It’s windy, innit?

It’s been a very mild day today, and when I got up I thought it looked so lovely outside that I’d sit on the patio and eat my breakfast. It was very enjoyable but it was a tad breezy. I had forgotten that the weather forecast was for a windy day. Anyway, I stuck it out because it was such a lovely day otherwise.

As the day has gone on, of course, it has got windier and windier until this evening the chimney has been playing me the most haunting of tunes. And then, you start thinking of all the things outside that might get ‘blowed about’, as my Dad used to say. Ah, well, whatever is going to get blown about will just have to be so, because I ain’t going out there this evening!

This morning, despite the loveliness of the day, I was determined to sit at the computer and compile the quiz for tomorrow evening. Although it looks like John will be joining in from his hospital bed, I thought we be honour-bound and, to uphold our name, I had to sort it out in his absence. Although Linda tells me she’s got a quiz ready, just in case…..

I was half-way through doing the quiz when John phoned. Well, he was phoning me back because he didn’t answer earlier when I’d tried to video-call him. He’d had an exciting morning and had been downstairs having a CT scan on his chest. They had whisked him down to the radiology department and within a minute he was called in; within five minutes he was done and dusted….. and then he sat there, like a lemon, for the next hour waiting for a porter to take him back to the ward. In the end, they phoned for a nurse to come down and get him, which she did, grumbling…..

Anyway, they didn’t find anything different in his chest we understand, so that’s good news, but they are still working to get his kidneys to function more efficiently. From what John said, his kidneys are only operating at half, or even less than half, of their normal capacity. We are not sure why. I thought I’d phone the ward and see if one of the nurses or the doctor could give me a bit more information, but regrettably, the phone rang out in vain on the two occasions I tried. I’ll try again tomorrow, see if we can make some sense of what is going on.

The quiz compiling had to take a break towards the end of the morning, however, as the man from G-Plan came to inspect our new sofa which has an unsatisfactory dent in the arm of the chair where John sits. We’ve only had the thing a few weeks…….. Apparently, the indentation is known as ‘puddling’. He took lots of photos and measurements, including weighing the foam inside the leather and wrote a report. In a week maybe, we’ll hear something.

Not long after, I happened to be in the hall and a couple of parcels caught my eye in the porch. Ooooh…… what’s this, I thought. Well, to my absolute delight it was flowers! A stunning bouquet of white tulips and hyacinths (maybe?) from Linda and Brendan, complete with their bulbs. What a smashing idea – you cut off the bulbs and plant them for them to come again another year, while you enjoy this year’s flowers.

Not only was my cup full, but it overflowed as I opened the second box of flowers which was from John. Tulips. They are my absolute favourite. Tulips and chocolates…. what more could I ask? The pictures really don’t do either bouquet justice, but here they are anyway.

After I’d popped the flowers into their respective vases, I thought I’d strike while the iron was hot and plant the bulbs. Nipped into the garden to get the compost for the tubs only to find there was none…….oh, I remember now! ‘Project Oak’ needed rather a lot as I recall. OK. I’ll nip to the garden centre to buy some more.

Just as I was about to set off, Paul phoned. I am temporarily on my own, so how about a ‘bubble’? Well, that sounded like a good idea, so I spent the afternoon ‘bubbling’ in Kenilworth in the open air, keeping our distance and having great fun. To see them all was just bliss and I’d quite like to do it again……

Naturally, when you go to the garden centre to buy a bag of compost, they sell you three. So when I got home, I hiked the three bags of compost out of the boot and now plan to plant the bulbs tomorrow. And what else do you do when you go to a garden centre? Buy all the things that you’ve been wanting for ages….. like some new silk flowers, and two very large pots for the camellia that Graham and Gail sent me for my birthday and now need potting on. *Does a little dance* Yee-ha! I spent some money! I spent some money! (to the tune of: ‘I’m in the money’, don’t you know.)

This evening, I was unaccountably tired. Hmm…. I think it might have been all that running about and fresh air this afternoon. A bit of an earl(ier) night tonight then…..

• 8,489 people tested positive for the virus today
• 548 people died in the community with the virus in the last 24 hours
• 160 people died in hospitals with the virus on 21 & 22 February
• It’s Day 48 of Lockdown 3; Day 336 of since the beginning of time…. oh, sorry, the beginning of Lockdown 1; and Day 344 since John and I shut ourselves in.

We are heartbroken that we have had to cancel our holiday. We were all looking forward to it so much. Just keeping my fingers crossed that we will find another opportunity to go this year. And I should be packing for Ragdale now…..eeesh.

Take care everyone. God bless. Keep smiling.