Author: anniesleath@hotmail.co.uk

John was excited yesterday because it was Thursday. He was so excited, in fact, that he must have mentioned, and checked, that it was Thursday about six times. Put the bins out, Thursday? Yep, put the bins out, Thursday. That’s how I knew today was going to be Friday. So, when he asked me if it was Friday today, I was able to say, with absolute confidence, that it was Friday.

And it’s been Friday all day. The only thing is, we haven’t really had that ‘Friday feeling’. Disappointing really, but now, every day is like the one before and the thrill of the weekend approaching doesn’t quite have the same pull as it used to. Gone are the days when we looked forward to a glass of wine, or a pint in John’s case, as Friday swung into view. We have a glass of wine/beer any day now – tomorrow is never a ‘school day’, as they say. Gone are the days when we’d go out for a take-away with friends just because it was Friday. Can’t go out at all now. And gone are the days of putting on your ‘glad rags’, throwing off your weekly work-clothes and putting on your ‘best’ just because.

However, we have had a good Friday. John has spent all day whittling away at the two doors between the garage and the SnuGym to exclude the draught howling in. It’s been a labour of love and taken him far longer than he anticipated. “Honestly,” he puffed, “it’s ridiculous, isn’t it? I’ve allowed a whole day for what should be an hour’s job.” I giggled. Ah…. here we are, welcoming in our old age. I’ve allowed the whole morning to take Mum for her jab tomorrow – in the past it would have been an in-and-out job and back-before-you-know-it, but there we are.

Anyway, John was beavering away in the West Wing, while I was just faffing about with the household stuff, like changing the sheets on the bed, putting the washing on, transplanting the washing to the tumble dryer, washing the shopping and so on.

In between the tasks we’d set ourselves, however, we thoroughly enjoyed a walk in the park again, despite the bitterly cold weather and the stop-go progress we made. John had twinged his back in the course of his labours, so we walked a hundred yards, stopped a bit, walked a bit more, stopped a bit and so on. It was a very nice walk though and we were glad we’d been out. The trees were bejewelled with diamanté raindrops, shimmering and glittering as we walked past. Lovely.

On the way to the park, I had intended to call into the chemists but, I couldn’t believe it, the queue to get in trickled all along the pavement down to the newsagents. I wasn’t going to wait, so I thought better of a visit at that time and went later on in the day when there was, literally, no other customers there.

This afternoon we held a ‘trial run’ on Zoom with Dave and Chris. Had a great chat and spent far longer than we thought we would, just nattering away. Last summer, I had suggested that we get together with them and George and Sue, too. So I proposed Zoom to Chris, but she thought Zoom was a ‘no-go’. I suggested a trial run first, therefore, thinking we’d perhaps have half an hour or so just checking the system etc to make sure they were confident using it. However, we can never see our dear friends without chit-chatting away to our hearts content, and it was no different today. Nearly two hours elapsed before we finally thought we’d better call it a day. But really, we loved it. Great to see them looking so well and hear all their news. Now to set up the ‘real’ event and get in touch with George and Sue…..if they’re listening?

I have finally started to do something about the Christmas decorations today, too. I clambered up into the attic and retrieved the boxes to put everything in and I have bagged up Father Christmas. The tree, however, is still up but I was relieved to hear that I am not the only one. Dave & Chris admitted they, too, are dilly-dallying over the dismantling of their decorations.

Anyway, sorting out the decorations is going to keep me occupied for a few days yet, so I don’t have to think about the horrors unfolding elsewhere. With several areas, including London, declaring a ‘major incident’ because the hospitals are already overwhelmed, I can’t bear to think about anyone who is poorly having to wait for treatment, whatever their predicament. It’s too close to home. And on that point, I have given John strict instructions that he is not to get poorly any time soon.

