Day Ninety-Nine - The End of the Road, A Summit Reached

Well today, friends and countrymen, I reached the end of the road. I can go no further in that direction on my walk. But my attempt to take a photograph of the beautiful view was once again thwarted by my phone telling me that I was out of memory. I'll try and sort it so that I can add a photo tomorrow.
I also saw one of my absent wavers today. I haven't seen her for a few weeks. So I actually spoke to her today and said I hadn't seen her for ages, I was worried about her. She said it was very sweet of me. We exchanged some pleasantries and found out that we are both early birds, both enjoy that part of the day the best, both in the vulnerable age range and are both fairly cautious about what might be ahead. We agreed that doing this walk in October or November at this time in the morning might not be as much fun as it is now! She said it was very nice to talk to me after all this time. So I came home pretty buzzy.

I'm going down to see my friend later. I'm going to take some of the meals I prepared for her daughter. And I'm going to be quite emotional I think because it could be sometime before I can get to see her again. If her treatment begins in the next couple of weeks, and I'm pretty sure it will do, it may be that she has to shield for several weeks after or during the treatment. I've said that I will help with any shopping they might need because I can order it. I don't want to start going to the shops. But what my friend had to say about shopping in the town was quite interesting. She always tells her daughter to travel light and she buys toiletries for her daughter here in England. She went to our branch of Superdrug and said that was all perfectly fine. Only two people allowed in the shop at one time and a two meter social distancing queue. When she got there there were only four people in the queue. She said the problem is the pavements. They're not wide enough to allow social distancing and people just do not seem to be observing it so whilst the shops are all playing their part people are not. And because there's more traffic on the road now the option to walk in the road, which was a very viable option at the beginning of lockdown, is no longer safe. It made me decide that I really, really don't want to delve into shopping unless it's online. And I'm less enamoured of that lately after the shenanigans with DPD and one of my deliveries!

OMG! I am back from my friend’s. And I cannot believe the news. The orthopaedic hospital phoned her and said they will do another scan in a couple of months time. That means whatever they’re seeing on the scan isn’t cancer. That doesn’t mean that my friend doesn’t have kidney cancer. She knows she does. But if it hasn’t spread the outlook is much better. The downside is that her urologist has coronavirus. That caused a moment's consternation as she checked her dates to see when the last time she visited him was. Again she think she is in the clear. But we still don't know what's going to happen as regards the treatment. I reckon they'll remove the whole kidney. And they'll follow that with radiology. The big question now of course is when. And I am concerned that any delay gives the cancer a chance to spread. But I won't deny I feel much better today about her than I have done. I wasn’t as emotional as I thought I was going to be. I will have to pop down with some more meals for her daughter and she said that I can talk to them through the lounge windows. If I stand on the pavement I will still be socially distanced and they’ll still be quarantined. And although I did feel emotional it was happy emotion, relieved emotion. I know it's not the end of the story but the future looks better than it did.

And in Covid-19 news the key points today are summarised by BBC News, thus - 

Summary

1. Greatest threat is not the virus itself but lack of global solidarity and leadership - WHO
2. World Health Organization records highest one-day increase in total cases, with 183,000 added in one day
3. Most came from Brazil, followed by the US and India
4. The high level of confirmed cases is partly down to a global increase in testing
5. UK PM Boris Johnson will discuss reducing the 2m distancing rule - decision expected on Tuesday
6. South Korea is going through a "second wave" of coronavirus, officials say, even though new infections are falling
7. France is re-opening cinemas, swimming pools and holiday centres. All children up to 15 are back at school
8. Globally, there have been almost 9m confirmed cases since the outbreak began, with 467,000 deaths

And here endeth today's blog post.