A Momentous Day

Yesterday was a momentous day as the first COVID vaccines were administered to the elderly of our nation. Once more we need to be thankful for our NHS service which has the capacity not only to deliver these vaccines but also to do so without charge. We have a lot to be thankful for, not least that thanks to research, it has been developed in the first place. At last there looks like might be an end to the uncertainty and never ending fear of COVID even if it’s not until well into next year. 

Across the world people are set to experience one of the loneliest Christmases in living memory. My heart goes out to anyone who lives alone and I am extremely grateful for the fact that my own widowed mother currently lives with my youngest brother so even if we can’t go and see her she will not be alone.

 

I currently live with my husband and two sons so I won’t be alone this Christmas either but celebration with the wider family is definitely looking doubtful at the moment. 

 

I’m very behind on my Christmas preparations this year and am struggling to develop any enthusiasm for the festivities. I’m not particularly fond of online shopping for presents. Unless it’s something specific, I’d rather see before I buy when it comes to presents for other people and prefer the inspiration of an actual shop rather than searching through random websites.

 

So I delayed the majority of my Christmas shopping until after this second lockdown. And then last weekend disaster struck. Towards the end of last week my husband’s foot swelled up for no apparent reason. On Saturday I took him to A&E where he spent most of the day being tested for a blood clot because he has a heart condition. The result was that they thought it was an infection and he was sent home with antibiotics, and because he was told not to put any weight on his foot for at least a week, a Zimmer frame. Four days later and things haven’t improved much and due to his mobility he can’t do very much for himself. He doesn’t feel ill in himself, which is a good thing, but he’s getting very bored and frustrated as he’s used to being active and it’s hard to see him so incapacitated. 

 

As if that wasn’t enough, on Monday my youngest son was sent home from school as he had been in contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID and now has to self-isolate for the next fourteen days. He’s not worried for himself but for me and his dad as we are both in a vulnerable category. So far he has no symptoms but if he does test positive later this week we’re all going to be in isolation over

Christmas. Perhaps this is a first world problem but if I don’t get my finger out and soon, if we do have to go into isolation then Christmas won’t be delivered and as a woman I will feel like I have failed my family. 

 

Fingers crossed he doesn’t develop any symptoms and that we don’t either otherwise it’s going to be a very zoom Christmas. At least we have the internet and a lot to be thankful for. 

 

Hope you all stay happy and healthy during the “festive” period!

Life Is Like A Butterfly

The past few years have been very up and down for me and what with bereavement and ill health, mostly it’s been more down than up. 

At the beginning of this year I really felt that the dawn of a new decade was going to be a fresh start. Well, COVID certainly put paid to that for me as well as the rest of the world.

 

It’s strange to think how the world has changed this year – who would have thought back in January that wearing face masks would become the norm?

 

In many ways life for me hasn’t stopped since COVID. I’ve worked all the way through it and at first working from home was a bit of a transition – especially with everyone in the house at the same time.

 

But you have to try and look on the bright side and the lack of a social life has certainly benefitted my writing and I’ve tried to carve out a little bit of time each day (even if its not much) to write.

 

I’m a bit of a butterfly in my writing, flitting from one project to another, so this year I decided to change my tactics and focus on one project at a time. 

 

You may recall that in February 2018 I suffered from an unexpected brain haemorrhage and ended up having surgery at The Walton Centre in Liverpool. I’m so grateful to the staff for saving my life, and I think that during this crisis the NHS staff have certainly been recognised for the fantastic job they do.

 

But it did take me a long time to recover and for a while I had to put my writing on hold. The whole experience was completely out of my comfort zone and I decided that I would write a memoir about it. I’ve always kept a journal so on days when I couldn’t manage anything more creative at least I had an outlet and it also helped to keep me sane.

 

So when NaNoWriMo came around last year I decided to go for it and by the end of the month I had completed a very rough first draft.