• 68,053 people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours
• 1,325 people died in the community, in the last 24 hours, having tested positive for the virus in the last 28 days. And stories are trickling through again of people dying beyond that time frame having tested positive, too
• 392 people died in hospitals on 6 & 7 January having tested positive for the virus
• 3,867 people were admitted to hospital in a 24-hour period on Monday

Kirsty Wark reminded us on Newsnight last night, that to visual all the lives lost to the virus since this all started is nigh on impossible. So she showed us the Olympic Stadium, at near capacity during the 2012 London Olympic Games. If you haven’t seen it, I tell you, it’s mind-boggling.

With Day 3 of Lockdown 3, and Day 296 since the first lockdown, coming to an end, I wish you all the very safest of journeys through the coming months. Take care. Stay safe. God bless.

Goodness me! The world was white this morning, but not from snow. Jack Frost had been exceedingly busy during the night here in Balsall and everywhere was heavy with hoary frost. Not only that, but there was a thick mist which reflected the whiteness of the ground, the trees, all the buildings and equipment everywhere. It was stunning – but I was relieved I didn’t have to go anywhere in it.

We are lucky. Our heating is doing the trick and keeping the house warm. John had switched it on overnight to respond to the outside chill and I was very glad he had today. It meant that my yoga session in the SnuGym this morning was absolutely perfect. Lucky, lucky, lucky.

Although we didn’t have to go anywhere today, we chose to go for a walk this afternoon. I put my thermals on and we both wrapped up warm with scarves and gloves to venture a circuit of Lavender Hall Park and Katherine’s Wood. It was fantastic. It may have been minus 1°C but we didn’t feel cold at all, and just marvelled at the scenery around us. It was magical.

Michael sent us a picture of the frozen pond in the field where he walks today, which reminded me to check on our own pond here in the garden. As you can see from the photo, the fish are still OK, although they were frozen in and I had to break the ice up a bit to allow some oxygen in.

Once we were back from our walk, hot chocolate was in order, along with a mince pie. Now that was delicious! Nothing better, is there? Hot chocolate after a chilly walk – bliss.

I spent a short while this afternoon looking at and thinking about the taking down of the Christmas decorations. I did a little bit. Gathered a few pieces together, took down the Christmas cards and tore the fronts off a few of them to make nice labels for next year. “Do you know what we should be doing now, John?” I asked. He looked up to check. “We should be going to the garden centre and buying the half-price Christmas cards ready for next year. They’ve got a sale on.” He shrugged and gave a half-smile. “Would that be an essential purchase? Would it be an essential journey?” Ahhh, yes, hadn’t thought of that. Gosh, how easy it is to forget we’re in lockdown. The answer to those questions would be ‘no’, then.

I was pondering the removal, or otherwise, of the decorations today, and puzzled over my reluctance to get on with it. I can always find something else to do instead. Read my book, for instance. Do an e-jigsaw. Or play an e-Scrabble game. Or nibble on chocolate. However, it dawned on me that as soon as the decorations are down, cleaned and put away ready for next year, I have promised to start decorating the lounge. Ah. Hmm. Right then.

After we’d eaten our evening meal, which we ate at our breakfast bar for a change instead of on the sofa spilling things down our fronts, we watched a bit of TV; and then I abandoned John leaving him to watch some more, while I chatted to the College Crew on Zoom. Had a lovely evening. It was so nice to see everyone after Christmas and to hear how everyone was coping. We were missing Lizzie, who opted out due to a sore throat (she promises us it’s nothing more sinister), and Sue D, from whom we had heard nothing. Eventually, just as the Zoom session was about to expire, we texted her to say, “Do you want to join in?” and she did. Of course, the last five minutes wasn’t enough to hear all the news, so we logged back in again and carried on chatting for another half an hour…… marvellous. Boosted my spirits no end. Thank the Lord for great friends.

Betwixt and between all the pleasurable things we have done today, we have been peppered with shocking scenes from overseas, catching up on how America is responding to the horror that is Donald Trump, in particular. Much too late, but the social media networks have finally caught on that his messages incite anger, hatred , violence and insurrection. He is banned from using them – although not indefinitely in some cases. Starve the man of a platform? Yes, please.

In one of the other ongoing horror stories, we hear that the number of COVID-19 infections is increasing still, albeit slightly lower today, as is the death rate. Both of which we expected. Distressing nonetheless.

