2020-03-31 Day 9

Fiona

Cleaning pebbles

2020-03-30 Day 8 Swiss Family Robinson

Tom

A bit heavy headed this morning despite 'secret walk' then Joe Wicks, a bit out of sorts, but cured by some slow 'strength' yoga.

A day of Swiss Family Robinson improvisation.

In the morning, Jonny and Beck's bed slats, old ikea bookshelves and, voila!, conservatory shelving for indoor veg. growing.  Runner beans put in a large pot.

In the afternoon, out of doors 4 gone-to-seed supermarket potatoes planted in a MKM dumpy bag with loads of compost and some optimism that they will produce more potatoes.

Fiona

Tom had a brainwave and we have ordered a freezer.  The small fridge freezer in the utility room is already cram full.  The new one will go in the garage, enabling us to freeze and store veg and fruit for longer periods.  I spoke to Tesco. They cant answer the question of how someone in the shielding group can get a delivery or click&collect slot apart from a) they are aware and are working on it but don't have a timeframe, and b) you are basically advised to stay hovvering over your computer keyboard primed to grab a slot that might become available, usually at a second after midnight. They are recruiting 20,000 pickers and drivers and currently processing 170,000 orders per day.

2020-03-29 Day 7

Tom

Today my mum would have been 97.  My aunt Jean, her younger sister, called me on the 'phone.  She has her ups and downs but this was a good day. She has had a long and interesting life. As a stage actress she had a long career, early on she appeared with Lawrence Olivier, he got his sword stuck in her gown as he was about to make a grand entrance, he was not amused. Not a household name on TV, she was a regular in many soaps, one off dramas and series. She appeared in a modern Doctor Who and as a very senior member of her profession, she was treated like royalty - she loved it! Highlight for me as a boy was when she starred in a Carling Black Label advert! We've had some memorable times. When I was 15 we went to visit my grandad and she got a puncture - first time I had changed a car wheel in anger. She lives in a ground floor flat and looks out on a nice garden, as best she can given old age infirmities she enjoys life. Getting food in would be an issue were it not for a young neighbour, a few doors up, who my aunt did not know before this crisis.

After calling me she called round her other nieces and nephews and then we shared pictures of mum's paintings.  Nice to know that many of the better ones have stayed in the family.

Fiona

Baby tomato plants starting to emerge.  I've discovered Joe Wicks also does videos for 'Oldies' - a useful 10 minute workout compared to the 30 minute energetic one for kids (and grown ups)

2020-03-28 Day 6

2020-03-27 Day 5

Tom

Our exercise routine is becoming a regular thing; secret walk, PE with Joe, yoga relaxation.   Then a day in the garden, beautifully sunny for working but a bit cold for the seedlings so they stayed indoors on the window cill.

Jonny sent a composition 'Country Rap' he had worked on at home.

Fiona

Climbing green beans, 8 days old

2020-03-26 Day 4 and Year 38

Our 38th Wedding Anniversary

Fiona

Happy Anniversary Tom.  The gemstone for 38 years is Beryl 😁.  Beryl looks something like this

Today I was also due to go into Manchester for my 6 monthly clinic.  Had already received a letter postponing it, but was caught on the hop by a telephone consultation from my consultant.  Had to rush and open my latest set of online blood test results, which, thank goodness, are all in normal range.  Phew, that's me sorted for 6 months.

Another sunny day, warm enough to lie on the sunlounger and knit a bit more of a red setter 'Scruff the Dog'.

Tom

Beautiful weather continues to give us both a boost.  Our first 'secret walk' at 5.45am, PE with Joe (and Fiona) and at a distance Rachel and Finn, my first on-line yoga class today with Francesca, with a warm up in the garden an hour before, then two hours of muck shifting.

2020-03-25 Day 3 - Friends and Family

Fiona

6am walk with Tom, round the block a couple of times.  Much appreciated outdoor exercise.
8.15 indoor exercise with Joe Wicks.  Joined 'virtually' by another azathioprine-eee lock-in.  Though we seem to be on different YouTube episodes, hmmm

Another lovely warm sunny day, lots of time spent in the garden, more seeds sprouting and shooting.  Less time on the compter or social media.  Feel much better for that.
Tonight we had beetroot and courgette from the veggie box, strawberries and banana.  And 2 tiny squares of milk chocolate!

