Feet Up, Knitting

The last few days have looked a lot like this ...

The medication sorted out my chest infection but it has left me with absolutely no energy. At least it has moved on from feeling as though I have been hit by a bus to just feeling as though I am made out of soggy spaghetti. I'm still not up to going back to work, so this is likely to be another week with a lot of time spent on the sofa knitting, reading and watching TV. I did at least manage to finish a pair of socks - I'm trying to get ahead on gift knitting for Christmas. Normally I try to match the stripe colours to make an identical pair when I knit socks with self-striping yarn, but my brain is mush and I didn't even realise I had forgotten until I was halfway through the foot of the second sock. Ah well. They are funky stripes. I have now moved on to baby knitting - a cute little yellow cardigan for our former neighbours' new granddaughter, born last Tuesday. Tiny Summer weighed in at just 5lbs 7oz, so I'm knitting the smallest size. Our formerly-petite TG weighed an ounce less and I remember that as a baby TG would grow into each size at around the age she was supposed to grow out of it, so 0-3 month baby clothes only began to fit her when she hit 3 months. Based on that I'm working on the smallest size of this Alouette pattern and assuming it will fit through the winter. In fact, the same rule held true for TG until she hit her teens and a late and spectacular growth spurt, confounding our assumptions that she had inherited petite genes - having always been one of the smallest in her class at school, she is now 5 foot 6 and apparently still growing! 

I hadn't left the house for a week, apart from a 10 minute walk on Friday, but on Saturday I had to go into town as TG had an appointment for an eye test and M was working. Fortunately most of the trip involved sitting down! TG is getting more short sighted, but teenage vanity has kicked in and she is reluctant to wear her glasses so is going to try contact lenses. She now has a new optical prescription, new glasses on order, and an appointment booked for a contact lens teaching session in early November. I also ordered new glasses. I had my eye test done back in August, but hadn't got round to choosing frames - my current ones are breaking, so I really needed to do it sooner rather than later. 

After we had finished at Specsavers we went to the Italian cafe where H used to work for lunch. TG had a craving for spaghetti carbonara, which we can't make properly at home as we don't have bacon or other pig products in the house. Lunch out seemed a good plan as this cafe does the best carbonara, and it meant I didn't have to worry about cooking a proper meal later. I opted for smashed avocado on sourdough with poached egg and pancetta. We picked up pizzas from Waitrose for the evening, so once we got home I could flop back on the sofa and not need to move much for the rest of the day. I did pay for it a bit with feeling overtired yesterday, but it was good to get out for while. Also it allowed me to assess whether I would be fit enough for a full day at work today - answer, no! In the evening I was supposed to be going over to a friend's house for a girls' night, but that would have been way beyond my energy levels so I joined them on Zoom, along with another friend who is still trying to get mobile after a bad ankle break. Blended in-person / Zoom worked pretty well. Yesterday, I flopped! 

Some Enforced Rest

Last week was just as busy as the week before, if not more so. TG got her braces fitted by the orthodontist on Monday morning, then had to go back in the afternoon because a couple of the fixings detached themselves. It settled down until today when a couple became loose again - we think because the teeth are set a bit behind the others - so she has to go back again on Monday. She is readjusting to the limitations.  Not being able to eat whole apples is a particular annoyance, as she usually eats at least one every day (there was a time when we had to restrict her to no more than two as she would probably have eaten them by the bowlful!). On Tuesday R came over for dinner, Wednesday was band practice, I took Thursday off from orchestra because I needed a free evening, then on Friday friends came over for dinner and H and M2 came for a roast dinner on Sunday evening.  

Saturday was the highlight of the week for myself and TG. Back in June I booked tickets for us to see Hairspray on stage in London. It was fantastic - warm, funny, energetic, superbly staged and performed. We had tickets for the matinee, and I had also booked lunch at the theatre as they were offering a fun, themed menu for a very reasonable price. I had a waffle with fried chicken, and TG had one with pulled pork; desert was chocolate brownie ice cream sundae for her and key lime pie for me. The menu also included a cocktail each (alcoholic for me, mocktail for her) and tubs of popcorn to take into the theatre. The whole package really added to our enjoyment of the afternoon, and also meant we got into the theatre early and didn't have to queue. 

