Diary of a self-isolator – week 39

A lighthearted look at a few memories and the situation over the last seven days in our house.

Sunday 06/12/2020 – Day 267

Another dollar another week as they say (I Think)

Had a lovely little Christmas present from my Electricity supplier, they have given us £140 from the Warm House scheme, I was so happy that in a moment of madness I told Mrs H to turn the heating up a notch – such impetuosity, but I soon snuck it back down.

So, I have been waiting for this all week, England v France in the Autumn Nations Cup Final, at 2.00pm I settled down with a pint of Guinness for a good match, My darling wife even brought my roast dinner in on a tray, now in all fairness, England haven’t played too well in the first half, they are 13 – 6 down, but they are so close to scoring, the last thing you want to hear from Mrs H is:

“Well if they can’t score from a few feet away, they’re not going to score at all”

Thank you, Mrs H, beam me up Scotty, I am now waiting for the second half, but if England want to win this then they need to go up five gears.

Update on the rugby, England won after extra time and I am now back in love with Mrs H.

Today in history is the Feast Day of Saint Nicholas day, he was a Christian bishop who helped the needy. After his death, the legend of his gift-giving grew. Saint Nicholas transformed into the legendary character called Santa Claus, who brings Christmas presents to children around the world.

On this day in 1888 The birth of William Thomson Hay (known as ‘Will’ Hay); English comedian, actor, film director and amateur astronomer. His half hour weekly Will Hay Programme began in August 1944, and was broadcast live from the Paris Cinema, which still exists in a basement just off Piccadilly Circus. I still love the old films he made, always brilliant with his two sidekicks Moore Marriott ( The old fellow) His first appearance with Hay was in the film Dandy Dick (1935), but he was a significant supporting performer in Hay’s films from 1936 to 1940, and while he starred with Hay during this period he played a character called “Harbottle” that was based on a character Marriott usually played. His character Harbottle was originally created by Hay when he used the character in his “The fourth form at St. Michael’s” sketches in the 1920s. Graham Victor Harold Moffatt (6 December 1919 – 2 July 1965) was a mid-20th century English comedic character actor. He is best known for a number of films with Will Hay as  ‘Albert’: a plump cheekily insolent street-savvy youth. The three of them together made excellent films I think

Also on this day in 1897 The world’s first fleet of motorised taxi cabs started operating in London. I wonder if they had to learn ‘The Knowledge’.

The best news of the day is that I have my wine back, three months ago Tesco’s stopped stocking it for some reason, but it’s now back, It’s a Rose’ Echo Falls Summer Berries and tastes of strawberries, absolutely divine!

Today there were17272 new cases, these seem to be rising again and 231 registered deaths.

Monday 07/12/2020 – Day 268

Mrs H and I stayed up until 2.15am watching Heartland on TV, it was coming up to the end of series 10 and there were a lot of loose ends to tie up, so I eventually turned the TV off at 2.15, it would surely follow that I’d have a lovely lie-in after going to sleep so late, but no, I was wide awake five hours later and downstairs preparing my four Weetabix.

We have got an Iceland delivery today, this is about the fourth since my lockdown began, I was surprised to see so many delivery dates available, I had been on Tesco’s earlier and their December dates were as rare as hen’s teeth, but on Iceland there were dates all week, we did our order yesterday and it’s arriving today.

Today I’m back in the Repair shop, Mrs H is screaming for the table I started on Saturday and my Daughter needs her mirror back as she hasn’t been able to comb her hair and put any make-up on for three days lol! I was in there listening to Gold radio, as usual the Christmas records are being played more frequently as the time edges nearer, one of the most endearing songs for me is ‘When A Child is Born’ sung by Johnny Mathis in 1976 and getting to No1 in that year, yet the strange thing is that it doesn’t even mention Christmas. The most famous seasonal song of course is without doubt ‘White Christmas’ with Bing Crosby, the song encapsulates the whole period just so perfectly. But I wonder how many of you thought I was going to say Slade’s 1973 smash ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’. There are rumours that Noddy Holder wrote the song in five minutes whilst sat in a Wolverhampton pub, but that’s all they are – rumours, they had been in the pub all night so part of it was true, but the lyrics were worked out overnight at Noddy’s mother’s house. Noddy had written the basic tune in 1967, after pressure from Manager Chas Chandler to record a Christmas song bassist Jim Lea remembered the tune discarded by Noddy six years earlier when they were known as the ‘N Betweens’. He initially came up with the idea while taking a shower. They actually recorded it in the Summer of 1973 in New York, the rest, as they say, is history. But for sheer class the best song has got to be ‘O Holy Night’, Mariah Carey did a version of it in 1994, it wasn’t bad – but forgive me – she is a bit of a screamer in my book, the best version I have ever heard is by ll Divo, pure class!

