Blog

The Numbers

There were a total of 738 new deaths yesterday. Our rate is the highest in Europe now and we are rocketing towards the 20,000 mark. Turkey has appeared in the highest ranked countries now and over 50,000 people have died in the USA.

Over 100 UK  healthcare workers have died.

The News

The government offered home testing to any keyworker and their families with symptoms yesterday. The web-site was overwhelmed with demand and had to be closed after the first hour.

A vaccine being developed in Oxford, has moved into the human healthy volunteer testing phase. Fingers crossed its effective and is available as soon as possible.

Most of the conversation now is about how and when lockdown will end. I’m still worried that when it starts to be relaxed for the general population we will be forgotten. We are half way through our 12 weeks but what will happen after that? Nothing has been said about what the exit strategy will look like for the 1.5 million extremely vulnerable people that have been told to stay at home in strict isolation for their own protection.

The New Way of Life

It was quiz night last night. We nearly won again but lost it in the last round, which was on Disney movies. I can’t stand Disney. I think it’s down to overexposure to sickly sweet princesses, talking and singing animals and inanimate objects, when my kids were little.

We had good fun though, got a bit tipsy and fell into bed around midnight. We put some music on in the bedroom for a while but had to wake up to turn it off about 2am.

It’s M’s birthday today! He’s 63! Last year we celebrated in the Outer Hebrides, the year before in Mauritius, but this year we’ll be in the back garden. I have got a big surprise planned for this evening. I hope it works out and that he enjoys it!

I haven’t been able to get out to the shops (obviously),  but managed to add a few “non-essential” items to my last Ocado delivery. A beard grooming kit to encourage him to enjoy his developing facial hair, a bottle of Baylis and Harding Fuzzy Duck Whiskey bubble bath and a very special bottle of Columbian La Hechicera rum, that has been aged in an old Muscat barrel. I don’t think he’s going to want to taste it any time soon though after our little overindulgence last night!

We had a bit of a lie-in and a lovely long facetime with our son and his wife, and our grandson. Later, on our daughter dropped off an amazing birthday cake that she had constructed out of donuts, and we had a little doorstep chat in the sunshine.

This time she brought our little granddaughter with her. We haven’t seen her since the 15th of March. It was lovely to see her, but it was upsetting not to be able to give her a cuddle or play with her. She’s going to be 2 in May, so it’s all very hard for her to understand. She stayed on the other side of the gate and we stayed in the doorway. At first she rattled the gate a bit and tried to get in, but eventually she seemed to understand. Quite sad … can’t wait to give her a big cuddle!

North Indian Chicken Curry

I love this recipe from Indian Food Made Easy by Anjum Anand. It’s simple but delicious.

You start by heating some oil and frying; 7 cloves, 3 shards of cinnamon and 7 green cardamoms for a minute. I also added a teaspoon of fenugreek seeds at this stage because I love the authenticity that fenugreek adds to a curry. You then add a couple of finely chopped onions and cook them down until they are golden brown.

 

This takes a good 10 to 15 minutes, but it’s important to take the time to do this properly, to develop the flavours of this curry.

When the onions and whole spices are done, add some minced ginger and garlic. I used a good couple of teaspoons of each. Cook again for a minute or so then add the powdered spices and a teaspoon of salt; 1 teaspoon each of turmeric and chilli powder (I added a teaspoon of crushed dried Naga chilies here as we like our curries hot!), and half a teaspoon of coriander. Again, cook for another minute at the most.

Now add your tomatoes. Blitz 4 ripe tomatoes and add them to the pan. I used a can of tomatoes as they were all I had until my next Ocado delivery comes on May 1st.

Now cook it down until all the moisture has evaporated and the oil is starting to separate from the dry masala.

Now add the chicken and stir-fry in the masala until browned. The recipe calls for chicken joints on the bone but I used chopped chicken breast as, again, it was all I had. If you use breast meat, treat it gently so that it doesn’t dry out. I stir fried just to seal the meat and then added water to the pan to reconstitute the masala into a sauce and simmered gently for 30 to 40 minutes.

Add a teaspoon of Garam Masala and (if you’ve got some in The Time of Covid – I didn’t) chopped fresh coriander before serving.

I served it with cauliflower dal, steamed rice, raita and tomato and onion salad.

