Day Fifty-One - Birthdays, Complaints and Statistics

No walk today while I try to give my body a break. But I missed it! There is no doubt my day is better for it, mentally. I am more positive and motivated to  do 'something' with the day when I've had my early exercise. I've felt sluggish and out of sorts all day today. I had written a list of some things I need to 'achieve' but they weren't major initiatives.

It is my sister's birthday tomorrow. A lockdown birthday. She has requested no physical tokens to acknowledge it. But I want the day to be 'celebrated' in some way. I found a website with some positive feedback that do musical greetings cards. So I've ordered one to be sent tomorrow. And I'm going to send her an iTunes album. Little Dragon who I was listening to last week have a new album out which sounds perfect to me as it was she who lent me their album to burn in the first place. I also pay for her to have membership of the Tate. It's ongoing and I've done it for several years and she really does appreciate it. She was telling me that just before lockdown her last outing day was a really wonderful time at Tate Modern and it was worth a year of membership to have a day like that. But it's bugger all use at the moment!!

Sorting something for the birthday was one thing I wanted to do. Then I was signed up to for a slot on a  bookstagram tour for a new book. So that had to be done. Then I had an issue with Thomson and Morgan an online garden site. At the beginning of April I ordered one packet of sweet pea seeds and two bags of compost. Now that I'm physically challenged I can't buy the more economic huge bags of compost I have to go for the smaller 20/25L bags. They aren't always easy to get and nowhere local had any in stock because of the huge demand during lockdown. I found some with T&M so I ordered them along with the seeds. Then they said they wouldn't be despatched until the end of April, the compost that is. The seeds arrived quite quickly. I didn't fret about the compost until we got to the beginning of May and there was no sign of it. I checked on the website but my order only shows the sweet pea seeds. I emailed them. They said they'd reply within 2-4 days. They haven't. I tried phoning. Phones aren't manned because of Covid-19. Fair enough. I then resorted to social media. I got a reply to my tweet asking me for details which I gave them. Nothing. No response. So if I haven't heard back by tomorrow I shall threaten them with a Paypal dispute for goods not received.

The weather has been beautiful say. Sunny and bright. But I've been indoors a lot because the constant barking dogs,  music and the power tools just isn't pleasant to listen to. I wish we could organise one day a week that could be designated a 'Peaceful Day' so that those of us who might just want to sit out quietly can do so. I thought it was just me being a curmudgeonly old lady. It's not. My next door neighbour knocked for his key because they'd locked themselves out putting out the rubbish! We were chatting and they commented on how noisy it is out there, the dogs in particular seem to annoy them.  It's a sign of the times I think that people seldom consider how their actions might impact on others. And of course during this lockdown with everyone home at the same time and wanting to be in  their gardens at the same time its cacophonous.

Apparently though some lockdown measures will be eased on Monday according to the PM. That includes allowing more outdoor activities. If that means people around here will go out I'm happy to remain at home and have some peace and quiet in the garden!! In the meantime I'm sticking to my plan of going to the chemist tomorrow morning as my 'walk'. They don't open until 9.00 a.m which is ridiculously late to me nowadays!! Just hope I feel a bit more chipper.

The UK has the highest number of officially recorded coronavirus deaths in Europe. It's a dreadful thing to read. But sometimes the statistics don't tell the whole story. There's relativity here, surely because size of population should be taken into account? Maybe there are figures elsewhere that do that. But I think you can get too bogged down by the numbers; how many tests, how many cases, how many self isolating, how many deaths.........  Perhaps the main thing to look for in the numbers is, quite simply, a reduction. That might mean more than all the statistics put together.