leukaemia-limbo-dance

The bluebells are out in Katharine’s Wood. Lovely they look, too. I particularly noticed them today as they were nodding their heads quite vigorously in the downpour as I walked past. Rain!! At last! Gosh, don’t the gardens need it? I am rather pleased it’s raining so that getting the hosepipe out isn’t necessary, but I wasn’t so pleased when a large SUV sped through a large puddle and sent a vast splash of water over me and Chester this morning.

Despite the rain and the puddle adventure, it was a lovely walk again. Hardly anyone out and about and Chester was on his very best behaviour, trotting along very happily and snifferty-sniffing every available lamppost, clump of grass or bush in sight. He was great company.

Not long after I got back from the walk, I said goodbye to John, leaving him to set this evening’s quiz and have another look at the Lotus, and made my way over to Mum’s flat again. More sorting. More paper. But we cracked on and we’ve done it. With grateful thanks to Anita for being such a very good friend in helping to take the pain out of the process. How amazing it is to have had her calm and steady company throughout.

I am also rather grateful to youngest son, too. He helped heave Mum’s chair into a hired van and take it over to the care home. After a day of rushing through the last bits of sorting, Andrew, too, was a calm and steady companion and it all went very smoothly indeed. The added bonus was that the lady we saw at the door of the home told us that Mum has ‘settled in really well.’

Andrew and I popped back to the flat after the delivery run to gather up the last of the items we plan to sell/keep/ditch, one of which is a Jentique sideboard. I was confident that it would fit into the van – and it did – but only just. Andrew and I had to do a little bit of manoeuvring to make it fit. It was darned heavy too. In fact, when we got home, we were rather grateful to John for joining in ‘the lift’ as well.

After our scrumptious evening meal, which was cooked by Andrew, it was time for Quiz Night – and John did a cracking job as Quiz Master. He always makes us laugh and tonight was no exception – he brought his sense of humour to the party and we all enjoyed it.

Unusually, however, we didn’t stay chatting at the end – I think every one of us was tired. Nigel and Hazel particularly, because they are still unpacking boxes after their move at the weekend. Malcolm and Caroline have had a busy week so far; I was tired after a day of sifting, sorting and straightening out goods and chattels; and John was pretty exhausted after his continued efforts on the Lotus and the constant puzzle of exactly where the problem is on the car. Linda and Brendan had been out for a large lunch to Simpsons and were feeling very full, so consequently, they were keen not to stay chatting either. We said our fond ‘goodnights’ and look forward to another session again next week – even though Nigel and Hazel are now at the other end of the country!

That’s all folks, and here are the stats – just because I’ve started, so I’ll finish….

• 2,166 people tested positive for the virus today
• 29 people died with the virus in the community in the last 24 hours
• 6 people died on 26 & 27 April with the virus in hospital

It is now Day 401 since the beginning of Lockdown One. However, John and I are on Day 407. Lockdown 3 was eased a month ago, 31 days ago; and we’re into Day 17 of the instruction that we are all allowed to play outdoors.

Take care everyone. God bless.

The day started wonderfully well today with an early morning walk. Mr Chester and I took ourselves across the fields and thoroughly enjoyed the fresh air. I thought we may only be out for half an hour, but we were so engrossed that we were out for nearly an hour. Great fun.

My intention was to pop over to Mum’s for a bit more sorting today but, by the time I’d fiddled about with this and that and a bit more admin, the morning ran away with me and Andrew was on the doorstep with a van he’d hired to help us move some furniture to the care home tomorrow.

Lateral flow tests done, masks on and in the fresh air, Andrew spent the afternoon helping John check over the Lotus while I went out to have my hair cut. What excitement – youngest son visiting and a hairdressers appointment. Can’t be bad, eh?

I had gathered one or two pieces from Mum’s flat that the Kenilworth Sleaths thought they’d like, so I suggested that I drop them in while I was in Kenilworth. Well, that all turned out better than I thought it would, because I went with Harriet to collect Freddie from school, who was both surprised and delighted to see me.

Home again, and after our evening meal I trotted out with Chester once more. I hadn’t gone very far though when I saw some friends whom I hadn’t seem for ages, so we stood and chatted for at least fifteen minutes. It was great to catch up on their news.

John, in the meantime, had laboured all afternoon on his beloved Lotus but is still head-scratching. He has managed to remove the chassis from the body, but he’s not quite sure where the problem is now. More investigations afoot methinks.