Tom

A spirit-lifting phone call to 98 year old aunt Nora in London, my dad's youngest sister. In WW2 she was a Wren and my uncle Loic, no longer with us, was with the Free French equivalent of our SAS and involved in a diversionary foray into occupied territory ahead ahead of the D Day landings. He was given the Legion of Honour by the President of France; Nora and I came across the certificate one day when we were clearing her garage. In France he is remembered as a war hero. Nora is an indomitable woman, sharp intelligence and wit. She still lives independently in a flat, her cleaner who visits once a week is now bringing food. Upstairs neighbours she had never met, a couple with young children are helping out. She needs to have blood tests done and the husband provided a safe taxi service. Jokingly I began by saying I just needed someone to talk to so I gave her a call, but seriously I got at least as much out of it as she did. Discreetly I will get in touch with her local neighbourhood support network and say she is doing fine at the moment, just keep an eye on her.

The network of help in Bollington has appeared quickly and is impressive.  Even more locally, we talked to our neighbours on the other side of the beech hedge, only possible through the hedge before it comes into leaf and we shared thoughts about what is happening and practical tips on getting food in.  Today was a more relaxed routine, no rushing, taking our time, it even gave us space to have some laughs; a lesson on how we need to pass each day.

2020-03-24 Day 2 - About Bolly Twelve Weekers and how we feel at The Beginning

Bolly  = our home town of Bollington in East Cheshire, England

Tweekers = Twelve Weekers: the initial 12 weeks at home for the Coronavirus 'shielding group'

We are wife and husband Fiona (Bolly Archive) in the shielding group and Tom in the at greater risk group.  We are hiding ourselves away for 12 weeks to protect the NHS ICU capacity to save lives.

How do we feel at The Beginning?

Tom

I feel we are well prepared, we have been metaphorically battening down the hatches and furling up the sails for a week or so.  We have moved more into a routine where we are together, rather than doing our own thing quite a lot of the time.  We make a good team.

I'll keep in mind the message of the header image that has been over our bed since we were married, it was a gift from my fearsome great aunt, the artist and printmaker Peggy Angus.  Fiona met Peggy once, 40 years ago, when Peggy was in an NHS hospital.  I was an inpatient myself in an NHS hospital 50 years ago, I did not understand at the time, but without the operations I had then my life would have been different for the worse.  Being a child alone in hospital was a terrible and frightening experience, it was too far away for family visits, our family had no telephone then.  I do not like the hospital experience, but I love what hospitals do and have done for us and I love the NHS.

There are mental and physical challenges and I think saying something about those and strategies for dealing with them I'll save for another post.  Actually I have set myself a rather bizarre physical challenge that requires quite a lot of training.  At dark times I may imagine we are on the beach of a deserted tropical island, castaways, with hair to match.  Fiona says she would have a monkey tame enough to climb trees and fetch coconuts for us. Humour is important and mine is sometimes rather black:  if I'm on a ventilator and am fading fast I hope it's one of those Formula 1 ventilators as I want to go quickly.

Fiona

March 23rd I get 'the text'.

Not a surprise, as reports of it arriving had been pinging in all morning on the AIH Facebook group I joint admin.  Up to this point, I had continued to walk my 2 Cinnamon Trust dogs, following guidance from the Trust.  The risk was small, but with multiple carers going into the owner's house, touching front gate, door handles etc.  However careful I was being, the risk was still there.  The text took the decision out of my hands, dog walking suspended.  Staying in oddly makes me feel safe not trapped.  With the chronic fatigue, I'm already good at doing very little.  Avoiding doing less is my goal.  This morning, a friend who also got 'the text' and I connected 'virtually' to watch the Joe Wickes kids exercise video on YouTube.  I only did the warm up as it's quite hard going, Rachel is super fit, a RatRace adventure runner, (Google Rat Race and be awed) and even she said it was 'hard'.  Agreeing to meet virtually and do this daily will motivate more than doing it alone.  Now the sun is out, our first seeds are sprouting, and Tom released a butterfly from the garden shed. Onwards and upwards.