Update: COVID

 Remember when I said that we hadn't had COVID? 

Aah, good times.

This week we have both been hit HARD by the plague, and as a result have spent the last few days coughing, sneezing, groaning and (in my case) complaining that we can't taste or smell anything.

Fuck's sake.

I went into work on Monday, did a bit of useful stuff and then asked if it would be ok to go home early to finish a 700-page proof of Ordinary Monsters, which I wanted to return to the office before my last day on Thursday. Plus I felt a bit rubbish - sore throat, more of a cough than usual.

Tuesday morning I felt slightly worse, but well enough to read my book. But by about 3pm on Tuesday I felt AWFUL. Took a LFT and there was a veeeeeery faint second line.  Then came incredible chills and shivers, to the extent that I took to my bed before teatime, and did not emerge for another 14 hours.

Wednesday saw Mr WithaY announcing that he too now felt dreadful, and he took an LFT which popped up with a massive immediate POSITIVE result. Yay.  Interestingly, the phone app has told him to isolate for 6 days, but told me I had to isolate for 9. 

I did another lateral flow test on Thursday - couldn't have been more positive. Huge dark purple PLAGUE line flashed up immediately, none of this hanging about for 30 minutes nonsense.

Sent off for a PCR test, and had the result back in less than 24 hours, telling me that yes, I did indeed have COVID-19. 

Finally.  No more pandemic-FOMO for me.

So I missed my last day in the office, which made me very sad; it's been lovely working there, and I loved the team, as well as actively enjoying the work. Oh, and I won't be able to help out my lovely mate Jo with some cookery shenanigans next week. 

I know that compared to so many other people's terrible losses, that's very small beans, but I'm still disappointed. 

Today I left the house for the first time since last Monday (other than going out into the garden to look at the snow, the tulips, the pond or the stars) and went around the block with Mr WithaY and the dog. And, boyo, was I tired afterwards? Yes. Yes,  I was very tired.

Speaking of the pond, remember all the anti-heron precautions we took to stop any more of our beautiful Koi carp being stolen away by big flappy bastards?

We might as well have saved our money, time and effort, because whilst we succeeded in preventing the herons ravening through the group, we had not considered otters.

Fucking otters.

We realised that we hadn't seen much of the fish for a day or two, and went out to check on them. What we found was a scene of desolation and carnage - rocks and plants scattered, the underwater lights all knocked out of whack, and two sad little sets of crunched-up Koi scales on the lawn. And eyes.  Apparently otters leave the eyes.

No more fish for the WithaY pond, we decided. We're encouraging other sorts of wildlife to visit, as we already seem to have herons and otters. 

There was frogspawn last Spring, kindly donated from our next-door-neighbour's pond, which duly transformed into teeny frogs, all of which immediately buggered off into the long grass, never to be seen again. They probably headed straight back to their home pond next door. 

There have also been a few dragonflies, or possibly damsel flies. Water boatmen, snails and many types of bee, hoverfly and (bastard) wasps, all loving the waterfall. Oh, and the local pigeons have decided to use the pond as their preferred bathing spot - it is highly comical watching them flopping heavily into the water and having a good wash, before creaking up onto the nearby trees to dry off.

I'm hoping we've seen the last of the snow, as my tulips are flowering and I don't want them crushed by the weather.

I don't want any of us to be crushed by the weather.