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What a beautiful day, weather-wise. The sun was shining and it was warm. Cheered me up no end. It was so lovely to wander out into the garden, sit on a chair and take some time outside, with no constraints.

I had clung to my bed again this morning, although I had woken up at a reasonable time. I was still in ‘rest’ mode and didn’t want to press the ‘activate’ button at all. John phoned while I was still whiling away the hours betwixt the sheets, and we had a nice bit of a chat, but it didn’t last long as the doctor arrived to see him just then. When he phoned back, he confirmed that they were thinking of sending him home today. So I have been waiting all day, with fevered anticipation, for his phone call saying ‘Come and collect me’.

In the end, the ‘come and get me’ phone call didn’t transpire. The drugs John needs to come home with had failed to be initiated and sent to the pharmacy in time. So, the poor lad has another night in the clink. Maybe tomorrow.

He is feeling a bit better and only out of breath when he does anything. But I think they think that it is just the chest infection that’s causing the problem now (apart from the bronchiectasis, of course) and the antibiotics will sort it out eventually. Apparently, there’s not only a ‘crackle’ at the bottom of his lungs (which always seems to be there), but also at the top, too. I don’t think there’s much room in his lungs for air at the moment. Personally, I think there’s an argument for John to have nebulised drugs for his chest every day instead of an inhaler, but we’ll see.

I did see eldest son today though, instead of the ol’ man. That was wonderful and a breath of fresh air. Very unexpected and very wonderful. Paul was working at his office, but hadn’t got a mug there to drink from, having taken it home for a good wash. As we are only ten minutes or so down the road, he thought he’d call in and take one of ours, just so that he had a sufficient caffeine injection this afternoon.

He stayed for about half an hour and we had a lovely, relaxed and easy socially-distanced natter. It were luvverly. The only thing missing as we said goodbye, of course, was the hug. But you can’t have everything, so I was just grateful for anything. And we did an air-hug and blew kisses so that was OK.

I was grateful for a phone call from George P today too. So lovely to speak to him – he is such a thoughtful man. After he’d spoken to me, he phoned John too, which really gave John a boost. I think John’s fed up of talking to me as I really don’t have a great deal of conversation. He doesn’t have much either, so we’re um-ing and ah-ing at each for a while before we sigh, and say, “Right, then, speak to you later?”

I had threatened a walk today, but the day wore on and I hadn’t ventured outside. I was still catching up on the TV programmes that I know don’t appeal to John this afternoon, as well as browsing through the books I’d ordered. Two of them arrived today – one of them, called ‘Wordperfect’, is by Susie Dent, the wordsmith. She provides a word or phrase, with explanation, for every day of the year. It’s interesting and amusing and informative all at the same time. And she has certainly kept me amused during lockdown with her ‘word for the day’, usually poking fun at the latest government cock-up. ‘Mumpsimus’ being one of my favourites. ‘A five-hundred-year-old epithet for someone who insists that they are right, despite clear and incontrovertible evidence that they are not.’ Love it!! And I think I might have told you that all before….. oooh, but it’s such a good word that I can’t help but share it again!

Eventually, I roused myself as the day was drawing to a close, and finally dug myself out of my chair at about five o’clock to go for a walk. It was lovely, because at that time of day the light was changing into twilight, and the clouds were all sorts of shapes and sizes. Walked for longer than I thought I would, taking the reverse route on the Yellow Brick Road and across the fields. Nice. See below.

After my walk, which was a success, I had another triumph. I got out my needle and thread and mended the elastic that kept coming undone on a couple of masks. What with that and knitting, I’ll be domesticated yet….. watch out, I’ll be dangerous then!

While the politicians wrangle with each other and the scientists about what to do for the best, 17,234 people succumbed to the virus and were infected in the last twenty-four hours. 143 people also died in the community during that time period. 54 people died in hospitals on 11 & 12 October.

I know I say it every time – but I mean this sincerely folks – take care. God bless.

We are COVID-free. How about that? I am relieved that John’s illness is not that, although we are still wondering what’s going on.

The doctors have been round and prodded and poked; stroked their chins and chatted amongst themselves. They’ve sent nurses along to take his temperature, oxygen levels, blood pressure, blood samples and swabs from various areas of John’s body (don’t ask). They’ve trundled him along to the X-ray department for a CT scan and dosed him up with antibiotics and nebulisers. They’ve built plastic barriers between the patients, and fed and watered him all day.

So they are researching and checking and monitoring. We await the results. Maybe tomorrow?

