2022

[HEPZIBAH]

Twenty Twenty Two.

Probably along with the rest of you
I’m in some doubt about twenty two.
I’m hoping that the future’s brighter
(Getting rid of this COVID blighter)
But whatever awaits it's down to us,
To deal with 'whatever' without too much fuss,
We know we can do it, we’ve done it before,
And if necessary we'll do it once more.
Boosters, LFT's or isolation,
Working from home, a 'united nation'!
I’m pretty sure that we'll all persevere
So here's hoping for, and wishing you
a ]HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Written by Dennis Dawes and shared with his permission.

2021 has not been the easiest of years for me and I have had to face some major life changes. Earlier in the year I learnt that I was to be made redundant and, as it was a residential job, effectively homeless too. I won't bore you with the details of it all, but suffice it to say it was a very difficult time for me affecting both my physical and mental well being. Thankfully, by I believe divine provision, I now have a flat that I am gradually turning into a home. It's an interesting situation to be in at my age, as I have always worked in residential posts so, although I have always had some of my own things around me, I'm starting from very much from scratch regarding furnishings etc.

Having finished work, it has been great to be able to say yes to invitations, plan trips etc. without having to consider the work diary and commitments. It was great to be able to plan to spend Christmas Day with a couple of friends, Twixtmas with more friends at a hotel on the Isle of Wight, and tonight seeing in the new year with a few other single friends. So, imagine my disappointment when, on Christmas Eve I did a routine lLateral Flow Test and it was positive for Covid. I am asypmptomatic, and was so surprised that I decided to get up very early on Christmas morning to take another LFT from another box of test kits. I have been so careful thoughout this whole covid nightmare, isolating to the point of shielding during the initial months, and very cautious about where I go and who I mix with, constantly wearing a mask and regularly sanitising my hands. I could do no more to keep myself covid free.

So when I saw this poem posted in an online group I belong I asked permission to share it.

I hope your 2021 has been less traumatic that mine has been.
It is also my hope that your 2022 will be a much better year for you than whatever 2021 has been.

Tonight, I shall hold a singles party for me, myself, I. I'm just deciding which dressing gown and slippers to wear.

All the very best to each and every one of you.
HAPPY NEW YEAR.

[newcastle]

And was your repeat LFT positive too?

I’ve had the sniffles for a couple of weeks now….but regular LFTs show nothing. I think one can get paranoid about this covid malarkey

Retirement, and the freedom it brings, can be a godsend.

All best wishes for 2022

[Grandad]

That's really tough luck Hepzi. As Newcastle said, retirement can be a godsend: you have already found the freedom that comes with retirement.
Whatever the future holds for you me and my wife wish you well and that 2022 will be a memorable year for all good reasons.
2021 for us brought the joy of a first great grandson. Sadly at just 5 months he got the dreaded Covid and spent 24 hours in hospital for observation. Now back home but mum and dad are also testing positive, to be expected I suppose.
Will we ever see the back of this damned thing?
TAKE CARE AND STAY SAFE EVERYONE

[HEPZIBAH]

And was your repeat LFT positive too?

I’ve had the sniffles for a couple of weeks now….but regular LFTs show nothing. I think one can get paranoid about this covid malarkey

