Author: anniesleath@hotmail.co.uk

There was uncertainty this morning as to what we were going to do today. We didn’t rush this morning so, after a slow start, I checked with the Sutton Sleaths how things were, and an excellent report came back, so we said we’d pop over to help out and do more on the ‘man-shed’.

It was actually three hours later when we got there. What had we been doing? We have no idea whatsoever! It just took us that long to cook and eat our Sunday breakfast, gather together all sorts of foodstuffs and tools to take with us, and then collect the ‘clicked’ items from Screwfix on Torrington Avenue, before we were finally on our way.

That last bit was exciting. Mindful of the consultant’s advice, John was all systems go and champing at the bit, to buy bits and pieces for the work on the electrics to the ‘man-shed’. I reluctantly agreed he could ‘click and collect’. I think it was OK – although he had to wait in a slow queue for a while before he went in, and I was anxiously watching whether people were staying the requisite meterage apart and had donned their masks. All seemed well and, with the items collected, it was the sanitiser routine in the car and then we were finally on our way.

We didn’t do anything unusual this afternoon – although I did ride the rapids in the ‘river’ down by the side of the decking, and then transformed into a helicopter while William transformed into a boat. We both then transformed into aeroplanes and, wings out, flew down to the bottom of the garden to see how Grandpa was getting on. I also ate a lot of ‘chicken and chips’ and ‘hamburgers’ followed by ‘corn on the cob’ and drank ‘lashings of tea’.

In between times, Grandpa did lots of electrical things and William joined in, once again asking a lot of ‘Why?’ questions before coming back for more ‘river crossings’, fighting crocodiles and digging the silt out of the river. In the latter activity I had a leading role, having transformed into an excavator. I was charged with clearing a channel for the transformed ‘boat’ to sail through.

Michael studied. Danielle busied herself with sorting out the kids clothes ready for the holiday to Jersey next week. Thomas did a lot of sleeping. Of course, when he wasn’t sleeping, he was feeding and then being wide-eyed and alert to the general hubbub around him. Cuteness personified.

While Grandpa had hold of William, I cooked the Sunday roast. I did a lot of panic-mode cooking. Not having my familiar utensils in my hands and an unfamiliar oven which had a mind of its own, with a ghost hand changing the temperature every so often, I fought a battle with myself to get a decent meal onto the table. It was OK in the end, but this is what lock down has done to me. No faith or confidence in any of my own abilities any more. Aarghhh…….

Naturally, some days are better than others in the confidence stakes, so I just had a weird one today, but I wish I didn’t have such days. They are not nice.

Anyway, all’s well that ends well, and everyone was fed and watered. After we’d eaten, we played a bit more with the children and William used Michael and me as a climbing frame for a while. Michael was particularly impressive, doing press-ups with William on his back. Oh, to be young and strong again!!

We left Michael bathing William and Danielle feeding Thomas. Happy, contented family scenes. Long may they continue.

I only watched the news late on this evening and even then missed half of it, so I am not quite sure of the latest, other than there’s still a lot of anger about the ‘A’ level exam results, with people gearing up to be angry about the GCSE results later on this week. The reporting on the virus in the UK seemed not so prominent, which is probably a good thing as we are going to have to learn to live with it snaking its way through the population for a good while to come. The focus was on the high numbers in places like India, Brazil and Spain.

In England, the NHS reported one death yesterday from the virus, and the government reported 5 in the community, with 1,040 people confirmed as infected.

It’s Monday tomorrow – have a good week everyone!

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Our plan was to do a bit more on the ‘man-shed’ and some child care in Sutton today, but we erred on the cautious side and didn’t go, as Danielle had woken up with a bit of a sore throat. In all likelihood, it’s fatigue creating the problem with a troublesome wisdom tooth, but we thought we’d play safe.

It meant that I had a happy hour or two this morning, scrolling through lots of ‘lock down’ photos on my phone and arranging the ones I particularly liked into a photo book. The book is Book One, as the photos were from March to May. There’s still June to August to go. If the books turn out well, I shall put together the second book and enjoy flicking through the pages on winter nights to come. The photos show that it hasn’t been all bad during the lock down, after all.

John has spent the day on the front drive, scooping up the stones and shifting them into a very big pile. The sieving hasn’t started yet apparently…… He’s getting down to the hard core and then he’ll start. What a job. It feels like it’s going to take forever. But I think he’s enjoying it. There’s a sense of achievement with each shovelful and a sense of purpose as it’s piled up ready for sorting. Fingers crossed he gets through it all!!

In the meantime, my best intentions were just intentions. I never actually got around to doing many of the jobs I had set myself. Some time ago, Rona had asked me if I had watched the series ‘Flesh and Blood’, which I hadn’t. Just after lunch and before starting on my list of ‘things to do’, my plan was to delete a whole pile of programmes from the planner. We seem to have hundreds of programmes that we may not watch but I came across this series as one of the first things recorded on there. I thought I’d start it. Well, folks, I finished it. Just binge-watched the whole lot this afternoon. Great fun, but felt guilty then, as I hadn’t done any jobs. And I’d also demolished a whole bar of fruit and nut chocolate……

The guilty feeling soon went away as I began the task of putting away the shopping that had arrived. The ‘putting away’ also involved a pre-job – that of clearing out the fridge first. One of those tasks that I’d been putting off for a little while. It’s done now, and re-stocked with lovely food and drink, including a nice bottle of Prosecco just chillin’ and ready for me to drink.