I had eczema, diarrhoea and haemorrhoids over the weekend… I must say that was my best game of Scrabble ever.

The new cases for the past twenty four hours were 14717, but recorded deaths were well down to 172, these are as you know weekend figures.

Tuesday 08/12/2020 – Day 269

Up like the lark this morning and full of beans! Owing to the fact that I had a really good six and a half hours unbroken sleep, so refreshing.

I was lay in bed thinking, that if everyone left Santa an alcoholic drink this year he was going to get even fatter than he already is – because every drink must be accompanied by a substantial meal/

Mrs H was awoken by the arrival of the workmen next door, Our neighbours are obviously looking to their old age and are gravelling a large expanse of garden on the front/side of their house, it’s going to look pretty good when finished.

I am back in the repair shop, I finished the hall table for Mrs H yesterday and she was overjoyed, it is now in-situ and matches the existing one. I still have to finish the daughter’s large ornate mirror – not as easy as I thought it was going to be, and I am still working on the retro cocktail cabinet, I have ordered some special paper for it and now I await delivery.

Well, today is a landmark in history, the first citizens of the UK will get their vaccination against coronavirus. A UK grandmother has become the first person in the world to be given the Pfizer Covid-19 jab as part of a mass vaccination programme. Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, said the injection she received at 06:31 GMT was the “best early birthday present”. There was also a couple of elderly interviewed on the news last night, they were over 80 and will be among the first today, but of course they have to have a second injection in 28 days and then wait a further 6 weeks before they are safe enough to nip down to the local for a good old knees up.

Well chuffed! While I was getting the Christmas decorations down from the loft I found an old copy of the Radio Times from December 20^th 1982, so don’t have to buy a copy this year, I already know what’s on TV this year!

I asked  Mrs H why she married me, “Because of your sense of humour, you are really funny” she replied.

“Oh, I thought it was because I was good in bed” I said disappointedly.

“There you go” she said, “That’s hilarious”.

The number of new cases has dropped today, the figure for the last 24 hours was 12282, but sadly the number of recorded deaths is once again very high at 616, there are going to be a lot of sad families this Christmas and my heart goes out to every one of them.

Wednesday 09/12/2020 – Day 270

I was laying in bed thinking this morning and I remembered back to the first time Mrs H and I flew back in 1996, I was very nervous and was asking the stewardess all sorts of ridiculous questions, like “How often do planes crash?”, just once wasn’t the answer I was expecting.

In the Repair shop today working on an old cabinet which I had given me, the in thing seems to be cocktail cabinets so I am hoping to spruce this cabinet up and turn it into a desirable item, I have already prepared it and added hairpin legs, Mrs H says it is starting to look good – praise indeed. My daughter Sarah called today and took away the mirror that was supposed to take me a couple of hours to prepare and paint – it was a nightmare lol. She has left me with three very large photo frames to paint, fortunately I have to use spray paint for them, so in practice it should be a doddle Hah!

I get bored whilst preparing stuff so my mind normally goes on its travels, I started to remember what happened when we had finally broke up from school in the early sixties, Mum was  – as always – up to her neck in work.

So for a couple of days we were left to fend for ourselves as mum was busy in the kitchen making mince pies etc, her Christmas would have started weeks before with the cooking of the Christmas pudding in the burco copper, this was always done at night while we were in bed (less hassle for mum) but the smell that filled the whole house was beautiful. Like most mums of her day she would also make her own mincemeat for the pies on the day. I seem to recall that she always made her own Christmas cake and pudding as well, complete with a couple of sixpences mixed in, this wasn’t available to buy unless of course you ordered it from Fortnum and Masons lol!

I remember there was a chap down the estate that used to keep chickens, and about 2 days before Christmas his son invited myself and a few friends to his house, we had only been there a few minutes in the back garden when his Dad came out carrying an axe, he immediately grabbed one of the chickens, lay it on a log and chopped off its head! The chicken ran around headless for what was probably only a few seconds but seemed like an age, my friends and I ran off with the screams of laughter ringing in our ears, that lad and his dad had set us up! We got our own back next day when we asked him out to play, we covered him from head to toe in itching powder, he had to have his first bath for a month and was probably red raw by Christmas day lol!

