Nice and easy

14th January 2024

Making it up and out of bed last Sunday was a precursor to this past week when we tried our best to get back, if not to normality, at least to a sort of facsimile of it.

It all started on Monday morning when we both got up at the same time, with Stephen taking the dogs and me getting breakfast ready. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do that with my usual gusto and Stephen had to help me when he returned. Still, I tidied up and took the dogs for a walk – not our full one but at least I was outside for the first time in ten days, then sat in a stupor on the settee till I managed to recover enough interest to get myself showered and properly dressed.

That, fortunately, was as bad as it got and as I slowly improved over the week I was able to do a bit more every day, with Stephen making sure I didn’t overstretch myself. He did the shopping and other stuff while I hung around LCDDB, only going out with the dogs, gradually extending the distance, managing to make it to the top of the road for the first time this year on Wednesday. It was odd how towards the end of the week I could walk further but not take any longer…

Apart from looking after me, Stephen found himself much occupied by work, not getting home till 7.30 on Tuesday and Wednesday. He did make it for 7 on Thursday, but made up for this on Friday when it was 8.30 before he walked through the door though with some satisfaction as they had managed to complete some urgent samples and get them to the courier.

The good news of the week, though, was about the tessere sanitarie, the confirmation for which came through online to bff Manuel from his contact at Fermo, who had again helped with the process. The really good news is that, while Stephen had called in to the post office to pay for his last week, thanks to the generosity of the British government now that I am of a certain age, they will take responsibility for my health costs. Not only that, but my card lasts until November 2029, so I can continue to be as ill as I want with impunity.

And what about the weekend? As well as taking down the fairy lights in the kitchen/dining room yesterday morning (don’t judge, he did de-Christmas the house in good time for the 6th, but he needed me to hold the step ladders – it’s nice to know I’m good for something), Stephen made a return trip for the waste bags, this time going to the actual place and not bemoaning the fact that you couldn’t just get them in the old place in the village. Not that that meant there was an absence of moaning. He joined a healthy group lined up to sign for their quota, all saying how much better it was before especially now that no one knew where the ecological centre was – which does beggar the question how did they come to be there, then? More importantly, though, as Stephen remarked to one of the ladies he knew, at least in the old days you could go to Pina for a coffee afterwards.

Which is what we did this morning for my first jaunt out in 2024. After over two weeks confined to LCDDB we had a trial run to see how I held up to something approaching everyday life when we went there for breakfast, working on the principal that it was an easy way to reintroduce me to the outside world. We even managed a quick trip to Coal as I’d forgotten to put shallots on the shopping list on Friday. You will be pleased to know that all this excitement resulted in no aftereffects, but just to be on the safe side I have again bolstered myself up over the weekend with the odd glass of tonic water, an elixir that put me on the road to recovery last Sunday – with, of course, a little something added to give me that extra boost.