Tag: self-isolation

Global Cases 1,529,401
Global Deaths 89,416
UK Cases 60,733
UK Deaths 938

Highest number of deaths so far have occurred over the last 24 hours and we are not at the peak yet. I read an article in The Guardian which was based on an analysis by The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in Seattle. They predict that:

• the UK will become the country worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic in Europe, accounting for more than 40% of total deaths across the continent
• 66,000 UK deaths from Covid-19 by August, with a peak of nearly 3,000 a day, based on a steep climb in daily deaths early in the outbreak
• discussions over “herd immunity” led to a delay in the UK introducing physical distancing measures
• we won’t reach our peak until the middle of next week between the 17th and 19th or April

Back in our isolation bubble, it was a beautiful day yesterday. Warm, bright and sunny. so much so, that we got the cushions for the garden furniture out and spent some of the afternoon reading outside with a long, cold rum and coke.

Both of my knees are complaining about the cycling now so we went for a long walk instead. While we were out, we checked up on the saplings that M planted on the Village Green the day before we went into isolation. All except two were doing really well, despite them being pretty much neglected since this all started. I’m worried that they will need watering with all this fine weather but there is no simple way to do this in lockdown. I even wondered if we could wheel a couple of full watering cans down from our house in a wheelbarrow, but is that a valid reason to leave our house?

On our walk, we passed a row of houses down at the edge of the village. A police car and ambulance were parked outside one of the houses. A man was sitting on his front step with his head in his hands, as a police man had a “chat” to him whilst leaning against his police car 2 metres away. No idea what it was all about, but my nosey, Covid-fuelled writers imagination went in to overdrive for a long while after!

I put my jeans on today and they were alarmingly tight. I’ve really got to try and eat less and be more active, or none of my clothes will fit me by the time this is all over.

M went out for a short bike ride later (very naughtily having a second sneaky excercise session in the same day). While he was out, I sat outside and read my book in the sunshine. My peace was shattered by the sound of angry male voices coming from the street. I wandered out to find M’s abandoned bike in the middle of our parking area as he stomped back from the front of the house huffing and puffing with rage.

It turned out he was one of men who had been shouting! After he had calmed down, he explained that a car had forced its way past him on the village’s main street where the road is narrowed by parked cars. He had banged on the window of the car in his annoyance and then the car had done a u-turn and followed him all the way home trying to intimidate him. He had jumped off his bike and gone back for socially distanced “altercation” which involved a lot of shouting and arm-waving, but always from a distance of 2 metres away!

I’m sure the little drama was the highlight of many people’s locked-down day!

Social Distancing Dilemmas

I spoke to my sister, my daughter and my mum today. A lot of our conversations were about what is, and what is not, ok to do under the social distancing rules. It feels as if  logic and common-sense have been displaced by a fear of social judging and shaming.

My niece lives in Harrogate, a 15 minute drive away from my sister’s (her mother’s) house in the rural Yorkshire Dales. She is in lockdown with her boyfriend, who was visiting her from London when everyone was advised to #stayathome. The are stuck in a small flat with no garden or balcony that they can use. When they go out for their permitted daily exercise, they have no choice but to walk around the streets of Harrogate, or the Valley Gardens, along with everyone else in a similar predicament. So, they asked my sister if they could drive over to her house and take a couple of bikes from the garage, obviously without going into the house or having any contact with anyone.

At first, my sister couldn’t see why not. No-one was going be infected or put at risk. But, then again, was it really a necessary journey? If they had bikes, they could exercise further away from home and ease the congestion on the streets and parks of Harrogate. It would also be good for their own mental and physical health. The logic and principle seemed sound enough but, in the end, the fear of what my sister’s neighbours would think convinced them all not to do it.

My nephew has been coordinating his daily walk with that of his friend, who lives nearby. They walk the same route at the same time each day, always staying 2 metres apart but enjoying the chance for a face-to-face catch-up. He is finding lockdown particularly lonely because, unlike his sister, he is separated from his girlfriend. Is he wrong to “meet” with his friend for their daily walk? Logic says he’s not doing anything wrong. If he “bumped” (not literally) into his friend by pure coincidence they would probably have an impromptu socially distanced conversation anyway, so why is it wrong if it is planned? But, they have been chastised by a local woman, who challenged them about who they were and whether they were from the same household.

