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So, Superman to the rescue!! And, just like that, the dishwasher is fixed! Hurrah! Hurrah! I am extremely relieved that I don’t have to be doing the washing up by hand. Thank you, John. Mwah!

Also relieved that there was rain again today. The plants in the garden so needed a drink and it was another day when the pressure was off, and no need to tidy things up outside. Not that I did much tidying inside today either as it was a busy day in one way or another.

Firstly, ‘The Breakfast Club’ got together for the first time since lock down, for a chat on Zoom this morning. It was so lovely to see smiling faces and, of course, catch up on everyone’s news. Even Mum zoomed into view temporarily and waved at everyone to say hello. Everyone’s story is different during lock down of course, so it was good to hear the positives, and sympathise with those who are experiencing the negatives. It was an hour well spent and I came away from the chat nicely uplifted.

Then the morning moved on with a chat to the doctor about John’s chest, and we were reassured that the antibiotics he’s got ought to do the trick – fingers crossed – or else……. and then, still on medical matters, I was just about to phone the pharmacy to check that they were sorting Mum’s drugs out when they were delivered to the door. How grateful I feel for those who are looking after us.

A little flurry of excitement followed, with Mum receiving a phone call from her friend Janet. The news wasn’t good though, as Janet disclosed that another friend, Audrey, had died on Sunday. Mum was upset but philosophical, as Audrey would have been 92 in June. Janet didn’t know the cause of death, so we wait to find out.

After lunch, I flicked through the TV channels to see what was on, initially for Mum’s entertainment, but alighted upon the film ‘Evita’ which we had never watched. Well, why not sit and watch it this afternoon? Nothing else pressing, is there? So that’s what we did. I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought that even after all these years it stood the test of time – good music, well-acted and particularly well directed.

Another little flurry of excitement for Mum during the film when the postman called with letters. Mum’s birthday card from Graham and Gail had finally arrived! Sent just over a week before Mum’s birthday and at the start of the lock down, it’s only taken six weeks to get here from Oz!! In normal times, of course, with a high frequency of planes to and fro from Ol’ Blighty to Oz letters often arrive within a week or so. But these are not normal times are they?

And finally, and wonderfully, we had a family quiz night, hosted by our grand-daughter Catherine. With an hour or so to go, we were informed we were to wear fancy dress. Oh, crikey!! I don’t have much in the way of fancy dress any more, but we managed to pull out a Lotus Grand Prix racing cap for John, and Arabian clothes for me – it is Ramadan, after all…..

We really enjoyed seeing everyone and doing the quiz – although I was struck by how old we are! Our recall ability is zilch, and what do we know about Michael Jackson music and the Noughties films?? Very little, it turned out!! But for a bonus question at the end worth 10 points, we would have come bottom….. eeesh…..

Lots to be thankful for today.

And the figures reported by the official government website today tell the tale of 3,996 lab-confirmed infectees, and 586 deaths as of 7.14 a.m. Dear Lord, have mercy on us.

You could have knocked me down with a feather this morning. My phone rang and, when I answered it, it was my brother, Graham, phoning from Oz. It is rarely he who phones us, (normally leaving the communication side of things to Gail) so momentarily, I wavered between the thrill of hearing his voice and then anxiety that he might be imparting some unwelcome news. It turned out that the former emotion was the one to hold on to.

He had celebrated his 70th birthday in February, at which time I’d arranged for special bottles of wine to be delivered from Mum, and they had finally arrived. He was phoning to thank Mum very much. Well, she was delighted to talk to him as you can imagine, and it bucked her up so much so, that when she got dressed later, she also put on her make-up and she looked like a proper bobby-dazzler for the rest of the day.

After the phone call, I went to inspect the pond and, having left the pump on overnight, I saw that the water level had fallen by about four inches. So, we know that the bloomin’ thing is still leaking, much to our dismay (and probably the neighbour’s too, as her house floats down the street). Not yet tried to fix it though, as John’s still coughing well, and his hip is still giving him jip. Relying on John’s brilliant expertise, as usual, as it’s all a mystery to me and I have no idea where to start to mend it.