Otherwise, not an awful lot else to report. Middle son and family are now in Jersey, having spent eight hours on the ferry across the channel; the doctor has prescribed more pills for John to protect his bones; we have had our appointments come through for our COVID jabs on Thursday; and I’m looking forward to more walks tomorrow.

• 2,685 people tested positive for the virus today
• 17 people died with the virus in the community in the last 24 hours
• 13 people died on 25 & 26 April with the virus in hospital

We are on Day 400 since the beginning of Lockdown One, and Day 406 since John and I retreated indoors at the start of it all last year. It’s Day 30 since Lockdown 3 was eased, and we’re into Day 16 of the instruction that were allowed to play outdoors. Not long now until we can all play indoors….

Take care everyone. God bless.

It wasn’t until late this evening, but we now have Mr Chester staying with us for the next fortnight. That’s going to be good fun – taking him a walk every day. That’ll improve my fitness and my mood no doubt!

Michael and Danielle are off to Jersey for a family wedding. It’s all very well travelling, knowing you’re not infectious, but nevertheless, they have to isolate for five days when they arrive on the island. That’s going to fun – and I don’t mean fun in the same way as I am going to have fun, of course – they have two small children and will be cooped up in a small space. I hope it goes well for them all.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I spent the morning faffing about with admin for Mum, then I shot over to her flat for more sorting. Nearly there. I was on my own today, but it wasn’t too bad. I managed to get quite a few things done, but I was still overwhelmed with paperwork. However, I have now decided to take a leaf out of Malcolm’s book and burn all the confidential waste rather than spending time at a shredder – which would take a very long time. With apologies to the local neighbourhood if there should be any smoke floating their way for a short while later on in the week.

I came back home not long after lunchtime – John had eaten, so my plan was to grab something myself and a cuppa, before going back and doing a little bit more. However, I sat down on the sofa, didn’t I? Didn’t want to get going again, so I didn’t. Instead I watched an old Doris Day movie and thoroughly enjoyed it. I shall have a bit more of a go at Mum’s flat tomorrow before the final push on Wednesday with Anita. The removal men are coming on Thursday to take away everything we’ve left behind.

John, meanwhile, has spent more or less the whole day working on the Lotus. He’s worked really well on it and is making progress. Disappointed, of course, that he’s having to do this bit of work. When he bought the car it was, ostensibly, just a cosmetic job to get it finished. But do you know what? It’s keeping him out of mischief!

Just before our evening meal, there was a ring on the door bell and, upon opening it, I found two grinning friends, bearing cake. Our prayer group leader, Eileen, is going to be 80 this week so we held a little tea-party for her. In the end, however, there were more than 6 planning to attend, so I opted to relieve the party of one so that they could all relax and enjoy it without a lot of shilly-shallying. But – here’s to Eileen – many happy returns of the day! The cakes were lovely!

After we’d taken delivery of Chester this evening, we spent a little while settling him in. I decided to sit in the dining room for a while, where he is going to sleep, to encourage him to remember that it’s not all bad when he comes to stay with us. John had started a jigsaw, which lay on the table, so I fiddled about with that for a while. The ‘while’ turned into hours and here I am, late at night, blogging. I am daft.

The news – oooh, it’s horrible, isn’t it? More about the agony that the Indian community is suffering; more on the sleaze at Number 10; and some tragic individual stories – a young man drowned trying to save a woman from the Thames, a baby looses her life to leukaemia and the woman who has been accused of spying in Iran, has had another jail term handed out. I struggled to find the good news stories today – how about you?

Anyway, the COVID situation in the UK is still stable, so that’s got to be good news, hasn’t it? The ‘r’ number is definitely below one.

• 2,064 people tested positive for the virus today
• 6 people died with the virus in the community in the last 24 hours
• 2 people died on 24 & 25 April with the virus in hospital

We are on Day 399 since the beginning of Lockdown One, and Day 405 since John and I retreated indoors at the start of it all last year. But we are nearly a month in since the lifting of restrictions in Lockdown 3 (Day 29) and it’s now over two weeks since we were told we can play in each other’s gardens (Day 15).

Stay safe everyone – and look forward to a drop of rain for the gardens, eh? God bless.

Today was a day of rest. You’ll hardly credit it, of course, because I have been busy all day. But, believe me, it has been a wonderful, relaxing, heart-warming day of rest.

