Lockdown Diary - Thursday 12th November 2020

Today I'm on leave to celebrate my wife's birthday, though as this coincides with cleaner day, I still have to get up early, though I did manage to sneak 30 minutes extra in bed.  Thursday is a good day to celebrate her birthday as it's one of the two days each week she is lifted out of her bed into her special tilt-in-space chair, if only for 10 to 15 minutes.

Since son #2 is working today and son #3 has lectures at uni, the current plan is that when H goes into her chair, I'll give her my cards and presents and also any others that have already arrived.  The boys will share theirs with her, as and when.

Getting things organised, birthday-wise, was interrupted by a call from an unknown mobile number, which turned out to be the specialist nurse from endoscopy from the hospital.  They want to book my wife in to have her PEG replaced, which ended up being a long discussion about the pros and cons of the two types of PEG. In the end we decided it was in my wife's best interest to have a home-replaceable PEG rather than the one she currently has, primarily because she might find the procedure for the other sort quite traumatic. I have to now organise hospital transport via the GP, a process which is fraught with challenges, if past experience is anything to go by. I'll start the ball rolling on that after the birthday present ceremony.

Late morning the phone rang and it was H's dad to wish her happy birthday. He asked if it would be best if I passed on his birthday wishes and I said not, she'd appreciate it far more if he spoke to her in person, which he did.  H smiled on hearing his voice. I guess people find it hard to speak to her, when they get no reply, and can't see her reaction. At times I find this a bit irritating because it's the reality of life for those of us living here and, if for the price of a bit of awkwardness, you brighten H's day, then it must be worth it. 

The carers arrived just before midday and got my wife ready for her chair (I did initially write 'ready for the chair' but that sounded a little macabre when read back) whilst I assembled the presents and cards. 

I shared my cards and presents first and, thankfully, these seemed to please H and she seemed to be warming to the fact that it was her birthday.  Some flowers arrived from her dad mid-ceremony, so I opened those and then moved on to the presents my older sister had sent. Somehow she had managed to pick a number of unusual but usable toiletries including a jar of peppermint foot cream, which was amazingly powerful to smell. It was like smelling salts and when I held it under H's nose she was visibly wakened by it, jolting her head back in her chair. Loads of cards later, which I read out, it was time for H to go back to her bed.

After H returned to her bed but before our lunch, more flowers arrived from her mum, then we had a video call with son #3 at uni, wishing his mum happy birthday, followed in quick succession by H's mum, calling for the same reason, though not as short a call.

After lunch I decided to finish the 'Sirens' chapter of 'Ulysses' rather than go for my customary walk, primarily because I seem to have done something to my lower back and cannot seem to find any position comfortable.

'Sirens' completed I started playing H's YouTube favourite songs playlist for her. After a while she drifted off to sleep, but I left it playing in case she awoke. I also felt the urge to listen to some music and so cranked up the stereo and listened whilst lying on the floor (hoping it might help my back in some miraculous way!)

After listening to the two albums that Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus released earlier this year ('Songs of Yearning' and 'Nocturnes', if you're asking) and half of Be Bop Deluxe's 'Sunburst Finish', the carers arrived, which marked time to get ready for tonight's Idler drinks.

Tonight's guest speaker is the novelist/critic/essay writer Geoff Dyer, who was zooming in from Venice Beach, Los Angeles.  Yet again an interesting hour of discussion on books, politics, Wordsworth, philosophy and westerns, to name but a few of the talking points. Donald Trump was the subject of much of the call and Geoff's view from the USA was especially interesting.  Briefly mentioned was an old book he wrote on the film 'Where Eagles Dare', titled 'Broadsword Calling Danny Boy', which sounded so intriguing I had to order a copy.

We had planned to open a bottle of something sparling to celebrate H's birthday, but in the event she was both tired and coughing so much, I daren't risk it. Tomorrow night, perhaps.

Dinner beckons and, very unusually, we have steak.  I can't remember the last time we cooked steak, but I suspect it wasn't this year.  Son #2 and I cooked dinner, and watched the final episode of 'The Last Wave', whilst we ate.

Pleased to say that 'The Last Wave' stayed interesting to the end and, more importantly, it told a complete story with no sneaky endings designed to allow for a second series. TV series that do this are so rare these days, always angling for a second, inevitably worse, series. Sometimes this works well, as in 'Line Of Duty' (so far), but rarely.  Even 'Line Of Duty' is in danger of spinning it's one unanswered question out for too long, though thankfully the writing and acting have kept it worth watching, though I do feel this next series ought to be the last.

Time to draw a line under the day. Work again tomorrow.

As promised (or should that be threatened?) a few days ago, today's tune is from Infected Mushroom. What I like most about this is the way it never stays the same for that long.  For the first minute or so, I thought 'Hmmm, OK, but so what', then it starts to morph with a distorted guitar sound, and at a little after one minute 30 seconds, it changes it to an electronic work out, and the changes continue from there.  It's called 'Bliss on Mushrooms' and is from the quirkily titled album 'Head Of NASA and the Two Amish Boys'. 

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