Hey guess what, because of my myeloma (it was on the news again) and whatnot I am on the list of the most vulnerable and so we get a letter from the NHS and our groceries delivered as a priority – whooa!! Party at my place !- (not really) – I have to stay in home or garden for 12 weeks which for most is torture but personally I see it as bliss. It’s a strange situation because when I spoke to my consultant he confirmed that my bloods were normal and therefore my risk (while possibly greater than the average) was not exceptional but the news has made it clear that us myeloma sufferers are in that special super risk category – so home I stay – boo hoo (not).

I feel very sorry for all those cancer patients currently undergoing treatment who are stuck with the dilemma of attending hospital and its associate risk or not attending, not getting the treatment and thus, its associate risk. Luckily (and it really is fortunate) I have been off the treatment for over a year so my immune system should be reasonably robust. I have had a few bouts of this and that since having the disease and have recovered reasonably well so fingers crossed I should be Ok even if I get a nasty dose. I have been crossing my fingers for years now – I think they are permanently crossed.

Today I didn’t work as to be frank the pressure of work has significantly reduced now that I don’t travel. It’s about the first day for a very long time that I haven’t done a bit of work even if just an hour or so at the weekend. It’s not that I am a particularly diligent lecturer it’s just that I have never got into the habit (a bad one in my view) of seeing the weekend as any different from the week. Who cares what the name of the day is. I prefer to get the work done and then it’s not hanging about screaming to be done while I try to ignore its plaintive cry. Any way no work today instead I put a load of old junk up for sale on Ebay – a tortuous activity that involves – photographing, weighing and packing each item then completing a pretty elaborate form. In the end the whole process probably adds up to a commitment of about 30 minutes per item, which if you only get 49p at the end of the auction, is a very poor return. Quite often I get no bids at all and simply hoik the undesired package straight into the bin. On the other hand, even for 98p per hour it is strangely satisfying to purge yourself of ugly, useless or broken junk.

Maria has had an IT day setting up her systems for virtual teaching. This hasn’t been entirely good tempered to say the least. She has to go through quite a procedure with each parent having to grant permission for their daughter to be taught online and they or someone over 18 has to be present in the room when the lesson takes place. Lucky them! Some of the girls have never sung to anyone but Maria so are freaking out at the thought of parental or sibling oversight. Then she has to invite each girl and arrange times across time zones. She is not a happy bunny having missed out on a nice garden day.

Any news for you lot always welcome. I guess I could be using Facebook or some other platform as all this news is really directed exclusively at family and friends but this blog has 6 years worth of stuff in it now – much of it embarrassingly gobby but I guess this virus incident is a very significant chapter and might as well be included. For some reason I have always had a very secret eye on posterity – something I saw my dad do and didn’t like at the time – and here I am recreating his book of family achievements except in this case they are nearly all mine.

Addressing family now – if anyone wants to start some sort of family specific self isolation news network I would happily join in. The progeny of June and Bill POJAB – but maybe everyone is doing quite enough communicating.

Friends are stuck with this ere blog as I don’t do Facebook with any enthusiasm. Why does anyone? I have to ask its just full of shite and people who you don’t know wanting to be mates  Give me TikTok  every time it just full of cats and dogs doing stupid things and as I have come to note recently, flying squirrely things that fly through the air to land on your hand for a snack and that black and white furry animal you get in America with the sharp face – oh yeh a racoon.