 

The Numbers

638 new deaths in hospital today. Over 19,500 in total officially.

The News

Donald Trump suggested that people inject themselves with disinfectant to treat the virus.

The New Way of Life

Very short one tonight I’m afraid. It’s 6pm and we’ve just come back from our bike ride. We did 10 miles again.

I did the back garden this morning – had a day off from writing. The weather is fantastic and I wanted to be outdoors.

I’ve finished reading The Handmaids Tale and started The Testaments.

Last night was “The Clap” – very poor turnout on our street! Are people getting fed up with this? What’s going on?

We had our first BBQ of the year last night. Started to watch a movie called Code 8 but it was so awful we turned it off and watched a BBC Series called Twin instead – quite promising.

Tonight is quiz night again with writers group and partners. Alcohol will be involved. Yesssss!

I’ve cooked a curry – its becoming a Friday night Covid thing. North Indian Chicken.

I thought I’d share the recipe with you but I haven’t given myself enough time! Will do it tomorrow.

Were going to eat early and get set up for the quiz! Byeeeee.

 

 

 

The Numbers

It’s 3.30 pm. I gave you yesterdays numbers yesterday and todays haven’t come through yet.

The WHO have warned that up to half of all deaths in Europe have happened in Care Homes. Truly shocking.

The News

26.4 million people have claimed unemployment support. Almost a third of the population!

Guidance for resuming air travel has suggested leaving the middle seat on the plane free to enable social distancing. The boss of Ryanair (obviously a covidiots) has refused to do this, citing it as ridiculous.

Scotland has published their lockdown exit strategy. It will be phased with pubs and restaurants last to open and large public gatherings to be banned for the foreseeable future. Children may go back to school in shifts, so that pupils are not all at school at the same time.

Experts are predicting a second wave this winter that will be worst than the first. Echo’s of The Spanish Flu.

The New Way of Life

I’m sleeping much better and my concentration has improved. I’ve spent the 3rd day in a row working on my biography project and its coming along nicely. I’m finding if I start writing soon after I wake up, I can keep going till the early afternoon. After that I don’t feel guilty about relaxing for the rest of the day.

So last night I cooked and we watched an episode of Killing Eve followed by the start of a new series called Emergence. Quirky little crime/sci-fi with a hint of Fargo.

We’re definitely settling into the new routine. Eating and drinking less. My weight has stopped going up and I hope its starting to go back down again.

M is doing some work on Resiliance. He’s doing a course that will enable to him to deliver Resilience workshops. Very apt in the current situation.

Thought for the Day

My thought for the day is about hair.

Hair seems to be rapidly becoming something everyone is talking about due to the fact that the hairdressers are all closed.

The internet is awash with videos of people cutting their own hair (usually very badly) or shaving their heads for charity. Don’t make out it’s such a sacrifice guys. Be honest, it was all about vanity and not having much alternative!

There is even talk that hairdressers will be among the first business to be allowed to open. Really? How does that fit with social distancing. Must be fake news generated by sheer desperation.

Women are worried about their roots and all the men I know have stopped shaving. All of them that is, except my poor ex-husband, who is a doctor and has had to shave his signature beard off to make sure his PPE fits properly.

The shaving thing is a bit like what I was talking about a few days ago about our houses being for living in and not for show. If they all hate shaving so muhc why do they do it all? And, will they all do it again as soon as this is all over?

Everyone’s hair is getting noticeably long. One friends husband’s hair has got so long he is wearing it in a little bunch on the top of his head, which she has threatened to cut of with a pair of scissors.

The young guy who lives next door is Nigerian. He always looks incredibly smart and well-groomed. Yesterday, I noticed that even he is developing a slightly unruly afro.

I’m hating my own hair now. I usually wear it short and thinned out. Now, its getting long and thick. I can’t really style it the way I usually do, but I can’t style it in a different way because its not cut that way!

M normally shaves all the hair on his head and face. He’s done since before I met him. I’ve asked hundreds of time to grow it so I could see what its like but he wouldn’t. The closest he came was when we did a two week rafting trip but he shaved it all off the minute we got back to Las Vegas. Now in The Time of Covid, even he has grown a full head of hair and a beard. I really like it! I love the contrast of the tightly curled silver hair against his dark brown skin. I hope he keeps it!

I wonder what we’ll all look like by the end?