This morning we were awake fairly early and I got up, determined, for once, to ‘go to church’. I had thought I would attend physically today but I was running late, so logged on to the service via YouTube instead. What was very pleasing was the fact there was a choir – albeit a skeleton choir – and there were others joining Kim singing the hymns today and I really enjoyed that.

I expect it’s sacrilege, but I decided to listen to the service whilst I did the ironing. I was amazed how it concentrated my mind – mundane, everyday actions alongside uplifting words and music. Smoothing and soothing. Great stuff. And I was reminded that wherever I am or whatever I am doing, God is present. Even doing the ironing.

Once I was done with ironing and absorbing spiritual guidance, I gathered together a few bits and pieces to take over to Sutton. John and I were scheduled to go over to do a little bit of childcare while the grown-ups finished dissertations and presentations this afternoon. In the end, however, it was just me who went. We had made a mistake and the online shop was due to arrive slap-bang in the middle of childcare duties. “I’ll go, John,” I said, “You stay here and wait in for the shopping.” Disgruntled, John agreed – there was nothing else we could do really – other than not go over to Michael and Danielle’s and forego the babysitting, and I definitely didn’t want to do that!

Once I arrived, William’s face lit up and that was it then, we were off. Thomas had an afternoon nap, the grown-ups did whatever they had planned to do, and William and I played. We were on a space-ship; we landed on the moon; we took our moon-buggies all over the surface of the moon before we took ourselves back to the ‘Planet Earth’. “Come on, Grandma, we’re on Planet Earth now, we’re going to make pancakes with maple syrup honey.” Maple syrup honey. Sounds delicious, doesn’t it?

We spent hours at the mud kitchen, too – although there was no water or mud, just sand, which became water and food or drink or an ingredient for some concoction we were going to make. “Now then Grandma, we’ve got to go to Tesco. We need to buy flour and eggs and milk for our pancakes.” I nodded and we set off across the patio. We filled the back of the Little Tikes car full of sand and took it back to the kitchen, where we made our lovely ‘pancakes’.

For the whole afternoon we were absorbed in each other’s company. We enjoyed Thomas’ company too, when he woke up from his nap. Honestly, that baby is so strong and supple – crawling everywhere, pulling himself up, walking all around anything he can hang on to. And you can fairly see the grey matter working things out. And boy, he’s got a grin on him to break a million women’s hearts.

I stayed for tea, and Danielle, sorry that John was missing out on a roast chicken dinner, plated some of the delicious food up for me to take home to him. The ol’ man is now on a diet, mind you, so he suggested that he ought not to have a roast dinner. Pfff…. how can you refuse such a delicious treat? Well, he didn’t in the end – we reminded him that it was good food and it would do him no harm.

The diet? Well, John was shocked at having to squeeze himself into his Sunday Best for the funeral on Friday. One pair of trousers gaped so badly at the waist that he had to abandon them altogether – there was no meeting of the two halves on the waistband at all. “How did that happen?” he wondered. Lockdown belly maybe…….? “I knew I’d put on weight, but look at that!!” Hmmm…… it made us both giggle a bit. Not sure what form the diet is going to take yet, though. Watch this space, folks, we’re in for a ride…..

John spent his day waiting in for the shopping and then tackled the Lotus. The aim is to separate the body from the chassis so that we can check how square the chassis (or the body) actually is. He’s done well, too. He’s managed to get most of it unhitched and ready. Just waiting for the petrol to drain out now. I think he’s looking forward to trying out his new piece of lifting equipment. Toys – boys and their toys, eh?

The situation in India is still making headline news, but I was pleased to read that countries are trying to help by sending equipment to the medics over there. It’ll be too late for a lot of people, however, as there are thousands upon thousands dying and contracting the coronavirus every single day, with no end in sight yet.

There is, of course, other news, but I really can’t quite make up my mind as to whether I care about the Oscars, or the PM’s flat refurbishment (unless it was done with our money), or Man City beating Spurs at football. (Although I have to feel for Nigel in this circumstance). Oh, now I’ve said it – I have made up my mind – I don’t really care about those things in the wider scheme of things after all. Life and death seem more important at the moment.

The UK coronavirus figures are still stable, by the way. Good news.

• 1,712 people tested positive for the virus today
• 11 people died with the virus in the community in the last 24 hours
• 6 people died on 22 & 23 April with the virus in hospital

We are on Day 398 since the beginning of Lockdown One, and Day 404 since John and I retreated indoors at the start of it all last year. But we are nearly a month in since the lifting of restrictions in Lockdown 3 (Day 28) and two weeks since we were told we can play in each other’s gardens (Day 14).