This was our third visit to a theatre over the last couple of months (and our last for a while - we don't have anything else booked) and it was very noticeable that hardly anyone was wearing a mask in the auditorium. On our first trip a majority of people were, and the previous time it was probably about 50:50. A good number of people put them on to move around the theatre, but then took them off again when they sat down. It did feel as though the air flow was pretty good, and presumably the vast majority of people were vaccinated, so hopefully the covid risk wasn't too high. It does seem as though we are at the stage where we are learning to live with it. Encouragingly, case rates overall are seeming pretty static, despite a big bulge in cases in school kids following the beginning of term and despite people mixing more and masking less. 

Another encouraging thing is that booster vaccine doses are happening for people over 50, clinically vulnerable or in front line roles who had their second dose more than 6 months ago. M had his on Friday morning - I will have to wait until November for mine. Also the government have finally decided to authorise vaccines for 12 to 15 year olds, starting this week. They are being given through schools, and TG got hers today. She's feeling a little fragile this evening, but at least it is done. The school had such a good take up rate that they couldn't get through everyone in one day and are having to arrange to get the vaccination team back another day to finish the job. For now they are just giving younger teens one jab, to minimise the risk of pericarditis, I think. My best guess is they will boost it with a second jab later on in the winter. 

The enforced rest bit? TG picked up the nasty non-covid cold that is going round at school, brought it home and shared it with us. M felt pretty bad on Friday night and Saturday - cold plus post-vaccine effects wasn't a good combination - and had to phone in sick from his Saturday 111 shift. I had it mildly until Sunday when it started to get much worse, and by Monday morning it was well on its way to a chest infection (unfortunately a fairly common pattern for me if a cold gets out of hand). I realised what was happening, and M kindly went down to the doctor's surgery first thing to see if he could sort out a telephone appointment for me. By 8.20 the asthma nurse had phoned me, offered a face-to-face appointment if I wanted it (in the end we decided it wasn't necessary) and prescribed steroids and antibiotics, which M had picked up from the pharmacy by 10. I had to take Monday and Tuesday off work, and spent 48 hours either in bed or on the sofa, resting and hydrating according to the nurse's instructions. The medication has now kicked in and I have felt a lot better today, but think I will be mostly resting for the rest of the week. At least it happened this week and not last! 

Thinking about Routines

Bleugh! I think I may have spent too long sitting out in the cold on Saturday with my friends, with not quite enough layers on, and I am now paying for it with a sore throat, tight chest and general under-the-weatherness. I also tend to get this sort of thing when I relax after being busy or stressed - annoying as it means it is not unusual for it to happen when I go on holiday - so it could also be down to "breathing out" after H's house move. It intrigues me that people's bodies react so differently to stresses. M's weak points are always his back and his stomach; mine my throat and chest. My mother always said that it was only after having measles when I was six that I became prone to chest infections and tonsillitis (until I later had my tonsils removed). A couple of years ago research was published showing that measles does severe damage to the immune system, so it seems her observations actually fit with the scientific evidence. 

After yesterday's beautiful spring day there were gales overnight and snow flurries this morning. This is why the British always talk about the weather. We get very little extreme weather, it is just so changeable and unpredictable. Plus - according to the book I am reading - it is a handy topic which allows us to get over the awkwardness of not knowing how to open conversations! On the subject of national characteristics - is it a peculiarly English thing to routinely find oneself saying please and thank you to Alexa or Siri? 

