Busy (Being Busy!)

I've actually been quite busy recently.

One of the receptionists at work has taken advantage of the increasingly restriction free re-opening of the international borders and has taken off on a Grand World Tour. Unfortunately, just as she did this, one of the other receptionists became quite unwell with covid. She had to go to hospital in an ambulance and was still not well a few days later. So in addition to working for an extra hour or two on Wednesday, I found myself tripping down memory lane - and heading into work with Lindsey on Friday.

Fortunately, it wasn't too busy on Friday because there weren't many doctors on and none of the allied health people were in. It was a long day, though.

And allow me to draw your attention to: When I tell you that there are no appointments available, it will avail you precisely nothing to tell me that "I've been coming there since 1965" or "I've been loyally coming  for 20 years". If I had an appointment to offer you, I would have offered it. The fact that you have been coming for umpty something years doesn't magically conjure one up! And if you tell me your name, I will call you if we get a cancellation. I can't do that if you just huff and hang up.

I'm working some extra hours this week too. One of the advantages of Jim being in the care home - I can offer to cover shifts if necessary, plus I can choose to go and work on site rather than from home if I feel like it. 

Stella is not a happy bunny. She was given the August calendar of activities for the facility and last week was marked off as Locked Down, with activities resuming on Sunday. She therefore assumed that if nothing else they would be allowed out of their rooms to mingle in the common areas and the dining room, despite us warning her that it would be entirely dependent on there being no active cases. Alas, there are still a small number of active cases and they remain confined to their rooms for now. And realistically, they were never going to open the doors to outside visitors on a Sunday. Can you imagine the rush of people wanting to get in, being dealt with by the single receptionist they have on a Sunday? I don't think it will be long, though. Case numbers do seem to be dropping quite nicely.

I have called at the aged care facility, to drop things off for Stella and a few things for Jim. A member of staff comes to the door and collects them. I speak to Stella every day, and to Jim once or twice a week. Both of them have recovered from their covid bouts, although Stella is still a bit snuffly and sneezy. I will be pleased when I can get back in again. I have lots of things to take in, including book shelves and other larger things. Plus, Stella has an appointment with her GP on Friday. It will be useful if I can get her out of the facility by then.

Apart from all that, things are trundling nicely along. I am carrying on with the Death Cleaning and also with general decluttering. Lindsey and I went to the Bridge Mall market and the mushroom farm on Saturday. I am slowly learning not to peel too many potatoes. I am building a pattern of daily life, although I need to remember that I will need to include regular visits to Stella and Jim when they open up again.

Spring is approaching. The wattles are beginning to flower. I see spring bulbs appearing in people's gardens. The days are slowly, slowly starting to get longer - which means I really need to get a wriggle on with sorting out the new fruit beds in the back garden. The soil is still quite cold but it won't be long before it starts to warm up. And I have been sorting out my vegetable seeds. Lindsey and Ian gave me a seed heat mat at Christmas and I am pondering making an experimental early start on the summer seeds, just to see what happens. I need to take some of my metal beds up to Lindsey's place. We are planning a new vegetable area up there too.