Similarly, my 83 year old mum, who is in lockdown in a tiny apartment in Harrogate with my dad who has dementia, goes out for walk in the Valley Gardens every morning between 6 and 7. My niece (the same one as above) has suggested that she could go for a walk in Valley Gardens at the same time as her Granny, and that they could have a socially distanced face-to-face conversation. Again, they are worried about whether this could be seen as “breaking the rules”.

Also, my mum would love to go out for a second walk later in the day, just to get a break from my dad. Logic says that two short walks in one day by one person would equate to one long one by someone else, but she is afraid to do so in case she gets into trouble. As no-one is about when she goes for her early walk, I asked her how anyone would know that it was her second walk of the day, and she said that she is fearful she would be seen on the CCTV footage from their building security system!

My daughter has a step-daughter who is splitting her time between her parents, as is permitted under the social distancing rules. As she is moving between two households, logic would suggest that these households are essentially mixing through her. The two women wondered if it would be ok for her mum and baby (half) brother to come in to my daughter’s house when she is dropped off. Logic says it makes no difference to their risk of transmitting infection but fear of being judged and shamed by the neighbours has prevented them from doing this.

On a more sombre note, late last night, we started to see some posts on social media that suggested that M’s cousin in New York might have passed away due to Covid-19. Last night we were confused and thought it must be a mistake, but sadly, this was confirmed for us this morning. We last spoke to her in January when we were in Barbados and she and M had a long phone conversation. He had recently obtained his Bajan citizenship and she wanted to pick his brains because she was considering doing the same. Shocking and very, very sad.

News

The PM’s condition is improving.

The Chancellor has announced a £750 million bail-out package for charities, who are struggling with lack of funding.  So many of what we regard to be essential services are actually delivered by charities, including hospices and respite care and air ambulances!

Global Cases 1,446,992
Global Deaths 83,090
UK Cases 55,242
UK Deaths 786

Weirdly, yesterday’s post isn’t showing up on my blog.  It’s in my list of posts on my admin site but not on the website itself.

Oh well, maybe it will show up soon. Our internet is weird at the moment. Also, apparently some social media sites are blocking “misinformation” posts about the Big C. If only, my little journal was so important and widely read that it has been censored. Ha! Ha! Let’s see what happens today!

I’m feeling a bit lethargic today. I write these posts retrospectively, writing today about what happened yesterday. I’m finding it increasingly hard to recall what happened the day before. The days seem so long and yet pass by so quickly at the same time. Maybe its time for a change of tack.

So what do I remember about yesterday? Slept in late, rapidly becoming our new normal. Had a very long (over an hour) Facetime with our son in Sweden. Did some work on the biography I am writing, as I had a meeting with my client/subject/fellow writer in the afternoon (a virtual meeting of course!). Had my meeting at 3pm. Went for our bike ride after that but had to cut it short as M had a flat tyre.

When we got back the window cleaners were in our back garden. Really? Is this an essential service? I was surprised to put it mildly. I was more disturbed though, by the fact that they had violated our outdoor safe space. Like our house, no-one has been in out back garden except us since the 16th of March. I was aware that I was behaving like an irrational crazy woman when I wiped down everything they might have touched with disinfect. Or was I?

It was lovely day again. It really feels like spring is here in earnest now. This time last year we were about to head off to Harris for our St Kilda adventure.

PM is still in ITU. Numbers still rising. People still dying.

When we went up to bed and I went to close the bedroom blinds, there was an ambulance in the street with its engine running. No-one was in the cab so I presumed they were working on someone in the back. Suddenly, a young man jumped out and ran down the ramp into the underground car park for the apartments opposite our house. He drove out in his car a minute or two later. He parked up in front of the ambulance then went back inside it again. A moment later he emerged again, jumped in his car and sped off. The ambulance stayed there with its engine running for ages after that. We could hear the engine running long after we turned of our lights. I got up and looked out again a bit later and it was sitting with all its lights off, interior and exterior, but with the engine still running and no-one in the cab.

