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Thursday 26th
March 2020
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07:52 GMT
It was rather a gorgeous day yesterday. The
wind was mostly low, the sky was blue, and the sun
was shining. The temperature reached 13° C. In
other words, yesterday was as good as the day
before (albeit as much as 1° cooler).
Like yesterday, today will be 1° C cooler
than yesterday, but should otherwise be a fine
day. The wind is back from the east, and so 11° C
(perhaps 12° C briefly) may feel a bit cool even
in direct sunshine, but at least it will stay dry.
Before writing I thought it wise to check for any
revisions to the forecast. It has been revised,
and the latest prediction is that most of this
afternoon could see 12° C. Tomorrow will be very
similar, but the cracks start to show in the
afternoon. Sunshine will give way to just sunny
intervals in the afternoon. The day after may only
see sunny intervals until the afternoon when it
will become overcast, and may stay that way for 3
or 4 days.
Yesterday was not a great day. I managed to
keep myself amused all day, but it was hard work
doing so. I must admit that if the lock-in, aka
95% curfew, "social distancing" were on a cold,
dull and rainy day, it would still feel annoying
despite the fact I would be doing nothing
different. The fact that it was bright and sunny,
and probably not feeling that bad in the sunshine,
that made yesterday annoying with bells on.
I didn't feel well yesterday, but it was a
very familiar feeling, and so unlikely to be
anything to do with Coronavirus. It was the same
feeling as a cold winters days when bits ache, and
a feeling of depression wafts across the land. I
must admit that my high blood glucose, and
difficulty getting my blood pressure down, were
good suggestions that I was fighting some sort of
infection. I doubt the truth will ever be known -
unless something more dramatic happens.
The hardest thing at the moment is the
depression, but it's source, or reasons may not be
obvious. One of the most depressing things is
reading about so much stupidity out there. Much of
it is because government advice is so vague, and
some of the press are just piling on the
confusion. There is so much evidence to be found
online that this Coronavirus pandemic is not the
end of the world, and may actually be less worse
that some years seasonal 'flu. It does seem to be
a fact that this Covid-19 virus is a bit easier to
spread than 'flu, but for normal, healthy people,
it's effects are less severe than 'flu (still
unpleasant, but over with faster).
For many of the luckier people that may not
even know they have been infected. The supposed
danger here is that they will still infect other
people, but maybe that is not so terrible except
in the case of those who have particular
vulnerabilities. Those are people who would also
be vulnerable to 'flu. It is quite an eye opener
to read just how many die of 'flu each year in
this country, and yet that, no matter how sad, is
considered unremarkable. I have given up trying
get the figures day by day, but there is a feeling
that Covid-19 is struggling to out do 'flu as a
killer.
The only rational of the current lockdown
is to prevent the health services from being
overloaded by slowing the spread of the disease. I
do wonder if the extra load on the health service
is not from people with very serious conditions,
but from those who just a tickly cough and demand
to be tested. In some ways it is a self fulfilling
prophecy. Tell the people they are facing the
greatest threat since WW3, and they are so on edge
that can no longer think rationally, and treat
every sneeze as a death sentence. I for one
will not be bothering the health service until I
am turning blue.
So we are being turned into a nation of
hyperchondriacs, and manic depressives. Then this
happens.....
These laces arrived in the post yesterday.
Talk about twisting the knife when it is in. I
ordered these over a week ago, before the lockdown
became a thing. The idea was to re-lace some of my
boots, and then start testing them for increased
or decreased comfort, while trying to build up my
stamina in anticipation of some longer country or
coastal walks. While we are specifically allowed
to go out once a day for exercise, it does not
feel the same as being able to go out
spontaneously. I can't really explain, or even
understand why I feel so pissed off at a
restriction that doesn't actually restrict me.
Maybe I have just read too many dystopian SciFi
books and watched too many TV series or films
dealing with totalitarian states. I really do fear
that this lockdown is a prototype for the future
when it will be for political reasons.