There was also the inevitable carol singing, we would go from house to house sing a carol and always end with –

‘We wish you a Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas,
We wish you a Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year

We would knock the door and await payment, sometimes no one came but mostly we would get paid, a favourite song to sing was ‘When the herds were watching’ as it was quite a short hymn and got you to the next house a lot quicker. I remember one year I hadn’t had a particularly good evening moneywise so I plucked up the courage to call in at the Queens Head pub on the way home, one old fellow who was worse for wear with drink made everyone shut up as I burst into ‘Away in a Manger’, as I sang he took off his flat cap and went around the customers, I left the pub to rapturous applause and almost twelve shillings richer!

Throughout the year mum had all her Vegetables delivered by a chap called Fletcher who would bring his van around the streets and people would buy from the back, so on the day prior to Christmas eve he would turn up with the biggest Christmas tree we had ever seen, it would have a log attached to it so we didn’t have to put it in a bucket,  he would struggle in with it and every year we would have to cut the top off to get it into the room. Fletcher was a really nice man and appreciated his loyal customers, so he would bring a very large wooden case about five foot long, three foot deep and two foot wide crammed full of apples, oranges, bananas, nuts and of course the inevitable dates in an oval casing. This large wooden case was always placed at the side of the TV but God help you if you touched any of it until next day, I am pretty sure Fletcher never ever charged its full worth either.

The turkey was also fetched fresh the same day, for such a large family it had to be a large bird and was always around 20 to 24 pounds in weight, Mum knew what size would fit into the gas oven – but every year it was a struggle! Thinking back, they were the happiest times of our childhood.

I have learned in 47 years of marriage never to laugh at Mrs H’s choices, after all – I was the first.

There were a further 16578 new cases today, sad to say that the figures seem to be increasing again, today there were 533 new deaths registered.

Thursday 10/12/2020 – Day 271

Today is a very sad day in the Harvey household, seven years ago today our daughter Vickie (Victoria) died from Leaukeamia, at 8.40 I was holding her hand and she just drifted away, we knew she couldn’t be saved and had known for months, but we kept it from her as she told us she didn’t want to know anything bad. All was fine until the most uncaring and selfish Doctor at Worcester hospital told her the truth, even after we begged her not to, Vickie cried all the way home, she just went downhill after that, this was when we started Vickie’s Wish, we raised over £20,000 for various charities. So, if it’s ok, I’ll just leave you with this poem I have written for her today

Was it only seven years ago today
we withered and fell like an Autumn leaf
Downtrodden and shattered upon the floor
a devastated family, stricken with grief.

I sat with you on that fateful morning
when an Angel came, took your hand from mine,
Then whispered softly ‘Your work here is done’,
and took you away to a place divine.

Grief’s bitter coldness consumed us all
at twenty four your whole life lay ahead,
Now it’s God who’s holding you in his arms
‘Suffer little children’ Jesus said.

But It is those that are left who suffer
no purpose in life, nowhere to go,
Lives torn apart, no sense of direction
nothing to stem the tears that will flow.

So many words now lie unspoken
so many things were still left to do,
Great souls die leaving others in pain
there was never a greater soul than you.

There is no relief in the passing of time
I hunger more for the light in your heart,
Whoever said, ‘time will make it better’
have never had their life torn apart.

Sometimes a memory sheds light in the dark
it eases our pain like a soothing balm,
For a tender moment we are at peace
and life is serene, happy and calm.

Now you’re in heaven, looking after those
who went before just to show you the way,
I hope and pray that when my time is near
you’ll be there on that beautiful day.

As I feared, the figures for new cases seem to be exploding once again, there were 20964 new cases again today, that’s over 5000 up on yesterday, recorded deaths are once again over 500 at 516.

Friday 11/12/2020 – Day 272

I woke up this morning next to a woman I had never seen before, turns out it was Mrs H smiling in her sleep! Yesterday went very well, when I say well I mean as well as we could have expected, we tend to forget how many friends we hove out there, but most of them messaged us.

I’m back into the Repair Shop today after our good friends Janet and John brought me a balloon back chair in need of a little tlc, they also brought a few cans of Guinness and a bottle of port for Mrs (hic) H. we had a bit of a catch up from the safe distance required, and it was really nice to see them again. My daughter Gemma, Granddaughter Alisha and the two Grandsons came round later in the afternoon to let off the traditional balloons, Everything, of course was done at a safe distance, but it really was so nice to see them, it also gave Mrs H and I a bit of comfort on a very sad day for us.

