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Saturday 21 March 2020

My Corona - Setting the Scene


So I haven’t posted for a while (again) but all good things must come to an end. 

I’d never even heard of social distancing a week ago but the government has advised anybody over the age of 70 or under 70 with an underlying health condition (defined as anyone instructed to get a flu jab as an adult each year on medical grounds) has to be “particularly stringent in following socially distancing measures”.  Count me in (under 70 and a flu jab).

I treated today as the official day one of my social-distancing but it turns out it doesn’t start until Monday (I must have missed something).  In any case I’ve actually been socially-distancing since last Tuesday when my employer offered me the chance to work from home.  I’ve done home working before and I’m not keen but I’ve been told by BJ that it’s my duty to try not to catch the virus so I felt it was the right thing to do.   

I don’t feel particularly vulnerable but I had a mild heart attack nearly 6 years ago.  They patched me up and put me on tablets for life with an annual flu jab thrown in for free.    I was devastated and it took me a long time to come to terms with it psychologically but I no longer feel any stigma.  I’m pretty fit and healthy, I go to the gym, I’m not particularly overweight, I eat pretty well, blah blah blah and in the interests of full disclosure my heart wasn’t even damaged by the heart attack.  But if the government considers me vulnerable that’s fine by me.  I’m determined to not to catch the virus easily.    

My social distancing is not going to be without complications but then again is anybody’s?   I manage my life between me and Shamila’s homes.  I’m planning on working from my home and Shamila will work from hers.  She is well aware of the issues and is also taking the SD seriously so for now I’m going to continue to travel between our houses.  Shamila also has her elderly parents (who live locally) to consider and staying fit and keeping my weight down may become an issue if any restrictions are made on leaving our homes (like in Spain and Italy).  I also have to shop and get my drugs from the chemist. 

I also have my 2 adult sons to think about.  I don’t see them much but they are never far from my thoughts.  My youngest son, Chris lives locally with his girlfriend and is supposed to be getting married on 10 April followed by a honeymoon to the USA.  I think he’s resigned to the honeymoon being cancelled off but the wedding?  Mmmm. I’m not so sure what he thinks but If I was a betting man (which I am) I’d wager it’s just going to happen either.  Thankfully he’s a level-headed and philosophical, I’m sure he’ll be ok.

My other son, Michael lives in Lowestoft in the East of England.  It’s fairly close to Norwich but it like the back of beyond. It’s a pain in the arse for me to get to either by road or public transport.  He’s lived there coming up 3 years and to my shame I’ve only been to see him once (actually it’s not true – I took him down to try and find him accommodation before he moved there.  In my defence I managed to find him a house though).  I’ll put it on my post retirement to-do list but in the mean time I’d rest a lot easier in my bed if he came home but he’s having not of it.

So that’s the scene and off we go.

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