Nothing of any significance really happened
yesterday (apart from me moaning) - unless not
doing something is significant. As I have already
mentioned, I didn't feel well yesterday. I guess
it was really a melange of lots of little things -
both physical and mental. One thing that would
have helped was the thing I didn't fancy doing -
going for a walk in the sunshine. There was one
other, so far unmentioned, reason for it. My
dinner the day before yesterday was a sort of
experiment in eating something very similar to a
so called paleo diet.
Two major ingredients were raw red cabbage
and raw red onion. It was sort of pleasant, but
maybe only as a novelty. It did seem to have an
"exciting" effect on my digestive system the next
morning, and maybe for several hours after. Upon
weighing myself when the worst was over, I was
very happy to see the scales saying my weight had
dropped as low as some of the good days before I
got ill in mid January, ate too much, and never
seemed to recover from it. As soon as I saw that
weight I tried on my other pair of red jeans.
These were still just a little too tight for
everyday wear when I was able to start wearing the
first red jeans. I think there is still a little
way to go before those tighter red jeans would be
truly comfortable - maybe as little as a half inch
off my waist. It is the first good news I've had
in ages (sort of).
That "paleo diet" meal was a example of how
the government could make this lockdown feel
easier to do. I just have this gut feeling that
screaming "murderer, murderer, you're killing
grannies" (that you didn't even know existed) does
little to endear the public to the cause. What
they should have done is try a bit more carrot,
and a lot less stick. For instance pointing out
all the foods you can now eat with no worries
about offending people because everyone will keep
their distance when you are eating raw onion,
garlic, the fishiest of fishes, and as many baked
beans as you can manage in a single meal. Fart all
you like, it just helps "social distancing".
My guts did feel a bit wobbly for most of
yesterday morning, but I either stabilised them,
or gave them something else to worry about when I
cooked a pile of bacon, the last of my giant
mushrooms, a little sliced red onion, the last of
my tomatoes, and a sachet of Heinz "Creationz"
(flavoured beans). I rather doubted it would be
good for me, but I wasn't in the right mood to be
very careful about what I was eating. I had that
meal possibly around 1pm, and then tried not to
eat much for the rest of the day, but I did down
about 4 (or was it 5?) bottles of Corona beer.
I have been reading a SciFi book that is an
expanded version of an Isaac Asimov short story
about a Neanderthal child who is "scooped out of
time" by using some fantastic technology. It
is a surprisingly emotional book. I was reading a
chapter before going to sleep last night. Once
again I slept seemingly well, although I seem to
be getting up earlier and earlier in the morning -
probably because it is getting lighter earlier and
earlier. That book really influenced my dreams,
but not in the sort of way expected. It was almost
as if the main character was a big bowl of baked
beans !
I guess I was feeling a bit guilty about
the beans and the beer, and I was expecting my
blood glucose to be very high again this morning,
It was still higher than desirable, but down to a
level that just needs improving on a little bit. I
sometimes think that I really know nothing about
organising my diet to control my blood glucose
level, but I suppose I have to admit to myself
that I have been very successful in doing it in
less troubled times. There is an alternative
explanation, and that is that my body may have
finished fighting an infection. That would also be
reflected on my blood pressure returning to it's
low readings this morning. My second reading, done
with very little effort - almost none at all - was
a systolic pressure of just 119 - not very, very
low, but comfortably under the 125 - 130 that I
think I was supposed to aim for once upon a time
in the past.
My chest, or actually my rib cage, was
quite sore this morning, but now feels OK. My
right shoulder is quite painful - but depending on
what I do with it. This is nothing new, and it has
been worse on many occasions. I am not sure about
my legs. They sort of feel stiff, but not
exceptionally so. I think I am going to have a
shower, and wash my hair (in case I am arrested by
a good looking policewoman for being out of my
home), and then try for a long walk in the
sunshine. At worst I will up to Ladywell and back,
or about 1.6 miles, of if I seem to be walking OK
I may try to get that up to 3 miles. One potential
problem is that I intend to wear the new boots I
bought from Aldi a month or two ago. The last time
I wore them they were starting to get comfortable,
and so should be improving. I have re-laced them
with the green laces in the picture further up the
page. I hope that these new laces, laced in a
better way (because they are longer), may increase
the comfort, but I am probably deluding myself.
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