Heard the sad news about Barbara Windsor today, such a lovely actress who led a very colourful life after being married to Ronnie Knight a well known London criminal, she also had a six month affair with Charlie Kray and a brief affair with his brother Reggie. But ‘Babs’ as became affectionately known, had a heart of gold and was very popular in the ‘Carry on’ films, but the highlight for her of a very illustrious 65 year career was getting the role of Peggy Mitchell in Eastenders, she actually based the character on the mother of the Krays!

I was reading a magazine in the dentist waiting room earlier this year and I was surprised to find out Ford have stopped production of the Cortina and are launching the Sierra.

After I had come in from the Repair shop Mrs H reminded me that I had to renew my car insurance over the phone today which I quickly did, and as I was about to hang up the woman on the other end asked if I had a pet.

I said, “Yes, I’ve got a dog.”

She said, “Would you like to insure him too?”

I said, “No thanks, he can’t drive!”

Boris is warning that there well may be a deadlock on the agreement with the EU and an agreement before the 31^st, he is warning that there may well be a No Deal, of course everyone is up in arms and they are saying that he has not delivered what he promised, but should he go the other way and agree to living by their rules and agree that they should take all our fish – well basically, he will be hung, drawn and quartered by the same people, so he is in a terrible position at the moment.

George is a dab hand with lawnmowers, so I thought while we were in the midst of Winter he might take a look at mine for me, I have no idea whether he was serious or not.

This was the conversation;

” When our lawn mower broke and wouldn’t run, Rose kept hinting to me that I should get it fixed. But somehow, I always had something else to take care of first, the shed, the boat, making beer. Always something more important to me. Finally, she thought of a clever way to make her point. When I arrived home one day, I found her seated in the tall grass, busily snipping away with a tiny pair of sewing scissors. I watched silently for a short time and then went into the house. I was gone only a minute and when I came out again, I handed her a toothbrush. I said, “When you finish cutting the grass, you might as well sweep the driveway.”

The doctors say I will walk again, but I will always have a limp.”

This was followed by raucous laughter and he put the phone down, it was three hours before he rang back and asked if I was serious about the mower.

Once again new case figures were over 20000 and stood at 21671 with a further 425 deaths recorded.

Saturday 12/12/2020 – Day 273

Woke up this morning feeling fine, got something special on my mind, Oops, sorry slipped into Herman’s Hermits mode there for a moment, I

One thing I have learned in my almost 69 years on God’s earth is that some things are better left unsaid, I usually discover this about two minutes after I’ve said them. I wish Mrs H had the same thoughts. I was sat peacefully on the computer ( when I say ‘sat on the computer – I don’t actually mean – oh never mind) this afternoon when she came up with her latest idea! Now, I was trying to finish this blog so my mind was obviously elsewhere, but she insisted in letting me know her thoughts despite my deep concentration.

It seems that Mrs H has decided in her wisdom that she would like part of the decking outside the patio doors covered in, this would mean putting some sort of canopy over the existing space, but she doesn’t want the whole of the decking covered, just so far out, at that moment in time I refused to be pulled in by her womanly wily ways, even though she continued for the next twenty minutes to describe exactly how she wanted it and how it would look. Not being very brave I eventually clicked on to a site that sold the roofing sheets I’d require. So My good lady is only looking over my shoulder and notices that delivery is available before Christmas, she makes this known by screeching these words in my ear;

“Oh my God, look, they can deliver, you could have this up for Christmas”

I turned around and looked at her in sheer disbelief, “I was only joking” she said, but I have been married to this beauty long enough to know that was a complete fabrication.

Actually, it was a nice surprise to find out that I could put up a two and a half meter by four metre cover for under £500, Anyway Mrs H has said that you would all take her side and agree with her, I think you are all a lot nicer and wouldn’t inflict this on a pensioner so late in the year, over to you lovely people. Yes, for Mrs H or No for me.

The final figures for this week don’t look too good, new cases were at 21502 whilst the number of deaths were at 519

Well, lovely people, that’s me done for another week, don’t forget it’s now less than two weeks until the big day. I’ll leave you with a picture of our daughter Vickie.

It’s been emotional!

In Memory of Vickie.