Shielding & Bubbling… Day 140

I always knew I was weird and today just proved it. As I dived deep into a pile of washing, I found myself saying to Danielle, “I can’t wait to pair up all the socks.” Whaaaat? Has my life come to this? Indeed, it has. Excited to pair up William’s socks. It’s new game, obviously. Instead of a jigsaw or solitaire, I’m looking forward to sock-pairing. Yay!!

Not only have I had the excitement of ‘hunt the socks’ today, but the whole Sutton family has had the excitement of seeing the roof and the doors go onto Michael’s ‘man-shed’.

We weren’t sure if we were coming or going, as it were, today – i.e. whether we were going to be stopping at home or going over to Sutton Coldfield again. We had thought that maybe Andrew would come home to drop off stuff, but it wasn’t confirmed. Michael texted to say we were welcome to join them for a roast, and he was going to do more on the ‘man-shed’. In the end, Andrew said he was going for a meal with his friends, so wouldn’t be coming back today. So, a roast dinner and the man shed? Well, of course, we said we’d go over.

We didn’t actually get there until mid-day, as we’d been wavering as to what to do, in case the Prodigal Son did decide to return. But on arrival, John was straight down to the bottom of the garden and getting stuck into his ‘Shed Supervisor’ role – finding a chair to sit in and directing the operations. I also got stuck in to child’s play until it was William’s nap time, and then I got stuck into all those things you never, ever have time to do when there’s a new baby on the scene. For a good while, I was able to really motor – William was in his cot, fast asleep; Danielle was in her bed, also fast asleep; and Thomas was in his pram, copying the example set.

It was Thomas who cracked first, his belly announcing that food was needed, which meant that Danielle also had to rise from her slumber to feed him. William snoozed on. So, I cracked on. I relieved Danielle of Thomas once his belly announced that it was full, and she had another sleep session. Thomas took a while, but also went off to sleep again, and then I was able to tackle more jobs as the household slept.

A flow of cups of tea made it down to the men at the ‘man shed’ and they were thrilled with the progress being made. Admittedly, the roof tiles are yet to be installed, but the roof itself and the waterproof membrane are in place; and the doors don’t have handles or locks, but they are hung. William, as soon as he woke up, scampered down to Daddy to see what was going on. Daddy was on the roof, so William had to be there, too, and up the ladder he went. “Good job, Daddy,” he said, as he surveyed the handiwork. Made us laugh. And gave us a photo opportunity to capture the ‘men at work’ – and, of course, a very happy family.

The Roast Dinner beckoned, and we all sat down to one of our favourites – ‘winner, winner, chicken dinner’, which was absolutely delicious. We completed the pleasure with a Magnum ice cream each as afters. Yum! Poor Chester, though. His nose was twitching as we scraped the bones from our plates into the rubbish bin, his eyes were hopeful, and he followed me about, anticipating the scraps. Regrettably, no scraps for him – we’re not keen on the nasty ‘doggy-dos’ which always result if he has anything but his regular food. Too much information, folks?? Tee-hee.

As the evening drew to a close, Michael and John did a bit more tinkering about, before we all went down to admire the final ‘as-far-as-we’ve-got’ shed. William adores it and, once inside, he and I were disco-dancing and playing diggers/tractors/excavators for ages, while the grown-ups had serious conversations outside about ‘what-to-do-next’. And then it was the bath and bedtime routine for the kids before John and I headed back home.

We sighed happy sighs of satisfaction as we drove home. It had been another good day. Although, a little point to note, John was wheezing well. Just saying…… mind you, he had exerted himself helping to lug great big pieces of wood flooring from front to back of the house on the sack truck.

I haven’t watched any news today at all, so I am not sure of the commentary that goes with the announced data on the virus. What I do know is that there was a headline early on about the possibility of the over-50’s having to stay at home to reduce the risk of spread. Hearsay just now, but oh, dear, if this actually becomes the rule, do excuse me if I laugh uproariously and perhaps a tad hysterically.

Anyway, the data tells us that there have been just 8 deaths in all settings today and 2 in a hospital setting yesterday. But there are 744 people who are confirmed as infected. Yikes – no real reduction in that number yet and the ONS (Office for National Statistics) tells us that ‘Exploratory modelling shows that the number of people in England testing positive for COVID-19 has increased slightly in recent weeks’.

Let’s keep keeping our distance and wearing our masks. Absolutely no doubt that such actions will keep us safer than it would be otherwise. And may God bless us all.