He says he doesn’t feel too bad unless he has to get up and walk about, and then he’s very puffed out still. But he’s entertained himself with the TV and chatting to me – although I haven’t been great company. Not feeling awfully motivated, I haven’t done a great deal today, so there hasn’t been much to talk about.

He tells me that it’s not particularly pleasant in the ward with other patients vomiting or soiling themselves there. Poor John. Must be horrible for him. He’s amazingly stoical though, and philosophical about the wait for results, or a cup of tea, or his dinner, or the fact that he was looking forward to his lunch only to be told, fifteen minutes beforehand, that he’d be ‘nil by mouth’ because they’re going to take him for a scan. Bless him.

I am still feeling a bit daft. Can’t decide if it’s fatigue or a bit of shock or anxiety – or a bit of all three. However, now that I know I don’t have to self-isolate any more, I shall go for a walk tomorrow if the weather permits. I would quite like to get out of my own head.

I must confess though, that it was rather lovely to wake up this morning very naturally at half past eight, knowing that I didn’t have to rush around. I am hoping that another good night’s sleep will ensure I am fully refreshed and not quite so ditsy tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

John has a bedside landline at the hospital which he uses to phone me, as it’s free. However, we have one of the call-minders here at home, so if an unusual number phones you have to press ‘1’ to talk to the person on the other end. I first picked up John’s call in the bedroom and programmed the phone to accept the call in the future. What I hadn’t realised is that you have to do that on every hand set. So, when he phoned me this afternoon and I was in the lounge, I had to go through the whole rigmarole again. Then had a bit of a kerfuffle later on when I’d left the phone down the back of the sofa, couldn’t get to it in time and tried to answer on yet another handset. Eeeeh…… first world problems, eh?

Talking of phones, I spent a goodly while on the phone to HSBC this afternoon. Having browsed the Lakeland catalogue the other day I thought I’d order some stuff for Christmas. The total expenditure ran into three figures so, when I tried to pay, the ‘puter said ‘NO’. Tried again, and the ‘puter still said ‘NO’. My phone beeped. It was a text message which I ignored. I was far too busy trying to pay. It beeped again. Ignored. Let’s try one last time…. more beeping. Oh, it was HSBC trying to tell me that they’d detected possible fraud. Someone was trying to buy stuff from Lakeland!! Ah……

A lot of faffing about with the automated system at HSBC. What’s your sort code? Account number? Date of birth? Inside leg measurement? Dad’s father’s mother’s maiden name? Colour of your eyes? “And the third digit of your telephone banking number.” I don’t ruddy know!!! Heavens above!! Put me through to a real human being, purlease.

Michael and Danielle arrived safely in Devon and sent some photos of the caravan they are staying in. It looks lush. Do hope they have a lovely time and the weather is kind. Not jealous at all. Much rather be at home.

Still, I have been ordering books, so have got plenty to choose from to read over the next few weeks, which I am really looing forward to. A great eclectic mix of stuff so they should keep me on my toes. If only I could locate some grey cells. They are very elusive at the moment. I’ll look for them tomorrow.

In the meantime, horror stories all around the country, I believe, with lockdowns slamming into place in some areas and more threatened. People’s opinions are divided about the best way forward on managing the pandemic in this country, but mostly, I note, not the scientists. They are pretty much united. If only we could listen and ‘follow the science’.

13,972 people have been confirmed as infected with the virus today and there have been 50 deaths in the community. The NHS figures haven’t been updated today as far as I can see, with yesterday’s report detailing 36 deaths in hospitals. A little confusing – perhaps it was the weekend wot did it?

Locally, there are now 10 cases of COVID in the village. So, although I don’t have to self-isolate any more, I think we have to be even more careful than we were, if that’s possible. *Leafs through the selection of books*. Which one shall I start reading to avoid going out, then?

Take care everyone, God bless.

I just need to get my brain into gear. It’s been a fuzzy old day today. Haven’t quite been able to think straight.

I had planned a bit of a lie-in after yesterday’s excitement, but the nurse arrived at seven o’clock despite the phone call yesterday to cancel them. I was sorry she’d had a wasted journey, and she was sorry she’d got me up. I went back to bed and had a little doze but it was fitful and I was soon awake again wondering whether to get up or not.

Michael and William did a video call to see what was what about eight o’clock, and Michael said he’d deliver the forgotten items to John in Heartlands. That, and the phone call with John shortly afterwards, got me out of bed, because John said he didn’t want his dressing gown after all, so I had to unship it from the bag that it was in.