I went of to sleep with the awful feeling that someone might be fighting for their life in the back of that ambulance. Maybe they had even lost the fight. Maybe their partner had raced off to the hospital to meet them there, only for them never to arrive. Who were they? Did they live behind one of the sets of windows we can see from our house? There are several apartments where there has been no sign of life for weeks, curtains and blinds closed, no-one sticking their heads out for the Thursday night clap. It’s mostly a young transient population who live in them and have never really got to know any of them. Are there other people who we don’t know about, struggling behind these windows, battling on their own with this horrible virus?

 

 

Global Cases 1,356,380
Global Deaths 75,762
UK Cases 51,608
UK Deaths 439

So, we’re into week 4 now.

We really seem to have slowed down. We only complete one or two significant tasks a day. It’s as if we’ve gone into partial hibernation. We talk about things we could and should do but we just never seem to get around to them. The days drift away and into each other. Even though there is a terrifying global catastrophe occurring in the world outside our isolation bubble, we are both more relaxed than we have ever been. I’m a bit worried about how we will cope when this is all over and we have to start being productive again!

Typical day for M:

• wake up late
• coffee in bed watching the news
• phone or Facetime friends and family
• mid-morning exercise session
• lunch
• watch some TV after lunch
• phone or Facetime friends and family
• bike ride
• watch daily news briefing
• dinner
• TV
• bed

Typical day for me:

• wake up late
• coffee in bed watching the news
• phone or Facetime friends and family
• reading and writing
• lunch
• watch some TV after lunch
• phone or Facetime friends and family
• bike ride
• watch daily news briefing
• dinner
• TV
• bed

There’s not much point in repeating day after day what I’ve done (or haven’t done) so, from now on, I’ll only report things that are out of the ordinary to spare you the sad monotony of what our lives have become.

I can’t remember if I mentioned that I am in a small local writers group. We meet every month or so and always prepare a piece of homework, which is a short story or flash fiction based on a randomly selected brief. Today, I critiqued my fellow writers short stories from our last meeting. We read them aloud on the night, but also critique them more formally using a structured format, on a one-to-one basis after the meeting. It allows us to be a little bit more honest, and offer some genuine constructive criticism that will help us all to improve out writing skills. At the meetings, which are very sociable, we tend to be very supportive and encouraging of each other, as well as enjoying reading each others work and our different interpretations of the brief.

The daily government news briefings are becoming very uninformative and uninteresting. I might stop watching them. They are sounding a bit too much like propaganda now, for my liking. Telling us what a marvellous job they are doing, telling us what the latest statistics are and speculating about what they might, or might not. mean. Taking lots of pre-planned questions, that they never really answer, from chosen journalists who all ask the same thing.

Had a doorstep 2m apart chat to a friend as he passed by on his walk.

Spoke to my sister, my daughter and my mum. No one had very much to say to each other anymore as nobody is doing anything.

Watched some MasterChef, Great British Menu and the War of the Worlds. We watched TV in separate room for a while this evening. M watched a “shoot ’em up” downstairs (which I hate), while I watched Contagion upstairs (which is the type of thing that he hates). Interesting film. Very similar scenario to what we are experiencing now; a respiratory virus that originates in China when a bat virus jumps to a pig and then to a human. However, it is a very overdramatised version of the current pandemic. Case fatality rates are 25%! Lock down and social distancing doesn’t seem to kick in until there are much higher numbers of cases worldwide. Civil unrest is a big problem with looting and rioting. It all ends when they develop and vaccine and people can only come our of isolation when they have been vaccinated and have to wear a wristband to prove it.

I wonder how we are going to get out of all of this? There is talk of an antibody test being developed and then people who have had it and are immune can be identified, and allowed to carry on with their lives. It’s a problematic solution for many reasons. Morally, it might appear that people who have not been social distancing and have caught the infection are being rewarded, and people who have followed all the rules and avoided infection are being punished. People might deliberately try and catch the disease so that they can resume their lives. People like M, and others who don’t seem to be able to catch it will be unfairly penalised. People who are immune could potentially profit at the expense of those who are not.

Anyway, The Scottish Chief Medical Officer eventually resigned.