PS. Todays death toll came through. 638 in hospitals taking the official total to over 18,000. Were getting closer and closer to the number of 20,000 that they set out at the beginning as the number that they want to stay below.

 

 

 

The Numbers

I’m writing this late today as I’ve been busy. So, I have two lots of numbers to report. Yesterdays death rate was 828 and today’s is 763, so things do seem to be moving in the right direction at last.

The shocking numbers are those that we are hearing about from Care Homes, where it’s thought that deaths have doubled overnight from around 1000 to 2000. 1000 of these are thought to have occurred over the last 5 days.

The News

Its all about PPE. Not enough to go round, shipments going astray and some even being shipped out of the country to other places!

More issues around access to testing for key workers.

The New Way of Life

I’ve been really busy working on my biography project yesterday and today. It’s going really well and while I’m in my flow I want to try and press on with it.

I read a little bit in the afternoon and had a doze on the sofa, I was so tired after my bad night the night before.

M cooked hake for dinner and we watched the end of DEVS.

We had another “incident” of discovering people we know have broken their lockdown. I am surprised by the strength of my emotional reaction to hear about things like this. It really upsets me. I was tossing and turning for ages before I fell asleep thinking about it and it was the first thing that came into my head when I woke up this morning.

M seems much more able to tolerate it than I am and doesn’t seem to understand why I get so frustrated about it. When I think about it, neither do I. I’m usually the one that’s saying to him “You can’t control other people’s behaviour, only your own.”

I think for me it is about a number of things:

• a selfish fear that our own situation will be prolonged if there is a second wave
• a strong sense of unfairness that some people are toughing it out in really difficult situations and making big sacrifices, while others are not
• a feeling of disappointment that we are not really all in it together – only some of us are

Anyway, it’s just making me fed-up fretting about it, so I’m going to try and let that one go now and juts ignore the people who choose to do what ever they want.

 

The Numbers

So, we just might be beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. At 449, yesterday brought the lowest number of new deaths for a while. The last time we were in the 400s’ was at the beginning of April, almost 3 weeks ago.

The News

Boris has said he is reluctant to end lockdown too soon, in case of a second wave.

The Office for National Statistics data is suggesting that the actual death rates may be 41% higher than those that are being reported.

Trump has halted all immigration into the United States for the foreseeable future.

Oil prices have hit an 18-year low, with the price of a barrel being -$37 at one point. I dread to think what is happening to our pension funds and our ISA’s. I’m not even going to think about that until I absolutely have to.

Some of the most successful (apparently) global chains such as Primark and Burger King, are reporting serious financial difficulties.

I dread to think what the world will look like when this is over. It seems certain that it will be changed forever in so many ways.

The New Way of Life

Yesterday, I had the uncharacteristic urge to give our bedroom and bathroom a damned good clean. Changed the beds, washed the towels and gave them both a thorough going over!

I spent all morning, and the early part of the afternoon, cleaning and after lunch I read my book in the garden. I’m still on the Handmaids Tale.

While M was out on his bike ride, I spent some time planning his birthday surprise. It’s his birthday on Saturday. It’s hard to surprise someone when you can’t go shopping and you’re together in lockdown 24/7. Nevertheless, I have a plan. Can’t say anything about it on here in case he reads this!

I made a butternut squash orzotto for dinner. It’s a barley risotto with butternut squash and mascarpone. It was one of my least successful culinary efforts in The Time of Covid. Honestly, it was disgusting. I couldn’t even eat mine. Creamy and rich with not a lot of flavour and a lot of chewing of al dente barley (if that’s actually a thing).

After dinner we took part in another quiz. This time hosted by one of M’s coaching buddies. That’s 3 quizzes in a week with another one scheduled for Friday! It was still good fun though, although we didn’t do very well. We don’t in the “family” ones. Too many popular culture questions aimed at young people!

We watched an epsode of Race Across the World before I went to bed.

I had a dreadful night. I went to sleep about 11 and then woke up when M came up later, around 1am. I don’t think I went back to sleep after that until about 4 or 5 am. I’m going to feel awful later today!

My sleep has been all over the place lately. I’ve been unbelievably tired and sluggish. I’m waking later and later in the morning, and finding it increasingly hard to wake up. I’m having bizarre dreams too. I feel like a teenager again! During the days I feel sleepy and lethargic. It’s just so unlike me.