I also wanted to give Michael his birthday present, as it’ll be his birthday next Friday. We had, of course, planned to be with him so I would have been taking the gift with me but, as we’re not going now, I thought he could take it today. So wrapping was at the ready.

Michael called in late morning to collect the bits and pieces. He also took delivery of another item we’d bought for William and Thomas, and one of which we’d given to Freddie the other day. While we were at the garden centre with Danielle last week, we had seen a plank of wood, nicely shaped and marked up with measurements, to hang on the wall to track the growth of your children. In the centre of the plank was inscribed, ‘From little acorns do mighty oaks grow’. It might be corny, but we loved it and thought it would a great keepsake, rather than scrawling the kids’ heights on the walls.

John has phoned through a few times today, and he is feeling a little bit better, although very out of breath again this afternoon until they put him on a nebuliser. He was able to use a landline first thing, as his battery on the mobile was flat. It transpired that he was stuck in a wheelchair until 2.30 in the morning before they found him a bed in a ward last night. They trundled him up to the general admissions ward but, later on today, they have moved him to another ward. We have no idea what sort of ward it is, although John thinks he is probably the youngest one there.

A haematology consultant came to see him, but John wasn’t totally sure what was discussed, other than the fact that there is no more Ward 19 at Heartlands, as all haematology is being moved over the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. They may move him over there but we’ll wait and see.

I decided to rest today and was sitting watching a programme we’d recorded that I thought John wouldn’t be very interested in, when Michael rang the door bell. Ha! I thought I was sitting watching it, but I was only asleep wasn’t I? I’d nodded off watching the programme. After Michael had left, I sat down to watch a second episode of the programme and found myself dozing off again. Oh, my days.

Not long after that, the doorbell rang again, and it was dear Margaret, calling in to see if there was anything she could do. Well, it suddenly dawned on me that I’d collected some tablets for Mum yesterday and I hadn’t yet taken them round. And I wouldn’t be able to take them round now until further notice. So, yes please. “Would you mind dropping my Mum’s tablets in please, Margaret?” Not at all. How wonderful – thank you, thank you.

The advice on self-isolation is that you can’t take yourself out for a walk. A pity that. It was just the thing I needed today and the weather was so beautiful. I spent some time out in the garden instead. I know we’ve got a big garden, but walking round it isn’t quite the same, is it?

I also watched the men’s tennis final, but only caught the last set. Disappointingly, our TV is a bit on the blink and it had failed to remember to continue the recordings today. So, when I went to watch the ‘recording’ it wasn’t there. Never mind, the last set was good and I enjoyed it.

I am very grateful for all the good wishes we have had today and the offers of help. What wonderful friends we have. Lucky, lucky us.

John has yet to have the result of his COVID test, but others clearly have had their results back, because 12,872 people are confirmed as infected today. 65 people have died in the community, and 37 people have died in hospitals. 9 people have been confirmed as infected in the village in the last seven days. Blimey, it’s ever closer.

Take care everyone. God bless.

It had all been going so well. Sort of. I had been worried about John being a bit of a ‘Puffing Billy’ for the last few days, and I had asked him to get the nurses to check there was nothing untoward. Every day, they’d take his temperature, blood pressure and oxygen levels. Generally be surprised at how low his blood pressure was, but temperature and oxygen levels were in the ‘acceptable’ camp. Even this morning it seemed OK.

But, you know, the day goes on and the ol’ man does a bit of manual work and his body probably hasn’t got the capacity for it, what with having an infection an’ all. So it wasn’t really a surprise when I got back from Mum’s this afternoon to find he’d taken himself to bed, to get over having moved the trailer from one side of the drive to the other, and having had to do a fair bit of pushing and pulling.

“OK,” I said, “I’ll cook tea in a bit and let you know when it’s ready.” It was ready at seven o’clock and I went to wake/get John up. Only to find he was pretty delirious with a very high temperature – and he was wheezing well. Hmmm.

“I’ll phone the Triage nurse on Ward 19, but whatever, I’m taking you to hospital.” I declared, as I whizzed round the room grabbing all the bits and pieces to pack into the suitcase to take with him. John felt too ill to care. And I couldn’t get through to anyone on the Triage team so, having hung on for twenty-three minutes, I decided just to bundle him into the car and set off for Heartlands A&E.

I was a bit anxious as to whether I was doing the right thing. The last time John was struggling to breath, the Triage nurse had advised that I should call an ambulance. The problem with that, though, is they take him to either Walsgrave or Warwick, and neither hospital really knows his case well enough.