In amongst the various goods I’d ordered were bits and pieces for Mum. Rather than fill my fridge with her things, I thought I’d drop them round to her flat before I cooked our evening meal. It’s actually a week since I called in, but I have been keeping tabs on her via the app that her carers use to report on their activities. She was, of course, pleased to see me, but she had a bit of a panic attack when we weren’t able to find her hearing aid batteries. She was as deaf as a post, with last week’s batteries having gone flat and, because I was wearing a mask, she couldn’t lip-read so hadn’t got a clue as to what I was saying.

We finally found the batteries in a box that I had carefully placed in the ‘cubby hole’. However, neither of us could remember where we’d put it at first, so a thorough search had to be made. Bit of a laugh when we found it though, and a relieved Mum when she could hear at last.

She was a bit miserable though today. I asked her about the girls who come in to look after her and she revealed that they don’t stay very long. Well, her memory isn’t great, so I wasn’t inclined to believe her. I explained that they are there for an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening. She shook her head and said, very firmly, that they didn’t stay an hour in the morning. I described the activities they are tasked to undertake and she shook her head and firmly said again, no, they weren’t doing them.

I have to confess I hadn’t looked at the detail of how long they were staying in the flat on the app. I was just checking whether she was happy, and they had left her safe and well. I did a check this evening and found that she is probably right. We’re paying for an hour, but they are only staying for half of that. I think the wires have got crossed somewhere and I shall have to follow it up. But she is safe and well despite feeling sorry for herself today.

I wore my mask when I visited Mum today, and can’t make up my mind whether it is necessary or not. Answers on a postcard? She tells me that not all the carers wear a mask and she doesn’t, so it seems a bit daft. Anyway, it’s precautionary at least for now.

COVID-19 related deaths are reported at an all-time low today, with just three on the government’s website and two confirmed for the Thursday on the NHS site. As at four o’clock today, I,012 people are confirmed as having been infected.

This seems like fairly good news to me. Take care everyone.

Shielding is a thing of the past. Well, sort of and mostly. We went to see John’s haematologist today, and we discussed what we mean by ‘shielding’ and what we can and can’t do, given John’s ‘vulnerable to infection’ state. Go for a daily walk, was the prescription. And yes, you can go to a shop (the motorist’s shop beckons) but not a crowded supermarket – choose wisely. Go somewhere where distancing is well -managed, partitions are up at the counters, there aren’t many people, and everyone is wearing masks. Put a review of the shop on Mr Google so that other vulnerable people are aware of its nuances and can choose to go there or not. Oh, and keep washing your hands, of course. Plus, all the other bits, like; do your physiotherapy exercises and don’t drink too much alcohol. Sermon over.

Well, that’s good news. It was also good news that all aspects of blood components reported on today – bar the neutrophils – are normal. Neutrophils? Just those little things you need to fight infection. John’s are low, and not likely to put up much of a fight should he get an infection. Otherwise, he’s good to go. So let’s go. Had we booked to go away anywhere? No. We were waiting on advice as to where we are with risk and so on. Sounds like we could plan to have a few days away, then.

It has been a long time since we met up with Dr Lovell, the consultant we saw today. Paneesha is on his hols, so, “Step in, John. Lovely to see you. Long time, no see. Fourteen years? Surely not?” Well, about that anyway. It was Dr Lovell whom John first saw, right at the beginning, but within a fairly short space of time, John had moved through the various clinics and became ‘an interesting case’ before landing in poor Paneesha’s lap. The consultation today was like old pals catching up. John was able to share all his recent successes and passion for the Lotus and exchange such pleasantries that cheered us all up before we each said a reluctant goodbye. It was John who brought the chat to a close, rather than Dr Lovell, who was revelling in hearing about the ‘project car’.

After we’d been to the hospital, we proceeded, on an almost-empty tank of petrol (sorry, diesel), to call in to Sutton to drop off paired socks. Lots and lots of pairing still to do – heaven knows where the other half of the pairs are – but I shall look forward to that little exercise sometime in the future. The Sutton Sleaths have strict instructions to drop the oddments into a bag and I’ll spend a happy hour ‘pairing up’. Very therapeutic.

We had a quick cup of tea and came home to amend my on-line shopping list, before the deadline expired, with one or two items I’d suddenly remembered as we drove to the hospital. I wonder why the hospital prompted the thoughts? Hmmm….. no idea. They were mostly to do with Mum!!

Back home, John decided he’d tackle the front drive. A job he’s been itching to do for a while. “I’ll just do a bit to see if I can manage it and whether it’s worthwhile,” he said. The job? Shovel up the stones, along with very large quantities of the silt that’s built up between and underneath them over the years, then sieve the soil out to refresh the stones. Rather him than me. There’s acres of the stuff to sieve. I think what he’s done so far has been very successful though. Except he did come in looking a bit dishevelled, so it was probably hard work.

I tidied up a bit and finally decided to wrestle with the ironing, which has been glowering at me all week, before sitting down to watch a bit more ‘Line of Duty’. Couldn’t quite find the brain power to read over Michael’s PhD work this evening…..

And that’s our day. Nothing unusual happening, but it was unexpectedly exciting, nonetheless.

