Category: Uncategorized

This was us, on Monday, cuddling up to the children:

This was Danielle’s Lateral Flow Test result yesterday….

Oh. Errrr…… hmmmm…… Danielle was feeling poorly and, being pregnant, sought the Midwife’s advice. ‘Get to hospital to be checked,’ came the response. So late last night, Danielle took herself off to Walsgrave to be checked out. Fortunately, they were happy with her observations, so sent her home with an oximeter for her to monitor herself at home.

Meanwhile, John and I did LFTs, also late last night, which were clear. Will keep checking now until Sunday, when the family are due to come and eat a turkey roast with us. Fingers crossed that we have avoided infection after our day with Danielle and the boys on Monday. But, honestly, where does it come from? Michael and Danielle have been as cautious as can be and have taken extra precautions this week to be safe. But no-one’s safe, are they?

Meanwhile, we have plodded on with dog-walking, car-building, washing, ironing, hospital visits, quizzing, eating, drinking and sleeping (at all hours of the day).

On Tuesday we were up early for a visit to the QE. I dropped John at the entrance to the building, went to park the car and caught up with him just as he arrived in the Imaging Department. The radiographer had John’s papers and was welcoming him in. Two minutes later, he was out, we went back to the car and we were on our way home. Boom! Now that’s what I call a hospital visit. In and out, just like that.

Yesterday, our spirits were lifted with Quiz Night. Linda and Brendan weren’t able to join us, having a busy day today with a drive down to Suffolk and then turning round quickly to come back to welcome a Ukrainian family arriving at Birmingham Airport. However, everyone else was on top form and it was good fun. I was in a funny mood and seemed to hog the the discussion early on, but I learned my lesson when it was pointed out to me.

In fact, I was in such a funny mood that, when Michael phoned mid-quiz with the important news of Danielle having contracted COVID, I was still high on Quiz excitement and it was agreed that we’d speak later. I regret that now but I can’t undo what’s done.

The funny mood has carried on into today and I am short-tempered with anyone who crosses my path….. John and Mac……. they have had to watch out today – as did the man in the car who failed to indicate that he was turning left, as well as the lady in the fish and chip shop, who jauntily suggested that COVID was ‘just the flu’……. Hey-ho.

Take care everyone. 1 in 15 people with COVID now – it’s coming down, but it’s still a high incidence. God bless.

If you are so inclined, please send positive vibes and prayers to this neck of the woods – they would be appreciated.

How to keep going? That’s the question. I mean, as I said to John, the trouble with a ‘blue mood’ is that your thoughts turn to trying to find something to boost your mood, don’t they? Chocolate or alcohol or a walk. Even mid-morning. Not that I imbibed alcohol or scoffed any chocolate during the day mind you, but I did go for a walk (twice) with the dog.

My sensible head clicks in, of course, which says, “Don’t be daft, alcohol is never the answer. And chocolate makes you fat.” But, you know, a ‘blue mood’ can be b****y law unto itself…..however, I did wait until this evening before I had a glass of wine with my evening meal and filled my face with half of an (early) Easter Egg. I am pretty sure that’s OK…… but I will let you know if I start eating a bar of chocolate for breakfast and downing a glass of wine mid-morning!

We had no particular plans yesterday, so when Danielle texted to see if we wanted to spend a day with her and the kids, the answer was a resounding ‘YES!’ And, gosh, didn’t we have fun. Now there’s a mood booster, if ever there was one – grandkids!

In the end, I suggested that the Kenilworth Newbies come over to us – that way, I could still look after Mac and not leave him on his own, and Michael would have some peace and quiet to do his work at home.

Danielle suggested we might do Easter ‘crafts’ with the boys, and maybe some baking. Before they arrived I toddled up to the shops to see if there were any crafts to be had – hmmmm…. not much, but I did manage to buy a ‘Happy Easter’ colouring banner, which I thought might keep the kids entertained for a while.

We were also blessed with a carrier bag of goodies that had been left on my doorstep yesterday by, it transpired, Livia, my friend from church. ‘I know,’ I thought ‘we can hang the decorations onto a branch for an Easter Tree. So ‘ere it is – with William rather pleased to be taking it home. It’s got chocolates on it!

