~o~
Saturday 8th Dry and sunny. It could reach a record breaking 16C/61F between 14.00 and 15.00.
Whoops! The digital clock was showing a row of 5s. I thought it must be nearly 6am. I could safely get up. Without feeling too guilty after a very quiet night. I was looking forward to announcing a record sleep time. The truth was much less satisfying. It was just before 1am!
01.55 I had lain awake for a whole hour. Unable to get a wink of sleep. Worrying about downsizing. Swallowing repeatedly, to hold down what little I had eaten. It was time for a cup of tea and another glass of water. Sit on the computer until I got tired again. The usual arrangement.
03.15 I had a nose bleed and was shivering before I went back to bed.
05.00 Awake again. Haunted by fleeting images in dreams. Which had nothing in context or even reality. I nearly fell out of bed trying to save a large mixing bowl. It was my mother's I think. I don't remember owning such a mixing bowl.
I have been sleeping in my normal clothes. Plus the thick fleece jacket and cap again. Trying to drive away the remaining virus. I have just taken a Pamol and an Ipren. Will I get the sparklies again?
An email came. Reminding me that I haven't filled out the online form with multiple blood pressure tests. Taken over several days morning and night. I had managed just one morning entry before I had man flu. I don't know whether I dare risk exposing my extremities to the room over an extended period. It's only 64F/17.8C in here.
The problem is they want a morning reading before I eat or drink anything. I start every day with black coffee and muesli. I am barely functioning before that ritual is over. I have already had two cups of tea in the night. There is nowhere on the form for messages about my fighting for my life with a severe bout of man flu.
Those of you who are new to reading my drivel. May miss the deliberate exaggerations for humorous effect. I am mostly talking to myself anyway. For years I have used my blogs as way of entertaining myself and my few, probably imaginary readers. This allowed me to fill in for the complete absence of friends over here. Until recently. The internet kept me sane in my rural isolation. I could use my imaginary audience as friends.
My late wife suffered even worse isolation for far longer. No doubt leading to her eventual demise. We had a passable social life with charity shop staff and antique dealers over here. Just as we had done in rural Wales. We visited so many, so often, that we would be greeted. That came to an end a few years ago over here. I can't remember why. Probably because the house could not accept another item without the walls bulging outwards.
Visitors were rare even when we lived in the city. There was a local girl. The victim of a navy, Scottish wife beater and drinker. We had a child each of a similar age. She would visit my wife. That was over 40 years ago. Nothing after that.
6.10 I was just having a sweating fit. So I used that as an excuse to strip off my top half. Three readings captured at 5 minute intervals and still sweating. Lowest and last reading: 99/72/63bpm. A man barely alive! My pulse was a lot slower last time. Averaging 45.
I'll see if there is enough milk for breakfast. It wasn't the milk that was the problem. It was the lack of spoons. I had to resort to a desert spoon to measure the coffee. The [ir]regular washer upper had called in sick. Some lame excuse about a flu epidemic. Numbers increasing beyond 2000 per week for the least 6 weeks and the curve still hasn't broken. One third of Danes could well be ill. How do they know how many people are sick if they don't contact their doctor? Or are self-employed or retired?
12.10 There was no return to bed this morning. I am almost 80% recovered but have been sweating profusely since the early hours. Probably the body's reaction to the weakening virus. I have no appetite for lunch.
Several day's worth of washing up is completed. Including the use of Baking Soda to clean the stains out of eight mugs. I then moved onto peripheral trays and containers, cutlery trays, etc. I feel a need to mop the kitchen floor.
I have watched numerous YT videos this morning. In an attempt to self-analyze my psychological type and behaviour. I share so many different traits from so many types that I remain a puzzle. Even to myself. While I lean towards the Sigma Male I consider myself damaged goods. I have sympathy and empathy, yet remain a loner at heart. Last night I cried when a child in a Japanese series was self harming. Her doctor lacks any empathy. Presumably the series will eventually find some way to restore this absence.
I am and have always been obsessively creative. I can and have produced amazing results working entirely alone. Though I have used the hive mind amongst online forums for specialist advice. My memory is so specialized as to have been a major handicap throughout my working life. I used my large library of text books until Google came along.
I could not remember the names of colleagues with whom I had worked with for years. Yet I can identify and remember the source of components of a lifetime of taking stuff apart. Yet not remember more than a few dates of general interest. 1066, 1947, 1953 & 1967. That's about it. I cannot put dates to any of my life's activities or "career highlights." Not within a decade or two.
I cannot add a column of figures and get the same answer twice. Yet wrote trigonometrical software [in BBC Basic] to design and graph triplet telescope objective lenses, just as they were beginning to be made commercially. I am self-taught on many woodworking and metalworking machines and tools. I built several guitars but cannot remember more than three chords. Let alone all the notes of a stave.
14.00 59.7F/15.5C. It could still get a little warmer. Indoors is at 71F/22C. Thanks to the greenhouse and all internal doors open. I might even have a shower.
16.55 57F/14C. The outdoor temperature is holding up well. I suddenly felt very unwell after my shower. So went hack to bed with a 40 min. alarm. The load of jumpers were finished. Onto the next load. 73F/22.8C indoors. Greenhouse and internal doors closed.
Dinner was mackerel on toast. Followed by a bloodbath. I was pressing tissue to my nose and pulling out, warm blooded, rubber snakes. 10cm long and as thick as my finger. I'll keep pinching.
11.10 I can't go to bed until my nose stops bleeding. It won't stop!
~o~
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