I took first (routine) LFT very late on 24th Dec. 2nd line so faint I really wasn't sure it was a line, but if it was then I was POSITIVE
I took second LFT early morning 25th (don't think I've been up so early on a Christmas morning since I was a child). 2nd line faint but definitely clear as a line. So POSITIVE.
Immediately went online to book a PCR test in the hopes I would get one and get results back early enough for going away on the 27th. Amazingly there were plenty of appointments available for walk in or drive in PCR centres within close driving distance of my home so had an appointment for 10am. Results generally take about 24hrs.
I got text acknowledgments that I'd reported the two positive LFTs.
26th Dec - 22 hours after PCR test I got the message I was not wanting. PCR POSITIVE
(27th had a long sleep in and got up lunctime in order to loll about feeling glum, watching films and eating chocolate.)
28th Dec - check emails. WHAT??? There was one dated 27th almost 48 hours after my PCR test saying I was PCR NEGATIVE
Hmm... how could I be both positive and negative from the same PCR test sample?
I decided to take another LFT for my own peace of mind. 2nd line even clearer. LFT POSITIVE
Went online to book another PCR - nothing available across most of England, and certainly nothing within a sensible round trip solo drive so ordered a postal PCR kit.
28th Dec PCR kit arrives 2:20 pm thankfully as the last post collection from our village post office is 4pm. Took the test and got it in the post with a bit of time to spare. Phew!
29th Dec. results text and email in with PCR results less than 20 hours of posting. PCR NEGATIVE
Needless to say, I am confused and frustrated by this time. I decide to take another LFT - from another batch. Yup! LFT POSITIVE
So, I have already been isolating from Christmas Day when I was told to isolate for 10 days. In theory, when the negative PCR came I could have stopped isolating but, with so many positive LFTs, I'm not prepared to risk putting anyone at risk. I will do another LFT in a couple of days time, before my original 10days isolation is due to finish. If is negative - great I will believe it. If it is positive I will have to book another PCR test, but they no doubt will be even more difficult to get because of the New Year shindigs.

Retirement, and the freedom it brings, can be a godsend.

Alas, I am too young to retire, well certainly for state pension, so will need to look for some work part time at least, but first I need a real break. This last year has taken its toll on me. Home building and getting to know my new community will suffice for now.

[HEPZIBAH]

That's really tough luck Hepzi. As Newcastle said, retirement can be a godsend: you have already found the freedom that comes with retirement.
Whatever the future holds for you me and my wife wish you well and that 2022 will be a memorable year for all good reasons.
2021 for us brought the joy of a first great grandson. Sadly at just 5 months he got the dreaded Covid and spent 24 hours in hospital for observation. Now back home but mum and dad are also testing positive, to be expected I suppose.
Will we ever see the back of this damned thing?
TAKE CARE AND STAY SAFE EVERYONE

Congratulations on the birth of your first great grandson. Sorry to read that he had to be hospitalised for Covid. You must all have been so worried. Glad he is out of hospital but it can't be easy for his parents having covid and such a young baby to care for too. Hope they have a good support network.
My best wishes to you Grandad, and 'grandma'. May 2022 bring you more blessings and good health.

[newcastle]

@Hepzibah

After two successive negative PCRs I think you’re unlikely to be infected/infectious….despite the positive LFTs. At least you’re asymptomatic.

[HEPZIBAH]

@Hepzibah

After two successive negative PCRs I think you’re unlikely to be infected/infectious….despite the positive LFTs. At least you’re asymptomatic.

This has been discussed in a group I belong with a number of members who are health care professionals, and they say that positive LFTs are still the most reliable.

It's also been interesting to read just how many have had conflicting results whether they have had symptoms or symptonless.

In many ways, although I have no wish to be ill, if I was ill at least my decisions would be made for me and obvious.

Ironically, there have been a couple of occasions this last year when I've had very clear, classic symptoms, and sent for PCRs through the Zoe study, and they have been negative too.

[John Landon]

It's been a strange couple of years.
I have missed travelling so much, but then I look back and realised I have done quite a lot locally...

We took our daughter and her children on thier first holiday abroad to Tunisia, which by a coincidence was my first holiday abroad at the tender age of 11 back in 1973.

On the flight back, there were people wearing masks ! This was March 2020.

After a week back in blighty, we were all sent home to work from there. A week later, we went into lockdown and I was furloughed.
Didn't mind that, the birds were singing like never before, the skies were blue and the skies were silent, not a single plane in the sky above us.

We enjoyed walking and exploring the countryside around us, and the Erie silence of the roads.

A month later and I got the call to say I was being made redundant.

This was a job I have loved doing, lots of international travel, and a satisfying and rewarding demanding job, working with people from many nations, all of whom I was proud to call my friends.
10 years is the longest time I have ever worked anywhere, but with that length of service came a reasonable redundancy payout.

Hopes of getting away October were suddenly dashed in the airport hotel just 8 hours before the flight to Dalaman via a text message.

Such is life, Money refunded in just 2 weeks, and we enjoyed Xmas in Wales.