• 52,618 people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours
• 1,162 people died in the community, having tested positive for the virus in the last 28 days
• 364 people died on 5& 6 January, in hospitals having tested positive for the virus in the last 28 days
• On Sunday, 3 January, 3,600 people were admitted to hospital suffering from the virus.

So, more of the same precautions then, folks! And, of course, a vaccination. Fingers crossed that it really works for us and it enables us to get together again come the summer at least.

On Day 2 of Lockdown 3 and Day 295 since we had the frighteners put on us in March 2020, I hope we can all find some gems in amongst the dross and spend a good portion of our time happy.

Take care everyone. God bless.

It was snowing. The garden was a lovely picture of green and white as the flakes fell steadily this morning at seven o’clock. We were up early for a run into Birmingham, to Heartlands Hospital, for John to have immunoglobulin treatment this morning. The roads were relatively light on traffic and we made our way there easily, with no hold-ups, and John was disgorged from the car at the entrance bang on time.

No bother on the way back either – although the snowflakes were falling thick and fast on the A45 and I began to wonder if we were in for a real snowstorm and would have trouble returning later to collect John. But no, the snow eased, and there was very little to be seen back in Balsall. What we’d had early on was melting away fast.

After the first consideration of looking after John this morning, I decided to consider my mental health next today. Instead of setting to with jobs galore, I went out into the garden and had ten minutes playing on my swing. It was brilliant. Although it was chilly at 1°C , it didn’t feel too cold at all. I am probably losing my marbles, but I chuckled to myself. The thrill of swinging high and overlooking the neighbouring gardens filled me with glee.

Next, I took myself off for a stride around the park, and in particular, Katherine’s Wood. It was a great walk, stopping to chat to fellow walkers at a good distance and pet their dog before making my way through into the woods themselves, where I saw what I think were chaffinches. Makes a change from sparrows, pigeons and blackbirds.

I was just on my way back when John texted to say his treatment was nearly finished. So off I set to collect the ol’ man. No snow now. And all hunky-dory at the hospital – the treatment had gone well, although John said his chair refused to recline so having a bit of a snooze was out of the question.

After lunch, John announced that he planned to sleep awhile. I thought that was a jolly good idea and I would follow suit. In fact, I thought maybe I’d lie on the bed for a while, rather than settle in the sofa.

When I woke up, it was dusk. The sun had set and the sky was blushed strawberry pink. ‘Goodness! I wonder what the time is?’ I thought. It was 16.45. Whaaaat? I had gone for a lie-down at 13.45. Three hours I’d been asleep. Three hours!

Well, there’s not much to say, really, because the day was gone. Managed to rouse myself enough to prepare something to eat for our evening meal and then get ready for Quiz Night. So, guess what? The Christmas decorations had another stay of execution. No bauble removal today. Maybe tomorrow.

Quiz Night lived up to all expectations with lovely company, amusing jokes in between the questions – John was on fire – and a good result at the end.

So that’s it! Day One of Lockdown Three, and Day 294 since the March 2020 incarceration, draws to a close. It was a peaceful and happy day. Of course, the news is anything but peaceful and happy with horrible happenings in America on Capitol Hill, and hospitals here in our own country worried about how they can cope with the volumes of people now forming a steady queue as they fall ill with COVID and hospital admissions now daily top the 3k mark.

Susie Dent’s word of the day is ‘sequaciousness’ from the 17th century – the blinkered unreasoning, and slavish following of another, no matter where it leads. And that leads me to the ‘mubble-fubbles’ – a 16th-century term for a feeling of despondency and a sense of impending doom. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but heaven help us turn the ‘unreasonables’ into ‘reasonables’ otherwise we could be looking at years of civil unrest both here and in America.

In the meantime, let’s spare a thought for all those who became a statistic today.

• 62,322 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours
• Over a thousand, 1,041, people have died, in the community, within 28 days of a positive COVID test in the last 24 hours
• 323 people have died in hospitals on 4 & 5 January from COVID-19

Take care everyone. Stay safe. God bless.

