I have written in the past about always having something to aim at. Usually that involves something in the wider world but over the past 10 or so days that world has shrunk.
The main problem has been having COVID but not really feeling ill apart from having a cold and generally a feeling of being worn out which has necessitated an additional daytime sleep.
I won't know until I get back to normal whether there are any remaining symptoms. As I write this I am entering my 11th and final day of lockdown. That is calculated as the day you first notice symptoms and the following 10. So hopefully from tomorrow I will be clear and I have already returned a negative lateral flow test.
Thursday is my day for playing tennis and I figure that, as this is out in the air and I won't have to come into direct contact with anyone, that we will all be safe. But I've no idea whether I will get out of breath or struggle until I'm actually there. I have decided not to attend a meeting in the afternoon which would be indoors and in a confined space - just in case. But a dentist appointment will go ahead as long as I do another negative test before going.
The thing I have missed most since isolation is just going out to random places with my camera and also the freedom just to be able to walk down the street. We all too often take this kind of freedom for granted.
As I have said, I feel lucky that my symptoms have been relatively minor which has added to the problem. In "normal times" (whatever they are) I would have continued as normal with what I consider to be a cold. I can't imagine feeling how I have felt saying to myself "I must stay in and not do anything much for the next 11 days.
So over those days I have adopted a much more leisurely routine. This includes getting up half an hour to an hour later, spending a couple of hours writing, watching some daytime television (I know, I know), listening to music and then spending a couple of hours in the afternoon in the garden. I suppose I can always look upon this time as one for recharging the batteries, ready to once again zoom out of the traps when I can. In fact my diary is horrendously full of all the things I haven't been able to do whilst in isolation. Added to which the Norfolk Heritage Events are about to start and I have a number of walks and presentations lined-up. I was very sorry yesterday not to be able to go to the funeral service for Dear Rosie. Rosie Hubbard was a lovely lady who gave so much to our village. One of those people who were always happy and always ready to roll up her sleeves and just get stuck in. Everyone knew her as Dear Rosie. She gave so much to our village and never expected anything in return. I spent much of yesterday writing a tribute piece for the local media and my e-magazine.
Getting back to my world over the next couple of weeks. I will avoid public transport for a while and also avoid going to anything with a massive crowd. I think that will go by the wayside if I decide to go to Carrow Road to watch Norwich play Liverpool in the cup.
The following week we will be going on a day's coach outing to Lavenham in Suffolk and the Beth Chatto gardens which I believe are on the Essex/Suffolk border. This will give me a chance to bring you some new photographs to go with my rather dry prose. Going on that trip means that I will have to miss one of my favourite artists - John Grant - appearing in concert in Norwich.
I have seen Grant a couple of times. His music is hard to categorise. It's intense ballads within an electro feel. And I think intense is a good word to describe both the man and his music. Grant is openly gay but comes from a strict American Methodist background where such things weren't tolerated. Hence he became drug and alcohol dependent and generally a mess (his words not mine). Music brought a kind of redemption, although he still seems to be working through his angst, often via his lyrics.
A number of years ago he released an album entitled "The Queen of Denmark" which has a couple of wonderful tracks on it. The first is "Where Dreams Go To Die" which has a killer hook chorus and the second is "Marz" which has nothing to do with the planet but is about a sweetshop from his childhood.
It's interesting that the venue has now been re-styled The Halls rather than St Andrew's Hall. It now encompasses the next door Blackfriars' Hall and what a history that building has. I will relate it sometime in a blog.