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.

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.

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.

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.

Mavis update

Mavis went from hospital into a nursing home. We went and looked round several, some of which were absolutely beautiful and usually astoningshly expensive. It turned out that the social worker had selected two cheaper ones and suggested we choose one. Both lacked the exquisite decor but the staff were really caring. We chose the one in the country and Mavis has been really happy there.

The awkward thing when we were looking round places was that, because of the wheelchair, the staff would assume I was the patient. The first time I just looked horrified and then wished I'd made a joke or just said 'Oh you thought it was for me' in a friendly voice but I didn't. I just looked horrified. The worst bit was when we went into a lounge and another woman in a wheelchair and smiled at me like 'I've got a new friend' but she hadn't. Well if Mavis had gone there I would have been her friend but she didn't.

Anyway it's good that Mavis is settled. We can't go and see her now though, not with the virus situation.

What happened next?

 Just to try and lighten things a bit I'm going to do this thing where occasionally I select random bits of my blog from the past and update on what happened since then. So this is the first:


'Friday 15th August 2008

It's been a bit of a while since I wrote anything but life has been hectic of late. Faith Camp was truly awesome but I can't really put into words what it was like, perhaps I'll talk about it more later. We all really enjoyed it especially J who loved the children's group he was in and also enjoyed the bungee trampoline. We're even contemplating going again next year and camping. There seemed to be such a good community spirit among the campers and also of the food on sale J would only eat chicken nuggets and bacon rolls. It might be easier if we were preparing our own food.

Our hotel to be honest was just a bit on the grotty side. We know where not to stay again.'


Yes Faith Camp (a large Christian conference/event run by Kingdom Faith Church) was awesome and the next year we did camp. Camping was mostly ok apart from the rain and the wind and the beetles. And P was a great camp cook - bacon and egg at 7.30 anyone? And we went back for another eight years after that. Then the year before last they announced it was coming to an end. Big shock! In its place last year was another Christian event called New Wine which was very different and much, much bigger but very good. Won't mention weather. J didn't come. Said had had enough of camping.

Shopping trip

P went shopping today. There were still some empty shelves but he managed to get this:

It's a tiny bottle of hand sanitiser but a tiny bottle of hand sanitiser is better than no bottle of hand sanitiser.

Difficult times

Ok so I didn't have Coronavirus which is good. I think it was exhaustion really. Feeling a lot better now.

Boris's update yesterday has obviously changed everything. I'm trying to get my head round the fact that all my social activities are about to stop. Of course this is of miniscule importance compared to the prospect of people getting seriously ill or dying.

It all seems so unreal and sudden. On Friday we went out to the theatre. Now the theatre is closed. For how long? Who knows?

We haven't heard what's happening with our church but others in the area have closed and presumably ours will too. Who would ever have thought that churches would close? 

P says the last time theatres and churches closed was in 1665 during the plague.

We are to stay away from restaurants and pubs etc and avoid non essential travel.

And non urgent operations are cancelled. We are only to go to the doctor if it's really necessary. NHS staff are under immense pressure. Holidays are cancelled and people are stranded abroad. Businesses are under severe financial pressure.

People over 70 are shutting themselves away in their houses and most of us are severely restricting our social contacts. And many are worrying quite how they'll cope with that.

And there have been 55 deaths from Coronavirus in the UK.


Who would ever have thought that all this would happen?

If you are reading this of course you know it all already but some day I'll look back and I may not remember quite what it was like.

Praying for everyone affected all over the world. And that it will stop, that it will come to a sudden, abrupt, miraculous halt.

Feeling ill

We've been going up to see J quite a lot recently and we went up there on Friday and stayed overnight. Yesterday morning, while he and his housemate were still not up, P and I popped out to the local supermarket. I saw a nice summer dress and wanted to try it on in three sizes to see which would fit. It took ages to get an assistant to come and open the changing room. When we saw the length of the queues I understood why. (I didn't get the dress - it showed too much flab flesh at the side). We just bought a few bits and headed back to J's house.

As I walked up the path I started to feel ill, as in sick and dizzy. "We have to leave now!" I said to P and I got into the car. He packed up and we drove home. 

Since then I've been feeling ill but I haven't got a cough or fever so I don't think it's Coronavirus. Have been at home today resting. Will see what happens. 
 

Uncertain times

So where do I start?

Well of course the thing that's on all our minds right now is Coronavirus. It's been approaching with a horrible inevitability and now it's been unleashed in the UK. The thing is at the moment no-one knows exactly what's going to happen and it must be hard for the politicians to decide what to do.

The panic buying has been horrible. Being someone with health issues I use hand sanitiser on a regular basis eg after using an ATM. As I was getting low I innnocently went out to get some and... there was none! Not any anywhere. And hand sanitiser is appearing for sale at extortionate prices on Ebay and other sites and you can't get much of a sadder reflection of our society than that.

And then there was no tissues, paracetamol, hand wash, soap, pasta, tinned tomatoes, toilet paper etc etc. Ok people might need to buy a little bit more but people piling their trolleys high with multiple packs of the same thing isn't necessary.

We tend to keep our cupboards well stocked with food anyway because it is possible for us to get snowed in and not be able to get to the shops. We might run out of a few things but we haven't been bulk buying. We'll just use up whatever we've got.

At the moment one member of my extended family probably has the virus though not too badly. A friend's nephew also has it.

It's my elderly family and friends that are on my heart especially my dad and uncle and  Mavis. If any of them get it I may simply never see them again.

We have already cancelled plans to go to Wales for Easter and we had been planning to go to Ireland in May (have booked cottage) and ferry and that's looking unlikely. 

Uncertain is really the word that describes things at the moment.

Hello again

It's sort of been a bit of a long time since I blogged. Life has actually been a bit tough really. Among other things J became really unwell. 

Sometimes you just kind of get from one day to the next and that's a major achievement.

Sometimes you go into the bathroom and have an emotional meltdown and say you can't go on. But you do go on. Because you have to.

Anyway life has gone on and there's been er quite a lot happening in the world since I last blogged.