The big news of the day is that our Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, had been moved into Intensive Care. I found this news very shocking. I actually felt a shiver pass through my body. Even M reacted, and he normally plays down these type of dramatic Breaking News announcements.  It prompted a flurry of messages between friends and family. I think it was a kind of “this shit gets real” moment for everyone. We see the numbers every day, and read and see stories on TV, about people who have died, but we are all still so detached from it all. To have prominent figure like this (who we all feel that we know a little bit, and all have an opinion of, one way another) become so seriously ill, it really makes the whole thing suddenly seem very real indeed!

If the worst happens to poor Boris, it will send shock waves throughout the country.

I sincerely hope it doesn’t.

 

 

Global Cases 1,284,665
Global Deaths 70,320
UK Cases 47,806
UK Deaths 621

The Worldometers site have added a Tests per Million Population column to their spreadsheet which makes interesting reading, in the countries who are currently reporting the highest numbers:

Italy – 11,436

Germany – 10,962

Spain – 7,593

USA – 5,355

France  – 3,436

UK – 2,880

Iran – 2,214

It wil be interesting when this is all over to look at what the impact of the different strategies has been and hopefully learn some lessons for the future, in case this ever happens again:

To herd. or not to herd? To lockdown, or not to lockdown? To test, or not to test?

It is odd how quickly we all seem to have adapted to this new way of life. Death rates of 600 and 700 a day, falling from our tongues without an appropriate emotional reaction to the horror of it all.

At the end of our first three weeks, it seems like a good moment to reflect on what is good and not so good about being in isolation.

The not so good things about it are:

• not being able to see or have cuddles with the grandchildren
• feeling a bit detached from what is going on in the world outside
• eating and drinking more than is good for us
• trying to find a safe and easy way of getting our shopping done
• a growing anxiety about when and how this is all going to end

Some positive things about it are:

• enjoying each others company and supporting each other through this
• getting out for a bike ride every day
• experimenting in the kitchen
• talking to friends and family more than we usually do
• catching up with people we haven’t spoken to for a while
• seeing young families going out for walks together

I’m sure there are more but these are the first few that spring to mind.

So, today I spent the morning working on the second draft of my NYC Short Story. I’m feeling much happier with it now.

I cooked us both a substantial Sunday Lunch of Roast Beef, Yorkshire Puddings, and Gravy, with Roast Potatoes, Maple Roast Parsnips, Ratatouille and Broccoli, followed by Maple and Walnut Pudding with Homemade Vanilla Custard. I’m really enjoying taking the time to be creative in the kitchen, but we are both gaining a bit of weight, in spite of our daily bike rides. I don’t think were alone there, but we must cycle further and eat and drink less in Week 4!

After lunch, I headed back into the office to do a final edit and polish on my story with a bit of help from my friend the proof-reader. I submitted it at about 7pm, several hours before the deadline. The results will be announced in May – fingers crossed!

I had a day off from cycling today. Call it a rest day, before we tackle the longer distance tomorrow.

There is talk of outdoor exercise being stopped because of lots of people who are breaking the social distancing rules. I really hope that doesn’t happen. It would be much, much harder to get through the next 9 weeks if we couldn’t get our for our little bike rides!

In the evening, we watched a distinctly average movie called Crossing the Line and the next episode of Race Around the World.

The big news of the day is that the Scottish Chief Medical Officer has been caught and shamed big time for flouting her own Stay at Home guidance, by spending weekends at her holiday home in the countryside. For me, it’s as much about flaunting the fact that she has a second home, when there are millions of people cooped up in tiny flats without gardens or balconies, as it is about spreading the virus.

Boris Johnson has been admitted to hospital. Although they are playing it down, I don’t think that sounds very good. He’s been ill for 10 days.  Generally, they are not admitting people unless they are critically ill. Hopefully, they are just being extra cautious because of his position, but then that raises questions about elitism and inequities of access to care. I’m not a fan of Boris or his politics, but I certainly wouldn’t wish him any harm. I genuinely hope he’s ok.

Finally, the Queen addressed the nation tonight. We didn’t watch it ourselves, but it was apparently all very patriotic and rousing with echoes of We’ll Meet Again from the Second World War. I’m sure she means well, but I doubt that the covidiots who are putting the rest of us at risk by ignoring social distancing rules, will be persuaded to change their behaviour by a 93 year old, millionaire who lives in a castle. Apologies for the cynical irreverence but that’s just my personal opinion.