Wishing you all a great week ahead, despite the continuing cool weather. Stay safe and God bless.

Maybe we’ll need a couple more days sorting out the wheat from the chaff at Mum’s flat before the removal men arrive on Thursday to take the goods and chattels away. So we’ll plough on until then, through the paper mountain, until we’re confident that there’s nothing else of any note.

To be fair, we’ve done a really good job today, me and Anita, and got to the point where we think we have identified the items of interest. Personally, I am finding it quite difficult to work out what’s worth keeping and what is not. In my head, Mum is reminding me that those things we are about to chuck out are valuable. Like the Wedgewood Calendar plates that she and Dad so lovingly and carefully collected in the 70s and 80s. The plates which cost, what seemed to us, a lot of money in those days, but now command about a fiver each. Or like the ‘Sheraton’ chairs that Mum treasured for so long. We’ve looked on the ‘tinternet to find that they are not Sheraton at all…..

You see, fashions change, don’t they? And in that vein, I expect we’ll let things go and then in a couple of years’ time find that they’re back in fashion and worth a fortune. But hey-ho, we can’t hang on to everything. In fact, John would like us not to hang on to anything – our house is already full. Ah, well – doing my best.

I had intended just to keep going at the flat, but by about four o’clock, I’d had enough, so came home. Malcom had said he’d call in to see us on his way back from ‘playing model railways’, so he, John and I spent some time sitting on the patio with a cup of tea and had a lovely chat.

After Malcolm had left, I was tired, so caught up on a couple of TV programmes before getting the evening meal ready – after which I caught up on another couple of TV programmes. And I didn’t fall asleep.

Nothing much else to report today, other than ‘when the cat’s away the mice will play’, won’t they? John has, therefore had a very productive day. He did the on-line shopping this morning and then, this afternoon he found the vacuum cleaner and cleaned through. When I arrived home, he was putting the vacuum cleaner away and getting the mop and bucket out….. Mind you, he did make me laugh. By the time the mop and bucket came out he’d really had enough, but he, too, was ploughing on, not wishing to be beaten. So he sat on the second step of the stairs to mop the floor by the front door, and leaned on the wall as he mopped by the lounge. Creative, eh?

The news today is still full of the situation in India, with so many people dying and 300k of new cases of the virus a day. But there is also a story beginning to run (and likely to run and run) about sleaze within the government – surely not? And then there are people in this country demonstrating against wearing a mask and the lockdowns. Are they right? It feels like a topsy-turvy world and I don’t know any more.

So, here are today’s figures for the record.

• 2,061 people tested positive for the virus today
• 32 people died with the virus in the community in the last 24 hours
• 11 people died on 22 & 23 April with the virus in hospital

• It’s Day 27 since the lifting of Lockdown 3;
• Day 13 of our new, limited freedoms, where we can play in each other’s gardens;
• Day 397 since Lockdown 1; 
• Day 403 since our self-imposed Lockdown 1

Stay safe everyone and do the right thing whenever you can. God bless.

Our day has offered us a bitter-sweet experience today. Cold, hard realities tempered by soft, delicious realities.

This morning we were up early, dressing in our mourning clothes, in readiness for Joyce’s funeral. Joyce was Dawn’s Mum, and someone we had grown fond of over the years as our families got to know each other so very well. Each Christmas Eve, and many a family celebration was spent in her company and, like my Mum, she was a Coventry girl, so there was a common bond; and Mum and Joyce would gossip together about their shared experiences growing up and living in that city whenever they met up, too.

The service was very well put together and beautifully presented. The music was especially moving, as we remembered Joyce’s very full and vibrant life. We felt the hurt that the family were going through and so wanted to hug everyone there. I think our eyes said it all. But, despite the circumstances, how wonderful it was to see people we love in the flesh, and offer them our heartfelt condolences personally.

Once we were back home we sat in the garden for a moment of contemplation and to take advantage of the sun. I, for one, was half-relieved that the intended visit by the Community Nurses hadn’t happened this morning and we had arrived at the funeral on time, and we were well enough to enjoy a gentle few minutes.

We had received a letter, earlier in the week, telling us that our COVID injections would be administered at home today. John phoned up to say, sorry, but we have things going on – we’re going to be at a funeral – can we arrange the visit around those things? Yes, yes – no worries, the nurse will come first thing. John told his contact that we’d need to be away for 9.15. OK, that’s fine – the nurse’ll come at 9.00.

