Diary of a self-isolator – week 47

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

Sunday 31/01/2021 – Day 323

Here we are at the start of another week in paradise and the end of one of the worst Januarys in history.

Today marks the 12 month anniversary of the first Covid cases in the UK

It was a Wednesday afternoon when a 23-year-old Chinese national called the NHS 111 phone line from his hotel room in York city centre. The University of York student, known in medical journals only as “B”, was suffering with a fever, a dry cough and muscle pain. His 50-year-old mother, “A” – who had flown to the UK from Wuhan, in Hubei province, a week earlier – was also feeling unwell with a fever, cough and sore throat.

When she arrived in the UK, coronavirus had spread from the Chinese province to countries including Thailand and the US, with some 500 confirmed cases and 17 dead. On 23 January – the day patient ‘A’ landed in the UK with the student’s father – Wuhan and its population of 11 million people, became the first in the world to enter coronavirus lockdown.

On the evening of 29 January, two paramedics from the Yorkshire Ambulance Service were called to the 196-room Staycity apartment-hotel in Paragon Street, York. Dressed in white hazmat suits, they told reception staff they were responding to a potential coronavirus case, before heading to a first-floor room.

Until then, there had been a lot of suspected cases, but none that had been confirmed, recalls Keith Freeman, Staycity’s chief operating officer. “You were hoping, in the back of your head, that it’s another false alarm. You’re also thinking ‘what are the chances?'”

But once he found out one of the guests had flown in from Wuhan, the world’s coronavirus capital, his team “started to panic a bit”. “At that point it was about trying to just be quite level-headed and operational, to work out what the next steps would be.”

Unbeknownst to staff at Staycity, paramedics left the hotel with the family about 20 minutes after arriving, slipping out of a fire exit to the waiting ambulance. From Paragon Street, they were taken to the regional infectious diseases unit at Castle Hill Hospital, near Hull.

And that dear reader is how it all started in the UK, and how the whole world eventually suffered.

In this day in 1867 The four bronze lions at the base of Nelson’s Column were completed. Needless to say, they were a roaring success!

On this day in 1910 American-born murderer Dr. Hawley Crippen poisoned his wife before cutting her into small pieces and burying her in the cellar of his home in London. The first person ever to be caught with the use of the telegraph, He was later executed at Pentonville Prison.

Also on this day 1983 It became compulsory in Britain to wear car seat belts. With a big campaign telling people to ‘Belt up’ and to ‘Clunk click every trip’ it was very successful, just a shame about the shamed DJ  doing most of the ads.

And finally, on this day in 2016 The death of the radio and TV broadcaster Terry Wogan, aged 77. He presented Children in Need, Wake Up to Wogan, Come Dancing, the game show Blankety Blank and he was the BBC’s commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest from 1971 to 2008. His weekday radio programme on BBC Radio 2, ‘Wake Up to Wogan’, had eight million regular listeners, making him the most listened to radio broadcaster in Europe. He was granted a knighthood in 2005 and was entitled to use ‘Sir’ in front of his name as he held dual British and Irish citizenship.

Today there were 21088 new cases reported, and there were a further 587 deaths, need I say that these are weekend figures.

Monday 01/02/2021 Day 324

Woke this morning and completely forgot to say ‘White Rabbits’ three times to ward off evil, still, things can’t get any worse – can they? Mrs H loves this month because like me – it is very short.

I haven’t worked on the canopy since Friday due to treacherous conditions out there in the back garden. Freezing temperatures and a slight chilly wind guaranteed to reach even the best wrapped bones. So, I really put my foot down with Mrs H and asked her that if it was too cold today, would she mind awfully if I came back inside for a warm.