 

 

 

Global Cases 1,213,194
Global Deaths 65,600
UK Cases 41,903
UK Deaths 708

Another short one today. I’ve got my head down editing and polishing my story for the NYC Midnight Competition.

I’ve finished the first draft and sent it to a few friends for their initial thoughts. I’m not entirely happy with the ending.

Death rates keep rising. It’s almost incomprehensible to read these numbers and fully understand what they mean. A five year old boy has died now.

Keir Starmer has been elected as the new leader of the Labour Party. Not terribly important in the great scheme of things.

The weather forecast for the weekend in very good prompting lots of please from the government and on social media for people to stay indoors.

4000 inmates are going to be released early from prison because of the virus. Prisons are massive hotbeds for infection as well as struggling with staff shortages due to the sickness.

I rang a few folks. We went on a bike ride. I watched a bit of MasterChef.

We had Pizzas for tea to try and make it feel like a Saturday. We watched a slightly odd movie called The Killing of the Sacred Deer – not sure I would recommend it.

Home haircuts are becoming a thing. People are posting pictures of their efforts. Our daughter-in-law has pretty much shaved the heads of our son and grandson with the clippers. The wee one is a bit shy about his but they both look great! It could be the new badge of honour for surviving lockdown!

I keep my hair fairly short. It’s beginning to feel a bit thick and shaggy already. God knows what it will be like in another 10 weeks. I normally have it cut about every 6 weeks. By the time this is over it will be 16 weeks since my last cut!

Anyway, back to my story!

 

Global Cases 1,133,767
Global Deaths 60,396
UK Cases 38,168
UK Deaths 684

It’s going to have to be a short post today as I’m now in Round 2 of the NYC Midnight competition! I have three days to wrote a story of up to 2000 words in the Drama genre, with an Injury theme and a character who is a Migrant. I have the idea, so just getting on with the writing now!

We slept in late again! Very unusual for us and especially me!

We finally got the call we wanted from the Respiratory Nurses and the GP and M has his Azithromycin prescription. I picked it up from the local chemist in the afternoon. Such a relief! If he continues with his physio and excersise now it should prevent him from getting another chest infection!

Usual routine, writing and reading in the morning and bike ride in the afternoon.

After the bike ride we took the car out for a short run – just to make sure it was still working! It’s been sitting on the drive for two weeks! It must be feeling very lonely and unloved.

Our daughter, F, left us a surprise package in the back garden when we were out. Donuts for M and pearl barley for me! Very exciting. M loves his donuts and often slips them in to his trolley when he goes shopping. But, they haven’t been on my isolation essentials shopping list. I think he must have been secretly reaching out to her to take pity on him. Ha! Ha!

The main news of the day is that with the death rate increasing we may be approaching the peak. Two young nurses and have died of the virus, leaving behind young families. The PM is still in isolation has he is still unwell.

We had our last mindful Chef meal for dinner, Korean Steak with Rice and Pickled Carrot.  We watched the last two episodes of Season 2 of Kingdom – the ending was a little disappointing – and the latest episode of Our Girl.

We’re running out of good things to watch!

As it was Friday, I allowed myself a lovely bottle of chilled Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc!

Right! Back to writing my short story!

 

 

Global Cases 1,018,920
Global Deaths 53,292
UK Cases 33,718
UK Deaths 569

Today the number of people who have tested positive for Covid-19 globally crossed the 1 million mark. The real number of infected is almost certainly many, many more.

The USA is seeing the biggest surge in numbers now, with the situation stabilising in Italy and Spain. Absolute numbers are obviously related to population size, and if we look at death rates per million population it gives a more accurate picture of how hard each country has been hit.

Deaths per million population:

Italy 230

Spain 221

Belgium 87

France 83

UK 43

Iran 38

Sweden 30

USA 18

Germany 13

China 2

I’ll just leave that there … lots of questions spring to mind …

We didn’t have a great nights sleep because M’s chest was bad. We’re learning the hard way that he must exercise vigorously every single day. The day before, we didn’t go out for a bike ride. I was resting my knee and M just didn’t get around to it.