 

This year I’ve spent a lot of time editing it and managed to get to the point where I was ready to submit it to an agent. Unfortunately, when the first agent came back to me she told me that it wasn’t right for her. But on the plus side, she did say that it was well written so that gave me something to hope for.

 

I dusted myself off and have since sent my manuscript out to five more agents. How I selected them is another story and now while I’m waiting for them to get back tome, I’m carrying on polishing the rest, just in case I get asked to submit a full manuscript. I’m also thinking about my next project.

 

Wish me luck.

The Merrie Month of May

May has always been one of my favourite months of the year, not least because my birthday falls in the middle of it. But to me its when the country properly comes alive after winter.

From March onwards things start to change, trees and borders bloom with colour and the weather gets warmer and the nights lighter.

But by May it often feels like the beginning of summer and we can celebrate the joy of being outside without having to wrap up against the cold (not always of course because we do live in England).

This year we are of course much more restricted but having a bout of good weather does ease the isolation and I'm eternally grateful that we do have a garden and are so much more fortunate than those who don't.

Sadly this May I won't be celebrating my birthday with my extended family or by going out for a meal, but I will make sure that I will find some quiet way to celebrate - we do still have a lot to be grateful for.

V E Day Celebrations

It was wonderful to watch the VE celebrations on Friday although it was such a shame that they had to be carried out in isolation.

One of the streets in Chester (above) actually made it to be shown on national TV with their music and re-enactment of the day 75 years ago.

Nothing quite as dramatic happened on the street where I live. In the most part people seem to keep themselves to themselves although we are becoming friendlier on our daily walks and when we all come out on Thursdays to show our appreciation for the NHS and key workers. 

It was wonderful though to watch the celebrations on Friday evening. This could be the last time  that we have a chance to thank the brave men and women who gave up so much to make sure that our country was spared the dictatorship of Hitler. 

They fought to keep this country free and we all owe them such a huge debt. The sacrifices of everyone who went through both world wars should never be forgotten.

And yet now we are fighting a war of our own. A very different kind of war but the song 'We'll Meet Again' bears resonance today. I'm sure we all have loved ones whose we would love to hug and spend some time with. I haven't seen my mum since the middle of March because she lives too far away and contact with my gorgeous grandchildren is sporadic and only through a window.

But I consider myself lucky. I'm living with my family and for the most part we are all getting on well - so much better than I thought we would, being cooped up all together. 

And so we might have our freedom restricted for the moment, but we all know that this time will pass. Those who lived through the two world wars didn't have such security and still they fought on bravely. We have so much to thank them for.

What Strange Times!

First of all I hope all of you are surviving these strange times and managing to keep well and safe with the large part of your sanity intact.

Its incredible how quickly we have all adapted to a completely different way of living in such a short space of time. 

Thankfully I've been able to work from home, which as I'm freelance is a godsend because at least I'm still earning some money. I like being at home so its not that great of a hardship for me although it feels very strange having all the rest of the family here and finding a quiet space in the house is proving to be quite a bit of a challenge.

Its strange how going outside has become such a scary prospect. Its only a few months ago that I didn't think twice about jumping into the car and nipping to the shops for a few odd bits. Now shopping is a once a week event, filled with anxiety and to one shop only. Yesterday I did our food shop and it took me two hours - one hour of which was spent queuing to get into the shop. Not that I'm complaining, if that's what it takes to keep us safe then its a necessary precaution, it just goes to show how quickly we can adapt when we need to.

The photo above is one I took years ago. I've been trawling through my archive of photos taken locally and thought that this might add a bit of brightness to the day.  As lockdown goes on, I think I might post some more - photos taken when we could go out and visit different places.

Without the daily commute, being mum's taxi and always having to be somewhere else, I'm finding that I have some time on my hands. Time to do all those jobs that I never usually get round to - well sort of. I have a long list and am gradually working through it, but what I'm also doing is writing more - or rather editing. I've decided that I want to make the most of this time. I'm a big believer that out of negative must come something positive. And this is going to be my positive.

What about you? What are you doing to while away the hours?