Talking of things all broken, for the third day in a row another item in the kitchen fell apart. This time it was the dishwasher front. It just came orf in me ‘and, guv!! And, funnily enough, the dishwasher doesn’t work without a front on it. Not tried to mend that yet either. And I do hate washing up……

But, oddly, despite things not quite going according to how I’d like them, I felt less pressured today. The reason? Well, the weather!! It was okay to be pottering around the house today, as it wasn’t stunningly warm or sunny. The weather was great for gardening, but I didn’t feel I had to be out there. What a topsy-turvy world I’m living in now, to be sure!

Talking of a topsy-turvy world – yoga has been my lifesaver for many a year, as has meditation. With a fast-paced life at work, and then in more recent years, with the stresses of John’s illness, my ‘go-to’ has been yoga practice. For five years I’ve been a regular at Jaime’s BodyMind Yoga classes and there, with her guidance and wisdom, I have built up strength and resilience. But now we’re in lock down, bizarrely, I am not using my ‘go-to’ saviour as much as I thought I would! How mad is that? Jaime is posting great classes online, but apart from the odd stretch or two, I’m finding I can’t quite concentrate….. and my muscles have now gone to mush. I am sure I need to get back to it, folks – more planks and downward dogs – but will I? Lock down is messing with my head! And clearly my body! Anyone else?

The other thing that is messing with my head is the news. Honestly, at different moments, I am either numbed by the repetition of it all; or elated by the stories of heroic deeds and people; or appalled by the stupidity of some people; or disgusted at the cruelty of others. This roller coaster of emotions every day is just exhausting! I am beginning to see the merits of the back-to-back TV programmes we have on for Mum like Tenable, Tipping Point and the Chase…..

But I do watch the news anyway – and find today’s editions only a little lighter in tone than yesterday’s (although I’m not sure I am keen on the ‘fighting talk’ offered by Boris now he’s back). However, Malcolm reminded me that the figures of the infectees I am picking off the government stats page are those who’ve been tested not hospitalised – he’s right, of course, and I apologise for misleading anyone…… so, as of yesterday there were 4,310 people who were tested as positive for COVID-19, and there were 360 COVID-19 associated deaths in hospitals.

There is a glimmer of hope in the figures, but that’s still an awful lot of people affected by the virus with family members anxious or grieving. Particularly poignant was a tweet yesterday on Twitter by a man just released from hospital, telling us he’d been grateful for all the medics’ care and that he’d thought, for a while there, that ‘he was a goner’. Today, his friend tweeted that he had, in fact, then died at home, overnight. Shocking. My heart goes out to his family and friends and everyone who’s experiencing such trauma just now. Peace be with you all.

Fed up with the intensive labour of love on cleaning my kitchen cupboards, I brought in the ‘big guns’ today. Out went the bottle of Flash and in came sugar soap. Out went the beeswax polish and (although risking an asthma attack), in came a propellant-filled can of Mr Pledge. Both did the trick and I got to the end of kitchen cupboard cleaning fairly quickly. Hurrah!! It took me all day on and off, but it’s done. (Does a little hop and a skip around the kitchen).

It’s not only the kitchen that’s keeping us busy of course with the pond still posing problems. We could see a leak in the pipe by the pump, so John added a bit of guttering to catch the drips. In doing so, he shifted the stylish broken plant pot, which meant that water was now pouring, initially unnoticed, all over the patio. I tried to rectify the position of the plant pot, but to no avail, and so I am expecting a half-empty pond tomorrow morning……..perhaps I should go and switch the pump off now?

In addition to trying to finalise the refurbishment of the kitchen and sort out the pond, there’s a lot of skip-filling happening. John is always in his element when he’s having a clear-out, and today was no exception. Bad back or no, he was determined to clear the side of the house. Large sheets of glass were hauled across the drive and heaved up into the skip. Every intended attempt at smashing the darned things went begging, then one of them self-combusted on being loaded into the skip, and another succumbed as John threw a lump of concrete in. It was like ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ as a shower of glass flew into the air and sparkled all over the drive. Fortunately, it was safety glass, so no-one was hurt, but there was a lot of sweeping up……

Mum did her ‘what-is-now-usual’ thing of lying in bed until all hours then dithering as to whether to have breakfast or lunch because it’s mid-day -“Oh, my goodness, is that the time?” – by the time she’s downstairs. Had to chuckle this morning, though. I met her coming out of her room at about a quarter to ten. “Morning, Mum!” I said, very brightly. “Morning!” she responded equally brightly, and then pottered off to the bathroom. About half an hour later, she hadn’t come downstairs, so I thought I’d better check on her. She had only put herself back to bed and was snoozing very nicely, thank you!!

