And many apologies for my shocking lack of a blog post yesterday. This was a last-minute deferral of today’s offering. One due to an unexpected spike of stress that ended up completely derailing my more mellow afternoon plans and left me in a bit of a tizzy.
Necessity, however, is oft touted as the mother of invention, and I don’t think inconvenience can be too far behind it (the auntie of invention, perhaps?) because the extra time and the freshness of yesterday’s events have collided to alter and hopefully enhance my planned offering.
Let me explain.
As You Mean To Go On
The day started off fantastically. I breakfasted well, drank the last of my stock of freshly ground coffee, and even persuaded Tina, my wife to allow to invest in a fresh bag, so I’d have some today. Then it was on to catching up with a twitter writing group I belong to, shooting a few aliens, and re-watching the highlights of my team (The mighty Whites that are Leeds United) getting an important win at the footy. It was, as they say, all going so well.
Then Tina received the phone call that changed everything.
That time has passed, however, and two weeks ago Tina was given the go ahead to return to her job as a carer for a gentleman with profound physical disabilities (no, not me. As Tina once told a woman at the benefits agency, she doesn’t care for me. You can read into that whatever you want). This was a long anticipated return to normality. Tina loves her job, the people who she works alongside, and both the gentleman she looks after and his family. I’m also rather fond of the money her job brings into the house, as it comes in handy for life’s little luxuries... like food.
Bread Alone
For those unaware, Tina is the main breadwinner in this household and has been since I put pride to one side and made the decision that Multiple Sclerosis on top of the Spina Bifida I’ve had since birth, was life’s way of telling me to slow down. I handed in my notice at a job I really rather liked and since then I’ve been a benefit claiming drain on the U.K. economy. This makes Tina’s wage our principal source of income. And that’s what made the call so annoying.
Of course the mask will still be a necessity until the vaccine is given not just to carers but to the people they care for, as the vaccine does not necessarily stop someone infecting someone else. Hopefully, such people are not too much further down the list of priorities. We can but wait and see.
Until next time…
To put you in the loop more completely, my wife has been a poorly woman for the last few months. This meant her undergoing a spot of surgery scarily close to the festive period, and the first few weeks of the new year being spent in recuperation (at home, under the tender mercies of the ever patient, even saintly nursemaid Mark).
That time has passed, however, and two weeks ago Tina was given the go ahead to return to her job as a carer for a gentleman with profound physical disabilities (no, not me. As Tina once told a woman at the benefits agency, she doesn’t care for me. You can read into that whatever you want). This was a long anticipated return to normality. Tina loves her job, the people who she works alongside, and both the gentleman she looks after and his family. I’m also rather fond of the money her job brings into the house, as it comes in handy for life’s little luxuries... like food.
Bread Alone
For those unaware, Tina is the main breadwinner in this household and has been since I put pride to one side and made the decision that Multiple Sclerosis on top of the Spina Bifida I’ve had since birth, was life’s way of telling me to slow down. I handed in my notice at a job I really rather liked and since then I’ve been a benefit claiming drain on the U.K. economy. This makes Tina’s wage our principal source of income. And that’s what made the call so annoying.
Although the gentleman Tina cares for lives at home, he requires 24-hour care just to survive. The advent of COVID-19 has added to that burden of care. Not only do Tina and her colleagues need to perform their usual duties, but they need to do so in a way which protects him from catching the virus which could easily kill him. This means that on top of the usual clinical grade levels of cleanliness, they put additional measure in place quickly and comprehensively. Chief among these was the use of an FFP3 mask.
Beneath The Mask
These masks are a step up from the ones you might see on the streets and, as Tina works for the company who supplies the care, she needs they need to ensure she can safely and securely fit this mask to her face. Her employers arranged to do this at her place of work, yesterday. Two hours before that appointment came the phone call to cancel it.
Yeah, you can probably imagine. Much anguish, shouting, swearing (that might have been me), doom, gloom and one emergency burger followed. Phone calls were made, answered, and made again. The threat of a complaint was issued, and finally an answer came.
It wasn’t wholly the answer we were looking for, but it was an answer. The appointment which should have taken place yesterday will now happen tomorrow (fingers, toes, arms, legs and eyes crossed), and Tina will get to practice putting on not one mask, but three separate ones (two of which she’ll never use). It will mean Tina loses out on a day’s pay, but the company has offered to make this up in a wellbeing payment. It doesn’t get Tina back to work any quicker, or allow her to see much missed colleagues or the man she’s come to care for in more than one meaning of the word, but it provides light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully, this time, it won’t be a train.
Snide Effects
On the bright side, (said the eternal optimist) the enforced time off has given Tina time to accept an appointment to have her first COVID vaccination. I can report that thus far, (a week in) the only symptoms have been a sore arm, and a foggy, achy head. This has been treated with a gallon and a half of tea and well meaning and not at all sarcastic sympathy (ooh! sore!).
To date, nothing has fallen off. She is yet to develop scales or a tail, change her online shopping habits, and I’m sure the red blinking light which goes ‘beep’ every ten seconds is completely natural. My hope is that the main side-effect of the vaccine is the widely reported increased protection against a deadly virus. Now that I would call a win.
Beneath The Mask
These masks are a step up from the ones you might see on the streets and, as Tina works for the company who supplies the care, she needs they need to ensure she can safely and securely fit this mask to her face. Her employers arranged to do this at her place of work, yesterday. Two hours before that appointment came the phone call to cancel it.
Yeah, you can probably imagine. Much anguish, shouting, swearing (that might have been me), doom, gloom and one emergency burger followed. Phone calls were made, answered, and made again. The threat of a complaint was issued, and finally an answer came.
It wasn’t wholly the answer we were looking for, but it was an answer. The appointment which should have taken place yesterday will now happen tomorrow (fingers, toes, arms, legs and eyes crossed), and Tina will get to practice putting on not one mask, but three separate ones (two of which she’ll never use). It will mean Tina loses out on a day’s pay, but the company has offered to make this up in a wellbeing payment. It doesn’t get Tina back to work any quicker, or allow her to see much missed colleagues or the man she’s come to care for in more than one meaning of the word, but it provides light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully, this time, it won’t be a train.
Snide Effects
On the bright side, (said the eternal optimist) the enforced time off has given Tina time to accept an appointment to have her first COVID vaccination. I can report that thus far, (a week in) the only symptoms have been a sore arm, and a foggy, achy head. This has been treated with a gallon and a half of tea and well meaning and not at all sarcastic sympathy (ooh! sore!).
To date, nothing has fallen off. She is yet to develop scales or a tail, change her online shopping habits, and I’m sure the red blinking light which goes ‘beep’ every ten seconds is completely natural. My hope is that the main side-effect of the vaccine is the widely reported increased protection against a deadly virus. Now that I would call a win.
Of course the mask will still be a necessity until the vaccine is given not just to carers but to the people they care for, as the vaccine does not necessarily stop someone infecting someone else. Hopefully, such people are not too much further down the list of priorities. We can but wait and see.
Until next time…
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