Lockdown Diary - Tuesday 16th February 2021

Back to work on Shrove Tuesday / pancake day!  As I'm expecting to be on a video call with friends this evening, the pancake duties (and dinner in general) will fall to sons 1 and 2 (son #3 being embroiled in a 'Rocket League' (don't ask) tournament with friends from uni this evening) unless we start cooking really early.

Until then it's going to be work for most of the day, apart from the usual interruptions and one less common one.

The carers ask me to sort something out for my wife, which needs me to contact the community matron which also prompts me to contact the continence prescription service for some additional supplies too. They remind me that today is catheter flush day too, so I get the bits I need out of the cupboard ready for lunchtime.

My document-writing was interrupted mid-morning by the arrival of a plumber to quote for a few jobs that need doing, one of which I wasn't sure was possible.  He's had a look round and worked out what needs to do, making a few suggestions and will go away and produce a couple of quotes.

The shower in the en-suite needs some TLC and has done for ages, more than that the whole room needs decorating. I've been saying I'll do it for the last 300 years and, well, I haven't. I must admit I struggle to motivate myself to change anything around the house, because part of me thinks, 'what's the point? who am I doing it for?' and of course the answer is that if it isn't for me, then it's for nobody. There are so many bigger things in my life that are haunting me like the proverbial albatross that making the house better seems trivial, pointless and ultimately futile. Probably sounds stark, but it is how I feel.  It takes most of my willpower and optimism to keep on doing the same shit day in, day out, so a desire to decorate is my equivalent of a unicorn.  So this is a minor miracle - I don't know where the motivation has come from, but I've decided the shower needs doing, but if it's left to me it'll never happen (see above), so I'm going to pay someone to do it.

Enough of that! Back to work.

The lunchtime carer call had me aproned and gloved up for the catheter flush procedure, before a bit of meditation, followed by making lunch with sons 2 and 3, the only two currently awake, AFAIK.

Work again

I had arranged a mid-afternoon call with my manager on the account I'm working for which settles one rather important question for me and is a good catch-up. I'm quietly pleased with the outcome.

Back to (real) work again

I finish a bit later than planned as I am trying to progress a document that is proving much harder than anticipated, especially as I'm trying not to a) spend all day sitting down and b) spend too long a stretch staring at the screen without a break.

Getting set up for the Google Meet call at 8 p.m and looking forward to it.  It will be good to catch up with friends.  All of life takes place in front of one sort of screen or another these days.

We have a great call lasting for a little over ninety minutes, with me dropping out first to eat my dinner, then later to eat my pancakes.

After saying thanks to the chefs it's time to tidy up then bring the day to a close. Back for more of the same tomorrow.

The title track from a fairly dark but essential album, 'Black River Falls', which is now 21 years old.  Cathal Coughlan continues to make music sporadically under his own name, and also as a collaborator with other projects, his latest solo album due in March, the first for 11 years.

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