5.12.2020 Say: "Aaaah"

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Saturday 5th 38F Overcast with a cold wind. No morning walk. A bit of a weak and wobbly start to the day. 

Compulsory Covid [Jinping Plague] test in the city at 11.00. Will I become dizzy miles from home? It is a bit of a worry in my seemingly vulnerable state. I arrived there early and hovered out of the way nearby. Just watching progress and checking for paparazzi. Before parking in the official area and queuing inside in the short, red queue. There were only five or six "walking dead" in front of me. With the leader having a coughing fit all over the poor staff member. Oh, deep joy! Fortunately they were facing away from me. But you never know. I snuggled down behind my flimsy mask and grumbled inwardly.

It was all over in about ten minutes. After they were finally able to find me on their computer. A long cotton swab was inserted deep into my mouth by a pleasant but efficient, silver-haired lady in protective safety wear. There was only slight discomfort as the swab was rubbed around my throat but nothing to write home about. 

The befouled pin was dropped into a tubular, freshly labelled vial and then they pointed me at the exit. Job done. Dismissed! I desperately wanted to say that I had come all this way. And wasn't there a free lollipop for being brave?

I should have my results tomorrow [online] in time for the doctor's appointment on Monday. Should I cheat and check later? Hmm.. That would mean two sleepless nights. Mind you, I might have two sleepless nights, not knowing. Eeny, meany...

Despite deepening gloom I went for a fairly brisk walk to the lanes in the late afternoon. The cold headwind, at my usual exit, rapidly depleted my enthusiasm and I returned the way I had come. Dodging drivers with my well-honed skills for picking up deer bugs on the verge. 

I paused to talk to the neighbour's guard dog. Though but it soon became bored and burst into a barking fit. I had only just admitted that, no, I did not have a pocket full of his/her favourite treats. So I could feel some sympathy with its point of view. It is such a handsome creature that I could well see myself walking the damned thing every morning. If only to gain some neighbourhood stature. Well, every little counts when you are a "Johnny foreigner."

I really do need to fix the hood arrangements on my heavy, winter, walking jacket. It has a secondary wind flap which is meant to lie behind the poppered, throat flaps. This is obviously intended for those really adverse conditions in the Scottish Highlands. Where life and limb are always dependent one's blood-alcohol levels. However, it makes swift neck closure almost impossible to manage. Not without several YouTube instructional videos. A decent mirror in good, preferably overcast, daylight. Latent enthusiasm and lots of practice. I do not exaggerate. 

 

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