Ennui

Over Christmas and New Year and for a while after that I was not at all well. I isolated the whole time despite never testing positive for Covid. Whether I had Covid or not I'll never know. However ever since then I've had days of extreme tiredness where functioning normally has either been a huge effort or downright impossible. Fortunately it hasn't interfered too much with my life because I'm long past the age of having to work to keep food on the table. So if The Ennui hits me I just grumble and accept it. Fortunately one has to be pretty far gone before one can share a morning with friends over coffee in The Woodlands. On the odd occasion I have simply fallen asleep I've managed to avoid falling off my chair in public and when I wake up I'm just expected to catch up with the chat. That's what it's like with true friends. 

When I cam home from hospital last week the airport security was absolutely rammed with people and they were obviously short staffed. So getting through security took the best part of an hour I reckon. My metal work and exterior plumbing is always met with consideration and good humour on both sides but it does hold things up a bit for them. Few people were wearing masks.

The plane was full and  only a few of us were wearing masks.

So a couple of days later I tested positive.

Oddly a friend travelling from a different hospital, through a different airport on a different plane arrived home on Lewis the day before me and tested positive the day before I did. 

Neither of us is particularly unwell. 

However on the too frequent 'Ennui Days' when the feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction is so strong that even thinking about making a meal is an effort, it makes me realise just how many people there are who can't just sit down and say "Bugger it!" are now having to cope with the aftermath of this disease. 

When I was flying home last week I was reminded that, however thick the clouds, the sky above them is always clear:

Thoughts on Release From Lockdown

I am amazed at how out of touch I feel when I have been away from Blogland for nearly a month. During lockdown Blogland was a place of normality for me. After all Blogland has seen me through a great deal in the last 15 years whilst I've been writing and reading blogs. Blog friends and acquaintances have come and gone (and stayed) but it's been there as a comfort blanket during my New Zealand life as well as life here on Lewis. It's seen me in France, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany and Italy as well as Australia and touring New Zealand when I lived there. 

Blogland has been part of normality during lockdown too.

When we were in full lockdown for six months last year I rarely went out except for walks. I met people a lot on video chats and the good old telephone. Like everyone else social life and things like meeting to play bowls all stopped.

However, unlike most of my friends, despite me being a social animal I did not miss socialising. I enjoyed having no commitments. I enjoyed waking up and looking at the weather and deciding it was a perfect day for the garden or a walk or writing letters or working in the workshop/garage out of the rain. 

I could well understand the angst of people living in a multi-storey flat cooped up with other family members with no space and probably having to work from home or home-school. I would have hated that.

Now that things are returning to 'normal' and my diary is full and I have to be aware of the day and the time I am realising just how much I actually enjoyed lockdown. I didn't just endure it. I truly enjoyed it.

Now, though, I will get on with enjoying life again and now that I'm home from hospital and getting back into my Island routine I shall, hopefully, also catch up with all my Blogland pals and find out what you've been up to.

Thankful Thursday: Is The Pope A Catholic?

Today has been a Good Day (with thanks to Sellars and Yeatman).

Trump is an ex-President. That's a good start. The fact that his mother came from the next township to where I lived when I came here does give me a vague right to comment but being a citizen of The World gives me an even greater right. Bearing in mind this is usually a non-political blog this is a real departure from my usual thoughts but I genuinely feel that the world is potentially a safer place with his departure.  I just hope upon hope that the new administration will be able to bring some stability to the country and, dare I hope it, the world.

A member of the medical profession who has looked after my cancer issues and been my rock since 2006 has had a very rough time but is now back in harness and I have had a chat to her. I have been more concerned about her than almost anyone during the last year.

For once a named storm is not dealing us the worst blow in the Western Isles. Storm Christoph is dealing havoc almost everywhere except here where we just had the ferries cancelled because of heavy swell. We've had a blustery, showery day but with some sun shining through on occasion.

Yesterday I got a call from the NHS. Would I like a Covid Inoculation? Is The Pope a Catholic? Instructions were to present myself at the Sports Centre at 15:09 hours today. So this afternoon I duly presented myself together with about another 450 duly received a dose of the Oxford Astra-Zeneka vaccine. The operation looked like a pretty well-oiled machine particularly as this was it's first day of operation.