The trouble is, a late start means she doesn’t want to go to bed at night. We start the process at 10.30 but it’s always gone midnight by the time she’s actually in bed. Ah, well….I suppose it’s not as if we have any pressing engagements to worry about!

Being Sunday though, I had risen a bit earlier today to ‘go to church’ at 9.30. The service is published on the web and you can access it any time really, but I like to join in at the regular time, knowing that friends are alongside me worshipping at the same moment. Lovely reading by Margaret today, and prayers led by Mark and Moira. I thought Peter’s sermon was spot on, too.

Equally, I lit my Candle of Hope at 7 o’clock this evening, knowing that there would be candles burning all over the country as a symbol of togetherness during this time of separateness. A symbol to remind us all not to give up, but to keep on keeping on. And with the lighting of the candle, a prayer for all those who are sick with COVID-19 (4,463 hospital cases as of yesterday) or who have died as a result of the infection (413). Peace be with you.

As I’ve mentioned before, we couldn’t do our annual egg-rolling contest at Easter this year. However, because the loss of the contest was much lamented, Michael sent us this photo to remind us of what some of the family were doing more or less this time last year. We all look so happy, don’t we? And wow! the weather was good then too……..aaahhhh, lovely memories – especially as we finished off the event with an ice cream each!!

This year, we did ‘virtual’ egg-rolling of course, and find ourselves doing virtually everything ‘virtually’ nowadays! Play scrabble with friends and family? Yes please! But using an app. Spend an evening in with friends? Yes please! But on Skype. Chat to the family? Yes, please! But on a WhatsApp group. Go to church? Yes, please! But via the church website. Take Jaime’s yoga class? Yes, please! But via Youtube.

So, it was a thrill and delight to see first-born, Paul, in person this afternoon. He called on his way back from shopping, to collect a parcel I had sent for, for Lily. He stood in the middle of the back lawn, and we sat up on the patio for a few minutes’ chat. It was a gem of a moment, for which I was extremely grateful. He departed, without the much longed-for hug, but his gesture of love as he left – the donation of a bottle of one of my favourite wines, a Pouilly Fumé – just had me. Marvellous, aren’t they, your kids?

The opportunity to sit out in the garden, of course, was due to the glorious weather again, and even Mum ventured out to sit awhile and chat to Paul. This time, no coat needed, cushions nor blanket – she was content just to sit and enjoy chatting, and then, when Paul left, to watch John and me potter about in the garden.

One of today’s projects: stop the pond from leaking. An ongoing saga really, but suffice to say, there’s a mystery. We have no idea what is happening to the water, which is disappearing every time we switch the pump on for the waterfall. The poor fish have been waterfall-less for nearly a year. However, John used his substantial talent for ingenuity, fitted a piece of copper pipe to the pump outlet and aimed the water down a broken plant pot, avoiding (what might be) the porous stones. That’ll do it, we both thought! Well, it might have done – we’ll know when we double-check in the morning. But I already have my doubts….. I think the water level might be going down even now…..

But back to another ongoing saga – that of kitchen cupboard cleaning. It is still not finished. I think I am about half-way round and cursing the fiddly bits. Conscientious to the last, I am not only cleaning, but beeswax polishing too. I wonder if that’s what’s taking the time? Anyway, en route, as it were, in my travels from cupboard to cupboard, I came upon the bread bin. It looked a bit sad and sorry for itself, so I thought I’d give it a bit of a polish. Perhaps I rubbed too hard, but the bloomin’ thing collapsed into several pieces on me! Another day when all the tools came out and another forty-five minutes of fighting with it to get it back together again!! It’s no wonder I’m not getting the cupboards finished, is it? What, I wonder, will fall apart tomorrow? Just hope it’s not me!!!