For years I have used an app called Trello to organise various aspects of my life. It works with "cards" arranged in columns on "boards", which can be moved around easily to adjust priorities, set target dates, show what is done and what is outstanding, and so on. I use it consistently for my archive work, as it helps me to keep track of what I am doing and what I need to do next - essential when I only work two days a week, as otherwise I would just forget everything during the following five days! I also use it for various personal things, though less consistently. I have a board called Life Stuff which I use rather erratically, but which is a useful catch-all for things I want to do and general thoughts about habits and priorities. 

Looking at my Life Stuff board this weekend I found a four year old snapshot of a spreadsheet where I had planned out an ideal morning routine. I realised that the things I had put into this routine were still things I want to be priorities, so I did a revised version. It is rather more complicated than the original plan as I will be going in to the office on Monday and Tuesday of alternate weeks, and TG needs dropping at school early on Tuesday's and Thursdays for French classes. With small variations to fit round the school runs, the plan is to set aside 90 minutes in the morning to start my day with some quiet reading time, followed by yoga, a shower and a more leisurely breakfast. It will mean getting up a bit earlier - always a challenge for me as I am definitely not a morning person - but if I can make it work I know it would feel as though I have made a really positive start to the day. I may experiment a bit over the next few days, but won't start trying to put it into practice properly until TG goes back to school next week. 

Despite the cold and feeling a bit fragile, M and I did manage to make it out for a short walk this afternoon. The photos are from our walk round the village near H's house yesterday.  

Running on Empty

Today has been one of those days where I have been battling low energy levels, despite sleeping very well for the last two nights. I think I still haven't really caught up from a run of short nights before that, probably because I was subconsciously anxious about H's house move. Since I was ill last year, lack of sleep very quickly translates into lack of energy and feeling generally under the weather, and I often find it hard to know whether it is better to push myself to keep moving, or to slump in a heap on the sofa. Today I had booked an online yoga class for 9.30, so I started my day with that, occasionally opting out for a bit to lie on the mat or the sofa in a tired and grumpy heap. It felt as though my personal battery had run flat. 

After yoga I cut M's hair. I bought hair clippers just before the first lockdown started last year, which proved to be a very good call. H took on the task of hairdresser to start with, but once she got busy with work I took over clipping M's hair, though she has still been trimming mine for me. I read for a while, then made myself vegan cauliflower "cheese" for lunch - I am trying to get plenty of veggies in, and also to go back to eating mostly plant-based as I suspect that for me eating animal products contributes to stiff joints and muscles. After lunch H came round to use our internet as she still doesn't have any - she had various calls to make and things she needed to do online. M and I went out for a shortish walk, which I felt I should make the effort for even though I was still tired from the yoga class. I started off tired and grumpy, but (fortunately for M) the fresh air perked me up. When we got back I went out again, this time to the supermarket to pick up a few bits, including bread as passover is coming to an end. TG and I then watched the next Harry Potter movie, with a break to cook dinner - burgers (vegan for me, meat for M and TG), sweet potato wedges and sweetcorn. 

The photos are from a walk we went on a few days ago, which was a route we hadn't taken before. The archaeology report I am reading had some useful maps showing the historic boundary of our parish, which was described in detail in a 10th century charter. I wanted to walk a section of this ancient route which formed the southern boundary. The path in the top photo now runs alongside the road running round the outside of our housing estate, though separated from it by a hedge, and the lane in the bottom picture is the driveway for a farm. We won't repeat the walk as it involved crossing three very busy roads, but it satisfied my urge to walk in the footsteps of people who lived over 1000 years ago. 

Getting Warmer

Thankfully the boiler was fixed on Friday, after what the engineer described as "open heart surgery". We felt for him, working in a freezing cold garage on a day when the temperature didn't reach zero. We are still properly appreciating the joy of having heating and hot water. Hot baths! Hot showers! Bliss! A claim for a refund for the cost has gone in to British Gas, so we are hoping that goes through smoothly. 

It was still bitterly cold yesterday, and we went for a three mile walk around the canal/woods circle. Large icicles had formed round the edges of the flowing water where the weir drains overflow from the canal. I took a photo and used the live loop effect to turn it into a mini video of running water, but can't work out how to post that here. In the photo below you can see the ducks standing on ice near the boats. 