Had I managed a walk or an hour in the garden the day would have been just about perfect. However, I'm going to pootle around and then have some dinner and have an evening probably watching a concert by the BBS Scottish Chamber Orchestra, then Death in Paradise and then a Messenger Video Chat with old friends with whom I meet in the pub in Callander when I'm down there. By that time it'll be not far off midnight and time for sleep. 

Days don't come much better.......do they?

SID 43 Catching Up - That Was April

Is it really 11 days since I visited Blogland properly. I used the word 'properly' because I have made the occasional Covid-19 type skirmish there hoping that The Authorities would not notice that I was travelling further than strictly allowed when on gardening leave. We, on Lewis, have had one of the longest spells of constant sun that I can recall for a couple of years. We have had the occasional shower in the last few days and the wind has been very chilly from the North East but I have managed a great deal of garden and external house maintenance. Much, I have to say, to the detriment of my letter writing. My coffee's in The Woodlands have been replaced by virtual WhatsApp and Zoom coffees (or G & Ts depending on the time of day).  Well, everyone has to have coffee breaks.

I have discovered that it's easy to walk 4 miles in a day when gardening and add to that the 'hard labour' humping 100l bags of compost and removing small tree/shrub stumps etc and it's a good workout each day. Apart from trips to the local postbox and a trip to the medical practice for my Trial Review bloods and my 3-monthly bumjab I've not been off the property. 

Of course I miss the family (who are now out of quarantine but still subject to lockdown rules which are not quite as strict as my self-isolation) but I confess that the days are flying by at an alarming rate and I've hardly scratched any of the items off the 'To Do' lists. I am fortunate generally to sleep well but a day in the garden certainly leaves one pleasantly tired (I was going to say 'knackered' but that's not very polite). Apart from the news I've hardly even watched television.

However the birds have been enjoying the garden even with me working in it. 

Bird box in use. Note to self: clean it up next autumn.

Meadow Pipit: Bathing; Checking claws; Under wing clean?; Aren't I a pretty pipit?

 Blackbird. "These raisins are good." 

Golden Eagle exiting over the sea. 

Female sparrow looking for extra nourishment for egg laying in the form of delphinium leaves. 

Blackbird bathing in the waterfall.

SID15 Thankful Thursday

I am now limiting myself to a couple of news bulletins a day. Of course my iPhone beeps every time there is some piece of news that AppleNews decides I really must be told straight away. On the whole it's been reasonable and not sent me trivia. I was chatting to neighbours (at a distance of about 20 metres so hardly a 'chat' really) and we agreed that this isolation isn't too bad. Of course, we are fortunate to have big gardens and lots of space. 

My Woodlands coffee buddies and I chat either on the phone or on video chat for a virtual coffee. The phone is forever pinging with another WhatsApp message. The rest of the time messaging, emails and snail-mail are all going full pelt. Communication is at a remarkably high level.

It looks as though Gaz, C and B will arrive home early next week. They will, of course go straight into quarantine. They will, however, be home and, hopefully, safe.

The weather has been very varied so today I spent several hours in the garden in a coldish wind but a beautiful cloudless sky. Then suddenly a snow squall came through and I abandoned the outdoors. Within half an hour the sun was back.

I had not done a jigsaw for about three decades but a friend gave me one last year and I've started in in the conservatory. I won't be needing the big dining table for the foreseeable future.

At 8pm I joined the country in clapping for all those who are keeping things going. I think, today, I've been particularly thankful for my neighbours who do my shopping, the delivery drivers and the postmen who keep us supplied. 

For all this I am very, very thankful.

SID14 Inevitability

Yesterday's news was that there are now 2 confirmed cases of Covid-19 on the Island. Even though the Island is shut to tourists at the moment, it was eventually always going to be inevitable given all the students and workers laid off who returned home and those who are still trying to get home from abroad (like my son, daughter-in-law and grandson stuck in Australia).

I was having a virtual coffee with a friend yesterday afternoon when the news came through on my phone and at the same time she got a call from her husband. It has strangely altered everything in a way that I can't explain. 

This morning I was regaled by a 'news item' that the Scottish Government has abolished alcohol sales in the light of the Covid-19 outbreak. Then I realised the date and said "Rabbits". At least we haven't lost our sense of humour.

In the meantime Jules mentioned in a comment a recent post of mine that she was off on her Boris Bimble. That's as good a name for a short walk as anything in these strange times so I have adopted it too.