And, back to earth with a bump when I read the figures for COVID-19 infections and deaths. Virus-related deaths are down (but they did change the parameters of counting) – just 11 today in community settings and one yesterday in a hospital. However, infection rates are startlingly high, with 1,441 confirmed infections. That means, if we are going to be out and about, we will need to be alert……

Stay with it, folks. Peace be with you all.

I was pleased that I had got out of bed early and made a start on the day betimes today. Why? Well, late last night both John and I separately offered a continuance of our support for the Sutton Sleaths, but because it was late, we hadn’t had a reply. Early morning (well, eight o’clock anyway) and they’d texted to say they’d spend the day at our house. By nine o’clock they were walking through the front door. Glad I wasn’t still in bed!

Fortunately, no dog today, so no cat-chasing by him, just cat-chasing by William who roared through the cat flap at Shadow sitting outside. Shadow blinked a weary eye at him and turned his head in disdain. No, that roar didn’t bother him in the least, and he was brave enough to saunter about the house all day despite les enfants.

Cups of tea dispensed and pains aux raisins in the oven for elevenses later, saw Michael disappear into the dining room to settle into his work, Danielle settle into the lounge on the settee, and William running in to the rummage through the toys. “Come on, Grandma/Grandpa, (apparently we are now known as a pair) come and play with me,” says William, and we oblige.

The weather was still warm mid-morning with no real hint of rain, so we packed a little backpack for William, full of nice things to eat, and we set off on a ‘Bear Hunt’. We just went round the Yellow Brick Road, but I saw it in a new light as Danielle brought to life all the things to look for on a Bear Hunt. “Look, William, can you see the bear’s paw prints in the mud?” These? Dog prints in the molehills. “See, William, where the bear has leaned on a tree to scratch his back?” This? Two or three trees skewed over by the wind. “Oh, wow! Just look at that, William. The bear has been sharpening his claws on the tree.” This one? The striated bark on several trees. I thoroughly enjoyed my bear hunt – and so did William, of course. Only thing was, we didn’t actually find any bears, which was disappointing for both of us. Next time, maybe.

What we did find on the walk, though, were blackberries. Yes, I know you are all probably yawning and saying, yea, yea, we know all about them, but for me the volume of ripened fruit was a thrill in the middle of August. We grabbed a little bag and picked them. “Not the ones low down though, William…..” you know the rest….. So, we brought our haul home for our tea and made a delicious apple and blackberry crumble with custard. Lush.

We sat awhile on a bench for our snack, and then turned our footsteps home, William chattering all the way. Once home, elevenses were demolished, and it was soon lunchtime, then nap-time.

Michael emerged for his lunch and then took William upstairs to bed. William was soon snoozing away, having expended a fair bit of energy on the walk. Hmmm, snoozing ……. funny that. After lunch, so was I. And Danielle. And Thomas. And John (although he had no excuse, as he hadn’t been on the walk). Michael, apparently, had taken a break from work at one point for a bit of a chat, only to find that every single member of the household was fast asleep. Well, someone’s got to earn the money, haven’t they?

After our naps, it was playtime once more and then, with time vanishing fast, it was time to prepare an evening meal. Crikey! Where’d the day go?

Thomas, bless him, was once more as good as gold. Waking up to be fed, as pleasant as can be while awake, and grinning at us now. I reckon he’s going to be a cheeky boy!! I didn’t do much dandling today, but what I did was lovely. Thomas was asleep a lot of the time, or just awake in his bouncy chair or on the play mat, watching the world go by. “He must be growing with all that sleep,” said Danielle. He sure is. If you stretched him out, I don’t think he’d fit in his pram for much longer. Fortunately, he likes to curl his legs up and snuggle to the bottom of the pram, so I think we’ll be OK for a while yet.

We waved goodbye to them all as Michael pulled the car off the drive, only for him to screech to halt. What? What have they forgotten? Danielle, sheepish, leapt out of the car and retrieved her phone…. which she had left on the roof of the car. Phew. That was a close one. Bye! Bye! Bye then!! See you all soon.

We collapsed into the sofas and surveyed the room. Had we been burgled? Was it a war zone? No, just a visit from the grand kids!! Tee-hee-hee!

A touch of telly to relax, a nice cuppa, and the day strolled to an end. Lovely. So nice to be able to ignore all the horrible goings-on in the world and just envelope ourselves with love and laughter every day just now. Too soon we will be agonising over exam results for our youngsters, no doubt, just as they are doing today.

Let us hope that by then we will no longer be agonising over the COVID-19 death and infection rates. The government has published figures today on the new basis of deaths ‘within 28 days of a positive test’. 18 today, with 1,009 cases of people confirmed as infected – same number as yesterday. The NHS reports one death yesterday from the virus.

And there we have it – another ‘day in the life of village folk‘. A beautiful, gentle rhythm at the moment for which we are eternally grateful, thank the Lord. Take care everyone and God bless.

I am wondering whether to stop counting the days. I mean, our ‘shielding’ days in the very strictest sense seem to be behind us. We are ‘bubbling’ with the Sutton Sleaths and, weather permitting, garden partying with our friends and other family members (fingers crossed we see Andrew soon). And we are enjoying the socialisation. It has made a huge difference to both of us. We are lighter in spirit, even though we are not yet lighter in body weight. We are both looking forward to events in the future. For example, we are (ever hopeful) planning a week away next Easter with the family, if anyone can make it. I am even contemplating suggesting a socially-distanced picnic in a park with friends. It sounds to me like a quite a good little social life. A far cry from the days of chivvying Mum to get out of bed.