Well, of course, no-one turned up at 9.00. The answerphone message, when we got back home, told us that the nurse had phoned up at 9.15 and she planned to arrive at 9.30. Too late – we had left the house. She phoned John’s mobile just as we arrived at the church. Basically, ‘where are you?’ And then – well, what time can you get back? I suggested 12.30. That was no good. Can you be back for 11.30? Hmmm….can’t guarantee it, no – we’re at a funeral. So her response (spiteful, I thought), was ‘Well, you’ll have to go back to the bottom of the list if you can’t do it then.’

I wasn’t best pleased. In fact, I was jolly angry at her response. We are naturally keen to have our second jabs, but crumbs, when you’re committed to another engagement there has to be some leeway, surely? I was all for phoning them back up and giving them a piece of my mind, but John said he’d rather I didn’t. “I mean, I rely on the Community Nurses quite a lot,” he reasoned. I shall phone them on Monday when I have calmed down.

However, the fact that we haven’t had the jab means that I have a weekend to do more on Mum’s flat without the worry of having a reaction to the vaccine like last time. Going to be ultra-cautious and do a lateral flow test before I go to the flat, however. Keeping my fingers crossed that being out and about today hasn’t exposed us to any of the dreaded lurgy.

This afternoon we popped into Solihull for John to have his eyes tested. He thought that maybe his glasses needed changing. Unfortunately, they don’t. The fact that he can’t see so well may be related to a nice little cataract that he’s growing. The optometrist was very thorough, but offered no solution other than offering to write to John’s GP and to one of the consultants at the eye hospital. Watch this space folks. (Ha! See what I did there?)

We drove from Solihull directly to Sutton Coldfield, having promised to grab a pile of washing from the Sutton Sleaths, to help them get their clothes ready for packing for their holiday to Jersey next week. “We’re planning to get fish and chips. Do you want to stay for tea?” Michael asked. The appeal of spending time in the garden with grandchildren pulled so strongly that naturally, we said yes.

We had a wonderful time with the family and, as usual, I enjoyed playing. To be part of the children’s growing-up experiences is just ruddy marvellous. The trouble is, we were having such a lovely time that William wasn’t keen for us to leave. I wasn’t keen for us to leave either, really……

The main news story today is the growing crisis in India. It is an absolute horror story. And, naturally, we are also concerned for our own country, having kept our borders open to people arriving from India until today. Prayers needed for those abroad and at home who are still exposed to, and experiencing, this horrid, horrid disease.

• 2,678 people tested positive for the virus today
• 40 people died with the virus in the community in the last 24 hours
• 11 people died on 21 & 22 April with the virus in hospital

• It’s Day 26 since the lifting of Lockdown 3;
• Day 12 of our new, limited freedoms, where we can play in each other’s gardens;
• Day 396 since Lockdown 1; 
• Day 402 since our self-imposed Lockdown 1

Stay safe everyone, and God bless.

More paper. More stuff. Will we ever get Mum’s things sorted out, that’s the question?

Dear Anita came across again today, and we concentrated on clearing the sideboard – or ‘high board’, we now find it is called – and sifted through lots and lots of little bits of paper, paperclips, notes to self, and correspondence. We also checked over cutlery, crockery, embroidery and sewing materials and so on. It is all taking an inordinate amount of time, so our next plan is to ignore the paper, check over everything else and bring the paper home, if necessary, to meet my own imposed deadline of clearing the flat by Thursday of next week.

We got on well, really, and made progress, but the flat looks like a bomb has hit it. My own attempts at organisation remain inadequate and I am grateful to Anita for quietly and firmly leading the charge. I think I might have dissolved into a blubbering mess before now if she hadn’t been there.

We had a shortened day at the clear-out, however, as I was keen to get over to Linda’s this afternoon to say au revoir to Hazel. A gaggle of girls gathered there (well, six of us anyway) to sit in the sunshine and enjoy each other’s company, as a group, for a final time before the Lewis’s set off for pastures new.

The gathering was absolute bliss. The sun was shining, and it was beautiful and warm on Linda’s patio. There was cake and prosecco and very good company. We arrived early afternoon, but none of us seemed to want to be the first to make the move to break up the party. It was gone five o’clock by the time we all reluctantly thought we ought to say goodbye. A beautiful afternoon which has made a beautiful memory.