As a result of being awake in the night we slept in late.

I rang my Mum, who is anxious about the fact that there is a case in their building. It’s one of those retirement, warden controlled apartment blocks and so it’s full of elderly people. It could be a disaster if the virus took hold in there.

Face-Timed my daughter, who is struggling to entertain a bored toddler. They did some painting yesterday for the new Nightingale emergency hospital in London. A request had gone out on social media for some rainbow paintings to brighten the place up. The rainbow has become the kids symbol of the virus. Painted pictures of rainbows are on display in windows all over the village and beyond (I presume). The local doctor’s surgery even asked for some to display in their windows. It turns out though, that the Nightingale request is some sort of scam and they don’t want them after all. What is wrong with some people ?!?

Also Face-Timed my son in Sweden who was out SHOPPING! How very weird.

Mike did a work-out with James Haskell on You Tube. Lots of moaning and groaning and huffing and puffing.

My excitement about being on the Ocado Priority Access list was short-lived. I got a text about substitutes in my delivery and when I went online to see the details I was told I am no longer on the priority list. I am very confused. I have emailed them again to ask what is going on.

Anyway, our delivery arrived today and we are fine for a couple of weeks now, so hopefully it will be sorted out by the next time we need anything.

I went through a complicated rigmarole to cleanse our shopping, cleaning everything with disinfectant spray and taking anything I could out of its external packaging. Everything I ordered arrived except flour and red wine. Oops sorry M!

It was another lovely day and we went out on another bike ride. My knee is still sore but not as bad as it was. It’s so lovely to get out in the fresh air. Never have exercise induced endorphins been more important! We always feel good when we are out there and GREAT when we get back.

There is a house we pass, on the route we have been taking this week, that has a small army of gnomes lined up facing the road. It’s really quite bizarre. I don’t know if they’re always there or whether its just a Covid thing. I have seen gnomes in that garden before but never lined up in rows, facing the road, as they are now! Weird and a little bit wonderful!

I’ve got a slight sore throat and headache. Pretty sure it’s nothing, and is fueled by Covid paranoia and hypochondria!

Still heard nothing from M’s consultant so we rang the GP. They had received a letter, dated the 2nd of March, explaining why his 3rd of March appointment had been cancelled, and that he would not be seen again until June. We should have received a copy but never did. It must have got “lost in the post”. Doesn’t really matter in the great scheme of things. Anyway, the GP has faxed a letter through to the consultant, saying that they would be willing to prescribe the prophylactic Azithromycin if she just gives them the go ahead. We’ve done all we can now. Just need to wait and hope it eventually gets sorted out before he gets another infection.

The daily briefing was delivered by the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, who is back from his Covid isolation. He looks well. No sign of Boris though, maybe he’s not faring so well. The briefing was a litany of excuses and explanations as to why the testing thing has gone so badly wrong and their plans to address this. Talk is cheap, so we will see …

M took some sausages out of the freezer a couple of days ago that needed to be eaten, so we had a very “naughty but nice” dinner of sausages, potato wedges, egg and beans for him, and the same for me minus the sausages – I hate sausages, especially the smooth pale ones when you can’t tell what meat is inside them.

We went out at 8pm again for the “Clap for Carers” event. This time, as the clocks have changed, it was still light and it was lovely to see everybody. Our neighbours on the right came out too this time, loudly banging a couple of pots and pans.

We watched a movie called The Decline and gave in to a couple of tots of rum! It is Thursday after all!

 

Global Cases 787,438
Global Deaths 37,846
UK Cases 22,141
UK Deaths 180

So, they’re saying that the deaths rates are stabilising. We have been on a steady 200’ish for the past few days. Will this stop it though, or just drag it out? I suppose dragging it out is what they are aiming for to prevent overwhelming the NHS.

It’s really proving hard to get an online shopping slot. As the word it that there is wait of a few weeks for a delivery, I thought I’d plan ahead and get one in, well in advance of when we will run out of things. We have already run out of fresh vegetables. I’m going to try and get these from the butchers again. They have been brilliant and they know us too. If I phone between 1 and 3 and place an order, I can collect it the next day.