However, Day 150 it is. And we are still ‘washing the shopping’, wearing masks, sanitising or washing our hands at every contact with anyone else and standing well back from others. And other than me Mum, the Sutton Sleaths and little Freddie, we have had no-one inside the house. Oh, apart from the plumber early on and the District Nurses, of course. So, I am wondering how different that is from everyone else now. Being a ‘deltiologist’, (a new word that I learnt today – look it up, people) answers on a postcard, please.

It being Day 150, I slept some more. Those of you who read yesterday’s instalment will have noted that I whiled away a good few hours yesterday afternoon inspecting the back of my eyelids. This morning was no exception. I thought they deserved a little more inspection. I finally got out of bed, trundled to the bathroom, drank the (now cold) fruit tea John had lovingly placed by my bedside, picked up my phone, had a go at an e-jigsaw puzzle I am fond of doing and then looked at the time. Crikey!!! It was already 11.25 and we had promised to be over in Sutton by noon. I quickly got dressed and shot downstairs to see if John was ready for the trip. Nope. He was concentrating very hard on being Quiz Master and setting the questions for this evening. “It’s nearly twenty to twelve,” I told him. He looked up, startled. “Already? Best get going then.” We gathered our things pronto and set off.

Had a lovely afternoon with Danielle, William and Thomas. All were as good as gold. Even Danielle behaved……… tee-hee!! Michael wasn’t there, having had to actually go to work. Yes. I mean, physically, go to work. What a shocker. He was back by about three-ish with more work to do, of course, via Zoom and teleconferencing. But he did mention that he hadn’t been missing the two-hour commute every day…….. I wonder if we will change our ways of working, or whether we will forget very quickly that beautiful balance we found at one point during lock down?

John spent the afternoon on the roof of the ‘man shed’ and I spent the afternoon having a quick tidy round. One job I thought I could do to be helpful, was to tear up all of the cardboard boxes that had accumulated in the last week, and were nestling in the porch, and then slot them into the recycling bin. Oooh, it was so satisfying. All that tearing and trashing – brilliant. And not only that, at the end of it all, the porch was cleared. No more cardboard glowering at the residents on the way in or out of the house.

William and I played Pirates on Mummy and Daddy’s bed this afternoon, at the same time as Danielle and I folded all the children’s clothes and snuggled them away into their respective homes. I had a pillow for my steering wheel, and William had one too, for his control panel. There were sharks in the water and we had to be rescued more than once. We found treasure and leapt ashore onto dry land before the sharks got us. Great, great fun.

I dandled Thomas and rocked him in his pram and he smiled and gurgled at me. He was talking to me, making eye contact and telling me all about it. He is such a bonny boy.

Once home, we laughed at a video Paul had sent us, showing Freddie freezing, but determined to stay, in the paddling pool in their holiday garden. Freddie, being a ‘contrary Mary’ told Paul that the water was warm and why didn’t Daddy join him? Paul had a good excuse. He was overseeing the barbecue. Man’s work.

Honestly, these boys, Freddie, William and Thomas, are beautiful and have a great start in life.

This evening we quizzed. Despite the fact that John thought it might be a relatively ‘easy’ quiz, we puzzled over quite a few of the questions and decided it hadn’t been quite so easy after all. It was, as always though, exceedingly enjoyable and we spent a good while afterwards just chatting. Loved it. So grateful that we have this wonderful evening among friends.

This beautiful life – I’d like to live it without the virus lurking in the background, but we can’t, so we have to make the most of it. For 77 people in the community yesterday that wasn’t possible, as they lost their lives to COVID-19, and 1,009 were confirmed as infected. One person died in a hospital setting, too.

Counting people who have died due to the virus is now a game of ‘shove ha’penny’, it seems to me, as the rules are changing on who to count in, and who to count out. Overnight, we have lost 5,000 on the data tracking as these people had been recorded as COVID-19 infected more than 28 days ago. I do not know the rights and wrongs of the count, but it strikes me that the new figures seem to count out any death due to the effects of ‘long COVID’. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Whatever it is, look after yourselves and try not to be a statistic. Blessings to you all.

Well, weren’t we lucky with the weather today? The forecast predicted thunderstorms, including heavy rainfall, but we were spared all of that until this evening. We were especially pleased that the weather was clement because we had agreed to drive to George and Sue’s, just outside Northampton, to meet up with them and Dave and Chris. An experimental first since lock down: a barbecue in their garden, socially distanced? Oh, yes please.

I had intended to get up about eight o’clock this morning to prepare some salads as accompaniment to the barbecued meat, but what I hadn’t bargained on was a rude awakening. Just after 7.30, I could hear a yowling sound dripping into my consciousness. Over and over again. It sounded very familiar but, for a moment, I wasn’t able to place it. Then bingo! It’s a cat yowling. I leaped out of bed and looked out of the window. Yep, sure enough, there was Rio sitting at the bottom of the garden, looking very affronted, with the intruder sat before him, swishing his tail. I knew what that meant. Two seconds later, fur was flying and high-pitched yelling from both cats pierced my eardrums.

