Friday 16 October
I’ve just got off the phone to my Dad. He’s really feeling the strain like everyone else at the moment. But, to the worldwide backdrop of the pandemic, he also struggles with the very personal ‘virus’of loneliness.
As I’ve already shared, my Mum, lives in a care home in Clacton, a few miles drive from myself and my Dad. She has Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia. Dad has found out today that the care home is now in full lockdown, not accepting visitors. Dad was due to visit her this coming Monday. He had reduced his visits to fortnightly to limit the potential of bring Coronavirus into the care home.
This news has obviously hit him pretty hard. He said that he is finding living in his bungalow difficult without Mum being there. It hurts to hear him talk like this. This is my dad.
And then, there is his own physical health. He has precancerous cells in his oesophagus. It affects his ability to swallow and he is feeling unwell this evening. I worry. He worries. And that’s worse.
It’s a toxic concoction of individual mental and physical fragility, played out to a backdrop of the effects of Covid19. He is old, living on his own, and he tragically misses the person he still loves. Its painful.
Today, this week, I have been feeling low myself. I think I am in pretty good company. Liverpool and Lancashire is in Tier 3 of Coronavirus restrictions, the highest before full lockdown. Essex, London and other areas have been placed in the Tier 2 – Essex asked to be placed there.
There is presidential campaign madness ensuing in the US.
Brexit talks would appear to have broken down. Europe and UK negotiators have turned their backs on each other, for the time being at least.
The Bald Birder 