The world around us may be a bit of a shambles, but it’s not what you were thinking – it’s this!!

The Shambles in York. It’s complete!! It’s good, isn’t it? I love the picture, but the jigsaw was difficult – even to the end, when I found the last piece lurking in a shoe under the coffee table. Go me!!

So you know what I have been doing all day now, don’t you? Mostly the jigsaw because, once you get to a certain stage, you don’t quite want to give it up and you grind on to the bitter end.

Other than that, it’s been a bit of a non-day today, albeit full of best intentions. We were up reasonably early and I did a little bit of tidying round and had the intention of putting away all the Christmas decorations, as it’s Twelfth Night. However, sometimes it’s the 6th, not the 5th, so I thought I’d have the pleasure of them for another day. It is lockdown after all, and a bit of leeway is allowed, I’m sure.

We had also planned to go out for a walk while the sun shone but, by the time John had done all his medical bits and bobs he sprawled out on the sofa and inspected the back of his eyelids for a good hour or two. I didn’t wake him up because the day seemed to be getting colder and colder and I couldn’t drag myself from some very warm and cosy surroundings…..

I also intended to arrange my books in my library since they have only been thrown onto the shelves in a hurry, and I have new ones to load in and others still to transplant. But I didn’t get around to doing that either. I think I was nibbling on chocolate when I was supposed to be doing that.

John has pottered about fiddling about with the shower cubicle door again. It’s a bit like the Forth Bridge – not sure it’ll ever be finished! And, daily, pieces of equipment arrive through the post to try a new idea out. It’s too cold to be faffing about with the Lotus in the garage so indoor jobs are the order of the day.

We thought there wasn’t much on TV this evening so dived into the programmes we’ve recorded. We opted to watch ‘Grease’ to remind us of our youth. However, two things: 1) John says he doesn’t remember watching it before (shocked face); and 2) I certainly don’t remember how risqué it was – and is! Goodness me! I was a bit shocked at some of the things they said and did. It felt a bit crass, which was awfully disappointing for a film I fondly remembered, and thought would be a classic.

We braced ourselves and watched Boris’s Briefing today which told us no more than we already knew or could surmise from all the scientists who have become very vocal in the last few months. I mean, how he could say, with a straight face, “….it only became clear yesterday (i.e. Monday) that schools needed to close….” is beyond me. But then I have come to expect lies, lies and more damned lies, now.

The figures are shocking today, too. Although there has been some adjustments for this and that delay in reporting, which swells the numbers a bit, I understand.

• 60,916 people have tested positive for the virus and been reported on in the last 24 hours
• 830 people have died, having tested positive for the virus, in the community in the last 24 hours
• 277 people died having tested positive for the virus in hospitals on 3 & 4 January
• Over 3,000 people were being admitted, daily, to hospitals on 28 December, but today’s visual on the briefing showed a helluva lot more than that today. I noted that none of the panel mentioned a specific figure. they daren’t, I suppose.
• The NHS figures report, however, that as of today, there are 26,467 people in hospitals beds, as confirmed COVID-19 cases

Numbed by numbers again. This happened in the last lockdown, when my brain was unable to visualise just how many people affected it actually is. Not sure I really want to do that visualisation. Too big a horror story.

Whatever your circumstances though, my thoughts and prayers are with all of you, whom I love dearly. Stay safe, wash your hands, wear your masks, keep your distance, etc. etc. God bless.

So that’s it then. We’re in lockdown. But what perplexes me, is what was it that tipped them over the edge? Yesterday it was all fine and dandy to send the kids to school. Today? Codswallop. Keep ’em at home. Keep everybody at home. Probably until after the February half-term. Or until March. Or, actually, more like the end of March. Take your pick.

Of course, the announcement was no surprise to us. But it was certainly a surprise to Mum when I called in today, bless her! She shook her head and wondered what the world was coming to. Me, too, Mum. Me too.