Sanity, though, has been much restored by a great evening chatting on Skype with Pete and Dawn. So lovely to see them and chew the cud. They always bring a different perspective to life’s little difficulties for which I am always grateful. There was much up-and-downing though, just before we said goodbye, as several of the party were keen to catch a glimpse of Elon Musk’s Starlinks satellites skooting across the sky. We weren’t successful our end, but then, we did give up pretty quickly, as it was too darned cold to be outside long. Especially as John is still coughing well….

Looking up to the heavens, my soul always amazes at enormity of the universe and how tiny we are. And yet, despite our tininess, we loom large in each others’ lives every day. And so, with sadness, my heart goes out to all those families whose loved ones, who loomed large in their lives, are sick or are dying or have died. And yesterday, we lost 813 people to COVID-19, taking the death toll over 20,000, and nearly 5,000 people were infected. It’s still far too many and I am just praying and hoping that the figures will start to reduce soon. The heartache is too great.

At 94 years old (I suppose she’s allowed) Mum feels the cold. John and I had a great moment sitting in the warmth of the sunshine in the garden this afternoon, so I suggested I collect Mum to join us. She was cosy, watching ‘The Chase’ when I went in, and she definitely wasn’t keen to go outside. Literally whining as I winkled her out of the chair, which sort of tickled me, but, ‘Come on, Mum, you’ll enjoy it!’

Anticipating that she’d need cushions (I took two) and she might feel a draft for any (non-existent) breeze, I also took a blanket with us. We installed her in a nice, comfy chair and, for a moment, it was all lovely, then there was a little gust of wind and she shivered, “Oooh, it’s cold, isn’t it?”, so I wrapped her in the blanket before sending a picture of her to the family, to which Paul said she was like ‘Little Red Riding Hood’.

I popped back into the house after a while and glanced at the thermometer. Indoors: 22.9 degrees (don’t judge us). Outdoors: 23.7 degrees. The figures don’t mean anything to Mum, of course. We were roasting outside, but she felt cold and thought she’d be better off indoors, despite us telling her it was warmer outside. In the end, she did stay a while and drank a sherry as an aperitif before we escorted her into the lounge again. But it has made me think about how we view our physical and mental selves. If only we could put ourselves in others’ shoes, eh?

Anyway, in line with Jasper Carrot’s ‘watching wood warp’ scenario, and episode two of the cupboard cleaning story – I didn’t, regrettably, finish cleaning the darned things! The pesky cupboards are a lot more complicated than you imagine. And not only that, I managed to pull the front of one of them off, so spent a good 45 minutes trying to get the thing back on again. Had to get screwdrivers, pliers, hammers and the glue gun out to sort it out. Didn’t want to ask John to help, as he was struggling with his own pesky stuff on his ‘project’ in the garage……

As it turned out, the steering wheel he sent for and which subsequently arrived, should have fitted. What went wrong then? Well, it was the mole wrench wot done it! The grip of the mole wrench had flattened out the splines on the steering column of the car, so it struggled to accommodate the boss kit. 48 hours after the thrill of the steering wheel arriving, another parcel arrived containing needle files which enabled John to clean up the damaged splines, and…… ta-dah! The steering wheel is on!! (Well, more or less).

Knowing that John was having a fiddle with the car, Bryan dropped by to have a look at a safe distance. It was lovely to see him, and we didn’t have to shout too loud to make ourselves heard. Equally, I didn’t have to shout too loud when Sue C and David walked past the front of the house this evening on their way to deliver Sue’s hand-made scrubs. Again, so lovely to see them – and I celebrated internally, two points of ‘other-than-home’ human contact in one day. Nice.

Being outside in the warmth and beautiful sunshine, relaxing and chatting makes one think that you’re on holiday though doesn’t it? And, inevitably, a glass of something? Well, it would be rude not to. So I did – I opened a nice bottle of Prosecco and then, of course, chocolate followed…. oh, dear, oh, dear…..I shall cartainly waddle out of the door after lock down finishes!