But I have jumped forward a couple of hours, firstly, for the first time this millennium Mrs H was out of bed before me, It seems that whilst going through the house like grease lightening yesterday, she has somehow hurt her wrist, the pain was so bad this morning that she had to get out of bed and get some painkillers, I eventually joined her about 8.00pm and she had a nice cup of tea waiting for me. But it was while I was making my Weetabix that things went wrong, In all fairness Mrs H did offer to do it for me but I insisted that she rest, besides, I didn’t want her to know that I had six sweeteners in the hot milk I had with it. Anyway, I was pulling the milk out of the microwave when I caught the handle, I didn’t know that a cup of milk could make so much mess, I looked at Mrs H and for a split second I actually feared for my life, as I said, she had spent all day yesterday going through that kitchen with a fine-tooth comb – and I had just spilled milk all over the worktop! I retreated upstairs or should I say to sanctuary, ten minutes later she brought my Weetabix up to me, you could have cut the air with a knife.

And so, here I am, outside, it’s not that cold, in fact its positively Summer to the atmosphere inside!, I decided to get on with the canopy until things in the house were a bit warmer. I’m glad I did, I got the worst of it done, you know, all those fiddly bits that every builder hates, Mrs H eventually calmed down and fed me numerous cups of tea, but by 2.30 it was getting a bit chilly, so it was back indoors for me.

And so, on this day in 1939 A British White Paper proposing the formation of the Home Guard (which became better known as Dad’s Army because of the average age of the volunteers) was published. The hugely popular TV series of Dad’s Army was first aired on 31st July 1968 and ran for 9 series until 13th November 1977. The 2016 Dad’s Army film had its premiere on 26th January 2016. Principal filming took place on the beach at North Landing (Flamborough Head) and at nearby Bridlington.

On this day in 1952 The first TV detector van was demonstrated. It enabled the BBC to track down users of unlicensed television sets in Britain.

Finally  on this day in 1965 P.J. Proby, the US rock singer, was banned by ABC Theatres and the BBC after he had deliberately split his trousers during his act. The mainly female audience and the tabloids, who claimed Proby’s act was obscene, went wild. It was the beginning of the end for the flamboyant performer. (Note – We went to a concert that year, but Proby had been banned and was replaced with a then unknown singer called Tom Jones!) It was all the girls could talk about at school!

New cases continue to fall and are at their lowest for weeks, today there were 18607 registered, the number of deaths was – thankfully – also low at 406.

Tuesday 02/02/2021 – Day 325

I was lay in bed this morning wondering if millions of People in Spain sit watching ‘A Place in the Rain’.

It had poured down with the wet stuff for the majority of the night, so imagine my joy when on closer inspection there was not one leak in the canopy. I reckoned one good day today would finish it off completely, except for electric sockets and a couple of weather resistant clear blinds which will be with us in about two weeks. I must say it was very mild outside, by 11,00pm I had taken my coat off! About 3,00pm it started to go dark, I only had a couple of strips to finish off and it was all done.

During the day Mrs H and I had a few words and she told me that I was ‘very childish’ sometimes, I was so upset I returned my Bob the Builder safety helmet to the repair shop. By 3.30pm it was all done, so tomorrow Mrs h and I will have a monumental clean up of the area which has basically become my second home for the past couple of weeks.

Some really sad news on Tv today, Sir Tom Moore who raised nearly 30million for the NHS has died in hospital from covid related disease, such a shame, that man was a true modern day hero, he kept so many people going, gave them hope in a time of desperation, in short Sir Tom was Covid’s Winston Churchill, RIP Sir, you have earned it more than most.

I was outside working on the canopy when Mrs H – not wishing to brave the cold text me ‘Your Great’, I texted her right back with ‘No, You’re Great’, she was walking around with a big smile on her face and I was wondering if I should tell her I was just correcting her grammar.

16840 new cases today as the figures still fall, there were 1449 new deaths registered though.

Wednesday 03/02/2021 – Day 326

I was lay awake this morning thinking about that poor chap who invented the coat hanger, In 1902 Albert Parkhouse would get annoyed when he went to work and all the coat hooks were full, so he made his own hanger from wire, his company thought the idea was so good that they stole it and then patented it, poor Albert never received a penny but his employers got very rich. And then I thought what if slugs are just snails who have got divorced – and she got the house! I bet you wish you had my intellectual mind eh? Well you can have it, it keeps me awake!