She did make us laugh though. When we got there she wasn’t in her customary chair, snoozing her head off. She was in her bedroom and, for a moment, a little shiver went down my spine – was she unwell? But no, she was browsing through some of the poetry books we had printed for her on her 90th birthday, 5 years ago. She looked up at me, unrecognising. “Hello,” I said, “I’ve come to see how you are.” She replied, “Well, that’s nice.” But not a spark of recognition. To be fair, I suppose everyone looks the same these days wearing a mask. I grinned at her – a grin she couldn’t see, of course – and said, “Do you recognise me?” She shook her head. “No, I’m afraid, I don’t.” I lifted the mask for a second and told her it was me. It dawned on her then, and she smiled and chuckled a bit.

We stayed for about an hour, trying be as COVID secure as we could, pottering about putting the ironing away that I’d done for her, gathering up more washing, checking her cupboard to make sure she’s got supplies, emptying the bins, reading Graham’s letter to her that he’d sent her for Christmas, and browsing through the calendar that he’d sent too.

Every piece of information is a revelation to her. She hadn’t seen the calendar before, nor had she read the letter, she said. Despite the fact that we’d had look at them on Christmas Day. We didn’t remind her of that as it would only distress her, and she was happy each time something was presented to her. She was, in fact, in very good spirits and we were treated to several renditions of ‘I was born under a wandering star’ while we were there.

We walked back in the dark, which was interesting, as I suggested we go via the ‘Yellow Brick Road’ which isn’t lit. It was twilight and lovely but John couldn’t see where to put his steps and meandered about a bit, at which we had a giggle.

Other than that, it’s been more jigsaw and more poker. Honestly, what decadent lives we lead! And then a touch of TV this evening.

I have been thinking about Graham and Gail and wondering how they’ve been doing, so Gail sent me a pic of Graham carving the Christmas ham, that they’ve just got round to cooking. A wonderful photo, but it made me jealous that it was lovely and warm over in OZ. And made me miss them all over again, of course.

The missing of Graham and Gail is just a bit more poignant because it’s unlikely we’ll go over to visit them now, and they won’t be able to come and visit us any time soon, either. Ah, well, there’s always Skype, or WhatsApp, or Messenger…….thank God for technology, eh?

We know why we are in lockdown, but here are the stark facts from today:

• 58,784 people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours
• 407 people died in the wider community having tested positive for the virus within the last 28 days
• 225 people died in hospitals having tested positive for the virus in the last 28 days on 2 & 3 January
• There are still no figures for hospital admissions, the data having stalled on 22 December

So here we are, then, having lived through Day 5 of Tier 4 and ready to start Day 1 of lockdown tomorrow. I really can’t keep up….. although I know it’s Day 292 since we first started all this stay indoors caper.

What can I say, that I haven’t already said in the last 10 months? Keep your peckers up everyone – we’ll get through this, I am sure, if we are sensible. In the meantime, let’s keep talking to each other, shall we? God bless.

It being Sunday, I’d have liked to have gone to church. In fact, a service was on in the hall today, but I have decided to avoid contact with people, by and large, so that there’s no possibility of virus snatching. In the end, I listened to a download from Lectio365 instead and that gave me my fix for the day.

I must say, though, I had been hoping for some chit-chat with other church members in our little prayer group, but that’s orf, too, and Zoom doesn’t appeal to the membership, so I’ll just have to be patient.

So, in the absence of all things Sunday, we opted to do more of the same. The same being: thinking about food, prepping food, eating food; thinking about a walk, prepping for a walk, going for a walk; thinking about the jigsaw, psyching myself up to do a bit of jigsaw, actually doing some jigsaw; and so on, with the washing, the washing up, the tidying round, and a bit of TV watching.

I was hoping to steer myself round to a different way of doing things today in an attempt to make life a bit more exciting but, being stuck in a rut, I more or less kept to the same, same. Maybe tomorrow?

Anyway, we did get ourselves out for a walk, after a little bit of a misunderstanding between us. I was waiting for John to be ready, so busied myself with something in the meantime. John was waiting for me to be ready, so busied himself with something. I finished what I was doing, saw that he was busy, so did something else. He saw I was busy, so he did something else…..etc. etc. etc.