I’ve heard that a lot of people have been experiencing sleep disturbances during lockdown. Sleeping much more, or not being able to sleep at all, and having strange and vivid dreams. Maybe it’s our subconscious minds trying to process it all?

But, I’ve realised that part of my problem is related to a painkiller I take sometimes called tramadol.

I take painkillers at night for the arthritis in my shoulders. I think I mentioned before that my right shoulder has already been replaced, and my left one is heading in the same direction. I take cocodamol at night and occasionally during the day. Sometimes, if the cocodamol doesn’t get rid of it, I take a couple of tramadol. I’ve noticed that exactly 4 hours after I’ve taken the tramadol I wake up and can’t get back to sleep. At first, I thought it was just a coincidence, but I’ve definitely noticed a distinct pattern now. Going to have to stop taking them at night I think. Trouble is, if I don’t the pain keeps me awake anyway. Hey ho, the joys of late middle age (or is it early old age?)!

Anyway, as a result of being awake most of the night, I’ve taken it easy today and been writing in bed all morning. I’ve been working on my biography project. I’m really enjoying it and its coming along nicely.

But, it’s 2 pm now, and I still haven’t had a shower, so I’d better get up!

 

 

 

 

 

The Numbers

As we enter Week 6, I can’t even be bothered to talk about all the numbers any more, they are so meaningless.

The only ones that are real are the numbers of reported deaths and those are probably a massive underestimation.

For what it’s worth, only 596 people died yesterday bringing the total to 16,060. I say only, not because its a small number, but because its the smallest number we’ve seen for a while now. Then again, it was a Sunday and they have been low all along until we catch up with ourselves on Monday or Tuesday. Let’s see what happens today. We could be over the hump!

The News

The schools are not going back anytime soon!

Germany are lifting some shopping restrictions. Australia are opening some beaches. There have been no new cases in Barbados for a day or two.

Richard Branson has asked the government for a bail-out of £500 million for Virgin Atlantic or they will collapse. Eh? Hang on. This is a guy who is worth £4.7 billion and lives on his own island in the Caribbean where he doesn’t pay tax in the UK. This is what he says in his defence:

The New Way of Life

I can hardly remember what we did yesterday. I made a few calls. Had a doorstep chat with a friend as he passed on his daily walk. Got up late. Read my book. Wrote my blog.

We did a 10 mile bike ride in the afternoon. It was bright and sunny but actually quite cold.

I went to our local Tesco for some tomatoes. Always an adventure in The Time of Covid.

M cooked a pork meatball pasta bake for a late Sunday lunch and we watched a new (for us) science fiction BBC series called DEVS. Quite intriguing so far.

I watched a bit of the big concert Together at Home before bed, while M was looking for pictures of his old rugby days and sharing them with his old (literally) rugby mates. He’s been doing that a lot over the past few days! I have lost count of the number of times he has thrust his phone in my face to show me yet another, usually black and white, picture of them all lined up in their kit in the days when they had hair, muscles and all their own teeth.

Together at Home was an international event with the aim of paying tribute to key workers all over the world. A bit like a Time of Covid Band Aid. It was coordinated in America by Lady Gaga, where they raised millions. But, in the UK we just got to enjoy the highlights without dipping our hands into our pockets.

Basically, lots of musicians performed from their homes across the internet. Performers included The Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Cheryl Crow Little Mix and many, many more. In our UK highlights version, the music was interspersed with lots of soppy (in a good way) tributes to key workers across the country.

The most interesting thing about it was seeing inside the houses of the rich and famous. A bit like a musical version of Through the Keyhole, except that you knew whose house it was from the start. Maybe more like Cribs then, except that you only got to see a small part of the room they were recording in. The best one was Charlie Watts from the Rolling Stones, who pretended to drum his way through You cant always get what you want, in a corner of his sitting room, using some battered suitcases and an old armchair. Brilliant!

Thought for The Day

I’ve been thinking about my house in The Time of Covid. Most of our homes are set up for how they look, and not really for how they function. And, if we’re honest, its about how they look to others, and not really about how they look to us.

No-one has set foot in our house for 6 weeks and probably won’t for months, and maybe even years. I haven’t bothered cleaning or tidying the spare bedroom. It’s become a dumping ground for clean laundry and other items that have been displaced to make room for something more functional.