Which, of course, is more than the 684 people who have died will be able to do, having succumbed to the virus. But here’s praying that every single one of the 5,386 people recorded as infected yesterday will recover and enjoy their favourite tipple in their garden or the pub soon. God bless.

First of all, I’d like to wish my sister-in-law, Gail, a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! All the way over there in OZ, we aren’t able to get to see Graham and Gail for real now and celebrate with them, but we always manage to touch base on high days and holidays if nothing else! Hope you have a great day, Gail.

For me, though, it’s been a funny old day, today. Got up at a reasonable time but couldn’t get going. Looked out on the inviting day outside and then chose to do all the indoor jobs instead. Weird. John, bless him, kept trying to encourage me out. “Come on, it’s such a lovely day out there.” I know, but…..I just want to get some of the jobs on my list ticked off. “You want to be outside in the garden today.” I know, I know, but things are whittling away at me and I want to do them. “OK, I’ll leave you alone.” Thank you.

The jobs I wanted to do were very exciting things like order paint online, sort out a couple of bank accounts, and polish the kitchen cupboards in an attempt to make the kitchen look like it’s nearly finished. And in between, of course, there was cooking and tidying and looking after Mum, so the jobs seemed to take forever, and polishing the kitchen cupboards will now continue into tomorrow.

Best bits of the day are checking in with friends and family and today was no exception. Envy reared its ugly head though on two counts: firstly, Freddie treated us to a nice, rational conversation and told us he was excited to be going on a bike ride with Daddy. I’d have loved to have gone with them but a) my bike is in Cambridge and b) oh, we’re in isolation. And secondly, William had a new paddling pool in his back yard, in the full sunshine, full of dinosaurs and slides and rings and balls to throw. Oooh, it did look good, and I’d have liked to have been in there with him – although to be fair, there might not have been quite enough room for an adult, but I’d have had a go!!

Then this evening, a short and sweet catch-up and trial run on Zoom with the ‘Ragdale Six’. After halting chats on WhatsApp and by email it was lovely to see my friends with smiling faces. Although, because it was the first time we had done a communication this way, there were a lot of anxious faces initially – not least because we couldn’t zoom in on Sue D (see what I did there?) and she was frozen out for a while. I felt a bit short-changed though, I must say, because we all wanted to ‘Clap for the NHS’ at 8 o’clock and so we’d barely done the rounds of, ‘Everyone alright at your house?’ before it was time to go.

The rest of the household i.e. John, Mum and the cats, mostly had a good day. John did more pottering (and hobbling) about, tidying bits and bobs to put out on the front for free, but he had a disappointing moment when he found that the plastic bits he’d sent for to finalise the ‘man-shed’, didn’t fit. Darn it, they’d sent the wrong ones. Ah, well, probably a good thing he wasn’t climbing on the shed again, given that his hip is giving him jip.

Mum managed a toddle in garden again today, enjoying the recently mown lawn and exclaiming at plants that her father used to grow, bringing back lovely memories for her. We picked a posy of flowers, just before we came back in before tea, to bring Spring into the house for her to look at when she can’t, or doesn’t want to, go out. Fresh flowers always cheer you up, don’t they? And the cats? I think they slept most of the day……

So, it being Thursday, we clapped our hearts out for the NHS this evening, and I think we were all thinking of not just those in the NHS, but of every single person in service industries who are looking after us and making sure that society does still function – and it made us clap even harder. Then, as always, a funny joke from John to those who were near enough to hear, before a wave goodbye to the neighbours up and down the road.

Despite all the doctors’ and nurses’ efforts of course, people are still getting sick and still dying. 4,583 people infected yesterday and 616 dead. But the first trial started today for a vaccine. Brave human guinea pigs trying it out. Fingers crossed it is effective, there’s no going back to the drawing board and no adverse effects on those taking part in the trial – please God.

Take care everyone – look after yourselves and your loved ones. Let’s make the most of what we’ve got now lest it change tomorrow.