However, the walk was wonderful. I feared we may have missed the best of the day, because it had been glorious sunshine early on, and the clouds had started to gather. But no, the sun continued to shine on us and it felt good. It was a great ‘Sun’-day walk……

This afternoon, we opted to relax and not push ourselves with jobs, so John played on his poker game and watched TV and I had a go at the jigsaw. I have finally got some semblance of order going on now, so feel a bit better about it. This is it, so far…. what do you reckon? Half-done?

We also had one or two chats to the Sutton Sleaths today. William does like to phone us up for a chat. And, I think Thomas enjoys it too – I am sure it’s not going to be long before he’s chatting away as much as William. He’s already striving to keep up! Heaven help us when they’re older – they’re going to be a handful. Can’t wait. I do love a couple of little monkeys.

And there we have it. A somnolent evening, as we scrolled through the Antiques Roadshow, which doesn’t seem to hold the same allure as previously, and the Perfect Planet, which actually sent us both a-dozing….. until it was time to wake up to go to bed.

Just for the record, though, here are today’s figures: 54,990 people tested positive for the coronavirus in the last 24 hours; 454 people died in the community, having tested positive for the coronavirus in the last 28 days; 211 people died in hospitals on 1 & 2 January, having tested positive for the virus; and still no news on the rate of admissions – the figures stalled on 22 December.

We have lived through Day 4 of Tier 4 and Day 291 since the March shutdown – quite nicely, I must admit because, after all, we have a roof over our heads, food in our stomachs and a loving family and set of friends around us. Blessed we are.

Take care everyone. God bless.

I’d like to say, “No, thanks,” to a lockdown, but I reckon it’s coming. Perhaps I shouldn’t believe everything I read or hear in the news, or read on social media, but the scientists and medics are shouting very, very loudly for a lockdown; teachers are calling for schools to be closed, at least for the first couple of weeks; and there is still confusion about the vaccination programme. Not only that, but someone in England has won the £39 million lottery, and it wasn’t us.

Against this background, I am not sure how to behave. I am the Queen of Procrastination, and find myself putting off things I could do today, until tomorrow. And I have no idea why. Rabbit in the headlights, perhaps? Waiting for the inevitable? Waiting for something anyway…….if only I knew what it was.

However, despite the limbo we find ourselves in again (did we ever really get out of it?) we have had pleasant day. A slow start, but the sun was shining so beautifully that it encouraged us to get out and go for a walk. We missed the best of the sun and the clouds came over, dropping speckles of snow on us as we walked, but it was still good, because it didn’t feel too cold. I was pleased, as well, because I could tell that John was feeling reasonably well – he walked and talked. Normally he can do one or the other, but not both at the same time. On the way back, we stopped outside Pete and Dawn’s and waved at them through their front window to say hello and wish them a Happy New Year. Lovely to see them, but agonising not to be able to go indoors and sit on their sofa for a natter.

This afternoon was nothing to write home about. A few household chores undertaken – clearing away a pile of cardboard to recycle; washing the shopping and putting it away; cleaning a bathroom; tidying the kitchen and so on.

Our pleasure came in two guises, however: John potted on a whole load of acorns that he’d set in some sand and which had sprouted. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that the seedlings flourish because he’s on a mission to plant trees. For me, I kept dipping into the jigsaw and was thrilled when I found a section I’d put together separately joined onto the main part. Probably a third of the way there now, with the most difficult bits to come.

We had a couple of lovely punctuations to the day, too, when we chatted to the kids. In the absence of that face-to-face, warm get-together, it is so brilliant to be able to be part of their lives through the video apps, isn’t it? Michael and Danielle were dismantling a day bed which they had sold, in readiness for creating a ‘Dinosaur Room’ for William. It’s going to be lovely – he’s already got the curtains, the lampshade and the bean bag – just needs his bed in there now with his dinosaur quilt and he’s all set.