While Thomas was fast asleep, Danielle and William also made Easter Nests, made from Shreddies and chocolates with a mini egg in the middle. The boys were thrilled with those, of course.

In addition, although I don’t have any photos, the boys coloured in their ‘Happy Easter’ banners and made maracas from rice inside a plastic egg all encased in bamboo spoons. Yep, they had fun. As did we…..

William and I had a walk up to the park and we enjoyed ourselves on the new apparatus that has recently been installed – except I couldn’t get on the swings because there were other children on them…..darn it!

Today was a day of trundling across to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital this morning early doors, for John to have a CT scan of the chest. This, we think, was a check-up and we are not expecting anything untoward.

Once we were home, John battled with the intricacies of the heating, which seemed to be on the blink last night, and also with posting an advert on Facebook MarketPlace. I, meanwhile, drank copious amounts of tea and watched whatever came on the TV until lunchtime.

After lunch, I thought I’d better get on and set to with a bit of a tidy-up in the downstairs shower room, utility room and kitchen, But why does everything seem to take so long…..? Goodness me, what I thought I might achieve in an hour took me three!

John was tired after his busy day yesterday, so spent much of the afternoon asleep. I am hoping it will set him up for doing some more walking now that his cold has almost gone. Obviously, it will depend on the weather…….fingers crossed we’re in for some sunnier and milder weather as the week goes on.

On a totally different topic, Mum is apparently a bit better. The doctor has prescribed antibiotics and the staff are making sure she has paracetamol and plenty to drink. She is still sleepy and staying in bed, but offering a bit of a smile when the girls talk to her now. So that’s good news and there’s someone who keeps going……. and I note that it’s only with chocolate to fortify her.

Take care everyone. God bless.

I had originally planned to go to church today, being as it’s Palm Sunday, but I baulked at the idea when I heard that the seating had been reassembled so that people are now sitting together, masks are no longer required and, obviously, no-one is doing LFTs any more. I know it seems like I am making a big thing of it all, but with John unlikely to have much more immunity to COVID than when it all started, it still feels like his life depends on us continuing to be careful.

Instead, I thought I’d watch the service on YouTube, but when it came to it, I didn’t seem able to find it this morning……(ha! found it now though!!!) and so took the dog a walk over the fields. It was a glorious morning again with the sun shining, the sky as blue as blue and the air quite warm. Mid-field and mid-walk I heard the church bell tolling, calling people to prayer just before 9.30, and I thought of everyone remembering Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The congregation usually parades in the streets on Palm Sunday with a pony and I wondered this year if they had mustered one. I don’t know, but I expect I shall find out.

When I got home, there was a paper bag of Easter goodies for the children on the doorstep. I don’t know who brought them, but again, I expect I shall find out. I was very touched anyway by the gesture, whoever it was who left the bag.

John was watching the Grand Prix when I came in and it looked quite an exciting event. We reminisced about our time in Australia, John having been to the Grand Prix in Melbourne with Andrew and Graham, and one of Graham’s friends, Rod. It’s lovely to re-visit these experiences even if they are remote and via a TV channel.

Before the race ended, I decided to sort my hair out and cook the Sunday lunch. Lunch at lunchtime for a change…..

I had originally planned to visit Mum this afternoon, but I took a phone call from the home to say ‘don’t come’. Mum has a cough, had stayed in bed all morning and told the carers that she didn’t want visitors. The girl who phoned me blithely told me that ‘several of the residents have a cough…..’ Hmmmm……. They are going to get the doctor to check Mum out tomorrow. That’ll be interesting – I wonder how the doctor will do that remotely?

As I wasn’t going over to visit Mum, I thought I’d have a glass (or two) of Prosecco as an aperitif before lunch and a glass of wine with lunch. Naturally, I slept for much of the afternoon…… John slept too. Oh, and I think the dog joined in.

Mac and I went for another little walk around the ‘new’ estate early evening, but we had a bit of a kerfuffle when we came back. Mac thought he’d like to eat the cats of course……

He’d had such an idea already this morning. The cats were outside, sunning themselves when I opened the back door; I had Mac on the extendable lead but hadn’t notched it short, so he galloped out and chased Shadow while Rio watched on, disdainfully, from the box where we store the cushions. Needless to say, by the time I’d taken Mac back in the house, the cats were long gone and I wasn’t able to pop them up in the attic room for safety.

