Bah humbug

Munich Botanical Gardens, December 2019

After I'd been to the bank and the supermarket I shut my front door on Wednesday 23rd December confident that I would not be in the physical presence of another human until Tuesday 29th December. On that day I have to go to work, then I'll go shopping again, and then it will be another period of isolation until, wait for it, Monday 11th January. I might need supplies before then, so my isolation may be broken by an encounter with a supermarket checkout person. And there's just a chance of a socially distanced walk on Monday 28th, or an Amazon delivery of a new umbrella and a floor squeegee for the wet room.

It is looking very likely that Flf has walked away from my wet room without so much as an apology, explanation, or invoice. I have been awarded a free wet room! except for the bits that haven't been done. Once I have found someone new to finish the job I will invite him to submit an invoice, but not yet, I'm still cross. As a celebration for my unfinished wet room Lola II and Mr M dropped by, Santa-style, and gave me one of my two Christmas presents - some shower gel! I now smell quite unlike my usual soap. They also brought trifle to share, and they saw my wet room, and we got quite cold, and it was lovely to see them but not like it should be. Damn you, Coronavirus.

In case you were wondering, the other Christmas present was from Mr MXF, and comprised a large number of different flavours of Chai - he deduced rightly that alcohol would not be all that welcome. Unfortunately they all contain caffeine so it may take me a year or two to get through them - the one I have tried was delicious, though. I suppose I should also mention the gifts I've been getting from generous companies who have donated them to the NHS - mostly toiletries, but on 21st December I received a Lindt chocolate advent calendar (along with Nivea and hand cream). I accepted (invented) the challenge of catching up to align the little window-opening and the calendar date, bearing in mind that the chocolates are incredibly small.

Both of my employers staged Christmas get togethers on the same day. At the Diabetes Centre there was to be a buffet lunch where each of us bring a component such as bread, cheese, fizzy pop etc. Historically I have attended in order to promote team spirit, but this year it was on a day when I don't work there and on the same day as Mr MXF's party, which took place in the evening via Zoom. Earlier in the week Lola Towers had taken delivery of a small bottle of Prosecco via Amazon, and a frozen meal from Wiltshire Farm Food, which we Dietitians tend to recommend mainly to older people who have had upper GI surgery or a brain injury and can no longer chew or swallow safely.

I wasn't going to mention this during the Zoom call, but it turns out the Mr MXF was aware of the situation but he had left the order so late that WFF was the only supplier still offering Christmas dinners for delivery (and it turns out that by the time the orders were placed, these were no longer available). Other employees joining the festivities were the entire MXF family plus a girlfriend, and two young people who do web coding and accounts. Mr MXF had also arranged a quiz where I achieved a score no better than chance, but I contributed to the fun by embarrassing him with ancient pictures of him as a twenty-something shared via Zoom.

My plan to join a three-household Christmas get-together in Nottingham was scuppered only days before it was due to happen. One of the party is more of an introvert than I am, and even she was disappointed that we're now meeting on Zoom instead of in person. All my progress towards welcoming human contact has evaporated, so when we start being able to meet people again I'll have to start at square one. This has certainly been a year like no other.