My mother had me tested

This morning my son woke up with a new continuous cough. So we are in isolation and are waiting for the test results.

Yesterday he tidied his room.  I have commented in the past about how interesting an experience this is, but tidy it he did and today he had a cough.  He is well, no temperature, active and no change in behaviour.  While both my wife and I agreed that this was probably because of him tidying his room, we could not risk it.  Especially as we had planned to have some friends over, now that such visits are legal.  So we rang NHS111 to arrange some testing.  A work colleague sent me information on how to book it on line, but that was after I range 111 to see about arranging a test.  By the time they rang back, we were booked and ready to go.

COVID-19 testing is not nice.  Though not as horrible as it was when I had it done, it is still traumatic for those who have it carried out.  So I showed my wife how to do it, as I felt he would let her do it instead of me.  A drive to Ipswich later, and he was very brave letting my wife test him.
Afterwards it was home, food and quarantine while we wait for the results.  We played a game, and the first games were scrabble.  I have played this since a child with my mother who kept beating me over and over again.  And I have been playing Words With Friends,  which meant that I had an advantage.  So I won the first game.  And while my daughter was not keen on it at first, she was keen for a second game.  Playing it on line means I get to have breaks.  Playing it in real life stresses out my brain.  And despite a mild headache, I agreed to a third game.  But after I used all me letters in one game, my son left, and my wife and daughter ended the game afterwards when I continued to increase the score gap.  I was proud of my score, though understood it when they both decided to end the game.

We played Labyrinth afterwards while my son talked to his friends online and later watched bits of Iron Man 2.  Or rather watched most of it until we got too tired and had to go to bed.  Love he film though and am looking forwards to the rest of it.

We discovered too many care homes didn't really follow the procedures

"We discovered too many care homes didn't really follow the procedures in the way they could have."

There has been a lot of comments about what Boris said about how COVID19 spread through care homes.  Later a No 10 spokesman insisted Johnson was not blaming care homes, saying they “have done a brilliant job under very difficult circumstances”. He added: “The PM was pointing out that nobody knew what the correct procedures were because the extent of asymptomatic transmission was not known at the time.”

People have commented about how the comments that Boris made were wrong and that he was wrong to blame care homes.  And the government have not apologised but have deflected the comments.

But Boris was right.

Care homes didn’t follow the procedures in the way that they could have.

And that was because of a lack of PPE.

Exercise Cygnus, in 2017 reported on the importance of PPE.

Despite this, the amount of PPE available when COVID19 spread across the UK was far short of what the nation needed. 

But do not take my word for this. A study at the UEA has shown this.

If care homes had enough PPE, an issue identified in 2017, procedures would have been followed.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Yesterday it was time to watch a film after working from home.  The downside of Wednesday is working from home.  The plus point of Wednesday, is working from home.  I do not work as well as I do when at the office, and also cycling there on a Wednesday burns off a lot of calories (another downside of working from home).  But it is nice to be around the family.

After work, I went for a haircut with my son, or rather I went and my son, brought by my wife later, went in afterwards.  It is strange to have less hair, but I knew lock-down was coming which is why I had my hair cut as close to it as I dared and when the barbers opened, I booked an appointment on line.  He was not too keen and acted surprised by this, despite having been told about this on many occasions.  But he liked his haircut as well.

And later in the day, we watched Guardians of the Galaxy.  My son did not want to join us for this, which is a shame, but it was great to watch it again.  My daughter is working her way through the Marvel films and while I would want to watch them in time order, my wife wanted just to watch this, so that is what it was.  And as before, I loved it.  Of all the new Marvel films, I think I like these the most.  My best one was Blade, but it has been a long time since I watched that and I am not sure if I would like it as much if I watched it again.  Guardians has great characters, classic lines and for me, the sci-fi nerd, it is also set in space.  I love this film!

Frozen 2

Just a quick post on this film.  Got back late so did not get to spend much time with my son before he went to bed, but I did watch some television with my daughter, this being Marvel Runaways, but we finished the series and I need to look into being able to watch it on demand as we missed the third series.

Frozen 2 is a sweet film, but I am very glad the children refused to watch it with me as it was not anywhere near as good as the first one.  Saying that, my daughter told me she did not like the first one that much!

Memories of that and how so many children loved it (and still do) bring a smile to my face.

Maleficent

First of all, I missed the #ClapForTheNHS, mainly because I was knackered.  A late few nights caught up with me and I had taken a nap, but slept through it!

As a family, we watched Maleficent which I think is a far better film compared to the sequel.  We had watched it many years ago but could not remember it all.  Of course we have a dark sense of humour which is prevalent in the film to a point, but notable by not being present as much in the sequel.  Ultimately, it is a fairy tale, but this interpretation is one I love as well as its sound track.

Anyway, good night all!

The pubs are open!

First of all, an update on the children. They are doing well though they are coming up to the end of term and it will be interesting to see how they have done.  My daughter is still working from home, while my son goes into school for most of the week.

My wife and I went to visit some friends now that we are able to.  It was nice to mix, though a bit nervy for me.  But I got to watch the Arsenal match and saw a rare away win.  Performances like this are going to be important if the team is to qualify to play in Europe next season.  We have no chance of playing in the European Cup (or as most call it, the Champions League) but, depending on other results, we may qualify to play in the Europa Cup.

It was nice to see our friends, and it was nice to see the players clap for the NHS before kickoff.  Driving into town tonight, many more may need it in four weeks time.  Loads were in Colchester and many were not social distancing.  While they are young and therefore at low risk even if they get infected, most will not be affected too badly.  But they will infect others, which means that we may see a jump in numbers in four weeks time.

Which means that those risking their lives to treat the ill be under increased risk again.

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Today we finished watching Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.  We started to watch it yesterday but finished it tonight.  It was an enjoyable film, but not as good as what I remembered of Maleficent itself.  Saying that, it was a long time ago that we watched it, 2014 in fact and the memory of it may not actually match.  But we have decided to watch Maleficent later to see if it compares.

It is a nice film, but being a fairy tale for children you have to forget how enemies become friends very quickly.  Good in places, average in others, it is not a classic sequel, but it will do.