I can resist anything except temptation, it seems. It’s early morning – time to get up. It’s too tempting to stay abed, so I do. It’s mid-afternoon, and I’m peckish. An apple? Nah…..chocolate’s the thing. The evening gently slides in and overtakes the afternoon, and Quiz Night is thirsty work. Water? Tea? Coffee? Hmmm……..I don’t think so, thank you very much, it’s a Black Velvet cocktail for me. Delicious, but alcoholic – again!! Note to self: resist, resist, resist. Maybe tomorrow?

I know I am a soppy old soul, but really, Wednesday Quiz Nights are such a boost. Not only am I connecting with dear friends, but we’re having a proper giggle and some challenges to our grey matter. Who knew, for example, that the stage name of Paul David Hewson was Bono? Well, I expect you all did (and I know someone who definitely will) but we didn’t, and just groaned and then hooted with laughter when we found out!!

Quiz night is one highlight of the week. But daily highlights are the pleasure of chatting to our sons, in different e-formats, catching up with their differing philosophies of life. All heart-warming and thought-provoking – and strong. How did that happen, I wonder, that we are no longer the leaders? They lead, and we follow now; as it should be, I suppose, as age creeps up on us. Pleased and sad about that.

Old age looks like it’s beckoning, but we’re absolutely not ready for giving up on stuff, so we fight on. Unlike Mum, who seems to have abandoned all challenges, including the everyday ones like making a cup of tea, even. She smiles at me, weakly, and says, “Well, at my age….” and leaves the sentence hanging. So, I thought I’d better check with the doctor whether anything needed to be done just now. What are the symptoms? Staying in bed until lunchtime. Eating, then sleeping again. Teatime: eating, then sleeping again. Bedtime: drinking, then sleeping again. Oh….. that’s just lock down syndrome!!!

Actually, that’s not what the doctor said, but I thought it!! On a telephone consultation, the doctor was incredibly good and very patient; listened well and considered the management of Mum’s sleepiness carefully, before saying, ‘let’s do nothing now……let’s wait until lock down is over…..’. Ah, well.

But you know, it seems to me that lock down generates all sorts of feelings that, under normal circumstances, you’d brush off or deal with. I was galled, for example, to hear her say to the doctor that she was bored. Well, we can’t have that, can we?? First activity: a walk in the garden in the glorious sunshine. And today (we had to smile) she was like the Princess and the Pea, with the sun in her eyes at every stop we made…..I wonder which fairy tale will be next??? Watch this space!

Other than the ‘Mum-filled space’, we have managed very well today. John and I sat for a while, companionably watching the second series of ‘Save Me’. Then John was in his element spending a happy hour or two fiddling with his ‘project’, before filling the skip and trundling wheelbarrows full of ‘stuff’ from the bottom of the garden to the top, and onto the drive; and back again.

We are lucky to be able to enjoy the day – even with its frustrations – but we watched the news too and found ourselves still touched by the stories we heard and saw. Naturally, the most affecting stories are of those who have been infected by the virus and those who have died, and the effect on their families. God bless them all – every single one of the 4,451+ people who are fighting the infection and the families of the 759+ who have died. And God bless you all as you work through the daily restrictions we currently have in place.

I absolutely savoured the night sky tonight. I ventured out, as I did yesterday, into the darkness, but this time, wrapped in the cosiest blanket, my coat and winter boots, to take my time and just be in the garden and the gloom. It was an enhancing experience. Nothing new, nothing unusual, nothing unexpected, but somehow it filled my heart and soul.

The funny thing is, of course, there is no real darkness here where we live. The street light just crowds into the garden, elbowing its way in, so that all you have is a small bowl of stars up above and a halo of light encircling it from the streets all around.

Nevertheless, I chose to stroll down to the bottom of the garden, Monkey Shoulder in hand, to the inherited bench that used to be Mum and Dad’s – and just sat. No expectations, having arrived there too late to see anything but the blackish-blue sky and tiny torches twinkling through. I had been hoping for shooting stars, but either I was too early or too late. But I did see the satellite as it whizzed past the Plough, and I amazed at man’s ingenuity as it went on its way. A dog barked, the wind blew, the chimes chimed, a motorcycle and a car vroomed by and, for a moment or two, I was content.