I hot-footed it downstairs, unlocked the house and belted out into the garden. That was enough to see the black cat intruder off the premises. Rio was sat, crouching under a wheelbarrow, unhurt, but with much of his fur adorning the path. He was OK but didn’t resist when I offered to pick him up and take him for his breakfast, which he wolfed down, so clearly there was no lasting damage.

Honestly, it’s been a ‘cat-o-three-tales’ in the last few days! I’m hoping the tales don’t soon add up to nine…. can’t take any more!

Anyway, drama over, I got on with sorting out the salads, chilling a bottle of Prosecco and preparing some fruit to take with us on our adventure to the far-distant lands of East Northants. Not long before take-off, however, coming in from watering the garden, I heard the landline ringing. One ring too short, I’d missed the call. A few seconds later, my mobile rang. It was George. “Did you get my message?” he asked. “Erm, no…..I’ve been in the garden,” I said, apologetically. “Ah, well. Dave and Chris can’t make it. They’re feeling iffy, so don’t want to risk coming. Do you still want to go ahead?” What a daft question. Of course, we still want to go ahead. Obviously, we’ll miss seeing Dave and Chris and are sorry they are feeling poorly, but we certainly didn’t want to miss out on seeing George and Sue, too. So off we went.

But boy, it was HOT. We didn’t check the actual temperature, but even at 8.30 tonight as we drove home in the ‘cool’ of the evening, it was still 30 degrees! We sheltered under the shade of the gazebo and followed its shadow round as the sun tracked its course in the sky. The Prosecco tasted good in the heat, but one glass was soon followed by several glasses of thirst-quenching, re-hydrating water. No-one was keen on too much alcohol today.

After we’d eaten delicious chicken, marinaded Chinese-style, and succulent sausages, and we’d exhausted the available shade under the gazebo, we moved up towards the house and sat in the shadow of the next-door neighbour’s hedge, jealously listening to them splashing in their garden pool. Feeling exceedingly hot, I borrowed one of Sue’s cotton T-shirts, replacing the nylon top I’d foolishly put on this morning. I settled into my chair. Ooh, it reclines. I’ll do a bit of that then. Everyone was chatting; John had lots to say today; George encouraged him and soon, I was soothed by the sonorous sound of John’s voice and my eyelids drooped. I fell asleep. For hours.

How very embarrassing. Yet, George and Sue were so kind and said it didn’t matter, and that they were pleased I felt relaxed enough at their home to be able to take a nap. John teased me of course, said I’d snored a lot and that he’d made an outrageous suggestion to which I’d agreed – and how come I didn’t remember? I did remember waking up once, though, when Sue offered me a Magnum – two in two days(!!) – which I ate, and then promptly fell asleep again after I’d eaten it.

Reluctantly, we said our farewells to our dear friends and set off home. The sky was exciting, with the sunset spilling through the wispy clouds, and then we spied one very large cloud, rising like a mushroom plume. Oooh, does that look like it might turn into a thundercloud? We didn’t know it then, but it certainly did. The nearer we got to home, the larger and darker the cloud became until at last, the thunderstorm broke spectacularly at about ten o’clock.

On the way home, Paul FaceTimed us but we were driving so we waited until we got home for a long chat. It was so lovely to see him, sitting outside with a beer just chillin’ on his holidays. They’d all been to ‘Go Ape!’ today and had had fun so I was delighted to see him looking so relaxed. Nice.

Not so nice are the figures being reported on the virus – 102 deaths as of 5 p.m. yesterday in all settings and 1,148 lab-confirmed cases. Hotting up? We’ll see.

In the meantime, I am hoping that this hot, sticky weather doesn’t make life too difficult for you and that your days are peaceful and contented. God bless.

The weather was so wonderful today that, despite a long list of other things to do, we spent the day out in the garden. I started off with breakfast on the patio surveying our ‘estate’ and marvelling at our amazing good fortune to be able to live here. My raised beds are looking fine and I have hazelnuts on my tree. Few apples and plums, mind you, having had a glut last year, but still.

John had a good, long lie-in this morning to get over his exertions of the last few days but, once he was up, he really got to it. There’s no stopping him when he’s got the bit between his teeth.

I had started on weeding, dead-heading and generally tidying up the flowerbeds before moving on to heaving a very heavy bag of wood chips onto the lawn, so that I could dress a little area in front of the rockery. I wondered if I should carry on round to the rose bed? Yes, John confirmed, but, before you do, let’s just get the edging finished first. Well, rather him than me. It was too hot for that caper in my book. John grabbed the sledgehammer, garden spade and fork, a kneeling mat and the edging and away he went.

He wondered why he was out of breath and exhausted. He was convinced that this time last year he was better. Erm….. no? This time last year he was struggling to find any energy to do anything and wondering why he was even alive. Fast forward to now and he’s got the gumph to lift a sledgehammer and actually finish the edging job. Applause all round, I say!! He was clearly having a good day.

So, I weeded out the rose bed and filled it up with wood chips while John finished the edging. It looks rather smart and we’re both pleased with our efforts today. Afterwards, I toddled off for a shower as John put the tools away – and then the thunder started. We didn’t make a special effort to look out for the lightening and didn’t really see any from indoors as I prepped the evening meal, but it was a marvellous rumbling, like African drums, that went on and on. Then huge raindrops fell and stirred up Petrichor (thanks to Susie Dent of Countdown fame for this wonderful word) – that evocative, earthy smell of when rain falls onto dry soil. Heady, heady scent – I loved it.