SID8 Thankful Thursday

THANK YOU

TO ALL THE STAFF IN OUR HEALTH

SERVICES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD WHO ARE LOOKING AFTER THOSE WHO ARE ILL AND WHO ARE, IN MANY CASES, PUTTING THEMSELVES AT RISK. KEEP SAFE.

THANK YOU

TO ALL THOSE LOOKING AFTER THOSE WHO ARE IN NEED OF CARE AND WHO ARE ISOLATED. KEEP SAFE.

THANK YOU

TO ALL THOSE WHO NEED TO WORK TO KEEP US FED AND PROVISIONED. KEEP SAFE.

THANK YOU

TO ALL THOSE IN ESSENTIAL SERVICES BE IT THE POLICE, THE ARMY AND EVERYONE ELSE WHO IS AT RISK. KEEP SAFE

KIA KAHA, KIA MAIA,

 KIA MANAWANUI

SID5: The Good and The Bad

The days seem to be flying past at an alarming rate. Saturday was another pleasant enough day and I carried on working outside doing maintenance. Sunday was not pleasant and I spent the day doing household chores, reading blogs, drinking coffee and doing crosswords and then making a huge blitz on all the emails in my inbox. I hardly watched any television and eventually fell into bed just after midnight. 

At the weekend The Highlands (of Scotland) were inundated by camper vans and cars of people 'escaping' from the cities of the Central Belt and England. Many are heading for their holiday homes. The infrastructure of The Highlands can hardly cope in the summer these days but no one was expecting such a raid on the already panic-buying-stricken shops. All public gathering places such as pubs and restaurants had already been closed by the Scottish Government.

The Independent needs to use commas where appropriate.
 I'm not sure why the Army needs to help McDonalds to close

All ferry services  to the Scottish Islands have stopped carrying anyone except island residents and essential services personnel and freight. The ferry and air services have been very much reduced.

So far we have no known cases in the Outer Hebrides and we'd like to keep it that way. Our medical infrastructure would struggle. Indeed the RAF had to send an Atlas A400M Transport Aircraft to Shetland to transport a critically ill virus patient to Aberdeen Hospital at the weekend.

Our weather today is storm force gales and rain and the ferries are storm-bound in port anyway today and tomorrow. I'm not going out for a walk today that's for sure. The forecast is the same for tomorrow.

Talking of storm bound my son, daughter-in-law and 2 year old grandson (who live on Lewis) are marooned in Australia. Their flights home were 'suspended' this morning (UK time). Likewise two daughters of a friend staying with a sibling in New Zealand are also marooned. 

In the meantime we must all maintain our sense of humour. The Duke of Wellington Monument in Glasgow has been the battleground in the past for students who kept putting a traffic cone on the Duke's head and the Council who kept removing it. Eventually the Council conceded that it was a huge tourist draw for photos and selfies and left it there. So it was inevitable that someone would add a mask at this time. I assume it's photoshopped but who knows.

Self Isolation Day 2

Don't worry. I'm not going to bore you with a blog diary of my self-isolation. I'll just do a diary type post every now and then depending on how things pan out.

I am in the 'at risk' category for quite a few reasons. Although on the face of it I'm very fit and well (which I am 99.5% of the time) and certainly don't feel nearer 80 than 70 which is what I technically am, I do have underlying health issues. They started with part of a lung removed when I was 16 because of a respiratory disease. 

So far there is no known case in the Western Isles so, in fact, I'm not completely isolated yet. I've decided that I'm going to almost self isolate for a while first. This means that I'll socialise very little. If I do shop it will be when the crowds have gone and the shops are quiet. I will go out walking and in the car but on my own. The rest I will play by ear as things develop. 

Today was chilly but wall to wall sun so I decided to drive to the Castle Grounds and do the Creed River walk. The irony is that it was such a lovely day that the world and his wife were out walking and I met and chatted (at a safe distance) to more people than I have ever chatted to in a single walk before.

After lunch I decided to make a start on the cleaning of the outside of the house. Living where I do  moss is a very big issue on the outside of the house and on all my paths. So I spent the afternoon making a start on that. 

Spring has come and the frogs are filling the pond with spawn.

The schools have closed. So, down on the pier below the house, the children seemed to be celebrating what is, in effect, the end of the school year. Not quite obeying the distancing suggestions. I can foresee problems particularly if the weather is good.