Anyone remember those fly papers from years ago, oh yes, they worked really well but you would walk into a room and they’d be hanging there full of black dead flies, My dear old mum used to have a sort of pump action gun, it had a sort of can on the end which you filled up with ‘Flit’, so, imagine this – the cooker is on, mother is cooking our tea , the top of the cooker has two or three saucepans with sprouts, cauliflower and potatoes hackling away with no lids on them when a bluebottle fly enters the kitchen, out comes the zapper and a couple of squirts later that fly is no more, meanwhile that stuff which has just killed a fly stone dead, is now settling down on those open saucepans and in the lungs of the kids you supposedly love, amazing when you think back isn’t it lol!

We were doing our shopping online and Mrs H casually mentioned that she misses sitting down and writing a list for shopping, I wondered if she missed leaving the list on the kitchen table and us guessing what was on it while we shopped!

Well, I’ve had Mrs H on her hands and knees most of the day, the canopy is almost done so the lovely lady has been helping me clean up the mess that I’ve created over the last few weeks, and there was plenty of it as well. We eventually got finished and it looks as though I’ll have to give everything another lick of paint, posts and the decking included.

New cases have risen slightly today and stand at 19202, registered deaths were 1322.

Thursday 04/02/2021 – Day 327

Lay awake this morning once again. I was watching a nature program last night which revealed that an earth worm has five hearts, I know some people that don’t even have one!

I was sat eating my four Weetabix this morning watching bouncer dancer – my visiting bird – messing all over my newly painted memory bench, I think we have the only graffiti bird in existence, a graffiti artiste is drawn to a blank wall like bee is drawn to honey, well bouncer dancer does the same, as soon as the bench is cleaned or painted , he leaves his mark!

Got my invite to the local doctors today. They texted me and invited me to make an appointment for my jab, yet when I tried to book it on my phone, it kept saying it was an unsafe site, how strange! In the end I gave up and phoned the surgery, I now have to pop along at twelve midday on Saturday and hopefully I will be mostly protected by the end of February. Mrs H is now a little worried that she’ll get her appointment on April 1^st– I have no idea why.

I was writing this diary and I got to thinking that if I decided to write the story of my life the easiest way to do it would be through music. My whole life seems to have revolved around popular music, I can hear a song and I am immediately reminded of something I was doing or where I was that day. For instance, I only have to hear Matt Monro singing ‘Walk Away’ and I am immediately transported back to 1964 and the kitchen in our council house, we had an old leather bound radio on the windowsill which was always tuned into the BBC’s light programme, back then , there was a radio program called ‘Two Way Family favourites’ It was a request programme designed to link families at home in the UK with British Forces serving in West Germany or elsewhere overseas. The programme was a big success with listeners. The programme was always on a Sunday lunchtime, so I can smell the Roast beef, the mint sauce and I can see the kitchen window steaming up as I listen to that old favourite. I first began to notice music at a very early age, but one of the earliest records that  influenced me was Doris Day singing ‘Whatever will be Will be (Que Sera Sera) I have no idea why, but it must have been played a lot in 1956, because it got to No 1. The main pop charts started four years earlier..

But we have to go back to the beginning of the fifties when the charts were determined by the sales of sheet music, the biggest pop paper production of the day was the Musical Express and Accordion weekly, but sales were on a downward spiral so the owners gladly accepted a £1000 offer to buy them out in late 1951

Maurice Kinn the purchaser had always wanted to buy and own his own paper and was overjoyed, by March 1952 he had launched the New Musical Express, it soon became a hit with the youngsters whose only other choice at the time was the Melody Maker.

The American Billboard charts had begun way back in 1936 and was always improving, Maurice had followed their history with enthusiasm and looked to do the same sort of thing with his paper, together with Percy Dickins, and editor Ray Sonin, he decided it would be a good idea and provide a circulation boost to start publishing similar charts to reflect UK record sales. For the next 8 months the small editorial team planned furiously.

