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Since my visit to the dentist and presentation with £2,500 worth of work to be done. Not cosmetic. Essential work to be done, I’ve decided it would be better to remain a little while here in this big ‘ol village.

COVID 23

Caught it the other day whilst wondering around Oxford getting things for work.

Walked in an Oxfam close to the Ashmolean, think that’s where I caught it. The shop was with people, (more than 4), the temperature was warm, the atmosphere was damp, (due to the rain). I stayed for as long as I could find out whether they sold lanyard clips and where the nearest WHSmiths was. That was long enough…

Went on through the pouring rain, right on into the centre of Oxford and the Westgate Arcarde and the Ryman stationer located on the perimeters.

It was not quite as warm in here. There were not as many customers, and they were not in such close proximity.

By the time I got back to the car, I could feel a cold coming on.

At the time, I put it down to the fact that I was drenched and had been walking around in the rain. I would warm up, have a lemsip, and it would go away after an early night.

Nope

Turned out, it didn’t get better. Symptoms escalated and sleep was difficult.

Developed some: aches, lightheadedness, runny nose, slight coughing and mucus build up, general cold-like symptoms.

On the Friday, I felt pretty washed out. This seemed to be the ONLY main symptom.

Rather than just go into work, I thought I’d use up one of the Lateral Flow tests they’d given me when I worked at Serco in Hinckley. We used to dish them out all day.

Surprisingly to me, it returned a positive result.

You can’t see the ‘T’ for some strange reason. You can see the second line though which is the positive indicator.

It is not faint. It is strong.

Came as a surprise to me and I’m 100% certain, without these tests I would have bowled into work and spread my latest iteration merrily around to all that I encountered.

I have no doubt this is happening at schools and workplaces around the country.

More COVID than ever before

At work, I’m experiencing more people self isolating with COVID than ever before. This is from 2020 when the pandemic first started. This time last year, I don’t think I came across many COVID infections at all in the households I encountered at work. Maybe one or 2 throughout the course of the winter.

At the moment, it seems to be 2-3 households per week with someone with COVID.

Shops

I’ve had to go to the shops.

Not avoidable really, I donned my mask and kept a good distance from people wandering around.

Used the self-checkout tills.

Otherwise, I’ve been isolated on the boat.

I still go out for a walk in the evening, as I don’t feel that ill.

At 9pm, there’s rarely anyone around and that side of things is not something I give any thought to given the distances involved and the fact your outdoors.

Today’s test

Woke up this morning after what would be my 2/5 full nights of sleep with the virus. I still have a slight sore throat.

I still feel washed out.

I did another test. They run out 10/23, which is this month.

I was curious.

Here’s the second test.

You can see the ‘T’, and the second ‘test’ line is much fainter on this one.

This is a positive outcome, and for now, I have to remain isolated.

The New Theatre

Went to the New Theatre on the 16th October to see David Mitchell and Jeremy Paxman talk about David Mitchell’s history influenced book, ‘Unruly’.

Paxman seemed drunk. Mitchell was funny and on the ball.

Had some laughs.

Learned a little.

Takes about 12 mins on the bus to get in the centre of Oxford from here, so it seemed like a nice experience.

Here’s some pics.

And a couple more pictures from around the sights of cultural influence of Oxford town.

No doubt, I’ll investigate these further as time goes on.