Yikes - today is 'O minus 6 Day', only 6 days to go till my operation!
And mine and Lois' period of pre-op partial self-isolation will be coming to an end soon too.
We broke the isolation slightly for my postponed birthday lunch with Lois at the Bluebell Inn on Wednesday, remember?
flashback to Wednesday: my quiet postponed birthday lunch with Lois
The Bluebell Inn is a venue custom-made for self-isolation: tables quite far apart and a menu that's not too popular. It's a 16th century inn, the oldest pub in Malvern, and Lois and I wonder if the management has decided to keep the old 1665-6 "plague restrictions" seating plan on for a few more centuries, maybe?
flashback to 1665: social distancing during the Great Plague of London
Luckily Lois and I both tend towards ISTJ on the Myers-Briggs personality index: ISTJ means introverted, sensing, thinking, judging. [I'd like to see some evidence of some of those qualities, especially the last three! - Ed]. So self-isolation hasn't been too hard on us, which is nice.
The people we've been feeling most sorry for are the poor "Destroyers of Worlds", who typically come out of the test-results closer to "ENTJ" readings or similar. They must really have suffered during lockdown, mustn't they - the poor guys!
People like poor Sara Alford, one of the most experienced and respected commentators on Onion News, the influential American website. Just a few years ago Alford was forced to confess her weaknesses to a the website's loyal audience, which was a poignant moment. People tend to remember where they were, when the news broke - I expect you do too, don't you?
Today is also the last day when I won't be washing myself like a crazy person - my mad, frenzied 5-day pre-op washing regime starts tomorrow, using these NHS-supplied anti-microbial cleansing agents.
Well, at least the cleaning fluid is free, on the NHS, so the price is right haha !!!!
Poor Shea !!!!!!
And luckily there are also some distractions for us today as well, which will keep us both amused. The first of these diversions is a set of deliveries: three in all, scheduled to be over at the latest by 3pm. The last one comes in slightly early leaving extra space for nap-time after 2pm. There's nothing worse than trying to relax in bed but having to keep half an ear on the doorbell downstairs, is there - you've got to admit that!
We've got a pretty "standard issue" doorbell, by the way. This is a new-build home that we moved into about 18 months ago, and Persimmon, the building company, have more or less admitted that their doorbells are just the standard ones, without the whistles, but including the bells, which shows us they have a sense of humour, despite what residents around here say. Matt and Timera next-door please note haha !!!!
We'd have to pay Persimmon extra to get a "fancy" doorbell, like the Macks' one, over in Piddle Brook - the one that's becoming locally famous, it seems - the one that there was all that fuss about in the local papers.
Oh dear, we're feeling sorry for a lot of people in today's post, aren't we. Still, it makes us feel better to know that there are so many people worse off than ourselves, doesn't it.
By contrast, Lois and I, ourselves, are feeling good, because we're anticipating the deliveries that are going to be coming this morning.
Poor John !!!!!!!
21:00 We round the day off with the 4th episode in the historical period drama "Mary and George" on Sky Atlantic.
It's the early 1600's, and "Mary and George" is based on the true story of the ambitious Lady Mary Villiers, wife of the former Sheriff of Nottingham, who wants to restore her family's fortunes through her sons George and "Crazy John".
Respected US commentator, New Yorker John Wilson, the other day so perfectly described the agony and the ecstasy - or is it the other way round? - of receiving, and opening up, something you've ordered online - in this case a rare, jumbo-sized pink eraser.
The other welcome distraction for Lois and me today is the prospect of the coming "long weekend" and its attendant flurry of baked goods. And Lois gets underway with some of the "temptations" she's planned for us, like her famous "Eight Inch Simnel Cake".
stage one of Lois's critically-acclaimed "Simnel Cake"
from Katy Stewart's "Cooking Better All the Time",
the book she's been prioritising since our marriage in 1972.
Part 1 of Mary's plan is working fine - she's managed to make her handsome son George into the current "squeeze" of King James, who was well-known to "swing both ways", as people say nowadays.
We see a bit more, in this 4th episode, about Mary's "Stage Two" plan for one of her other sons, "Crazy John". Mary plans to arrange a socially-beneficial marriage for "Crazy John", marriage to the lovely Frances, daughter of Lady Hatton, lady-in-waiting to the King James I's Danish Queen, Anne.
ambitious commoner Mary Villiers (right), with her
good-looking son George (centre) and King James I,
the king who "swung both ways"
Lady Hatton isn't too pleased about the prospect of her daughter Frances getting married to "Crazy John", but that's not going to stop the determined Mary, who gets an official warrant from the Attorney-General, complete with a "posse", so that she can kidnap Frances and marry her off to George before Lady Hatton can say "Jack Robinson", so that's all right then!
Here in this scene we see Mary, snogging in the back of her carriage with her own little "squeeze" - local brothel madam Sandie - on their way to kidnap Frances and marry her off to "Crazy John", whether Frances or Lady Hatton likes it or not.
When the posse enters the house and arrests some of the family's ageing retainers, Sandie sneaks off upstairs to check young Frances' bedroom.
Sandie finds Frances' bed empty but then she hears some whimpering through a crack in the ceiling to the attic, where the poor girl has apparently taken refuge. Sandie summons the posse and they quickly take Frances into custody.
And with that the posse bundles poor Frances out of the house.
And that's the way you did it, in those crazy, far-off days haha !!!!
But is this kind of malarkey, getting a warrant and marshalling a posse etc, the ideal way to start a marriage on hopefully a long-term basis?
I wonder.....!
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz!!!!
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