We live mostly in our ground floor, open plan kitchen, dining and sitting area. That is relatively unchanged apart from the fact that we are keeping our trainers and cycling gear at the front door. Normally, I like them put away.

The decking area outside the bifold doors has become a mini-gym area for M. Normally, I’d be nagging at him to put the equipment away because its supposed to be a nice summer sitting area.

We have an upstairs lounge which is usually the tidiest room in the house. All we really do in there is watch TV sometimes after dinner. Now it has become an indoor workout  area with furniture permantly pushed back to make room for M’s yoga mat and the exercise bike has permanently moved in.

It has made me think that, after this, if there ever is an after, we should try to continue to keep our house how we want it, and how it works for us in terms of how we use it and how we live in it. Why shouldn’t we keep an exercise bike in the lounge if that’s where it works best for us. Why should we have to move furniture back and forth every time we excersise? What can’t the outside space be a workout space and a sitting space?

 

 

 

 

 

Global Cases 2,345,331
Global Deaths 161,191
UK Cases 114,217
UK New Deaths 888 Total Deaths 15,464

The Numbers

I’m starting to think that, apart from the reported deaths, which are in-hospital deaths where the patients have been tested and tested positive, most of the numbers are meaningless.

If we just look at the countries at the top of the worldometer table which is ranked by number of confirmed cases:

• USA 738,792
• Spain 194,416
• Italy 175,925
• France 151,793
• Germany 143,724
• UK 114,217

They are at the top because they have the highest numbers of conformed cases. But the number of confirmed cases relies on TESTING.

The rates of testing (per million population) are:

• Italy 21,598
• Germany 20,629
• Spain 19,896
• USA 11,245
• France 7,103
• UK 6,783

Does this mean that, as we are testing less than Italy, who have a population around the same size as ours (UK 66 million, Italy 60 million), we will have way more cases, and therefore way more deaths, than them in the end?

France and Thailand also have populations of around 66/67 million.

France seems to be coming out the other side of their peak. A week ago their daily death rates were around 1000. We may, or may not, be in our peak now so are a couple of weeks behind them. Their total death rate is 19K and we are already at 15K.

Thailand is testing even less than us. 1,440 per million. They only have 2,733 cases and ony 47 total deaths. Really?

None of it makes sense. The point is that we really don’t know what is going on!

An antibody study in California suggests that 4% of the population have been infected already and not the 0.07% that has been reported. What that does mean is that actual numbers everywhere are likely to much higher than reported. The positive side to that is that actual case fatality rates are much lower.

The News

Whatever the number do or don’t tell us, there is a growing sense in the UK that the wheels are falling off for the government.

An article in The Times, of all places, describes “38 days when Britain sleepwalked into disaster”, citing the PM missing 5 COBRA meetings, dismissing calls to order PPE and ignoring the scientists warnings to take action.

Care home deaths are estimated to be more than 4000 and not the 217 that have been “reported”.

The New Way of  Life

Incredibly lazy day yesterday, largely down to being slightly hungover.

After I wrote my blog post in the late afternoon, we cooked pizza for dinner and watched mainstream Saturday night TV before a very sober early night!

As we haven’t dared to risk a takeaway since lockdown began, our gesture to Saturday night “fast-food” has been to buy basic ready made Margarita pizzas and add our own toppings to them. I add extra cheese, pepperoni chilli and olives. M has all of the above plus even more cheese and, rather bizarrely, sliced hard boiled egg!

Out TV consumption was even more unusual. We watched Ninja Warror, Britain’s Got Talent and Through the Keyhole. I can honestly say, hand on heart, we have never ever, ever watched three back to back Saturday night mainstream TV programmes live on ITV. What is happening to us? Oh yes, its called lockdown!

A Rant!

I am hearing disturbing stories of people I know who are ignoring lockdown. People who believe it’s all a conspiracy and are carrying on as normal, inviting people into their homes and visiting other people in theirs, telling their teenage children that they don’t need to follow lockdown, ignoring the fact that said teenage children are encouraging their friends to break their lockdown and meet up in secret from their parents. Men who are telling their partners that they had to pick up “essential business items” at friends houses which took several hours to do and involved drinking beer, or coming home very late from “work” with stories about cars breaking down.