Anyway, we got to the hospital, and John stumbled in. They could see he wasn’t well, so took him immediately to the high-dependency emergency room. They let me explain the situation before they ordered me out. But not before they said that, given the symptoms, they would have to treat it as a possible COVID infection and would be moving him again to different unit. Oh, and I would have to self-isolate for fourteen days.

Great. Bang goes the holiday we had planned for next week in Devon with Michael and Danielle. And if I am self-isolating, how am I going to make sure John’s dressing gown and phone charger get to him now? Both of which I’d forgotten to pack in the rush. Slowly dawning on me that I can’t go out until further notice. Crumbs.

So, please excuse me if I don’t natter on about how the day went otherwise or exclaim about how the COVID infection and death rates are rising. (15,166 infections today, 81 deaths in community and 34 in hospitals on 8 & 9 October). My mind is full of the events from seven o’clock onwards and feeling bothered about the current state of play with John. More news tomorrow.

In the meantime, take care and God bless.

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A rude awakening this morning. The alarm went off at six-thirty as normal, but I snoozed it and the next thing I knew was that the front doorbell was clanging away and echoing around the house. Startled, I leapt out of bed, stuttering to John that it was the nurse arrived, as I struggled to pull on a pair trousers before hurtling downstairs to let her in. Not, however, before she had rung the doorbell twice more though, and was a-hammerin’ on the door when I got downstairs. Crikey! And it wasn’t yet seven o’clock.

I unlocked Fort Knox and, on opening the door, I said, “John’s still in bed, just getting up. He’ll be down in a minute.” I might also have made mention of the fact that she was early. She looked at her watch. Honestly, it was five to seven by then – but, I suppose, what’s five minutes between a patient and a medic? She was a bit terse, and replied, “Well, the appointment is at seven o’clock isn’t it? Is John coming?” All I could do was nod and repeat that he was on his way. Too early for an argument…… but I so wanted one.

After John had had his treatment, I dozed on for an hour or so and listened to some meditation and prayers, and John settled for a bit more sleep. Once I was up, though, I was fannying around. I couldn’t concentrate as I was still discombobulated from being woken up and from the nurse’s rather abrupt tones – despite the meditation and prayers.

I had a little plan of things to do before I was due to Zoom-chat to Sue W, all the way up in the Lake District, at eleven o’clock. I had planned to pop the washing in, put clean cushion covers on, pay Mum’s bills, get meat out for tea and clean the downstairs cloakroom. None of which got done at that time. I ate a leisurely breakfast instead, listening to Classic FM and browsing the Lakeland and Traidcraft catalogues that had come in the post. Before long, the time had passed and there was no time to do those little chores.

Had a great chat to Sue though. Absolutely brilliant. It was so lovely to see her and to chew the cud a bit. I think we both had thought we might natter for maybe three-quarters of an hour or even an hour, but one and three-quarter hours later we thought we’d better abandon our chin-wagging and get on with prepping our lunches in our respective homes. A great interlude in the day. Mwah!

I did do a few chores after our chat, and also sorted out some bits and bobs to take to Mums. John had been pottering in the garage when he came in for a spot of lunch, “What are your plans for the afternoon?” he asked, as he plonked himself on the sofa. I pulled a bit of a face. “Got to take that stuff over to Mum’s. Can’t decide whether to go now and catch up on the tennis later, or watch the tennis and go tomorrow.” In the end, I decided that I’d check on the tennis. If they’d started playing, I’d watch. If they hadn’t, I’d go to Mum’s. Ooooh, guess what? Had a lovely afternoon watching the tennis.

John spent the afternoon putting the final mending touches to the trailer which he’s planning to put up for sale, and then pottering in the garage and doing bits on the car. Consequently, he came in late and I was still engrossed in the French Open, so we didn’t sort out anything to eat for a while. In the end, I hadn’t got any meat out for tea, so it was up to John to sort out re-heated take-aways from the freezer. He’s an expert at that.

Before we sat to eat though, I took a lovely phone call from Catherine. They were at their home in Norfolk for a week and had just arrived, pleased see a bottle of gin on the table waiting for them when they got there. Had a great chat and I was pleased to hear all her exciting news. I was touched to hear that she’d been up to Coventry recently, too, to scatter Aunty Mollie’s ashes and to hear her say that her Mum and Dad are together now. May they rest in peace.

So, we were running late what with one thing an another. Neither of us had looked at the clock and I was just about to get myself a Magnum as a dessert, when the house phone rang. It was Dawn, wondering if we were OK. Gosh! Is that the time?? Yes, yes, we’re OK. Just hadn’t realised it was eight o’clock. It’s not – it’s a quarter past. Oh. We were supposed to be Skyping at eight. Sorry. sorry.