That is not to say, of course, that the rest of the day brought unrest! Au contraire, mon brave! Generally speaking, it was a good day, with jobs done and easy relationships on the menu.

With a breakfast of pancakes, berries and yoghurt over, it was time to inspect the garden before fixing the ‘feet’ I’d painted to the bottom of the fireplace in the kitchen. John came to my rescue and did the gluing and fixing while I watched on. It’s looking good.

Then on to winkling Mum out for a walk in the garden. She’s always reluctant. It’s beautiful day, with sunshine and everything, but she looks out with trepidation every time. I wrapped her up in her coat and a scarf over her head to ward off the pesky wind, and out we went. Once out there, she thought it was wonderful. The wind wasn’t too bothersome after all, and the sun was so warm. What a pleasure …..oooh, and look at that butterfly!!

It’s always unexpected when the doorbell rings these days, but today, not so. We had had a text message: ‘On way with skip’. Great excitement in the household as we gathered together all sorts of junk to be skipped – whooopee! Well, to be fair… it was John who did the gathering and skipping……

Other than that, we all flopped in front of day-time TV this afternoon; John lamented his painful back and the fact that we weren’t taking advantage of the sunshine; Mum snoozed; and I pretended I was a 16-year old and lightened my hair. Food, then more flopping in front of evening TV…..

So let’s spare a thought for those who can’t flop in front of the TV today, for whatever reason. So many, many people who don’t have that luxury. Especially, of course, those hit by the virus: 4,301 infected, but…. what the (???)….. 823 died yesterday. No complacency and no platitudes please. It’s not over, folks. God bless everyone, whatever you are going through today.

Just as yesterday didn’t feel Sunday-like, today didn’t feel Monday-like, either. None of that dread of work or challenging tasks to do, for us!! We can swan about within our own four walls (or within the garden hedge confines) and do as we please.

And, as there was no Freddie visit today – which, of course, hasn’t happened for weeks – there were no plans to entertain him or be entertained by him. No Paw Patrol or Mister Maker; no making cakes or kaleidoscopes; no climbing the imaginary mountain into the loft with a little picnic, or creating a den magically lit full of little candles; no hugs and no kisses. The sandpit, newly filled in readiness for Spring fun, stays closed; the paddling pool waits to be filled and paddled in and the little ‘forest’ at the bottom of the garden is devoid of a high-pitched, chattering little voice.

No, no responsibility for a little one today….. nor next week, or the week after that, or for the foreseeable…….. and the swanning about, the doing as we please, doesn’t have the same thrill to it that it might normally have.

The lock down gets no easier just because we are four weeks in. I am not used to it; and I have not yet shaken off the sense of bereavement. Our lives used to be so full of the family coming and going, Sunday lunches, staying over, leaving the children with us, leaving the dogs with us, or us going to stay at theirs, to look after the grandchildren while the adults were away. None of that now, and it’s taking some getting used to.

But we busy ourselves, nonetheless. For a start, there’s Mum to look after. Generally, she’s quite well-behaved, and she’s funny sometimes as her memory plays tricks on her – and us! “Would you like a cup of tea, Mum?” “No, thank you, I think I’ll pass on that just now.” A Nano-second later: “Did you make me a cup of tea?” “Erm…no? You said you’d pass?” Then the inevitable: “Did I?” And we fall about laughing.

Not always though, as old habits die hard and emerge to a little irritation. Sometimes we find it’s hard to forgive a transgression that may actually be due to her age, but we recognise it as a ‘Hazel-ism’. “Will you set the table for tea, Mum?” “No, I’m too tired. I’ve done a lot of walking today.” I think the walking involved going to the front door and back. And perhaps into the kitchen and back. Ah, well. And then I remember, she wasn’t nicknamed ‘The Queen’ all those years ago for nothing!!!

In other news, our ‘busyness’ saw John clearing out the left-over paints, fence staining stuff and plumbing equipment from the garage. He decided to give them away and put them out on the front drive with a note, ‘Free – Support Your Local Hoarder‘. Delighted, we saw that within hours the laden table was nearly empty as the local population helped themselves. We do hope their choices have come in handy for them.