Having had a glass of prosecco this afternoon, I found myself more carefree that I might ordinarily have been when I got home. That meant that I couldn’t be bothered to cook – or doing anything really. John made me a cup of tea. Then he prepped our evening meal. Then I shut my eyes for a minute or two…

Upon opening my eyes again I decided that I really ought to get to bed early this evening. We have another busy day ahead of us tomorrow. So here I am blog-writing in the middle of the evening instead of at the end of it.

John has spent the morning sorting out putting Mum’s sideboard – sorry, high board – onto eBay, in the hope that it’ll bring in a few quid. He then spent a little while playing poker before pottering in the garage to get the Lotus ready for lift-off. That is, of course, lifting the body off the chassis to check out the anomaly of why the body and chassis don’t seem to be square on. Watch this space, folks.

The news today is running stories about tackling climate change (ha!), the overwhelming of India with Coronavirus and running out of oxygen in hospitals, and (is it news?) the death of a former Bay City Roller. I suppose that last bit of news is waving goodbye to our youth, which is just as uncomfortable to hear as all the other news we’ve heard today.

• 2,729 people tested positive for the virus today
• 18 people died with the virus in the community in the last 24 hours
• 15 people died on 20 & 21 April with the virus in hospital

• It’s Day 25 since the lifting of Lockdown 3;
• Day 11 of our new, limited freedoms, where we can play in each other’s gardens;
• Day 395 since Lockdown 1; 
• Day 401 since our self-imposed Lockdown 1

All for now, folks. Stay safe and God bless.

Stunned silence. Then….. hahahahahaha! You are joking, right?

That’s what both John and I thought when we overheard the conversation between Paneesha, consultant haematologist, and Ben, consultant respiratory physician. Paneesha is delighted with John’s progress on the leukaemia front, but baffled as to know how to manage the repeated chest infections and persistent breathlessness. It’s time for someone else to take over. “…so, perhaps some oxygen therapy……hmm? And maybe consider a lung transplant?”

We both nearly fell off our perches. Crikey! We weren’t expecting that. Caught us both unawares. However, Ben said, no, he didn’t think John was bad enough for a lung transplant but yes, he’d ensure that the respiratory team took John under their wing. And yes, the antibiotics John was on would deal with a new bug, acid fast baccillii, found in his lungs on Day 29 of culturing the sample. A bug that can cause TB – although maybe it was a cross-contaminated sample? Who knows.

We are both pleased that the respiratory team look like they might actually sit up and take notice and ‘adopt’ John’s case at last, however. It will certainly save Paneesha scratching his head each time we see him, anyway.

So, this morning we had been to the hospital, first for an infusion of immunoglobulin, then to meet up with Paneesha. By the time we’d finished, it was one o’clock. “Do you fancy a McDonald’s, John?” I asked. He nodded, yup, why not? Even sat in a car park in Bordesley Green which, despite its name, isn’t the most salubrious of places, we enjoyed our food – it was delicious – naughty but nice.

This afternoon, we had thought we might call on the Sutton Sleaths. I had a ‘window visit’ at the care home to see Mum, and I’d suggested that I drop John off at Michael’s. But, in the end, we were both absolutely worn out, so we didn’t.

I shot off to visit Mum and take some things with me to help her settle in, and then I walked round to her window. She was absolutely delighted to see me. Unexpectedly, she was looking and sounding a lot better, and everyone I met along the way seemed to be very kind and pleasant, so I am hopeful it will all work out well.

Despite my reservations about Mum being able to use the walker that Warwick Hospital had provided for her, I was delighted to see that she manoeuvred it very well and was quite nifty on her feet. “And, look! I can stand up, I can sit down – ooh, I’m good,” she said, demonstrating her physical prowess and grinning all over her face.

The window visit was just half an hour so I was back home pretty quickly. I collapsed on the sofa, switched the TV on and promptly fell asleep – again….. heavy days, clearly.

I was awake enough at tea-time to respond to John bringing his phone to me to chat to Michael and William on a video call; and to grin at Thomas, too. He had already filled my heart earlier in the day when I saw a video of him in a ‘Jo Jingles’ class, rocking away to music. Always brightens my day to see the kids and the grandchildren.

And then it was Quiz Night. I was relieved it wasn’t our turn to be Quiz Masters. We might have had to resort to a ready-made quiz if it had been. However, Nigel and Hazel compiled the quiz between them and, once again, it was great fun. Really enjoyed everyone’s company.