We ran upstairs to log on to Skype in the computer room – well, I ran, John puffed his way up and looked blue when he got there. Thought it’d be quick and easy upstairs as we hadn’t set John’s laptop up in the lounge. Ha! Quick and easy? No, it wasn’t. I don’t think we have previously Skyped Pete and Dawn from that computer, so it was a proper set up job. I panicked as usual, “I don’t know how to do it. I’m not sure I can get the link. It’s not working.” etc. But we did get it to work and what a lovely evening we had.

I know I am a soppy old soul, but I do so love my friends. Our evening was so comfortable and friendly and easy. No edge. Just being us. With laughter and sharing and comfort. Another mwah!!

And so to COVID. What now? In the last twenty-four hours, 13,864 people have been confirmed as infected. 87 people have died in the community. 38 people have died in hospitals on 7 & 8 October. The infection rate is doubling in some areas every week. One in 240 people have COVID (apparently). Lockdowns are a-coming. There’s going to be a North-South divide. That’ll cheer us all up, won’t it? Ah, well, HS2 will soon sort out the North-South divide I’m sure…….. and there’s no panic here, folks. Keep calm and carry on. (Never thought I’d say that.)

My daily diary: written with love and hope. Peace be with you all. Take care.

I decided to take myself seriously today and at least try to get back on track with a bit of healthy exercise. Although we’d had another disturbed night, we were, of course, up with the lark awaiting the nurse’s arrival at seven o’clock. But, instead of going back to bed and pulling the covers over my head, I thought I’d follow the plan I had set out for myself yesterday.

The plan was to do a bit of yoga since I had missed class on Tuesday, and then take myself a walk to see if the fresh air would chase away the blues. I did feel better for having done both of those two things, and I even came back home and had a little go on my swing in the back garden. John, in the meantime, took himself back to bed and slept on for a while. It is he who has the disturbed nights – always very restless – and we never know how to ensure he gets the requisite amount of sleep, no matter what we try. His restlessness spills over onto me too, so both of us wake up bleary-eyed most days.

However, we both faced the day with relative enthusiasm and John was in the garage for much of the day faffing about with his car. He put the doors on the other day, to much fanfare, but when I asked him what he’d been doing today, he said, “Taking the doors off again.” We both giggled. Life’s often like that, isn’t? You just think you’ve got it all sorted when you realise there’s an essential something missing, and you have to start all over again.

One thing I have to start all over again is a haircut. I was due to go to the hairdressers today and I was very much looking forward to it. A little punctuation to my day, so I thought. Only to find that I was an hour out, and the hairdresser phoned me to say I’d missed my appointment, and no, sorry, she couldn’t squeeze me in today, or any day before we go away on Monday. I wasn’t half cross with myself!!!

I had proposed to call in on Paul after I’d been to the hairdresser today. He was ‘wfh’ today. Wfh? Working from home…… I decided to go anyway, despite the fact that the visit to the hairdressers was no longer viable, and cheer myself up by looking at his lovely face. I had a little gift for Freddie that I wanted to drop in. John came with me too, and we had a lovely little interlude over in Kenilworth for fifteen minutes or so.

On our return, I had to find an excuse to sit down and watch the tennis at Roland Garros again, so the knitting came in handy for that, and John went back to wrestle with his car doors before our evening meal.

I think the doors were just as much as he could handle, however, as the ol’ man came in, puffing rather well. We’re not sure what’s going on with his chest, although it’s clear that the infection is healing up as he isn’t coughing so badly now. Yay!!

After our meal, we trawled the TV for anything decent to watch and plumped on the film ‘Just Mercy’, which is based on a true story about a lawyer fighting for a black man wrongly convicted of murder, and the attempts to get him off death row. It was very tense and a horrible reminder of how black people continue to be treated in America – and probably here too. I felt exhausted after I’d watched it. Heaven knows how they all feel, or felt, going through it.

What with one thing and another today, I didn’t watch the news. However, I did overhear the shocking number of 17,540 people having been confirmed as infected the with virus today. I heard the number and had to double-check, nay, triple-check as to whether I’d heard right. It is.

Locally, in the Solihull area, we are at the ‘R’ rate of 1.4, and there are now 6 cases in Balsall Common. 77 people have died nationally in the community in the last twenty-four hours and 32 in hospitals, on 6 & & October.

The virus now seems to be rampant again and the government is looking at a three-tier system of classifying the risks. Our area is already high risk……. help!! Mind you, if you listen to Trump, the virus is ‘a blessing from God’. Nearly choked over me cup of tea when I heard that!!! The fact that he’s got over the virus so easily is the worst of all scenarios in my view – heaven help us and save us from lunatics.

