For the Record

 It strikes me that this is a very significant moment in history so I’m going to record my experience of it.

We are waiting for the result of the US election. It is extremely close. This is scary.

My daughter is self-isolating in her student flat in Sheffield because her flatmate has Covid.  She is missing two weeks of face  to face seminars because of this- her course isn’t online. The flatmate had a message on the NHS Covid app on Sunday to say she’d been in contact with someone who had tested positive. At the same time started to feel feverish. She went for a test. It came back positive on Monday. She’d watched Strictly on Saturday evening in the same room as her flatmates. Including my daughter.

I am trying not to worry. My daughter, usually a worrier, is fairly relaxed about this. No symptoms yet except a slight headache tonight. 

Her flatmate with Covid is fine. Yesterday she cleaned the house. She has now lost her sense of taste and to check this out she ate a whole chilli, drunk a shot of vodka and one of vinegar. She couldn’t taste any of these.  A young person’s response to the virus. 

As part of the ONS survey we signed up for Paul and I have had five Covid tests. We are getting paid for this in shopping vouchers though we’d have been happy to do it for free. We had weekly visits where we answer questions and complete the test ourselves. You swish a long cotton bud type thing around the back of your throat and then up each nostril. It makes you gag but isn’t a big deal. They’ve all been negative so far. 

This week I’m nervous that I’ve caught it too as I’ve been to a pub with friends (outside in a ‘beach hut’) and to the hairdresser before lockdown begins. There are many people with Covid in the local area. A friend who has a small business has nine staff off with the virus.  I’m torn between wanting to stay in all the time to avoid any chance of infection and wanting to make the most of the time left before lockdown.

Life is very different to this time last year.