxious about that. The ‘walk-in’ situation meant that we had to phone to book a blood test – all new arrangements for keeping infection down, I believe. Whether they will let me into the clinic with John on Thursday we are yet to find out. I am anxious about that, too….. oh dear.

However, we did have quite a good day once I finally got out of bed this morning, having had yet another lie-in. We interspersed activity with sitting in the sunshine, drinking tea and chatting – in fact we paced ourselves and enjoyed it. A key activity was yet one more go at moving various materials from one place to another. From ‘man-shed’ to the house; from house to utility room; from utility room to the former office; from the former office to the garage, and sometimes back again. I’d love to be a fly on the wall….. The main thing though, was locating one of the ‘project’ car’s doors onto a workbench for it to be worked on. We managed that move quite well. And I was a good assistant today.

Mum was a bit confused this morning when she found that I was still in bed reading when she got up. She was puzzled as to why I was still in my room. “Are you all right?” she asked. “Yes, I’m reading.” I answered. “Are you poorly?” she continued. “It’s not like you to be in bed. Are you sure you’re all right?” I assured her that I was fine, but I could tell she was troubled by this strange turn of events. She went downstairs and then, no sooner had she got there than she came back upstairs again to her room. I thought maybe she was getting dressed. Fifteen minutes later, I went to check. She was just wandering in her room still in her dressing gown. She had no idea what she was doing and why she hadn’t stopped downstairs. Note to self: don’t confuse Mum by staying in bed reading….

After the confused and slow start, Mum also had a good day, eating well, enjoying her cups of tea (which are always stone cold when she drinks them, as she forgets she’s got them!), eating cakes and watching her TV programmes. No walk outside today though, despite the lovely weather. I did offer, but she said she’d only just sat down so couldn’t possibly. She did, however, have a bit of a wander around the house, peering out of first one window, then a door and then another to check up on what we were doing. John says it reminds him of Bates Motel……

And so to statistics. I was heartened, in a bizarre sort of way, to read the letter from the Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, Sir David Norgrove, to Matt Hancock today. Sir David stated very clearly that the statistics being put out by the government are ‘far from complete and comprehensible‘. I thought it was just me. What amused me also, was the little lecture that followed on what statistics are supposed to be for. It made me howl – both with laughter and despair. This was a very public slap on the wrists – and surely an embarrassment for the government?

But the good news is that many NHS Trusts reported no deaths yesterday, with just 19 accumulated on the spreadsheet up until 5 o’clock yesterday evening, and 47 having been confirmed for 31 May 2020. The government figures on the other hand, show 1,613 people were confirmed as infected, and 324 people had died in all settings, for the same time period.

The virus may still be out there, but things are looking up. I hope and pray it will continue that way. We’ve got to be able to hug our kids and grandchildren sometime soon, surely??

Stay safe everyone – and keep washing your hands……