Half-way through the day Rio came sauntering in so I scooped him up and put him upstairs. Shadow was nowhere to be seen – until this evening when John was doing the washing up. Shadow, having had nothing to eat all day, came in for his tea; Mac obviously smelt his presence and starting woofing and scrabbling at the kitchen door. Fortunately, John had had the forethought to put a doorstop under the door because Mac can open every single door in the house. As I shooed Mac away, were those some bared teeth I saw? Hmmmm……. a rolled up newspaper to show him is called for, I reckon. I mean, we can’t have that sort of behaviour, can we?

Sunday. A day of rest. And that’s more or less what we did today. Just rest. Nice one, eh?

Take care everyone. God bless.

We have Mac here for the week and one of my pleasures is walking the dawg……

When he was a younger dog, Mac was a terrible puller on the lead, but he’s been trained well since I last looked after him and now, he’s as good as gold. We trotted along on the pavement as leisurely as you like this morning, and then we made a bid for the fields. Oh my!! He was as happy as happy. And I wasn’t far behind either. Although the frost was just clearing, the sun was shining and it was the most lovely walk. so we made the most of it and took the long way round. Bliss.

Here’s the happy dog, half way round:

and here he is, post-walk, flat out…….. good job there’s no picture of me!!

Other than dog-walking, I am not sure quite what we have done today. John has spent a good while in the garage. When I asked him how he’d got on, he replied, “Not bad. I put two bolts on, anyway.” I think he might have been playing down his achievements – although he did say that it took him 45 minutes to find the actual bolts…. so maybe not?

I tackled a bit of ironing this afternoon while I watched trash on TV, and then it was the Grand National. I love this time of year in some ways. It’s bitter-sweet. My father was staying with us after he’d had his stroke and we sat and watched the Boat Race and then the Grand National together. He wasn’t able to speak, but I definitely knew which team he wanted to win the Boat Race and which horse he’d have had his money on. So it brings back memories and reminds me of how I miss my Dad.

Mac and I had another little jolly round Katharine’s Wood just before tea-time and he made me laugh. There were two collies, both chasing after a ball that was being catapulted from a dog-ball-launcher, and he was desperate to join in. I am sure he would have been fine but, because he’s not my dog, I am loth to let him off the lead, so he had to watch instead. He was a very good boy though, and came along when I told him.

This evening, we all crashed out in the lounge and watched what I call quality TV. It was a documentary about Morecombe and Wise. Fabulous. They were an amazing double act, weren’t they? We had a laugh as we watched the programme.

Take care everyone. God bless. Avoid the crowds…..

It’s been a funny old day. One in which neither of us wanted to get out of bed, but when we did, there were deliveries to manage on the door step before taking delivery of Mac at the end of the day……

In the end, John brought me a cup of tea about ten o’clock. I’d been awake since 7, but read my book, Kate Atkinson’s ‘Life after Life’, for the next two and a half hours, consoling myself that I was under the weather and a rest in bed was absolutely in order. John just said he was tired so was definitely entitled to stay in bed.

We had our bacon butties and cup of tea out on the patio though, as it was such a lovely morning. The sun was shining brightly and the air was warm, so it was just the most delightful thing to do. John told me about the rough night he had had, and how he’d been struggling to breathe. “Let’s do your oxygen levels,” I said, and ran upstairs to retrieve the oximeter. John popped it on his finger. “The battery must be dead,” he said, “There’s no reading…” I tried it on me. It was fine. We tried it on several of John’s fingers. There was no reading at all. “It’s telling us that you’re dead,” I joked, “as there is nothing at all!” We laughed. “I think your fingers are too cold,” I continued, “Let’s go into the house.”

We tucked John’s hands into all sorts of areas of the body to try and warm his fingers up and, finally, we got a reading that satisfied me that he was still alive, and didn’t need to be trundled off to hospital. But, to be honest, his chest is giving him a bit of trouble just now, so inhalers are at the ready.

We took delivery of the Tesco shopping at lunchtime. John had done the order and it is always exciting when he does it because we never quite know what we’re going to get. But the ‘boy done good’ and we are set up again for a week or two now.

