What Happens when Covid gets into the House

It arrived on a tickly throat, tricked us into thinking the milk was off, lowered us gently into bed, and wrapped our heads in fog. One by one the extra line showed up for each of us and we learned a few things.

You Can’t Complain

After two years without even so much as a cold, it is shocking to feel so ill that you don’t even want to sit out in the sun. But the stats on the news keep coming, and if you are only feeling a ‘bit rubbish’ you have to shut up and snivel quietly to yourself. You will probably do a lot of that.

The Snivelling turns into Unreasonable Selfish Thoughts.

If you only have yourself to think about, there is loads of time to look for things to snivel about. These were typical.

There is no dachshund in the house.  It would have been nice to suddenly have a small dog to cheer up the days.

You can feed small dog fever by watching videos of dachshund puppies and wondering about getting one. Luckily you will notice how much they bark and sadly decide against it. This will save thousands.

The cat doesn’t care.  You stop stroking the cat in case it is true that cats get Covid and then get annoyed because she does not miss it. Try to remember that it has always been complicated and most strokes were forced on her.

Some Things Don’t Work Anymore

It is nice to keep a diary and record the days. Let’s pretend mine is usually a bit like this.

And let’s look at the diary from last month.

An impressive 10 words a day.

You Still Have to Eat

Don’t send a neighbour to the wood-fired pizza wagon that comes by on Tuesdays. Yes, the boxes are nice but the contents are just warm dough covered in soggy stuff. What you really need is spicy noodle broth with garlic, ginger, and fresh vegetables.  Send the neighbour to the shop instead

If the evening meal looks boring, with not enough food, that might be because of brain fog. Check the oven and see if half the meal is still in there. It is easy to forget what you just cooked and roast vegetables don’t look great after two days in a cold oven.

Foxes Don’t Exist

It takes several kilos of energy to walk to the chicken house and lockout the foxes. I left the chickens to fend for themselves and, two weeks later, there are still four. I have been wasting my time for years.

You Become a TV Expert

When you are forced to watch TV for 8 hours a day, you notice tiny details. Bridgerton is back on Netflix and you can enjoy grand houses draped in so much plastic ivy that they look like they are wearing toupees. And in ‘Meet the Aristocrats’ on ITV there are more grand houses, but this time they are damp and crumbling, and their poor owners have to open them to the public and sell tea towels to raise money for a new roof. So you move on from plastic ivy to worrying about pricing up tea towels. It is gripping stuff.

So is Grey’s Anatomy. Suddenly I was living the life of an intern surgeon in an American hospital. You forget all about feeling ill when one of your colleagues performs open-heart surgery for the first time. Happy days indeed.

It Comes in Waves

Sometimes you get a burst of energy, and you go and dig up a tree root because you finally got out in the sun, and the tree root was annoying.

Beware of the energy wave, for it will steal your soul and later you will cry. 

Spring is a Miracle

Spring is still beautiful. And a garden in spring does not need anything. Just sit back and watch the flowers grow.  It will be ok.