WYH. KYD. WYM. OK?

All new abbreviations filtering into our conscious…. Wash Your Hands. Keep Your Distance. Wear Your Mask.

Wilco – over and out! Stay safe everyone. God bless.

Punctuation. Life needs punctuation. If it doesn’t have any, it’s flippy and floppy and sloppy.

That’s how we’re feeling today – flippy, floppy, sloppy. “What shall we do today?” we say, first thing. “I dunno. Whaddya wanna do?” And, like the vultures on a branch in The Jungle Book, shoulders shrug, feet shift and bleak eyes stare out at the rainy season.

Punctuation adds meaning doesn’t it? I mean, if you don’t get the punctuation right in a sentence, it can be gobbledegook. Our lives are actually punctuated with great things mostly, but there are some times when they’re not. And today was one of those days. Just the nurses calling in and mealtimes was all we had planned today, so it was another case of shoulder shrugging and deep sighing.

In the end, we looked at our lists of ‘things to do’ and thought we’d better tackle some of those. John took the opportunity of the sunshine this afternoon to get outside for five minutes and ‘weed and feed’ the bit of lawn that is growing an abundance of weeds. He was disappointed that he was unable to seed the area though. That’s going to have to wait until the springtime apparently. The instructions on the lawn treatment tell him to leave any seeding the area for at least six weeks. We’ll be well into cold weather by then I should imagine, so no go.

Me, I sorted out John’s tablets and took a stroll up to the pharmacy to ask if we can have them delivered in blister packs. It’ll save a job every couple of weeks and the panic of running out of anything. John was going to come with me, but we just got to the bus stop when we both realised we’d come out without our masks. As we turned back to get them, John was out of puff and he realised, with the nurses coming soon, that he wouldn’t be able to rush, so he decided he’d go back home. Success at the pharmacy though.

I also did a lot of appointment cancelling. Unexpectedly, and rather thrillingly, Michael has booked next week off work, so Danielle suggested we hire a caravan each in Devon for the week. John is exceptionally keen to get away, being bored of our four walls, so we said yes, what a good idea. Obviously, John would have preferred jetting off to some winter sun – he’s been on about that ever since we got back from Norfolk – but beggars can’t be choosers, can they? Fingers crossed the weather will be kind to us – and John will be well.

In addition to his foray into the garden today, John spent some time in the garage with his beloved car. It’s a while since he did anything on it and I think he had a happy hour or two in there pottering about. While he was doing that, I found an excuse to watch more tennis. I did the ironing in front of the TV and then carried on trying to sort out the square of knitting I started the other day. Very sedentary, but I enjoyed it.

And thus passed another day. Tomorrow, we’ll no doubt start the day with the same question, ‘what we gonna do today?’ but I have no doubt we’ll find something. One thing I know, is that it will be punctuated tomorrow. I have a hairdressing appointment to get my haircut at lunchtime…….

In the meantime, I can hardly look at the stats for the latest virus infections and certainly don’t want to watch the news to see what the clowns have been doing now. Oh, sorry, did I say clowns? Silly me, slip of the tongue.

I did, of course, steel myself to check the virus figures today. 14,162 people confirmed as infected and 70 people have died in the last twenty-four hours. 26 people have died in hospitals on the 5 and 6 October. The NHS figures really don’t add up and are not consistent from day to day, so I am not sure how accurate that is. And 5 cases in Balsall Common now.

Please take care everyone. The invisible is attacking the visible, and it ain’t nice. God bless and peace be with you.

A quick one today. The reason? Sat watching the tennis into the early hours accompanied by a nice glass of brandy. This means that it’s very late and I may be impaired.

After very hectic night’s sleep last night, I managed to oversleep this morning, so missed my yoga class, much to my disappointment. Instead, I got up late and had a bath rather than a shower and washed my hair in defiance. I then crept back into bed for a short while to natter to John.

We finally winkled ourselves out of bed about eleven o’clock. A little potter about in the kitchen, and John spent some time scrolling through stuff on the internet before we had our lunch.

I ate my lunch while talking to youngest son, having already texted him to seek advice about paleo pasta made with chestnut flour. Great advice and a recipe forthwith, so we’ll see how it turns out once I get round to doing it.

After lunch and the chat, a little more Roland Garros, before we decided to go back to Melbick’s garden centre to see if there were any attachments for my hose and anything else exciting there. I was hoping for candles, but nothing doing. At least, they did have candles but only large, fat ones. I am looking for tall, elegant ones.