A bit later on, John phoned Paul to ask his advice on the various options on Broadband – we’re looking for a deal. And I thought, as they were chatting, how wonderful it is now that we can phone our kids for their advice – adult to adult. Feels very good. Thank the Lord for our sons.

In the meantime, we are aiming to stay away from people until the virus is seemingly more under control. The news today is rather depressing with so many people affected by it.

• 57,725 people tested positive today for the virus
• 445 people died within 28 days of a COVID positive test
• 189 people died in hospitals within the same period of a COVID positive test
• We are on Day 3 of Tier 4 here in the Solihull region
• And it’s Day 290 since we first went into this twilight world last March.

Take care everyone. God bless.

Well, I didn’t intend to miss writing the blog yesterday, but we were so enjoying ourselves on New Year’s Eve, celebrating with a lovely steak dinner, a nice bottle of wine and a liqueur (or several) to finish, that I quietly got sozzled and was incapable of writing anything coherent. I am now ‘crambazzled’ – 19th century Yorkshire dialect, Susie Dent tells me, for looking prematurely aged from excess drinking.

There wasn’t a lot to tell of our doings yesterday particularly, although we did go for a very nice walk in the afternoon when the sun was shining, and people we passed all greeted us warmly. We didn’t go to the playground though so I didn’t get to practise my spinning on the spinny thing. Next time, maybe?

The big highlight of yesterday though, was seeing Andrew who was on his way to say hello to his friend, Tubsy. It was so wonderful to see Andrew and have a few minutes chat. We so rarely get to do that these days, what with one thing and another, so it was great to touch base. However, I think the Sutton Sleaths were disappointed to see him leave as he’s been great company, and he and William have got on like a house on fire.

Obviously, after a ‘sesh’ of drinking too many liqueurs the night before, I felt a little delicate this morning and really didn’t want to get out of bed at all. I finally sloped downstairs just before mid-day and had a light brunch of fruit and yogurt. It was all I could face…..New Year’s resolution? Guess what that’s going to be?

And this afternoon has been a funny old afternoon. I haven’t wanted to do anything much, so I have had a desultory shuffle of the jigsaw pieces, found I couldn’t concentrate, looked at what was on TV, didn’t fancy anything there, so ended up paying a few bills and doing an e-jigsaw on the computer. I am way behind on the e-jigsaws with the little group of Twitterati I share my times with, so it was nice to do. But the physical jigsaw is continuing to be stubborn. As I said before, in addition to the brown, there is some yellow. There is also some brown and yellow. And some brown and brown and yellow. Here they are sorted……….anyone?

John has been studying the rules for poker again and is finding out that it gets more complicated as you go on. He’s tried another few hands this afternoon and was reasonably successful, I think. He’s also looking at his long list of jobs and wondering whether to tackle any of them. He was encouraged to have another attempt at finalising the shower cubicle door today – watch this space. Might be fixed. It might not.

This evening, we joined in with the Centre Stage members on a picture quiz about the productions we’ve put on over the last 20 years. It was really good fun and fabulous to see the sets, the costumes and the people that have made up our history. There were 17 people linking in on Zoom, which made it just over thirty of us playing the game. I did enjoy it because it brought back such happy memories of yesteryear. And it was lovely to see familiar faces.

Meanwhile, the country is now facing a brave new world outside the EU and still grappling with the COVID infections. Heaven knows what the future holds, but I am forever hopeful. I was reminded of an Emily Dickenson poem about hope today – how amazing hope is, nestled in our souls.

Hope is the thing with feathers 
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune 
Without the words
And never stops at all.

And sweetest in the gale is heard
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea,
Yet never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Hospital staff are pleading with us still to stay indoors as they are run off their feet again and exhausted. With the figures as they are, I am not surprised.

• 53,285 people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours
• In the last seven days, that’s a rise of just under 75%
• 613 people have died from COVID in the last 24 hours in the community
• 225 people have died in hospitals on 30 & 31 December from the virus

The government figures haven’t been updated for admissions into hospitals since 22 December. I am not looking forward to seeing the updated figures when they do come out.