We did more outside work today, too, with John jeopardising his back by climbing onto the ‘Man Shed’ roof and fitting more soffits and fascias, and me transplanting more pot plants into the (now) flowerbed at the bottom of the garden and hefting the hefty pieces of wood into place in the bed beyond the plum tree.

On a more leisurely note, I took myself outside this evening at about ten o’clock to gaze at the star-studded sky and watch the satellite whizz by. Such an exhilarating sight, yet soothing at the same time, and a reminder of the speck I am in the universe. Let’s not sweat the small stuff, eh?

Sweating the big stuff are still all those front-line workers, especially those in hospitals and care homes looking after the Coronavirus-infected and the dying people. In hospitals, 4,676 people were counted as infected yesterday and 449 people died. Fewer than previously, but still an enormous number, and an enormous number of families affected. We may be specks in the universe, but we are the whole in someone’s life just now and we must keep our nerve in staying put to avoid the infection spreading and perhaps spiking again. Let’s hold tight to get it right.

My early starts have been getting later and later. To the point that I almost don’t even know what an early start is any more. The alarm goes off, and I snooze it – several times. Do I really want to get up and do another chore? No, I’ll just snuggle under the duvet for a bit longer. But this morning was different. A family ‘Zoom’ session was planned. Not very early at 9.30, but it meant I had to be ‘compos mentis‘ a good hour sooner than normal, with a cup of tea in hand at 8.30.

We were delighted to see everyone who could make it, webcam-to-webcam. The children, wriggling all over the place with parents un-handing them and peeling them off the various bits of equipment, were the entertainment. It was a good catch-up though and went on longer than the half an hour originally planned. Next time, though, maybe a ‘Zoom’ session without the children, no matter how entertaining they are to the grandparents? The parents were exhausted by the end of it, I think!!

I know it’s Sunday, but it didn’t feel very Sunday-like today and, for the first time during the lock down, I didn’t want to ‘go to church’ and I forgot to light my ‘Candle of Hope’ this evening. The online service all looked interesting, and I knew prayers needed to be said, but no, not today. So instead, what did I do? Chores!! The ironing pile beckoned so I waded my way through it, with thoughts of ‘Philomena, (my home help) where are you when I need you???’

While I did the ironing, John did the baking. He’s such a whizz at preparing his own special recipes now: bread, fruit cake, banana bread, and chocolate sundaes. And now he’s stocked up for the week ahead. I think he’s even enjoying it – well, he’s certainly singing and humming a lot to himself anyway!

In amongst the flat lining of the hours that stretch before us, unexpected things happen though, don’t they? We had no expectation of a parcel or visitor at the door today so, when the doorbell rang, I was startled. I flew to the front door to see who was there, only to find no-one. In front of me though, was a little bag, a note and a hand-painted rainbow. Who would be leaving us a mystery parcel, I wondered?

This was written on the note:

In the little bag, were a good half-dozen freshly baked, home-made fruit scones and half a dozen pieces of flapjack. Scrumdiddlyumptious or what??

Well, Mum was pleased and as proud as punch that the Kershaw girls remembered her and her poetry readings, as you can imagine.  I was thrilled that they had taken the time to bake and call and deliver such a delightful surprise and we were able to have a little ‘Contact the Elderly’ tea party after all! (I didn’t have any clotted cream either though….)

I hope the girls will be pleased to know that I put the hand-painted rainbow in our front window and they will see it if they pass by.

And so passes another day of highlights and low-lights, the latter being all of us in a bit of low mood today, if I’m honest, with the expanse of ‘we-don’t-know-where-it-will-all-end’ ahead of us and John shaking his head and saying ‘I don’t get it…’ to a variety of things that do or don’t happen.

But still, I am counting my blessings – we heard from Kelv via the blog which cheered us up; we chatted to the kids; we had blessings from the community, and we have food and warmth and each other here in our lovely home.

Prayers for all those in distress today, from whatever the source, but especially those who have been touched by the virus – all 5,850 infected, of whom over 10% (596) have died, some in the prime of their lives – and all their families. God bless them all.