The result was that on November 14^th 1952 (10 months after my birth) the New musical Express became the first to print a chart of the top selling records in Britain, since the early fifties it was not so much the song as the recording of a song that was bringing the youngsters of the day into record shops.

And so the music charts began, it didn’t take off immediately and the sheet charts would be around for a further 3 years although the death knell had been sounded.

The very first printed chart was listed as a top 12 but was in fact the top 15 because positions 7, 8 and 11 all had two equal listings. The sheet music which had been No1 since 25^th October was ‘Here in my Heart’ by Al Martino (later in the 70’s had Blue Spanish eyes at No1) so it was inevitable that on the first ever chart on November 14^th 1952 he would be listed as No1. The two previous No1’s on the sheet chart were also in the Record chart, they were Homing waltz and Auf Wiedersehin both recorded by Vera Lynn. The forces sweetheart also had a third hit in the record chart called Forget me Not, she was a definite favourite until Frankie Laine began to dominate the charts in 1953.

The main thing about the first chart was that there were no duplicated songs in two different versions, this was a favourite with the publishers of the day, they would get two of their singers to record the same song and therefore reap in the profits from both for one piece of music. But it didn’t last long, in the chart of December 17^th Nat King Cole was singing Because You’re Mine right alongside the same song by Mario Lanza which was one of the very first to be recorded in the 45rpm as opposed to the 78rpm.

The first song to disappear off the chart was Jane Wyman with Zing a little Zong was a duet with Bing Crosby. Miss Wyman ex-wife of Ronald Reagan was the first ever one hit wonder would never chart again although Bing went on to have many more hits.

Hope you enjoyed this quick look at the charts.

Mrs H has been complaining that the way we communicate as a couple has been ruined by my constantly being on Facebook – so I’ve blocked her!

1905 The birth, in Farnworth near Bolton, Lancashire of Hylda Baker, British comedienne, actress and music hall star. Her most famous role was in the comedy series ‘Nearest and Dearest’ with comedian Jimmy Jewel. They bickered on screen as part of the script, but the insults continued off screen. The two disliked each other intensely and their arguments became showbiz legend.

Also on this day in 1920, another comedy legend Norman Wisdom, actor & star of many comedy films, was born. In 1995 he was given the Freedom of the City of London and also Tirana in Albania where the population were devoted to him and referred to him as ‘Pitkin’. He received an OBE in the same year and was knighted in 2000. He retired from acting at the age of 90 after his health deteriorated and died in October 2010.

There were 20634 new cases today and a further 915 more deaths.

Friday 05/02/2021 – Day 328

Overslept this morning, didn’t get out of bed until 7.00pm, I spent most of the day yesterday painting, well, when I say ‘most of the day’ what I really mean is around five hours, I don’t seem to be capable of doing much more in this cold weather, I go out there raring to go and a few hours later the cold starts creeping in to these old bones, I seem to have acquired a bit of the old Arthur (arthritis) in a few places on my body as well, my shoulder – which I injured over four months ago – still gives me some pain, and the big  toe I broke last year  is now throbbing like a bad case of gout lol.

As I said, I spent most of the day painting the supporting posts and other woodwork on the canopy, this included a six foot fence at the side of it, well I went out this morning and because it was too cold for the paint to dry quickly – it had all washed of the fence – stop laughing – so I have to do it all again, now I know how Tom Sawyer felt, trouble is, there’s no-one around gullible to take on the painting of the fence as there was in his story, but hey, hang on a minute – Mrs H, would you like to pop out here for a moment!

On this day in 1953  there were thousands of happy kids running around when something special happened, I actually wrote a poem about it:

Best Days of our Lives

It was February fifth nineteen fifty three
I jumped out of bed with a feeling of glee,
Pulled up my short trousers over slightly scarred knees
slipped my Winter shirt on pulled up braces with ease.

The old socks on the floor would do for today
had no time to look for clean ones anyway,
I recalled yesterday’s news, my heart skipped a beat
today would be brilliant – a wonderful treat!