Mid-afternoon, we had stopped, of course, for refreshments under the gazebo – it was too hot to keep going. It was Magnum time. Such decadence and what a pleasure. We sat together enjoying the twenty-minute respite in the shade before we set to again. I might have said this before…. but we are so delighted with our new gazebo. It really is just the ticket.

We are never satisfied, though, are we? We’re sitting, enjoying the rest, appreciative of the refreshments on offer, delighting in the shade offered by the gazebo – and what do we concentrate on? The lawn. It’s not looking good we say to ourselves. We must get some weed ‘n treat stuff for it. We must water it, get rid of the moss, trim the edges etc etc….. I laughed. I reminded John that, when we first got married we had a book entitled, ‘How to Cheat at Gardening’ and the suggestion was to make the lawn just green and not to worry whether it was a grass or some other plant that made it so. In those days, we had scoffed at people who cared about having the perfect lawn. Oh, how the mighty are fallen….. now we’re fretting about it! Who’d a thought it, eh?

We decided we deserved an evening in front of the TV after our toiling in the heat today, so we carried on watching ‘Line of Duty’. John had watched some of the series before, and I had caught one or two programmes but, because we can, we thought we’d watch the whole lot – not all at one go though, you understand – and see if we can follow it. Ha! Ha! Ha! I don’t know how many times I have turned to John to ask, “Do you know what’s going on?” or “I don’t get it, why is he/she…..?”I am sure all will be revealed. Or will it? No matter, we’re enjoying it anyway.

We did catch a bit of the news today and I am struck by the reaction of people to the refugees arriving on our coast. The reports seem to suggest that we have lost all compassion for our fellow human beings and are just out for punitive action. I mean, the idea that we would just turn any arriving dinghy round, and point it back in the direction from whence it came, is madness to me. Perhaps it is because we are still experiencing deaths and infections from COVID-19 that makes people retract a hand of kindness.

With regard to the virus, there have been 21 deaths in all settings today and 2 in a hospital setting yesterday. However, the infection rate is still high, with 816 people confirmed as infected today. So it’s still around and catching us unawares.

God bless, and peace be with you in all you do and say.

Not sure what we did yesterday to wear the children out, but they slept on until 8 o’clock this morning, much to everyone’s relief. I must confess, John and I stayed in bed and had a bit of a lie-in, rather than getting up at that time. However, William was keen to get us up and out, and lured us with the offer of Daddy making pancakes. It’s a long time since we’ve had breakfast made for us, so that was rather delightful.

I really don’t quite remember, exactly, the sequence of events today as it seems to have been one wonderful blur of William, Baby, Food, Drink….and repeat: William, Baby, Food, Drink. I’ve had a great time chattering with William – or rather, having been chattered at, as he has such a lot to say; playing with Duplo and jigsaws, imagining mountains as he climbed up and down the slide, and finding monsters in the bath. I’ve dandled or rocked the baby in the pram and prepped food. In between times, of course, there’s been chatting to Michael, Danielle and John and, sharing the task of making cups of tea among us. Just ‘an every day story of village folk‘ – cue music.

There have been some great highlights to the day, with one in particular being a lovely FaceTime conversation with Paul and Harriet, whose sixth wedding anniversary it is today. Being a Pooh Bear of very little brain, I knew the anniversary was coming up but did nothing about it. And this morning, I was just thinking about posting a greeting on FaceBook or the family WhatsApp group but, before I did, William was inviting me for breakfast and I never did it. Shame on me. However, it was brilliant to talk to them in their holiday home in Devon. It looked lush and they looked relaxed and happy.

Yesterday, William had found a very old ‘Direct Line’ miniature phone which one of the boys had been given years ago, as part of a promotional activity at school. It was in pieces as it wasn’t working and, some months ago, I’d dismantled it to see which sort of batteries were needed. Anyway, no sooner had William expressed an interest in it than Grandpa was ordering the new batteries, which arrived today. The pair of them got their heads together to fix it up and, sure enough – 🎶 ta-ta-ta-da 🎶 – the music sang out, much to everyone’s delight. There’s only one piece of the phone missing……. quite good going, don’t you think?

It being Sunday and there being six of us, we thought we’d have roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding today – even though it was a hot day. I started well in advance of when we needed to eat but, as always, life took over and we ended up sitting down to the table pretty much our standard time of nearly six o’clock.

And we nearly didn’t have Yorkshire Pudding. All of a sudden, we were out of eggs. The pancakes had taken them all. Danielle, bless her, ever practical, said she’d run to the shops. I shilly-shallied and said nervously that I wasn’t sure she should. She grabbed her mask and sanitising gel and strode off up the road, determined. She promised she’d do all the handwashing and cleaning up when she got back to be safe. Oh…. OK then. The Yorkshire Puddings were lovely.

We chose to sit outside at the patio table, bringing the food out to set under the shade of the parasol. We all sat down, ready to start. Someone suggested letting Chester out as he was looking rather forlorn at the lounge door. No-one thought anything of it. But……. Yikes! It was Cat Chase Number Two. This time, it was Shadow. Thundering down the length of the garden, Chester set off like a streak of lightening after him and we all sat, as the French say, ‘bouche-bée’, with our food half-way to our mouths as we looked on, helpless in the ‘stop-ability’ stakes.