One “man” sent his “mate” round to get some tools from his house. His partner didn’t feel able to refuse to let him in. A couple of days later, the “mates” wife tested positive for the virus. She was routinely tested because she was a care worker and was completely asymptomatic. How many people has he infected without knowing it? That’s why we are doing this YOU MORONS!

These people will never read this, but if they do;

YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND SHAME ON YOU!

I know who you are, and I will never forget how you have behaved during this crisis. How you have behaved so selfishly and irresponsibly. How you have shown complete  disregard for the safety of others. How you have shown compete disrespect for the sacrifices other people are making and the heartbreaking tragedies so many are experiencing.

Some people haven’t left their homes for weeks.

Some people have been separated from their loved ones for weeks.

Some people have missed out on holidays and birthdays and anniversaries.

Some people have postponed their weddings.

Some people are losing their jobs, their businesses, their homes, struggling to feed their families.

Some people are frightened, stressed and exhausted.

Some people are losing their lives.

Some people are dying alone and being buried alone.

Some people are grieving on their own.

15,464 families in this country are grieving right now and you are selfishly carrying on with your lives as if nothing is happening.

SHOW SOME F***ING RESPECT!

Imagine how much worse it would be if we were all behaving like you. What makes you so special? What gives you the right to continue to do as you please?

Why can’t you just try to be a decent human being?

I am utterly disgusted by you …

 

 

Global Cases 2,280,062
Global Deaths 156,329
UK Cases 108,692
UK New Deaths 847 Total Deaths 14,576

I’m late writing this today. It’s 4.30 in the afternoon! But then again, it is Saturday! We had a late night last night and been a bit hungover today. More about that later, but first;

The Numbers

Death rate still steadily rising. No sign of the start of the decline yet,

The News

The police have published new guidance on what you can and can’t do during the next 3 weeks of lockdown.

You can drive a short distance in your car to exercise but you must be cycling or walking for longer than your are driving.

You can’t drive somewhere, get out of your car for 10 minutes and drive home again.

You can go on a very long walk and stop for a short break to eat a picnic lunch.

You can’t walk down to your local park and sit on a bench all afternoon.

You can buy non-essential and luxury items as part of your big shop.

You can‘t make a special trip to the shops to buy them.

You can buy tools and supplies to repair a broken fence.

You can’t buy paint and brushes to redecorate your kitchen.

And so on, and so on …

The good news is that you can excersise outside the home more than once a day! Yey!

There is more and more talk about the fact that this is going to take years rather than weeks or months, and the economic impact will be devastating.

We are becoming resigned to the fact that it could be a very, very long time indeed before we go out for a drink or a meal, go to the theatre or the cinema, or have a holiday. But, we have our home, we are ok for money and we have each other, so we are more fortunate than many.

The New Way of Life

I didn’t do any exercise yesterday because of my vertigo. I read in bed until the early afternoon and I felt a bit better.

In the afternoon I cooked a lamb curry and a cauliflower and lentil dahl. They were delicious, even if I say so myself.

We had virtual writers group, via the House Party app, from about 5.30 pm until 7.30 and then our partners joined us for a very boozy quiz-night.  We won!

At writers group I decided that, when this is all over, I’m going to copy and paste this Covid blog into a book and self-publish it on Kindle Direct Publishing. It’s not really because I think people will want to buy it and read it, but because it means it will be a more permanent record of these strange times we are living through. If it just exists on this website/blog, it will be gone if and when I give up the site. If it is in book form it will still be there for my grand children and great grandchildren to read 50 years from now.

Fell in to bed well after midnight. It felt like the closest thing to a night out we’ve had since we went into isolation.

Today we had a very long lie in, then lazed about, rehydrated and comfort ate to feed our hangovers until 3pm when we took part in another quiz! This time it was organised by my daughter’s partners side of the family and was very much a family affair. It was fun!

Totally exhausted now after so much social activity in 24 hours!

Writing this then going to watch the finals of MasterChef with another can of Diet Coke and some nibbles.

 

 

 

 

Global Cases 2,192,597
Global Deaths 147,376
UK Cases 103,093
UK New Deaths 861 Total Deaths 13,729

The Numbers

As expected, the death rate rose again today after the numbers from the Bank Holiday weekend filtered through. However, it’s not as bad as I expected, assuming we are being told the truth of course.