Soon after the Tesco delivery, we took delivery of paper goods. ‘Who Gives A Crap’ delivered loo rolls, paper towels and tissues. “Oh, blimey,” said John, “where are you going to put that lot?” I must confess, for a moment or two I was daunted. “I shall create space in the old utility room,” I said, stoutly. So I did, and it’s all good.

For five minutes, I had a sit-down. John went into the garage to tinker with the car, having been dissuaded from going for another walk until his chest is a bit better. Before long, (it seemed no longer than five minutes) it was time to go over to the Kenilworth Sleaths to babysit Freddie for an hour or so, and bring Mac back with me for the week.

Freddie was an angel and very, very good company. He played on Minecraft for a while until the parental controls kicked in on his tablet, and then he and I sat, companionably, at the table and drew pictures. It was fabulous. We had great fun.

Meanwhile, the Kenilworth Newbies had decided to pop over to see Grandpa. I got a phone call. “We’re thinking of a take-away…..?” Well, I wouldn’t say ‘no’, of course, so the boys had fish fingers and we had an Indian. Lush, eh?

At about half-past eight, Paul rang. “Do you have a suitcase we can borrow?” Well, of course!! “What size do you need?” Hahahaha. He’s a man! How would he know what size they needed? “Would you like to phone my wife to check?” he said. As luck would have it, the Kenilworth Newbies were just leaving. Paul was beside himself with glee. They could drop it off (please) and he didn’t have to come over and collect it!! Woohoo!!

Serendipity!

Take care everyone. Covid cases are estimated to be 1 in 13 people just now and this wave is almost at its peak. God bless.

Despite our colds, both John and I ploughed on today, through sheer determination.

I had promised to go to the Kenilworth Newbies to hang some wallpaper in William’s room and was keen to do it. “Mum,” said Michael, “Don’t come if you’re poorly.” But I wanted to go, so go I did, putting my cold to one side – and working in a well-ventilated room (“Don’t come in, Danielle, I’ve just sneezed.”) – as I enjoyed the paper-measuring, paper-cutting and then paper-hanging.

I did wonder whether I would get it all done in the day given my sniffles, but knowing that the young man would come home from nursery at tea-time, I didn’t want him to find a job half-done. So I ploughed on – and was delighted to get it done.

I didn’t stay to see William’s reaction to his newly-decorated room because John was at home and I was keen to get back to him, but Michael sent me video of William going up the stairs and seeing his room for the first time. Suffice to say, he was thrilled. You would be too, wouldn’t you, if you had dinosaurs adorning the wall and window in your bedroom?

John, meanwhile, having sorted out the energy bill situation in his mind to his satisfaction, braved the phone call to the supplier. ‘Ah…… ummmm…. right…. well…..’ they said. ‘We’ll have to look into it…….’ Hahahaha. I wonder how long that will take and what fanciful response they will come up with? Anyone fancy hedging a bet?

Once John had done that bit of work, he took himself off for a walk along the Yellow Brick Road. Now this walk is about a mile and, depending on which way you go round, depends on whether it’s mostly uphill or mostly downhill. Hmmmm…….. did anyone notice just how windy it was today? It took John over the hour to do the walk. Not at all surprised – he has a cold, which is a bit on his chest and it was very windy which buffeted him about…… However, he was pleased for having done it.

Next up, he texted me to ask me to give him access to the shopping list we’d put on Alexa. Regrettably, I wasn’t able to do that because the connection on my phone was poor at Michael’s. “No worries we’ll sort it out when I get back, but you can get started and we’ll add things to the order later.” I said.

Well, the poor man spent what seemed like hours trying to sort out the shopping – and heaven knows if we’ve got everything we need. He found the shopping list on my computer and used his laptop to do the order. What a faff. It’s going to be exciting when we get the delivery tomorrow!

Take care everyone. God bless.

We’re still sniffling with a blooming cold each, and I wasn’t sure whether the hairdresser would let me into the salon this morning. I phoned her up to reassure her that I’d tested negative for COVID and she said I could go, as we’d both be wearing masks. A relief, really, as my hair had gone beyond the stage of looking alright and I was beginning to feel very bedraggled.