Barking all the way, Chester helter-skeltered past the raised beds, charged into the wooded area at the bottom of the garden, clambered up the rockery behind the large conifer, and clattered to a halt. There was a great big scuffling of branches and leaves and we feared the worst. Most of us dropped our knives and forks and pounded down the garden to view the damage. There was a mewing nearby. “Chester! Here!” Michael commanded, and Chester stood down, albeit very reluctantly, and was subsequently banished to the lounge again. The mewing continued. I looked and looked but couldn’t see where it was coming from. “Look up!” John called. I looked up. High in the conifer tree, there crouched Shadow, on what appeared to be an inaccessible branch.

“Don’t worry,” Michael soothed, “I’ll get him down. I’ll get a ladder.” Despite the ladder and a pair of stepladders, the coaxing from me, Michael and Danielle was to no avail. John suggested we gave up, ate our meal and tried again later, if the cat hadn’t come down all by himself. Danielle and I thought our hungry bellies were more important just then and complied. Michael didn’t. He persevered and, ten minutes later, he had Shadow in his arms, dropping him gently to the floor, before the cat scarpered at breakneck speed, fearful of another chasing.

The excitement was too much for William. He wasn’t eating his meal and he wasn’t telling us he needed a wee, either. Michael gestured for us all to stay where we were and he’d sort out the clean clothes and the high chair. We’d all finished our food by the time Michael sat down to eat, bless him. I think his roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding was cold, but he hoovered it up anyway as, by then, the poor man was starving.

Thomas, meanwhile, slept through the lot. He had had a very tiring day, feeding and playing on his play mat, so it wasn’t surprising really. He and I had had a good little chat down at the bottom of the garden this afternoon whilst William had his afternoon nap and Danielle took a rest. Maybe that was what tired him out? I thoroughly enjoyed my time with him there under the trees before I popped him into his pram and he slept, enabling me to do a spot of gardening. Such bliss to be able to just be with members of the family.

Michael spent the day studying again and came through to report that he’d spent hours trawling through all the words he’d previously written and managed to create one new paragraph in the re-write. Crikey – it’s going to be a long haul to get this assignment completed.

In our ‘Bubble’ we have relished each other’s company. I am grateful for small mercies, but seeing the family is one big mercy for which I offer thanks every day – whenever I see them. No Andrew today, who we thought might visit, as he is still working hard in his new job. Hopefully we’ll catch up with him soon before another lock down is inflicted upon us all.

Although there were only 8 reported COVID-19 related deaths today in all settings and one in a hospital setting, there were 1,062 confirmed cases of infection. That’s a bit of an increase, isn’t it? I am watching the figures carefully now – and monitoring the areas where my kids live very closely. I’m still rather keen to keep ‘bubbling’ and garden-partying. How about you?

God bless, peace be with you all – and keep on keeping your distance!!

After our excitement at ordering another take away yesterday, which we thoroughly enjoyed at the time, we both found ourselves sitting up in bed last night, trying to settle tummies that reminded us we weren’t used to this sort of food any longer!! And, after forty-five minutes of restlessness and being disturbed by each other sighing or sitting up or something along those lines, I decided to decamp to our former bedroom to give us both a chance for a decent night’s sleep. Which, for me, did the trick and I was up with the lark this morning.

It was fabulous to be up early and at ‘em! And it gave me an opportunity to have a bit of a tidy-up before welcoming the Sutton Sleaths who were staying overnight…. I was just a bit excited.

Malcolm rang the doorbell not long after nine o’clock with the shopping and was stunned to find that I was actually up. That’s a first for a long time. Normally, I’m doing a puzzle or playing an e-game in bed when he arrives and I have to hastily throw clothes on and leg it downstairs.

Anyway, the family duly arrived – unexpectedly, as it turned out, as I wasn’t sure what time they’d be arriving and had just texted to ask what the plans were when they turned up. Caught me unawares as I was just washing and drying the sheets for their bed…….

Caught the cats unawares, too, and they scarpered as soon as they saw Chester, who couldn’t wait to give chase. Which he did, a bit later on when, having scouted the garden to check the cats were safe, I let him out. He found Rio straightaway, snoozing in the undergrowth. The chase was just like a cartoon caricature. Wish I could draw – I’d have posted the picture. Made me laugh anyway.

William was thrilled to be at our house and settled himself in straightaway. And that was it then for the day. We were up and running, full speed ahead.

Of course, the toys were still out from the ‘Freddie-visit’ yesterday, so William had to tackle the same jigsaw and play with the same ‘complicated-to-put-together’ marble run, as well. In the end, it took three of us to put the marble run together. I couldn’t sort it out today; John couldn’t see to sort it out; so Michael had to do the business. Good job.

And what a great day it’s been again. Each and every time I see any one of the family, singly or in a group, how blessed I feel – despite the limitations we currently have. We were companionable, easing our way through the day, helping each other and appreciating each other. Fabulous.

Young Thomas behaved himself impeccably all day, sleeping like a good ‘un and making smiley faces at us at the most amusing moments. As if he knows what’s going on already. William was a busy bee all day playing first with this, then that and then helping prepare food. We had fun.