We have now moved into Tier 4, here in Solihull, along with many other parts of the country, which means we can only go for a walk to exercise and meet one other person. That’s difficult, isn’t it, when the adults have the children in tow? It’ll have be more Zooming and Whatsap-ing I suppose.

So it’s Day 2, then, of Tier 4, and Day 289 since the original lockdown. It’s a very long haul now. And goodness knows whether Mum is to have her second part of the vaccination next Saturday…… that’s all confusion among the medics as to whether it’s appropriate to leave a longer time before the booster. I expect we shall be informed at some point.

But…..it’s the new year, a new dawn, maybe a new you – and we don’t know what the year ahead holds for us. I pray that it’s not horrible stuff and we can find plenty to enjoy in the next 364 days. Take care everyone. God bless.

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.

Another long, lazy lie-in and, looking out of the window, in for another disappointing day weather-wise. The sky was leaden and we didn’t feel like getting out of bed. My phone pinged by my bedside and I slowly released my arm from under the warm covers to sleepily look to see who was texting. It was Danielle, with a gentle little video of the snow falling in their back garden. Harriet followed suit. Then, wonder of wonders, it started snowing here, too.

It lay thick enough in Sutton for the boys to go sledging on the field, and in Kenilworth for Freddie to play out in it, and here in Balsall for me to admire it dusting the lawn. You should have heard William chuckle his little head off as he hurtled down to the bottom of the hill on his sledge, and Freddie chattering about the snowflakes as they fell from the sky. Fabulous.

Despite being awake, I decided to stay in bed some more and read my book, which I did until lunchtime. John was already up and catching up on a Netflix series called ‘Narcos’, which is based on a true story of how drugs and drug barons flooded Miami, and the fight to clean up the town. I joined him while I had bite to eat, and then, despite my best intentions to do something active this afternoon, I whiled away the time by scoffing lots of chocolate biscuits, playing a scrabble game on my phone, scrolling social media and doing my jigsaw – which is resistant to any amount of coaxing. Not got awfully far with yet, as you can see. It’s all very brown…..

While I cooked our evening meal, John went to scrutinise quiz questions on the computer, ready for our Quiz Night tomorrow. John is Quiz Master this week, and he’s determined to make it a good one if he can. Especially as it’s the New Year coming up.

Not that any of us are going to be out celebrating, are we? We haven’t had the feed-through of numbers of infections from the Christmas period yet, and already we are at 53,135 people confirmed as infected with COVID in the last 24 hours. I nearly dropped my cup of tea when I heard the figures on the lunchtime news today. I certainly spluttered into it and waved my arms about a lot as I gestured my dismay to John.

That does it, then. I have been thinking about putting us into stronger measures of lockdown since the news of more and more people catching the blessed virus has been filtering through. And today’s news just confirmed it. No going out to the shops or non-essential journeys for us for the foreseeable. The hospitals are getting busier and busier, and if we can avoid being one of the many at their doors that will be a good thing – so safety first.

The news isn’t very cheerful at all, now that I have come back to watching it a bit, what with earthquakes, Brexit, our borders being iffy and the rise of COVID cases. I wondered out loud to John how we could have got it so wrong on keeping the infection rate down, but he thought that being a small, densely populated island we would always being fighting an uphill battle. I suppose, but it feels shitty. Can I say that?

So the figures are as follows:

• 53,135 people confirmed as testing positive for the virus in the last 24 hours
• 414 people have died during the same period in the community.
• 2,322 people were admitted to hospital on Monday 21 December – no new figures, but, for a week ago that’s a lot
• 213 people have died in hospitals on 27 & 28 December – mostly the over 60s
• We are on Day 13 of Tier 3, Part 2 and Day 28 of Tier 3 total
• And it’s Day 286 since the beginning of our original lockdown in March

All the scientists are imploring us all to stay at home, keep our hands washed, wear our masks and keep well apart from everyone else. I know the politicians have a different view, but I’m ‘following the science’ – how about you? Hope so!

Stay safe everyone. God bless.