Lockdown Diary - Wednesday 30th December 2020

A break from being a lazy sod: started the day with yoga at 7 a.m. - 30 minutes of breathing exercises, 15 minutes of movement all topped off with another final breathing exercise.  There were 8 or 9 of us on the Zoom call (plus yogini) and at the end we all wished each other happy New Year as the next time we three meet again it will be 2021.

All our days, whilst at home, have the imprint of routine stamped upon them, regardless of whether it's a noteworthy day, such as Christmas Day, or any other day.  My wife's care routine, involving 5 carer calls a day, is stamped on everything we do.  Whilst the carers are entirely capable of doing what they do without my involvement, in reality, at least once a day thing arise which I need to know about.  In practice this means that I am involved with almost every visit, which, in turn, means that all the things I might want to fit into the day have to fit around their schedule.  As I'm sure I've said several times before, our home no longer feels like it's wholly ours: the carers can gain access without involving us, though I do prefer to let them in, most of the time and when they are here things feel different somehow.  Of course I know they need to do what they do - we couldn't manage without them, and in the case of the main six carers, they are almost part of the family. Not only that, but I would miss them if they stopped coming (that's really a 'when' not an 'if', but I try and stop my mind wandering down that particular road) as they have been my only adult, face-to-face, contacts (excepting other health professionals) this year. I would have probably gone completely mad by now, were it not for them!

I could tell you about all the usual things that I've done today, but I'm tired of doing that.

A couple of friends contacted me electronically today, which brightened the day up. One of them, messaged me from the Maldives (surprise #1) to tell me she's there with her fiancé (surprise #2) and another couple. Amongst her news was a request for suggestions of books to read, a request she's made before and which I attempted to fulfil, and an invitation to join her and her fiancé as part of an online quiz team in the New Year. Let's hope that will fit it into my hectic social calendar.

As if predestined by some celestial activity, the evening comes around, and I decide to dip my toes (or should that be my ears?) into the backlog of music I have to listen to, starting with those albums that Santa, in his infinite wisdom, delivered to me on Christmas Day. I don't know if you've noticed this, but increasingly albums are returning to the lengths they used to be in the days when the capacity of a vinyl album was the limiting factor - perhaps the resurgence of vinyl is the reason? This means I managed to listen to all of Tricky's latest album, another by a band called Pottery (what will these kids think of next?) and the remainder of Julianna Barwick's album that I started a few days ago. All this before it was time to make dinner.

When we all gathered around the cooking cauldron, the fates decided that we should watch the first episode of 'Raised By Wolves', and so we did.  The first two episodes of the series were apparently directed by Ridley Scott, of 'Alien' fame, though - spoiler alert - so far, we have not seen a wolf.  Could it be a metaphor? 😉😉  Time will tell.

Clearly I cannot choose a song I've been listening to - far too obvious. Instead I let my mind roam free and see what bubbles to the surface.  Roxy Music? Good idea and good song, but no. Aah! This album just caught my eye as I glanced around the room. Yes. Why not? This is Mica Paris from the rather presumptuously titled album 'So Good'. This is probably the most well-known track from the album: 'My One Temptation'. I'm afraid there's an actual video. Look away!

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