I’m hearing about more and more people in the village who have been affected. There is a pub a few doors down from us and, often in the mornings, I see the cleaner in there working, or sitting outside having a cup of tea with the owner. Yesterday, as I returned from a little walk the owner was in there sweeping the floor with the door open. We spoke for a bit. He told me the cleaner, an elderly lady, had been admitted the night before and is now on a ventilator at Heartlands Hospital. I hope she’ll be ok.

A young family have revealed on the village Face Book group, that their father has been fighting for his life on a ventilator for the past two weeks. He has three young daughters.

Apart from the USA our numbers are the highest at the moment. The new deaths in Italy and Spain are slowly falling to around 500 a day. France is similar to us. We have the fifth highest total number of deaths and we are still not through the worst.

Truly strange and terrible times.

The News

I didn’t even bother listening to the daily briefing yesterday.

Unsurprisingly, they announced that lockdown will continue for at least another 3 weeks and social distancing will probably continue until a vaccine is available.

China have announced a much larger (over 50%) than first reported death rate prompting claims of a big cover up – again no surprise there.

Pick a number, any number.

Still big concerns around the lack of PPE. PPE! There’s an acronym very few people will have ever used in conversation pre-Covid. Now its all anyone is talking about.

Captain Tom’s 100th birthday came and went and he has raised £18 million so far. He’s decided to keep going as long as people are donating, and his legs hold out!

The New Way of Life

I’m a bit late writing this today as I’m not feeling 100%. Since my 20’s I have suffered on and off with a condition called benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). It’s basically dizziness and nausea that is provoked by head position or sudden movements. I  noticed it yesterday and had a bad turn when I turned over in bed last night.

I don’t get it very often now. It can be years in between attacks. A bit annoying that it has come along now. Usually it comes when I am tired and stressed. Despite the current situation I am neither at the moment. I haven’t slept so much or been so relaxed in years.

M and I were discussing yesterday why it is that I am so relaxed at the moment. I think it’s a combination of letting go of stuff I have no control over, and having no trips, events or other activities to plan for. I’ve even got more chilled about keeping the house clean and tidy. What’s the point? Don’t get me wrong, it’s not dirty or a mess, in case you imagined us both living in squalor. It’s just not as immaculate and pristine as I usually like it to be. I even left some washing in the machine overnight a couple of days ago!!!!! What’s going on?

Anyway, I’m going to get M to do the Epley manoeuvre for me in a bit. That usually helps.

I did my accounts yesterday and dropped them off with my accountant (in a socially distant way) on my way to and from the shop to get a little bit of shopping.

Came back and made a carrot cake with all my languishing, left-over carrots. I couldn’t get icing sugar and had to make some with caster sugar in my spice grinder. Still not quite enough, so the frosting was a bit soft but otherwise yummy! So much for not making any more cakes!

The weather is still beautiful. Our bike ride was lovely apart from the fact that a teenage boy came so close to me that his arm brushed against mine! We were taking a breather on the side of the road, half way up a big hill, when he came down the pavement and did a big skid turn right beside me. It was weird. All the way home, I could almost feel the spot on my arm where he had touched me. I couldn’t wait to get in and wash him off.

It must be so difficult for teenagers and their parents at the moment. There are lots of posts on social media that are shaming teenagers who are not following the social distancing rules, and judging their parents. They are a difficult group to parent in the best of times. They must be nearly impossible to deal with now.

In the evening, we had another Clap for Carers at 8pm. It seems to be getting shorter and less enthusiastic as time goes by. It has evolved into more of a catch up with the neighbours.

We binge watched an interesting series on Netflix called Unorthodox. After a slow start it got really good. Based on a true story of a young woman who ran away from New York to Berlin to escape her life as an oppressed wife in the ultraorthodox community in Williamsburg, New York. We’d definitely recommend.

M exchanged emails with his consultant who was pleased to here that everything is going so well with him. He needs to arrange some blood tests and an ECG with the GP as the azithromycin can have some serious side effects. He still seems really well though!

