Day One Hundred and Thirty-Six - Farewells, Friends and Track 'n' Tracing

I've just returned from spending a couple of hours in my friend's garden before she starts her three week plus quarantine tomorrow. I felt a bit sad. But I wanted to keep it together for her sake. She is so optimistic. It's as if once the kidney is gone that's it and she'll be fine. But I don't think that will be quite the end of the treatment. They will surely check her for cancer periodically and she still has to be rescanned for them to look at her pelvis again. But let's just take one step at a time. She now has two weeks quarantine before the surgery but she has to go up three days before to have a Covid test. They say she'll be in hospital three days and then she can come home. Whether she has to stay in bed or not I don't know. She may not feel too great although it is robotic surgery. It feels like a long journey ahead. I gave her a healing angel bracelet to take to hospital with her.

Her daughter and another friend were there as well but we were all socially distanced. Something interesting I found out and it hasn't happened to me. But the track and trace app is automatically downloaded on peoples' phones whether they wanted it or not. They have the option to activate it if they wish. My phone is so old it doesn't appear to have downloaded to mine. The fact that they can do that without even asking or telling you bothers me dreadfully. There is an argument for it being necessary. But it seems odd that something like that cannot be discussed or talked about openly and yet there's all this hooha about wearing a face mask.

The daughter has her return flight booked for the end of August. Somehow I felt shocked by that because I think it's too soon. But she can't stay away for ever. Her poor husband is having to deal with all the animals in their animal sanctuary on his own. I know my friend will be distraught when she goes back. It really has been marvellous having her here for the moral and emotional support her mum so badly needs at the moment. I think it would be a very different story if she hadn't managed to get over here. However her brother is still being a total arse. He's resolved the issue with his mum but he's still at odds with his sister who he thinks ruined his daughter's birthday. I'm furious with him.

The weather seems to have improved today. More sustained periods of sunshine and it has felt warmer. But I will say that there is a very autumnal nip in the air in the mornings. I may have already said that before. Tough. I'm saying it again. Solitary walk this morning. No conversations but a fist full of blackberries. They're so delicious.

Nicola Sturgeon the Prime Minister of Scotland says she is concerned about people getting a bit lax over coronavirus. I think she's absolutely right. That is so the right word. They are getting lax. You can see it everywhere.

Some scientists believe that coronavirus could be eliminated from this country if only people would stop travelling. i.e. air travel. I think that mirrors something I suggested in a previous blog post? If I didn't write about it, it's certainly something I've thought about. Stop travel and you probably wouldn't need lockdowns. It's travelling that spread the virus anyway. Obviously. Surely it's not going to go from one country to another without people going from one country to another. Stop doing that and boom! We'll get rid of the damn thing. Or we might have done......................