Despite feeling better for having had my hair cut, it wasn’t long before I decided that I didn’t feel great. I did a spot of ironing but abandoned it in favour of sitting in front of the TV instead. Series Two of Bridgerton beckoned……

John is feeling marginally better, and he was on sufficient form to work out all the ins and outs of the energy bills he’s been wrestling with. Equally, he was feeling well enough to go into the garage and potter about restoring some more of the Lotus this afternoon.

After a while, I was feeling chilly – not surprising really, as we had a window open to allow the fumes from the new varnish on the desk to dissipate. I lit a fire rather than turn the heating up, and it felt very cosy – just right to coddle me in my head-cold misery. John, too, enjoyed the open fire ablaze in the grate, as he came in from the garage – and was grateful for the warmth as he settled in for a nap. Made me smile, though….. it’s April. It’s Spring. A open fire at this time of the year? Ah well, why not?

This evening was Quiz Night. I took a caffeine-laden Lemsip beforehand because we were Quiz Masters this evening and I didn’t want to let anyone down. I was glad we did the Quiz. Talk about giggle. We laughed until our sides ached over some of the answers being considered and the jokes being made. It was a real tonic and did us such a lot of good to be among such good friends. Counting my blessings, folks.

We are not sure of the accuracy of any of the COVID figures right now, but I seem to know quite a few people who have succumbed. And, with the message being put out that no-one needs to do LFTs or wear masks any more, it puts me on edge as to how we are going to manage our social lives from now on – especially with weddings on the horizon and other gatherings in the offing. I mean, we can hardly ask people to do LFTs now that they have to paid for, can we? Interesting times to come, I think.

For what they are worth, these are today’s figures from the government website: 389,368 people tested positive for the virus in the last 7 days – this is down by 30% (well, what a surprise); 1,194 people have died with the virus in the last 7 days – up 11.6%; and hospitals admissions are up, too, by 3.7% with 16, 419 people having been admitted in the 7 days. That’s quite a lot of people, isn’t it?

Take care everyone. God bless.

John is amazing. Despite the fact that he still has a cold and not yet back to walking fitness, he trotted out to the shed to take a look at a rather sad looking freezer. The seal has gone and ice has frosted up the whole of it pretty much. I’d removed everything at the weekend, but wasn’t keen on unplugging it just then, as the water would soak the floor of the shed. “We need to defrost the freezer and get rid of it,” John said earlier in the day. “Oh yes, we do!” I replied, but didn’t do anything about it.

Anyway, this evening, he came in the house, only slightly out of breath, and said, “I’ve unplugged the freezer and got it half out of the shed….” OK. Marvellous. So here we are – a dead freezer, keeled over on the path and looking very forlorn. The cat was interested though…..

We’ll have a go at wheeling out to the front another day – maybe tomorrow?

In the meantime, we have resurrected and brought alive the desk that used to belong to Harriet’s father. “Do you want the desk?” Paul and Harriet had wondered, as they were clearing the house – and we had said ‘yes’. So we took delivery of it and I thought I’d have it French Polished. Here it is, in all its glory and forever to be known as ‘John Fielding’s Desk’.

Looks good, no? Although I may have to change my curtains now – I am not sure the mahogany and the burgundy colours go together!

In other news, John has battled all day with facts and figures relating to energy bills. He phoned the energy company to query the hike in standing order required, only to be told they needed evidence of power consumed over the last few years. Honestly, you’d think they’d have that at their fingertips, wouldn’t you? But no, the customer has to do the work to prove that the hike is inappropriate.

Meanwhile, I had a day of rest and sat and watched TV all afternoon. I am now nursing a cold, too. Lucky me.

Take care everyone. God bless.

Yesterday was a full day for me one way and another, but not arduous at all – and another day of recuperation for John.

John was still feeling under the weather, so I left him in bed in the morning and took myself to Berkswell Church to hear the Banns being read for Lucy and Tom. Pete and Dawn weren’t able to go to hear their daughter’s Banns read in person unfortunately, being trapped at home with COVID in the house, but the rest of the family were all there – and no-one in the congregation shouted out that they knew of a just cause to prevent the marriage, so that was good news.

Although it was quite a long service, it was very good and I enjoyed it. We were all in one area and masks were worn so it felt safe. Whether it actually was safe is another matter of course, so we’ll see.