Anyway, its 12.30 and I’m going to try and get up in a bit. I’m supposed to be cooking a curry this afternoon. Were having a virtual Writers Group tonight followed by a curry and quiz night with all of our partners. Might even put on some proper clothes, other than tracksuit trousers and sports tee-shirts, and maybe some jewellery and makeup!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Global Cases 2,084,744
Global Deaths 134,685
UK Cases 98,476
UK New Deaths 761 Total Deaths 12,868

The Numbers

The numbers continue to grow and there is a growing body of evidence that confirms that those that are reported are far less that the actual numbers.

Included in today’s deaths, is a 28-year-old nurse, Mary Agyapong who died 5 days after her baby daughter, also called Mary,  was delivered by Caesarean Section to save her life. To say this is a tragedy does not even begin to be enough.

The News

There has been a huge reaction to Trumps withdrawal of WHO funding but nothing has chnaged in regard to that yet, as far as I am aware.

The big fuss is about the lack of PPE for Care Homes. Covid is tearing through care homes across the country and the staff there (and therefore the residents) have little, or no protection against the virus.

Most of the talk though, is about the impact on the global economy and the likelihood that we are about to enter a depression worse than the Great Depression of the 1930’s.

There is no doubt in my mind that our world will never be the same again on many, many levels.

It is expected, but no surprise, that the government will announce a 3 week extension to thr lockdown today, amid concerns that people are beginning to relax and not adhere to the rules as strictly.

It’s actually getting on my nerves now that we are told what is going to be in the daily briefing before it happens. At the beginning, it was a bit of a daily “event”. We would sit down and turn on the TV after our daily exercise to hear from the government about how the “fight” is going and what is going to happen next etc. Now, we get told the big news before it happens and the rest of the briefing is a stream of extremely dull and uninformative pre-prepared questions with pre-prepared answers. Most of it isn’t even the whole truth and smacks of desperate propaganda.

On a brighter note, one of the big stories today is that of Captain Tom Moore. The 99-year-old war veteran has been walking 100 laps of his garden with his Zimmer frame to celebarte his 100th birthday and raise money for the NHS. He has captured the attention of country and, so far, has raised over £12 million! His original target was £1000.

The New Way of Life

I had a more productive day yesterday. I did some work on Wait for Me. It’s a slow and frustrating process. I finished the first draft it in 2015 and some of the writing is not great, putting it politely. I think I have fallen out of love with it, but really want to finish it. I have to resist the urge to rip it up and start again, or give up on it completely. I know that’s an overreaction. All I need to do is to get it into a better shape, get it proof-read and self-publish it! I’m only on Chapter 4 and have another 11 to do. I’m also planning to add an additional chapter towards the end.

I did that, on and off, for most of the day in between phone calls with various people and conversations with M but have still only completed half of the chapter.

Oh, and I ordered a lovely new duvet set for our bed! I decorated the room in an Indian inspired theme, after our trip there a year or two ago, and am always on the lookout  for suitable bedding. This one has been popping up on my social media feeds over the last week or so and yesterday I finally gave in and bought it.

One of the phone calls yesterday was from my accountant. She is ready to receive my accounts for 2018/19. There was some talk about not being able to give them to her until this is all over, but she’s happy to take them as it does not pose a real risk to either party. So, that’s my work for today sorted. I have to finish my books for March and tidy it all up to give to her – in a socially distanced way of course!

The remote control for the TV in the bedroom broke yesterday. We’ve had to order a new one on Amazon. Normally, we could just pop out and get one. Don’t know when it will arrive. I don’t actually mind. It means we are getting up earlier and not watching the morning news in bed until 9am, or watching rubbish late night movies after we have gone to bed!

My friend, who had a bad case of the virus that started 4 weeks ago, has been taken ill again after seeming to recover. She’s back in bed with a headache and vomiting. Very worrying.

The weather has been glorious. I read in the garden for a bit after we came back from our walk. We had a lovely walk around the village, crossing paths with a few people we know, and having “socially distanced” chats with them.

I was a bit troubled though, by the number of people that are using the canal tow paths to walk or cycle on. We walked near the canal for about 10-15 minutes and saw at least 12 people squeezing past each other on the narrow path in that short period of time. There is absolutely no way they can keep a safe distance apart on such a narrow path. I don’t think I am alone in my concern, as this morning the Parish Council have shared a post from British Waterways about avoiding using canal paths unless absolutely essential.

So, its only 9.50 and I’m done here for today. Off to do my accounts before enjoying the last day of sunshine for a while apparently.