T shirt with appliquéd and embroidered bug (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)
Last week didn’t start at all well. On Sunday evening my husband developed severe shivering of the sort I experienced after my first jab. The next morning he felt most unwell and wondered whether the shivering was a seizure. I thought not and led him, strangely cowed, back to bed where he stayed for the day, sleeping most of the time but intermittently waking to tell me how much he ached. Flu or Covid? By the evening he was able to get up for a while and the next day he was fine, pretty much back to normal and quite cheery. We thought we should try and get a lateral flow test, so he spent a frustrating morning ringing round the pharmacies and trawling the relevant websites trying to find some. None were to be had and we debated how we should handle the situation. Do we isolate for 10 days, or seven (should we be able to get tests by day 6) or should we go about life as usual? Fortunately our neighbour knocked at the door for a parcel which had been left with us, said he thought they might have some tests and minutes later came back with their last one. We jointly sighed our relief when the test was negative, and, having no access to further tests, set aside the possibilities of false negatives. More mornings were devoted to attempts to track tests down and then by chance on Thursday he walked into our local pharmacy for something else and found they’d just had a small delivery. We are now the proud possessors of a pack of 7. My husband has continued to be well and wonderful to relate, I, ever open to most passing infections, have remained well too.
Appliquéd and embroidered bug (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)
I had a lovely letter from two recipients of Christmas T shirts who said they loved them so much they didn’t want to wear anything else. (A sister, I think, writing for herself and her younger brother who I’m not so sure has as strong opinions about what he wears as she does but it was a really nice way to say thank you.) I have just one more sweatshirt to embroider and then all Christmas and birthday embroidery is finished. I now have some T shirts in hand for future blogging which is a good thing as I am due at Gloucester Crown Court for jury service from the 7 th of February for 2 weeks unless I get on a trial that goes on longer. This will be my second bout as I first did it about 30 years ago and it is odd to be called twice as no one else I can think of has even be called once. I was going to write a bit about that trial but think I perhaps shouldn’t right now. I will just leave you with the thought that ‘beyond any shadow of a doubt’ is not the same as ‘beyond any reasonable doubt’
T shirt with appliquéd and embroidered bug (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)
8 Comments
Good to know your husband got well again so quickly, but how very alarming!
I did my jury service about 25 years ago. It was a very intriguing experience!
I’m not at all surprised the T-shirts were appreciated – they’ve been very cheerful, and reminding me of the elephant my Mam appliqued on my pyjamas when I was a little girl!
Yes, for a while there I was going through the freezer and wondering if we could eke out 10 days isolation with the food we had. We have been used to a daily shop coinciding with our daily walk and hadn’t ever set up home deliveries. If the worse came about I think our neighbours would have brought us fresh supplies of fruit and vegetables as they offered to do two years ago when this all began.
Intriguing and beyond!
It’s good to hear you have fond memories of your mother’s appliquéd elephant done for you as a child. When my grandson received the first of his Christmas T shirts he did say he appreciated how much work had gone into it which was sweet. I think children also like something a bit different and unusual and customising clothes fits the bill.
I was on the list for jury duty about 10 years ago and was never called. Now that I am a volunteer chaplain with our local police department, I imagine that my name will always be denied.
My father has been called on several times and has served.
I do hope that you can take something to read!
Aren’t the results of random selection fascinating! I’m happy to be called again but I know it’s difficult for working people, especially the self employed. I now remember my first husband was called when we had small children but managed to get it put off as he was self employed, much to our relief.
So glad your husband is feeling better. Hard to know what any cold-like ailment is these days. Also very hard to get test kits here in the US–and they are costly, too–about £18.50 for two.
The bug applique and embroidery stitching colours are terrific against that vivid blue. Lucky recipient. And how nice to get the thank you letters from your other gifts.
As for jury duty, I was called for the first time about four years and was seated (was working at the time). It was an attempted murder trial that lasted most of a week. Let’s just say I’d prefer not to be called again. Now I’m old enough to get an exemption. Like you, I know very few people who’ve actually been seated on a jury for a trial.
Thank you for your kind thoughts. I had no idea you had to pay for your testing kits in the US. We are very fortunate not to have to pay – when you can get hold of them!
It’s always good to get thank you letters isn’t it and enthusiastic ones are even nicer? When they are really nice and have a bit of the personality of the sender, I feel like thanking them for the thank you letters!
Great shirt – the texture stitching over the wing cover is especially effective.
Your husband’s shivering symptom sounds frightening – I sometimes get shivering and hot sweats (alternating) with migraines and it is certainly an effective signal that all is not well with one’s body. We do pay for take home tests here in the US; we got some for Christmas from one of our kids, talk about a seasonal gift! Paying seems to vary with in-person testing; sometimes one’s insurance is charged, and sometimes it is free. All very confusing, and in urban areas where tests are hard to come by (like here) there seems to be terrific price gouging going on.
I’ve been called twice for jury duty but once was not selected due to a possible connection with one of the people involved, and once the case was settled before the jury was seated. In both cases it all sounded very sad and negative and I was glad not to be needed. My husband also served once and throughly enjoyed it; now we are old enough to be excused if we don’t want to serve, which is something of a relief. Just now all the courts are closed to avoid covid transmission; it would be a terrible time to be in jail awaiting trial, but of course there probably isn’t a good time for that anyway. Hope you have an interesting time of it – looking forward to the inside scoop on your earlier case!
ceci
Thank you Ceci.
It’s so interesting to hear how different countries are dealing with all the complex necessities of this disease. Perhaps at one time I would have felt how dreadful it was to have something as mundane as home testing kits for Christmas presents – but not any more. (We were given vouchers for a semi-medical pedicure each by Daughter No 1, husband and children. It was exactly what we wanted and asked for and we shall feel better for months after having a session each and still have money on the voucher to spare for another a bit later on.)
I enjoyed serving on a jury 30 or so years ago. Today is a very different world.