After that, 2021 flew by, but Alison and I enjoyed many trips and days out around Wales

I resurrected an old passion that I had little time for in the hussle and bustle of everyday working life, and that is fixing up cars. So I bought a 14 years old Mercedes Benz CLK AMG coupe, and got busy restoring it to it's former glory both inside and out as well as mechanically.

Eventually, I decided to get another job, and within a week I was offered another post in the same line of employment just 100 yards down the road in Liverpool where I used to work. Better office, less pressure and nice people.

Then I had a great week off in Scotland touring around the Highlands with Alison in my newly restored car to celebrate my 60th . And my little brother bought me a title and a patch of land in Glencoe, so I am now a Lord of Glencoe. All in all a great 60th birthday.

Now we have just got Xmas out of the way again and everyone has had a great time.

Life's a funny old game,. About 10 years or so ago, I was out in the Sinai desert minding my own business, when a man came out of nowhere and told me that the world was going to change.

Well, he wasn't wrong.

Anyway, eveything changes, it always has and always will, it's the only constant in the universe.

But it always works out for the best in the end. If it hasn't, then it isn't the end.

Happy new year all...


Stay positive. Test negative.

Oh, and in my daughter's experience whenever she tests positive and can't do her nursing job, they test her again, and magically the result comes back negative. In the words of Kate Bush. Wow. ! Unbelievable..

[newcastle]

You can read all sorts of stuff in FB groups…..some informed. Some not.

I tend to rely on the government scientists:

“ The current government guidance says that if you receive a negative follow-up PCR test result, and this PCR test was taken within two days of the positive LFT, you will be told by NHS Test and Trace that you can stop self-isolating.”

But…at the end of the day it’s a personal decision. Do whatever you’re comfortable with.

I’m getting to be very proficient with the NHS LFT kits. I reckon I can set up and complete a test within 2 minutes …..although you’ve got to hang around 15 minutes for the result.

Apparently, some people leaving Hurghada, who haven’t read the UK government travel regulations too carefully, are trying to get their airline to accept a negative LFT taken “ before their very eyes” with an NHS kit. Honestly…I kid you not!!

[HEPZIBAH]

You can read all sorts of stuff in FB groups…..some informed. Some not.

I tend to rely on the government scientists:

“ The current government guidance says that if you receive a negative follow-up PCR test result, and this PCR test was taken within two days of the positive LFT, you will be told by NHS Test and Trace that you can stop self-isolating.”

But…at the end of the day it’s a personal decision. Do whatever you’re comfortable with.

I’m getting to be very proficient with the NHS LFT kits. I reckon I can set up and complete a test within 2 minutes …..although you’ve got to hang around 15 minutes for the result.

Trust me. much of what I read on line I don't even bother wasting salt on, some information I will take - with a big pinch of salt, but there is very little information that I trust to be absolutely accurate. I do listen to the scientists, I wouldn't have had the vaccines and boosters, or taken any of the tests if I hadn't. Not to mention locking myself into my previous fortress for months on end in 2021.

As I can isolate, and particularly knowing the social circle I would have been mixing with over this last week, I just think it's better to err on the side of caution, even if it is frustrating to me.

I'm pretty nifty with the test kits myself these days. I was doing them 2 or 3 times a week anyway when I was working. I'm curious though what LFT kit you are using if you only have to wait 15 mins for the result. All my tests have been a 30 min wait.

[newcastle]

@Hepzibah

ACON Flowflex…as sent by NHS

Leaflet says read result 15 - 30 mins. Do not read after 30 mins.

[HEPZIBAH]

@Hepzibah

ACON Flowflex…as sent by NHS

Leaflet says read result 15 - 30 mins. Do not read after 30 mins.

The ones I've had so far - both from the pharmacy and through the post - have all been the same kit and have all said yu must wait 30 mins, but not longer. (Although to be honest, the results are clear by 15mins and don't seem to change after that.)
I had a postal one through today and I noticed it was a different box so maybe when I open that it will be a different wait time.

[newcastle]

@Hepzibah

Life’s like a LFT test kit. You never know what you’re gonna get!

Spoiler

With apologies to Forrest Gump

[HEPZIBAH]

@Hepzibah

Life’s like a LFT test kit. You never know what you’re gonna get!

Now that is a FACT.