All the other online delivery services say they are prioritising vulnerable people. How does that work? how do they know you are a vulnerable person? How do you access priority delivery slots?

It seemed like time to find out why M never received a “very vulnerable person” letter. Maybe that’s the key to unlocking all these priority services? I rang the GP and was asked to email the practice manager with the details of his condition etc. 5 minutes later he got a text telling him he is a very vulnerable person and that a letter is in the post. We will wait in anticipation to see what that brings.

Horrible dull, rainy day. Neither of us felt like going out so I did 30 minutes on the exercise bike while watching the Great British Menu.

EasyJet have announced that they have grounded all flights which promoted me to try and get in touch with Ryanair again. Very unhelpful and, frankly, rude interaction.

“Because your flights have left already we can’t help you.”

“But we tried to change them before they left. Because we had checked-in they were locked. The website advised us to contact someone to unlock them. We couldn’t get through to anyone by email, phone or on-line chat.”

“Unfortunately, because your flights have left already, we can’t help you.”

“But that’s not my fault, I did everything I could to contact you before they left. I even submitted an online query/complaint, dated before they left, as evidence that I had tried to contact you.”

“Unfortunately, because your flights have left already, we can’t help you. Is there anything else I can help you with today?”

!!!!

We still have EasyJet flights booked for May. If we want to change them without a fee, we can do so until tomorrow. Trouble is we don’t know when the rugby will take place now, if ever. So when should we re-book them for? I’ll have to make a decision on that tomorrow.

On a cheerier note, M had a go at making bread today with the flour F got us. Brilliant result!

Mindful Chef box arrived with four meals this week, so dinner’s sorted until Friday.

My internet is still playing up! Very slow and dropping out all the time.

The days seem very long when I look back and try to recall what happened, but they also seem to go by very quickly. I’ve not once felt bored or had nothing to do. In fact, sometimes I don’t seem to be able to make the time to do what I said I would do each day. What does that mean?

In the evening, I tried out my first virtual choir session between 8 and 9. I’m in a Pop Choir and we usually meet on Monday evenings. For me, sadly, it just didn’t work and I left after half an hour.

First, my internet kept dropping out and the screen kept freezing. By the time I reconnected I had no idea where we were. So, I switched over to my phone and 4G. Better, but by now I had no idea where we were. Also, getting the phone in the right position was a challenge, especially when the battery ran out and I had to plug it in. Looking down at it, as it lay on my desk under the constraints of the charging lead, was not great for my self-esteem. Seeing my saggy features and droopy neck hanging down over the screen was bad enough, but the thought that this was the view of me that everyone else was seeing was way too much!

It wasn’t just that. It was hard to sing on your own when learning a new part.  Usually there is an element of safety in numbers, when you are surrounded by others singing the same part as you. Having heard my part once I subsequently had no idea if I was singing the right notes or not.

I’ll have a practise in the week and get myself set up better next Monday.

We had salmon and pesto bubble and squeak for dinner. After the failed attempt at virtual singing, we watched the series Ozark on Netflix. It was so gripping we watched all the remaining episodes and stayed up till way after midnight! Wow, dirty, dirty stop-outs!

The news is getting very monotonous now. Nothing really new to say or to hear. There was an interesting story about some of the police being a bit “over-zealous”. Could explain my sister’s experience the other day, which did seem a bit harsh.

The Jack Grealish story has made the national news and he’s issued an apology.

I’ve decided to go alcohol-free Monday to Thursday from now on. Trying to curb some of the unhealthy quarantine behaviours.  Succumbed to a small Bailley’s last night. Does that count? It’s more like a slightly alcoholic dessert in my mind.

My friend is still struggling with the virus. Every time she feels better she gets worse again! Worrying times!

M heard about the first death in our family. His cousins son died last night. His cousin, M, is an elderly lady with dementia, who lives in Barbados with her husband, E. Their children all live in the UK. E reached out to M last night when they heard that their eldest son was dying in hospital form the virus. He passed away during the night. We don’t know the man who died, but we do know his parents. So, so sad to know that they are in such pain on the other side of the Atlantic with none of their family with them.