The quiz reminded us that amazing things can happen, and I had temporarily forgotten how thrilled I was that there had been the first helicopter flight on Mars the other day, with pictures being beamed back to Earth.

I am, however, all too aware of the ‘doom and gloom’ reported in the news with COVID high on the agenda as a result of the horrific scenes of an overwhelmed India. If the power of prayer can help, then I am praying very hard for them over there in the absence of being able to do anything else.

Here, however, the COVID situation still looks steady. Although the scientists are keeping us all reminded to keep safe in the light of COVID variants appearing here in the UK and likely to infiltrate, as people arrive in the country.

• 2,396 people tested positive for the virus today
• 22 people died with the virus in the community in the last 24 hours
• 13 people died on 19 & 20 April with the virus in hospital

• It’s Day 24 since the lifting of Lockdown 3;
• Day 10 of our new, limited freedoms, where we can play in each other’s gardens;
• Day 394 since Lockdown 1; 
• Day 400 (!!!) since our self-imposed Lockdown 1

Keep up the meticulous hand-washing, mask-wearing, distance-keeping, folks. God bless.

Thank goodness for friends. They enrich our lives in all sorts of ways, don’t they? And today was no exception.

We were up at a reasonable time again today – in my case because I was planning to be over at Mum’s flat to do more clearing, and in John’s case because he was planning to go out this afternoon to a ‘farewell’ meal with Nigel and some fellow-Masons.

Nigel has been a great friend for John, teaming up at the Masons, offering him a lift to meetings; being that friend who has called round to take him up to the pub; encouraging him to go for a walk and chew the cud. He’s been grand company, too, at our weekly quizzes, lifting John’s spirits with his wonderful sense of humour and bonhomie. John enjoyed his afternoon out today and is certainly going miss Nigel’s presence in the village when he moves away on Friday.

I toddled over to Mum’s flat this morning and found that clearing it out is taking more time than I thought it would. I may have previously pointed out that she has a lot of paper. There are letters, of course, and empty envelopes and invitations for parties long passed, with a little note saying ‘replied’; there are newspaper cuttings – seemingly hundreds of little, tiny slivers of paper declaring the recently hatched, matched or despatched individuals whom Mum knew; there are notepads galore, fancy writing paper pads and notelets; and poetry, scribbled on a scrap of paper ready to neatly write out into her volumes of exercise books; there are bills and statements and advertisements – absolutely every possible thing you could think of, I found it. Fascinating history, but very little of it for keeping.

John was a little scornful about the process I might adopt for doing the sorting at Mum’s flat, saying, “I bet you’ll go through every single item, won’t you?” Erm… yes, probably, well – likely, actually. So I was rather pleased that I had Anita on hand today. She has kept me on the straight and narrow all day. I am addled by the volume of things in the flat, and sentiment threatens to overwhelm me. Gently and without any judgement, Anita steered me through it all, bringing it into focus, especially when I said I was struggling to make a decision on whether to keep an item or throw it away. But I did feel slightly vindicated in going through every single item when I found my grandfather’s birth certificate nestling in amongst a load of tat!

The advantage of sifting through the flat’s contents with a friend is that you can share the wonder of things, like, “I wonder why Mum kept clothes tags?” and share the excitement of things found, “Look at this!” when I found a newspaper picture of myself in a play when I was 17 years old, or the one of John as a teacher at Barr’s Hill doing some project or other. And then it was nice to sit at the end of the day and have a cuppa together and just chat. Yep, very, very grateful for good friends.

John had eaten a meal at the Saracen’s Head at lunchtime with his friends, so he wasn’t worried about having an evening meal. Andrew phoned just as we were sat chatting at the breakfast bar in the kitchen, so I poured myself a glass of wine. What I think was intended to be a ‘quick chat’ turned into a long chat and, by the time Andrew rang off, I’d imbibed another glass of wine and was thinking of a third. We went through to the lounge to watch a bit of TV, where I promptly fell asleep on the sofa for an hour or so. Must’ve been the wine….

The news is full of the Dereck Chauvin court case and the verdict today that he has been found guilty of the murder of George Floyd in America. It is also full of what, in my opinion, is an absolutely ridiculous story of football, with the government threatening to get involved in scuppering a new European Super League. Looks like it might peter out, but really, I think everyone has lost their marbles and sight of what is really important in the world – especially when you hear that the fancy new daily briefing room, that cost £2.6m to re-decorate, is now to be simply used by the PM and his officials instead!! Rant over – must’ve been the wine…..