I ran down the kitchen where lovely old Mum
sat me down at the table with an ultimatum,
‘Eat every little bit or you’re going nowhere-
did you wash behind your ears, have you combed your hair?

My sister in her highchair was having a spree
flicking food everywhere, and sharing it with me,
As it slid down my face I Just wiped it away
I swear there was nothing could upset me today.

I gave her a smile as porridge set in the bowl
why was every breakfast such a rigmarole,
The weather outside was looking so bleak
as Mum spit on her pinnie rubbed dirt from my cheek.

‘Go on then young Jimmy’ she said with a smile
‘Get out, enjoy it, it’s been a long while’.
I ran through the rubble still there from the blitz
held tight in my hand my two threepenny bits.

Billy stood waiting at the end of our street
his family were poor so I promised him this treat,
I gave him his thruppence we headed off to the shop
but our dreams were shattered as we reached the Co-op.

The queue was so long it reached around the back
of Charlie’s coal yard filled with nothing but slack,
It wasn’t just kids, lots of adults were in the queue
men in bowler hats – fur coated women too!

With sadness in our hearts we joined the long line
I assured young Billy that all would be fine,
The queue started moving and in an hour or more
our spirits were lifted, as we could see the front door.

Billy said it was great and well worth the pain
then the sun disappeared and it poured down with rain!
At last we were stood in the old Co-op shop
on the ends of our noses a glistening dew-drop.

As we both looked around, we felt so bereft
the glass jars were empty, one toffee apple left,
So I quickly snapped it up to share with my friend
on the day sweet rationing came to an end.

New cases stubbornly high again today at 19114, but 10,000 less than last Friday, registered deaths for the last 24 hours were 1014.

Saturday 06/02/2021 – Day 329

I was up bright and early this morning because I’ve got myself a new senior citizen satnav for the car, it came yesterday, it’s brilliant, not only does it tell you how to get there, it also tells why you went there in the first place.

I may have mentioned this before but I really do love a nice cup of tea, for years now I have been subjecting myself to the dregs of tea swept up from the floor after all the proper tea bags have been finished, well dear reader, no more, I have put my foot down with a firm hand and bought proper Yorkshire Tea bags, a bit pricy but well worth it, for a start they don’t leave your mug (drinking vessel not face) looking like it’s just been emptied of hot chocolate, and secondly, the taste is simply superb, perhaps in my 69^th year I have become a connoisseur of real tea, either that or I have simply stopped being a tight-fisted old git!

Well I am cock a hoop, the Rugby is back today on TV in the six Nations tournament and we are playing the old enemy – Scotland, bring out the Guinness and bring it on! It started on this day last year but was halted before the end of the matches.

Went around to the doctors for my jab at 12 noon, I was tempted to sing ‘Do not forsake me Oh my darling’ but thought better of it as the nurses looked too young to appreciate the gesture. I must say though it was really well organised, I was shown straight in to the room, the girls asked a few questions as I rolled my sleeve up, I felt something touch my arm and the other young nurse said, “That’s it Mr Harvey, all done”. I then had to sit down in the waiting room for fifteen minutes. I sat there thinking, had they actually given me my jab? Why hadn’t I felt anything. Those thoughts soon faded and fifteen minutes later I thanked the young lady and left.

There were 18262 new cases today bringing my weeks total to 133,747, a massive 43,000 less than last week, the number of deaths were 828, bringing my total for the week to 6521, this is almost 1800 down on last week, there were also 1,889,878 people who have recovered, this was almost 216,000 up un the previous week, this only proves that the lockdown and the vaccination programme is working.

Well, I’ve finally got some pictures of the canopy I’ve been building for a couple of weeks, to be truthful, it went up in a week, but Mrs H wouldn’t let me show you it until it was presentable, she urges me to tell you that she now has to ‘dress and furnish it’ so my work is almost done and hers has just started, will show you more when it is furnished.

Well, that’s it for another week, have a great week, but please – stay safe.

It’s been emotional!