The paths through the woods which have been impassably muddy were thoroughly frozen, so we were able to crunch our way back home through the wintry looking trees. The white on the ground is ice rather than snow. Today has been a little warmer, then tomorrow the temperature is forecast to rise dramatically and it looks as though next week may even start to feel like spring. 

I'm feeling slightly annoyed with myself as last week, instead of sitting on a proper chair at a desk, I spent long hours working sitting on the bed huddled under blankets. I could feel my back starting to ache, but ignored it - as a result I now have what I think is mild sciatica (tender, aching hip and leg), and after doing a yoga class this morning, a very sore lower back. I am fortunate in that my back is pretty robust and it is rare for me to have any back pain, which is why I didn't bother to move when it first started to twinge. Lesson learned. It is feeling a bit easier this evening, and I'm reasonably confident that if I treat it gently for the next few days it will clear, but there was a lot of creaking and groaning earlier on today! 

Everyone over 70 or who is extremely clinically vulnerable has now been offered vaccines and they are moving on to over 65s and people with other less severe health conditions. Asthmatics are only being prioritised if their asthma is severe or poorly controlled so I will have to wait until they get to the over 60s, but I am hoping that will be by early March. M should also get his second dose around that time. Between vaccine progress and warmer weather things are definitely looking up! 

Staying Home Part 2: Day 19

Today got off to a great start with the news that the Oxford University / AstraZeneca Covid vaccine has been successful in Phase 3 trials - at least 70% effective and up to 90% depending on how it is administered. Although the effectiveness may be a bit less than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines already announced, the most important thing is that the Oxford vaccine is cheap to produce and easy to handle, stable at much higher temperatures than the other two. It means it is affordable (£3 a dose) and practical for widespread distribution in even the poorest countries. This one is truly a vaccine for the world, not just for rich western countries. I know it will be a while before the corner is turned, but there is now real hope that the end of this pandemic is in sight. 

A much more minor good thing was that I managed to order matching Christmas presents for H and her BF - at the weekend there was only one in stock, but I looked again this morning and it had miraculously gone up to two. I grabbed them while I could!  After the cheering start to the day I suffered a minor disappointment when I went to take TG to school. There had been a frost last night and instead of going out to a nice pre-warmed, defrosted car it was cold and I had to scrape ice off it. On Friday I had carefully set the climate control timer for school days, so something had clearly gone wrong. When I got home I checked the settings to see if I could find the problem and realised I had set the timer for 8.20pm instead of 8.20am. Oops! All sorted now, I hope. 

My archive time this morning went quickly, with a staff "Teams" meeting, sourcing photographs for social media, writing a couple of emails, and doing research for a short article on a 19th century court case. I had a very productive lunch break, fitting in a half hour walk, mixing up batter for toad in the hole tonight, and managing to reattach the kitchen cupboard door that fell off a few weeks ago. If you ever need to try to fix a cupboard door where the holes have got too big for the screws, the answer (thank you Google!) is to glue a few cocktail sticks into the hole with wood glue (not too many); then cut off the ends of the sticks once the glue is dry, leaving a much smaller hole which will allow the screws to grip again.  

In the afternoon I worked on the latest batch of questions, then spent a bit of time on a cross-stitch picture of a badger I am making for a friend for Christmas. It feels as though it has been a very productive day. H cooked the toad-in-the-hole for dinner with veggie sausages in the batter, mashed sweet potatoes and sautéed cabbage. 

I didn't take any photos today, so I am posting some more from our walk in town yesterday. Unfortunately the sun was low and in the wrong direction, so the lighting isn't great.

One last thing to record - I woke during the night and realised an owl was hooting nearby. In fact, I think there were two, "talking" to each other. Oddly I don't ever recall hearing one from here before - I have no idea if that is just because I am unobservant (especially when half-asleep!) or whether they are moving into more built-up areas.