Afterwards I nipped over to our friends, Linda and Brendan’s, to offer condolences on the death of Linda’s Mum. Despite the sadness, they were both relatively cheerful but looked exhausted from all the to-ing and fro-ing they are having to do. Hope it gets better for them soon.

At home, John had recently got up and was watching TV. Having checked he was OK, I popped up to Oakes’ Farm Shop to get the Sunday Roast. We planned to have lunch about two o’clock because I was off out to Yoga at 6p.m. and I didn’t want to be bending and stretching on a heavy meal. Happily, it all went to plan.

The Yin Yoga practice was a two and half hour session, so I arrived back home just before nine o’clock. Then I remembered I had the sheets on the bed to change, so the blog had to wait. I had been looking forward to going to bed but……… mind you, so was John and he had to wait for sheets to be put on – tee-hee.

And today? A bit more yoga this afternoon which was lovely. It came at the end of a day when I’d been busy again. This time, sorting out the odd sock pile before going for a walk with my friend, Moira, from church. We had a good old stride out and, from Moira’s house we did a circuit of 5.6kms, which I thought was good going. But then Moira reminded me that I’d walked from my house to her house, which is about a mile, and then, as we went our separate ways, I had another half a mile to go……all in all, I thought I gave John a run for his money and probably did about 8 kms in the end! Go me!!

This morning the solar panel man came to measure up so I had to put away my sock pile and concentrate on what he was suggesting. Fortunately, John was well enough to join in and make decisions about where wires might go and so on. Fingers crossed we get the panels fitted by the end of May. Knowing our luck, I expect we’ll get them fitted after all the sun has been and gone…….

John is feeling a bit better every day now, although not fully recovered from this nasty cold, but I think he’ll be back to walking again by the end of the week. Fingers crossed anyway. Suffice to say, he’s a bit fed up about feeling poorly again. Healing vibes people, please?

Take care everyone. God bless.

I have always said that I am not keen on prep – especially of the decorating kind. However, today I was doing some prep that I really didn’t mind. It’s all in aid of helping get things ready for grandchild Number 7.

Danielle has been given a date for admission mid-April, and so we are washing baby and toddler clothes as well as clothes for Danielle to fit into after the baby is born. Oh, and sorting out odd socks. Goodness me, why is it that children take off one sock and throw it into the ether, never to be found again?? We have a bagful of odd socks to which, ever optimistic, we think we might find a mate. Hehehe – some hope.

So today I was ploughing through the washing, drying and pressing of clothes ready for them to placed, at the ready, into wardrobes, drawers, cupboards and tallboys.

I was uninterrupted in my task because John is feeling under the weather and stayed in bed for much of the day. We are confident he is not suffering from COVID because we’ve done oodles of Lateral Flow Tests and sent off a PCR, about which no-one has phoned to tell him to take the anti-viral drugs. Well, no-one has phoned yet, anyway.

We did agree that it might be wise to start the emergency anti-biotics though, ‘just in case’, as he is coughing well and it sounds like whatever he’s caught is on his chest. We’ll see how we go.

I had promised to go over to the Kenilworth Newbies this afternoon to help put the children to bed. Michael was having a well-deserved night out with his PhD cohort and, although the children are easy, a second pair of hands always helps when you are heavily pregnant, doesn’t it?

John made it downstairs about half past two and ensconced himself in his chair wrapped in a blanket. He didn’t feel well enough to go out with me however, so I delayed my visit for a couple of hours in order to minister to him a bit. Before I went, I left him strict instructions to drink plenty of water and to cook a ready-meal in the microwave. He was happy to do that, so off I toddled.

As usual, I acted my shoe size and not my age when I arrived in Kenilworth, playing with the children to my heart’s content. And come bedtime, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the bedtime stories – including some old favourites: Shirley Hughes’ ‘Chatting’ for Thomas; and Beatrix Potter’s Squirrel Nutkin & Mrs Tiggywinkle for William. Brought back such very happy and fond memories…..

A good day for me, not so good for John who was already back in bed when I got home at about nine o’clock. Hopefully, a good night’s sleep will improve how he feels and he’ll be bit better tomorrow. I mean, he’s got to keep going on the walks, hasn’t he? No lounging about in bed, for goodness’ sake……..

Take care everyone. God bless.