Michael, on the other hand, was shut in the dining room working all day, only emerging for food or drink and then diving back into his studies again. Danielle kept pace with whatever the children were up to and John kept pace with the rest of us. Although he’s still got ‘Puffing Billy’ as company. Eeeh, dear…. he’s a bit fed up of it.

Mind you, John does acknowledge that he’s perhaps overdone it a bit in the last couple of weeks. That’s always the trouble – learning to pace himself. Ah, well, we’ll be working on another patch up job, I expect.

I am hoping our bellies are going behave this evening, though. We had such a delicious barbecue and sat out in the sunshine to enjoy it, that it would be a shame if the enjoyment were spoiled for a second night running.

Our day was also interspersed with a pictorial running commentary of the Kenilworth Sleaths’ trip Devon for their holiday. Pics of their holiday homes for the next two weeks made us feel very envious, and then pics of Freddie, who always plays the joker, in various situations – clearly enjoying chocolate cake from the ‘welcome basket’ and playing the fool with a peg on his nose a bit later on. Daft boy. But I love him.

I was privileged this evening to bath William and put him to bed. It was so very hot that he was struggling to get to sleep, so I lay down alongside him. Hah! Hah! You thought I’d dropped off as well, didn’t you? Well, I didn’t, but could have done. But by the time I’d come down afterwards and faffed about a bit, there wasn’t much evening left. But… I had seen what happened in the cricket, so I was a very happy bunny.

I haven’t watched the news particularly, but am aware that there have been 55 deaths related to COVID-19 today, and 758 people confirmed as infected. The NHS is reporting that there were no deaths yesterday, however. It’s the first time we’ve seen a zero – although that may change by the time the figures are updated tomorrow. Fingers crossed it stays at nought.

And fingers crossed that the weather continues fine too. It brightens everyone’s spirits when the sun shines – although maybe 31 degrees is a bit too much for some people I know, so maybe a little cooler please? God bless everyone and peace be with you.

In the interests of sanity, I agreed to look after Freddie this afternoon while Harriet went to the hairdressers. It is such a long time since we have properly seen him, that we decided we would take the risk. ‘Come and play in the garden’ was the plan but, I don’t know about you, it was so hot we couldn’t stay in the garden all afternoon. On a couple of occasions, we abandoned the outside activities and let Freddie sit on one sofa to watch TV while I sat on the other. The doors were wide open, so we hope for the best.

We did ‘us best’ to keep a reasonable distance. It wasn’t always easy, yet anxiety was actually far from my mind as I played with Freddie all afternoon. We had the mats out under the gazebo for a picnic, then further down the garden under the trees where it was cooler, to play with the cars and the marble run, Downfall, and a jigsaw. We sat either end of the bench while he ate a Freeze Pop and stood either end of the pond as we gazed in to see the state of play with the fish. In between times, I hope we were distanced well enough, as we ran about the garden and sat in the lounge but time, of course, will tell.

Freddie was conscious of keeping his distance however, and said to me, very earnestly on more than one occasion, just to reassure me, “We haven’t got Corona-virus.” He’s only four! It broke my heart to hear him so aware of what is happening in the community – but I suppose it’s a good thing really.

It was a great afternoon, and it was my delight. I was astonished to see how grown up Freddie had become in the last few weeks and how physically able he was, leaping from the height of the slide, flinging himself onto the swing and racing round and round the garden, either with his own two legs or on his scooter.

I had wondered how he’d get on spending time with us again because, at such a young age, a five-month gap is a helluva long time. But after an initial reticence, he soon got the hang of it again and was as relaxed as he’d always been at our house.

In the meantime, John got on with jobs, especially clearing up the debris from the hedge-cutting the other day. He did ‘phew’ at the heat a bit but when it got too much he, too, retreated to the lounge and fiddled on the computer or sat on the sofa to cool down.

Freddie stayed a bit longer than anticipated as Harriet had to pop and do a spot of shopping for her Dad after she’d been and had her hair cut. When she arrived, it was lovely to sit and chat for a while and I fully expected her to leap up at any moment and say, “Right, we’re off!” but she didn’t; and then it was a double surprise and pleasure when Paul came round the corner and joined us after work. He wasn’t in a hurry to go either, so we had the unexpected enjoyment of their company for a good hour before they had to go. Freddie didn’t want to leave, but the enticement of, “We’re going on holiday tomorrow, Freddie,” soon had him packing up his belongings and making a move.

After a bit of a tidy-up, John watered the plants and then we sat down in the lounge. I thought it was too hot to cook, so was all for a ‘liquid’ supper. However, we had enjoyed our Indian Take-Away so much the other night we thought we’d have another go. That’s nice, isn’t it? A Friday night take-away, watching Line of Duty. Cracking.

Another day when I didn’t watch the news or the cricket or listen to what was happening with the virus. However, on the cricket front, after England didn’t make enough in their first innings, I gather Pakistan haven’t made many in their second innings either, so it’s poised for an exciting finish. On the virus front, there seem to be too many deaths in all settings, with 98 today, and one in a hospital setting yesterday. 871 people have been confirmed as infected today too.

Looks like it’ll be warm again over the weekend, so I hope everyone enjoys a relaxing time, with all the usual caveats! May you know peace in whatever you’re doing.