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Wednesday 1 April 2020

Virtual's not the same

A lot's been happening in our world and in our nation. It still feels like a bad dream.

And I've been staying at home and staying at home and staying at home... I did have a little scoot round the garden today though.

We had virtual church on Sunday which is good but not quite the same somehow. And I've been to a virtual coffee morning which I didn't enjoy very much. Zoom is great but I always go kind of shy on it and I don't find it very easy. When someone asked how I was and I said J had possibly had the virus and two other family members as well but they were recovering and we were fine and P was clearing out the loft and bringing boxes down for me to sort and some were unopened since our house move in 2002 there was a silence.

 Was it boring or did words fail them?

 I don't know.

 Everyone was saying how bored they are but I'm not. I've got a lot of praying to do and messaging friends and family to do and reading to do and learning German to do and sorting boxes to do... 

Lonely in a way yes, missing seeing people yes, missing going shopping and to coffee shops and cafés and theatres and cinemas yes.

 Bored no.

Don't think I'll go to virtual coffee morning again anyway.

Tuesday 24 March 2020

What happened next?

Another 'What happened next'

This was 31st December 2011:

I've just looked up my post for last New Year and I had flu. So I'm very thankful for being relatively healthy this year, except my leg is hurting. It hurts every morning when I wake up but usually eases off if I stand on it for a little while but today it's kept hurting. Never mind it will get better.

I'm sort of wondering about some resolutions, perhaps:

1)    Pray and read the Bible at the start of each day as far as possible
2)    Get up on time and be generally better organised in the mornings
3)    Sort out our bedroom so instead of a dumping ground for clutter it becomes a peaceful,      harmonious and restful place to be
4)    Finish my essay
5)    Get back into my dark blue jeans
6)    Sort out my kitchen cupboards
7)    Spend some time with God praying about future and especially about church situation
8)    Go on a healing course
9)    Wear nail varnish more often
10)  Get my hair cut regularly

You know what, I'm going to do all these, not all at once but I'll work towards them so by the end of the year they've happened. Where's the nail varnish?

So what happened? 

Well my leg doesn't hurt like that any more. It hurts in other ways but not like that. Actually I'm really thankful it doesn't hurt like that any more.

So what happened with the resolutions?

1) Yes I pretty much did that.
2) I think I pretty much didn't do that.
3) I STILL haven't done that. Nine years later and our bedroom still isn't sorted.
4) I never finished that essay. I gave up the (theology) course.
5) Since I've been on the Acid Watcher Diet I have lost weight. And this week I GOT BACK INTO MY DARK BLUE JEANS.  I've been trying to slim back into them for 14 years and now it's happened!Yes! Yes! Yes!
And embroidered jeans are back in fashion again.
6) Nope. Never got cupboards sorted. Well did make a start and cleared one but it got clogged up again. Still in these days of isolation and empty shop shelves  we will probably be eating all the stuff at the back of them, however old it is. 
7) Yes I did that and we left our church and moved to the new one and have never looked back.
8) Yes did that. In fact have been on lots and lots of healing courses since then.
9) Had a bit of an attempt at doing that but didn't keep it up really. Occasionally I wear nail varnish.
10) Well if three times a year is regularly...

I don't do resolutions any more.
I have goals now.
 

Acid Watcher Diet

It's a bit complicated dealing with the current situation at the same time as managing my other health issues as in ME and arthritis and osteoporosis and acid reflux and a few other things thrown in.

The acid reflux is the big problem right now. I am on a special diet now called 'The Acid Watcher Diet' which is based on a book by Dr Jonathan Aviv. The first phase of this is quite restrictive but is only supposed to last 28 days. I've been at that stage for three months now.

The problem is that everyone is different and so although a food may be 'approved' on the diet someone may still have a problem with it. It can take a while to sort out what the'trigger' foods are. Also there have been a couple of times it's been derailed when I've been out or when I've eaten something and not realised it wasn't ok.

My main problem is what they call 'throat burn' which is when your throat literally feels like it's burning. My ears can be affected too. I'll explain the science behind this another time.

This period of isolation really is an opportunity to get the diet sorted and hopefully start to feel better.

Tonight I had frozen banana, soya milk, peanut butter and a teaspoon of manuka honey all mashed up together in the blender. It was yummy actually.

The main foods/drinks I'm not supposed to eat at the moment include coffee, chocolate (!), citrus fruits, fruit juices, sugar (!), berries, wine, processed foods, additives, white bread, rice pasta etc, garlic, pepper, 'hot' spices or any uncooked spice, onions, a lot of cheeses.

P has been making me wholemeal soda bread which is delicious.

Just hoping this is going to work cos acid reflux is horrible, it really is.

Adjusting

Have had a sort of can't quite get a grip day.

The news got to me a bit this morning because it's one thing when you look at statistics and it's so many people have died from the virus but another when they start having names and they were someone's mum or grandad...

Having to make conscious effort to trust God and take one day at a time.

J is feeling a bit better so that's good.

We're adjusting to our new way of life, as in basically not going anywhere, though P will have to go to the shop at some point. We are now getting our newspaper online, which isn't the same at all, but needs must.

Monday 23 March 2020

We have to take this seriously

So things have escalated. J developed a dry cough on Friday and has been very tired and a bit achey so is self isolating. Feeling a bit better today. Is it Coronavirus or not? No way of telling but have been doing lots of praying.

On Friday as I got into bed I had a sudden strong urge to cough. Wanting to protect P I held my breath, grabbed some bedding and headed to the living room. Soon realised that it was in fact a bad acid reflux attack. Think propped up on sofa, still awake at 4.30 am, guzzling Gaviscon.The cause of this, I think, was having eaten some melon.

I haven't even been outside the door for three days and after Boris's update this evening I'm not going very far. I do need to make  an effort to go into the garden though.

I can cope with this if I take one day at a time. I think.

We have to take this seriously.

All of us.

We really do.

We have to stay away from other people.




Thursday 19 March 2020

A 'Walk' in the country

Yesterday P and I went for a little 'walk' as in me in wheelchair and P pushing. Despite all that's been happening spring is still springing and the flowers are coming out and it was quite a nice sunny day.







But then we hit a problem:







The way ahead was muddy. Mud and wheelchairs aren't a good mix so it was quite a short walk.

It continues

So the virus is marching on. The situation in Italy is horrific. The numbers of cases and deaths are rising in this country. The government has introduced special measures including announcing yesterday that schools are to close. It's necessary but so hard on young people preparing for exams.

I haven't spoken to anyone except P since Saturday. Tonight we are going to have a sort of virtual mini church housegroup. This was my suggestion and I thought we would just go on WhatsApp and chat and post videos or recordings if we wanted. Then one person suggested Zoom or Google Hangouts and another Skype. Trouble is some of us are using phones and some laptops and P says he's not loading Skype on his computer and most of us are aging technophobes (apart from P).

Will see how it goes. Be good to connect in some way. I miss those people sooo much.