Once we were back, we had a quick cuppa and a cream cake – whoo-hoo! – before we had to set off for the hospital. This time, it was for a scan on John’s back. I parked up, while John went in to the scanning room, and then I sat outside waiting. For an hour. Dozed a bit…..

Finally, he was done and we trundled back home to get our evening meal as another TV dinner. TV viewing was The Blitz – a great documentary – and, of course, ‘Bake Off’. Then, as were we flicking from recordings to the main event, what should come up but more Roland Garros. This time, it’s Nadal versus a new, 19-year old player on the circuit, so naturally, I had to stay up and watch it didn’t I? A bizarre scenario though. They commenced playing around eleven-thirty at night and the match finished at around two in the morning (French time, I hastily add!). I mean, how mad is that?? I always knew the French were crazy, but still….. even for them that’s a bit far, in my opinion. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it.

We didn’t watch a great deal of news today, but still noted, for what it’s worth, that it’s just the 14,542 (!!!) people who have been confirmed as positive for the virus today; and there have been just the 76 families devastated by virus-related deaths in the community; and 25 more people died a COVID-related death in hospitals on Sunday and Monday.

Not great is it? And 3 new cases in the last seven days in Balsall Common.

I’m washing my hands. How about you? Stay safe everyone. God bless.

Lovely day today, one way and another. First of all, despite the early start with the medics arriving at seven o’clock again, we had a good rest before we set off to meet William, Thomas and Danielle at the Sheldon Country Park. A park that has been recommended to me frequently over the years, but one where we have never been.

Had a great walk – about two miles all told, there and back, so John did well. We had great fun playing Pooh Sticks, throwing stones into the stream, paddling in puddles, watching the aeroplanes take off and land, as well as the trains rumbling by. The weather was mild and very pleasant indeed and we were lucky that it only started to rain as we got back to the car.

Of course, I had as much of William as I could get, a little bit of Thomas and smashing company from Danielle, who is so easy to spend time with. I am so very blessed with my daughters-in-law. Honestly, I couldn’t ask for better. Love them both to bits.

We had a bite to eat when we got back and once it was prepared, I took my lunch into the lounge to eat on my lap while I watched some of Roland Garros. John decided to eat his at the breakfast bar, as it was a knife and fork job. He had hardly had a mouthful when the doorbell rang and it was the nurse come to administer his afternoon meds. Only she didn’t. Nothing untoward, in fact, but I overheard her say to John, “Joy is coming as well. She’ll be here in a minute.” It transpired that the cannular needed changing again, as the one John had got in was a temporary one. The nurse who’d arrive wasn’t qualified. Joy is the ‘Queen of Cannulars’ apparently, and she did arrive, but it was a good fifteen, or even twenty, minutes later. All in all, John was nearly an hour being faffed about with, with his lunch still sitting on the breakfast bar and his tummy rumbling.

The afternoon passed nicely with a bit of tennis, a bit of computer work – John was looking at cars, and I was looking patio table covers – and a bit of a potter about.

I am not really sure what we watched on TV this evening, other than a Panorama programme about the fires in Australia last year – a horrible reminder of how very frightening it was and how devastating, not just for the people who have lost their homes and their livelihoods in some cases, but also the thousands upon thousands of animals who perished.

The reason I don’t really recall what we were watching, is that I decided to try and finalised the one knitting square I have left here at home that is to go into a blanket for people in Malawi. Mum had done a couple of rows on it very successfully when she stayed with us earlier in the year, but when it came to reducing the stitches on the rows to make the square, she got very muddled and it became a bit of a hotchpotch. So I spent the evening unpicking it as far as the diagonal ready to begin again. Had to concentrate very hard, so TV was just background noise really.

Knitting is not something I enjoy, but I thought I’d commit myself to knitting a few squares last year, only to find that knitting doesn’t actually agree with my arthritic hands. So I’ve got a good excuse not to do any more, but I really want to get this last one out of the door. In the meantime, I shall have to think of another way I can help our twinned diocese in Malawi. I’m sure I’ll come up with something.

As the evening wore on, I started to feel tired so thought I might make a start on my daily diary earlier than normal, only to be reminded that we were waiting in/up for a shopping delivery between half past eight and half past nine. Ah. Yes. Had forgotten that. Best stay here the in the lounge then.

