Isolation

 We are both much better today than we were a week ago, but have not yet achieved “normality”. Our main issue is tiredness, so much so that at times we feel our legs are no longer going to support us. Other issues are coughing and congestion. We don’t feel that our Covid experience can be described as “mild symptoms”.

Last Saturday, Sunday and Monday turned out to be the three worst days. Nicky feels that she was never quite as bad as me, but her recovery doesn’t seem any quicker. The self-isolating has of course meant that we had a quiet week, and a bit of a change to our routines. Going back to bed at least once a day, usually in the afternoon, has become regular. The extra sleep has been very welcome. 

The week has not been without its relative excitements. On Monday, Jacqui, our lovely caravan-dwelling next door neighbour moved out. She has bought a wee house on the other side of town where we hope she will be very happy. She hasn’t sold her section yet, but has had some interest despite her FaceBook account being hacked, which has proved to be a major problem. The police are involved.

On Tuesday our New World supermarket delivery arrived, brought by a very nice young man who kept his distance with us having Covid. I think this is the first time we have done an on-line order in Aotearoa. 

Frances up the road delivered some A2 (i.e. lactose-free) Light Blue (i.e. semi-skimmed) milk to us on Friday, purchased from Countdown (our New World doesn’t stock it, and I couldn’t order it on-line from Countdown). It took her three visits to the shop to get it. It’s a good job, for us, that Frances is determined and persistent. We also felt well enough for a few hands of Mah Jong. 

On Wednesday I started doing the jigsaw of the OS Map centred on 142 Park Road in Loughborough, that I purchased in 2005 for our first Christmas holiday in Tenerife. It took me until Saturday to finish it and discover that there was a piece missing. We also discovered that the quiz night is probably were we picked up Covid. It was a super-spreader event. There were only three teams there this week, and even the quiz master had to appoint a stand-in.

Thursday was Budget Day. Our main take-away is the removal of prescription charges. Even though it’s currently only $5 and after 20 prescriptions in any give year, the rest are free, it will make a difference to us. One prescription in the count of 20 could have six items each at $5 on it, so I think it will save us $200-$300 a year.

We also had the very nice NZ Post van lady deliver a large parcel to us. From information on the shipping label I was able to ascertain that Dr Milly was the sender. It was a brilliant Ravensburger jigsaw of books on shelves. We have started it today, and are particularly enjoying the book titles.

We also received the sad news that three people we know have died this week. Two church folk known to Nicky in Auckland and Whanganui, and Nicky’s cousin Sam in London.  (Lynne’s husband and Moira’s brother-in-law). A post mortem to establish the cause of death is going to be required.

Friday morning here was Thursday evening in England, and for those of you who missed it, adrenaline fulled events were taking place at Hillsborough in Sheffield. With the football season drawing to a close, Sheffield Wednesday had finished third in League One (the old third division). This meant that they hadn’t qualified for automatic promotion but were going into the play-off’s with the three teams who finished below  them. The play-off’s consist of two-leg semi-finals at the teams’ home grounds, and a final at Wembley. Earlier in the week Sheffield Wednesday had lost 4-0 at Peterborough, and the second leg was played at Hillsborough on Thursday evening. I was able to watch the BBC text commentary. The chances of Wednesday scoring 5 goals to win on aggregate were very slim. But by half time they were 2-0 up. Late into the second half they scored a third, and then in the last minute of added time they scored a fourth. The aggregate score of 4-4 meant they had to play Extra Time. Within a few minutes Peterborough had scored, but in the second half of extra time Sheffield Wednesday scored again. At the end of extra time, with the aggregate score at 5-5, a penalty shoot-out was to decide their fate. Sheffield Wednesday won 5-4. The crowd of around 34,000 were, as you can imagine, a little overexcited. All they have to do now is beat Barnsley in the final next week.

We started yesterday with a FaceTime chat with Jancis. It was good to catch up with her as we have’t chatted for awhile. We had the prospect of the water being turned off from 9am-2pm for some maintenance work, but in the end it didn’t go off until until around 12.15 and was back on again by 2.30 so didn’t present us with a problem. Unlike the weather, which has been regularly wet this week. There have been some lovely periods of sun which have warmed our home nicely, but much of the laundry has been dried inside. Late yesterday we started with strong winds and heavy rain which lasted until this morning. The river is now looking very full and fast, and the wind played musical chairs with the wheelie-bins:

Take care, Rick and Nicky.