Anyway, the COVID figures are about the same – no-one is yet talking about the trend being anywhere other than steady, which is a relief.

• 2,524 people tested positive for the virus today
• 33 people died with the virus in the community in the last 24 hours
• 18 people died on 17 & 18 April with the virus in hospital

• It’s Day 23 since the lifting of Lockdown 3;
• Day 9 of our new, limited freedoms, where we can play in each other’s gardens;
• Day 393 since Lockdown 1; 
• Day 399 since our self-imposed Lockdown 1

Take care everyone. Hope your days ahead are filled with love and friendship. God bless.

Woke up to the most glorious sunshine today. And wasn’t the sky blue? All day! Fabulous.

We had a slow start to the day but soon got a wriggle on when we remembered we were doing a ‘virtual house viewing’ at ten o’clock. This is a house, next door to Paul and Harriet’s, that Paul wondered whether we’d be interested in.

We logged in and it started well. However, after a little while, the estate agent was saying, “…..and this is the downstairs bathroom…” Hang on a minute, our video hasn’t caught up yet! “Oh, yes, I see that your connection is orange. I’ll wait for you to catch up. There you are, you’re green now, can you see the bathroom?” Err….. no?

And this is how it went, on and off for about forty minutes. Eventually we decided to go downstairs and log onto John’s computer, thinking it might be the internet connection on the computer upstairs. No sooner had we logged on and the estate agent said, “…..so, we’re upstairs in the loft space….” Well, we weren’t. And it definitely wasn’t our internet that was the problem. “Okay. No worries,” she said in her sing-song voice, like it was no trouble at all. “I’ll wait for you to catch up.” And then we had a power cut. What a palaver. “Shall I send you another link and we’ll carry on tomorrow morning?” the estate agent wondered. Yes, OK.

But actually, now that we’ve had chance to think about it some more, we think maybe not…..

We decided to take advantage of the sunshine and sit out in the garden with a cup of tea after all the faff of the virtual tour. Bliss. The birds were singing their hearts out, and that made us think about a recently-arrived parcel. A monocular. To view the birds if we can. Neither of us seem to be able to get on with binoculars, so we wondered if a monocular might be better. We are excited about it because you can attach your camera to it and take photos if you want.

However, I was ready to throw the thing in the bin. I couldn’t get it attached to my phone properly, nor could I focus the darned thing. Mr Technical Fingers took over, however, and sorted it out. We have yet to work out how to focus the bloomin’ thing though! Flowers at the bottom of the garden? Maybe.

Fired up by our ‘virtual tour’ of a different house, we thought we’d do a bit of research into what’s available locally. We looked at bungalows because, you know, at our age….. After a while, I looked at John and said, “Why are we looking at bungalows? We don’t want to live in a bungalow!” John nodded, true, true. We started looking at houses in our price range instead. Oh my goodness. No, thank you. John shrugged. “I don’t think we’re ready to move yet, do you?” Relieved, I replied, “No, I don’t think we are.” So that’s that for now.

I am not sure exactly what we did this afternoon – I did a few chores, tidying up, putting the washing on, writing an email to Mum’s new care home, chatting to Michael and Danielle; and John sorted out an important purchase on the internet: some hedging. That was very exciting and burned a big hole in our pocket. Expensive, hedging, isn’t it? Not only that, but it’s going to burn our muscles planting it, too. I hate digging holes.

This evening we watched TV and that was our day. I did a few minutes stargazing as I locked up for the night, marvelling at a waxing crescent moon, creamy white in the sky and so very bright. I also admired the little fairy lanterns I’d bought recently that were twinkling in the dark. Lovely. Chilly though. Roll on the warmer weather!!

And, after an insistence by the government that it was safe to travel to and from India, they have now decided to put that country on the ‘red’ list – but not until Friday. Honestly, I have no idea how their minds work. COVID and any of its variants, clearly won’t be infectious in between now and then, will it? Heaven help us all.

• 2,963 people tested positive for the virus today
• 4 people died with the virus in the community in the last 24 hours
• One person died on 18 April with the virus in hospital

• It’s Day 22 since the lifting of Lockdown 3;
• Day 8 of our new, limited freedoms, where we can play in each other’s gardens;
• Day 392 since Lockdown 1; 
• Day 398 since our self-imposed Lockdown 1

Make the most of every day, folks, and keep safe. God bless.