The delivery finally arrived dead on half past nine. The driver was very apologetic at being late – he’d had a busy night, he explained. No worries we said, cheerfully, gritting our teeth. We transplanted the shopping into the kitchen and John was doing a good impression of Puffin’ Billy again, so I said I’d manage and he could go and sit down. “I know when I’m not wanted,” he said, as he took me up on the offer.

John had hardly sat down, when the doorbell rang again. See a pattern here? It was the nurses back again. I left them to it and carried on disgorging the shopping into the cupboards. We’d done a big shop and there was a lot of stuff. Fingers crossed it’ll keep us going for a bit.

And that was us today. Another late night, but hey-ho, I am sure I can have a nap sometime tomorrow……

We did watch some of the news today and caught up on the various stories making the headlines, including the Trump story in which he declared he felt wonderful and twenty years younger. Clearly, he’s recommending catching COVID for its youth-enhancing properties…… the man is mad.

In our own country, there have been 12,954 cases of the coronavirus reported today and 19 deaths in the community. The NHS tells us that there were 10 deaths in hospitals between 1 October and 3 October, which is 23 fewer than they reported a couple of days ago and 13 fewer than they reported yesterday. Yes, those figures really add up don’t they? Jeez…..(am I allowed to say that?). Heaven knows what the real figure is.

Locally, there have now been four reported cases in the last seven days in Balsall Common. I thought it might catch up with us….. disappointed it has. Alert! Alert!

Stay safe everyone, and God bless.

After our late night and hectic-ness with John’s medical treatment last night, we were both tired this morning and chose to sleep on after John had had his antibiotic dose this morning. The medical intervention wasn’t as easy as we’d have liked, but certainly not such a kerfuffle as we were expecting.

The nurse came at seven o’clock as expected and, also as expected, took one look at the fact that John didn’t have a cannular in and promptly said she wasn’t qualified to fit one, so she’d have to send off for someone who was. The ‘someone who was qualified’ turned up about ten o’clock, so John flopped back into bed to catch up on his sleep as soon as she’d gone. I also stayed abed for a little while longer and didn’t get up until it was nearly lunchtime.

I decided to make banana pancakes for brunch and was soon preparing those, smothered in raspberries, blueberries and pecan nuts, all drizzled with maple syrup. Delicious.

After we’d eaten, we spoke to Michael on a video call. He’d phoned early this morning then again at lunchtime, at which neither time were we available. We also seemed to miss everyone else’s calls today too, as John said Paul had called and Richard left us a message on the landline. Not sure what we have been doing to miss the calls – perhaps we might both be a bit ‘Mutt ‘n Jeff’. Maybe catch up with them tomorrow?

Neither of us were keen to be busy again today, so we planned more sedentary options, like eating, drinking, watching TV, chatting and dozing.

Much of the afternoon was taken up with tennis again, which I thoroughly enjoyed. There were some really exciting matches. John took some time to be bidding on eBay for a gear lever for his beloved car and, as the afternoon wore on, he leapt up more and more frequently to check the bidding. I prepped an evening meal and when it was ready, it was a case of, “Can’t eat it yet. Five minutes. Got to watch the bids.”

It didn’t seem like five minutes later because he was soon back. He sat down eat and announced that he was thrilled to have won the auction. Well, that was very satisfying and some good news for once. Hoorah!

Rona had suggested the BBC TV programme ‘Life’ – a series of six episodes – so for our TV viewing this evening we thought we’d look at the first episode at least. In the end, we binge-watched the lot. All six episodes in one sitting. Great little programme for the older viewer I would say, and we really enjoyed it.

Of course, having binge-watched a whole series we found that the evening had disappeared and was away from us before we knew it. The doorbell rang and it was the nurses again for the night-time feed – sorry, sorry, dose of medicine.

So that’s the lot, folks. really nothing much to see here today. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll be more on our game.

Apart from John winning the eBay auction, the only other amazing thing today has been the coronavirus figures. Did you catch them on the news? If not, brace yourselves even more than you did yesterday…… Ready? 22,961 people have been reported as infected with the virus in the last 24 hours. 33 deaths in the community and 23 in hospitals on the 1st and 2nd October which, if you’ve been paying attention, is ten fewer than they reported for exactly the same timescale yesterday. You can do anything with numbers can’t you? And who knows what’s right and what’s wrong?

Talking of what’s right and what’s wrong, how many of you saw Trump, apparently exceedingly well, posting a video online and doing a drive-by for his supporters? Doesn’t seem to be much wrong with him, I thought. That’s the cynic in me. Certainly not ill compared to what we saw with Boris Johnson when he was hospitalised. Is it a ruse? Please don’t say it’s a ruse.

Take care everyone. God bless.