More tiers and tears

We knew it was coming didn’t we? We’re now in Tier 4, which means we can’t really socialise. This tier brings tears for that very reason. To still be kept apart from family and friends is very hard. But thank goodness for all the media we have now. We can Zoom, WhatsApp, Tweet, FaceTime, Message, Email, Phone or Skype. Take your pick. And there’s Instagram and Facebook for general stuff. Plenty to choose from. So I expect that’s exactly what we’ll do, and we’ll be very thankful for it all.

While we could, however, we took the opportunity to take a walk in the park with Paul and Freddie this afternoon. We were just at home, minding our own business, when the front doorbell rang. On the front doorstep there they were. Having been swimming, they called in on the way back, just to say ‘hello’ and have a look at our Christmas tree from outside. We said we were planning to walk in Lavender Hall Park. “Can I come?” asked Freddie, his big blue eyes looking appealingly at me. Of course I wanted him to come, but wasn’t sure what their schedule was, so passed the buck. “Shall we see what Daddy says?” I replied. They came with us, of course.

As we got ready, donning our warm clothes and boots, Freddie went into the back garden to look at the Christmas tree through the window. Well, that was the plan. But there was so much snow to play with, and a great big circle of ice on top of the bucket, that he got rather distracted and never did look at the tree.

Had a lovely walk through the woods, though, and Freddie played on all the apparatus in the playground before we left, squealing in delight as he spun round and round on the spinny things. “Come on, Grandma, get on. I’ll spin you round.” OK……well, I’d forgotten what it was like to be spun around, so I got on, and then was promptly spun off again. Must get some practice in, I think.

It really was a great walk with a lovely twilight atmosphere as we hadn’t set off until late. The sun started to set on one side of the park, so we headed back, and we caught the moon rising on the other side of the park. It was so cool I just had to take a photo of it. Even Freddie was impressed with the remnant of yesterday’s Cold Moon, hovering over the hedge in the park.

Before the Kenilworth Sleaths arrived on our doorstep though, we had had a very sluggish day. Neither of us got up early and when we did, we swanned about, drifting from one thing to another. John was engrossed in the ‘Narcos’ series again, which I think is addictive. As one programme finishes, he thinks he’ll just watch a few minutes of the next one to see what happens…. and there you are, another forty minutes gone! I was engrossed in my jigsaw puzzle, which is still resisting my efforts to match pieces together. It’s still very brown, although, to be fair, I have found lots of yellow, too. And the jigsaw’s addictive, too. I think I’ll step away from it for a while, and then my eye alights on a particular piece which I then spend ages trying to fit in. And there you are, another half an hour gone.

I did spend a little while chasing up ‘a situation’ with Mum today, having taken two phone calls relating to her care. I had arranged for the carers to go in at mid-day, as from today, to serve her lunch for her. It transpires that she refused her lunch, citing that she felt unwell. The Manager of the flats called for the doctor who, in a telephone consultation, could find nothing untoward. She had a tummy ache and pain in her back – a common occurrence, which is usually solved by a paracetamol and a glass of water. Thus it was today. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.

John finally tore himself away from the TV to spend a while preparing the quiz after we got back from the park. It was one of those situations whereby he screeched in at the very last minute, having compiled the last few questions just seconds before we were due to quiz. This, despite having had several days – ohhh, plenty of time yet….. to think about it. Every day, in fact, did John think about the questions, and jotted a few down. But naturally, it wasn’t until the eleventh hour that he realised time was actually going to run out if he didn’t get on with it.

In fact, the quiz was a good one. Really good questions which made us think and debate, discuss a bit more, and then go back to the first answer you thought of, and it might be right. Thoroughly enjoyed ourselves all evening once again with such good company. Mind you, I hope they are still talking to me after I clicked the wrong button and cut us off at the very end before we had said our proper goodbyes….

All in all, despite our slow start this morning, we’ve enjoyed our day. Until we saw the news, of course, whereupon, I began to lament again. Oh, the figures, the figures!!

• 50,023 people were confirmed as having contracted the virus in the last 24 hours
• 981 people have been reported as succumbing to the effects of the virus in the same period. These reported deaths have a time lag however, and actually, the total for the last week is down ever so slightly by 1%
• No more up to date information of daily hospital admissions, however
• 233 people died in hospitals on 28 & 29 December
• And we’re on Day 14 of Tier 3 Part 2 and Day 29 of Tier 3 in total
• It’s Day 287 since our decision in March, to hide at home as much as we can.

Whichever Tier you are in, I hope you can make the best of it. Having had a slump after some high-octane preparations for Christmas, I am hoping to find some energy from somewhere to greet the New Year with pleasure and hope, in order to to make a silk purse of a sow’s ear. I am sure it’s possible. I shall definitely try, anyway.

Take care everyone. God bless.