Day Sixty-Five - Blah, Blah, Blah

There are noticeably more people about in the mornings now. But it's not that they're taking their essential exercise. They're going to work, poor souls. And I would think they're heading for the station so they're using public transport. It will be interesting to see, in about two weeks after the lockdown easing and people started to return to work, whether there is a spike in the rate of infection. If there isn't then I think we may have cracked this thing to a degree. But I feel there will be.

Once a year, around the time of my birthday, I have to have a hypertension check at the surgery. You have to have a blood test to check that the medication isn't buggering up the kidneys too much. And you have a chat with the nurse who takes your blood pressure and you talk about health stuff in general. It's not anything I enjoy particularly but for the last few years I've had the same nurse who I really like and we get on quite well. However I was absolutely dreading the anniversary this year. When the post arrived this morning and a letter popped onto the mat I could see that it was THE letter. And I threw aside all the sanitation protocols and opened it. To my absolute relief the letter said that they would be conducting the interviews by telephone. I do have to have a blood test but they actually say it's not urgent, have it when the clinic is open again. I'm supposed to have a cholesterol test as well. That was due in March but there was no way I was going to make an appointment at a time like this. So I phoned the surgery. I had to wait 15 minutes before I got through but no matter I wanted to get it sorted. And I have an appointment for a couple of weeks time. They were very pleased that I have my own BP monitor. She said the nurse would phone me but unfortunately she couldn't give me a time. I said it doesn't matter because I'll be here anyway; Stay at Home. Stay Safe! That's if I don't go down with coronavirus from having opened the post that I should've left for about three days. Oh, they call the receptionists care navigators now. Seriously?

I walked a little further today. My body is getting too used to the route I do. It's only a few metres more but I need to build up gradually. I've learnt my lesson of trying to do too much in too short a time. My younger body could cope with it but this old wreck of a body can't. I have to cross the road by the traffic lights and then I walk along a lovely grassed area until I get to a tree stump which I walk round and then come back again. I'm going to do that for a few weeks and then I shall go further until I get to the footpath that would take you to the ruins of a Norman castle.

I've included a close-up photo of part of the ruined castle. And there is a seagull in the top right. I thought it might make the blog look prettier. Not that many people are reading it now. I know there is one person who does regularly. So thank you very much. You know who you are. 😉

What music have I been listening to? I'm glad you asked. I've been listening to Gary Numan. Two albums and an EP. Splinter. Savage. The Fallen. Not only have I seen Gary several times in the last few years but I've also met him. He is really nice guy. Really down-to-earth and unpretentious. I had my photo taken with him but because I hate myself in photos I'm not going to post one here. Potentially anyone could see it. And I've come to the conclusion that once people meet me in person or see what I look like then sadly my credibility plummets. People judge by appearances all the time. I often wonder what it would feel like to be physically attractive or beautiful. A friend of mine who is said she doesn't like it because men look at her and they don't see her, the person that she is, they only see her physical attributes. And I guess that must be true. But I would've liked to have been more pleasing to the eye than I actually am. I wonder how my life would've turned out. Because I'm sure I would have been a bit more confident.

I've been fortunate enough to secure another Sainsbury's shopping slot. I think that's about the fourth I've had during this lockdown. So I think I've been really lucky. But I'm getting dangerously low on a number of things. I say dangerously. That's a silly way to put it. If I couldn't get the things I'd go without and improvise.

The coronavirus death rate is certainly falling both in care homes and in the wider population. But I do remain sceptical of the statistics and how to effectively interpret them. The news that I seen today suggests that there were plans for "airbridges" between countries with low coronavirus infection rates. So that Britons were given fresh hopes of a summer holiday abroad. Oh my giddy aunt so let's go spread the infection shall we? Or am I being unreasonably cynical? However from early next month quarantine measures are going to be introduced to prevent a second outbreak of COVID-19. All arrivals into the country including Britain's themselves returning from abroad will have to self isolate for two weeks with possible fines for anyone who breaches those rules. You'd have to trust everyone to do that though, wouldn't you? And if only that had been done right at the start we might not have the alarming death rate which we have. Still hindsight is a wonderful thing blah blah blah blah blah.