Me and my mate Corona AKA Covid 19

The summer is almost over and I prepare to undergo major knee surgery prior to the final bank holiday weekend of the year. Following which, we fall into autumn unsure where the world will be as we approach 2021.  What a strange year it has been and all down to that virus, the Wuhan warrior, Covid 19! 

Something so small has paralysed the world’s economy and robbed families of loved ones on its journey from China to the rest of the world.  I will be travelling the world, but perhaps not with the same break neck speed and certainly not causing the same degree of havoc in my wake (I hope).  

Prior to this pandemic, the corona virus was unheard of. And those of you that are my age will fondly recall Corona as a range of fizzy drinks delivered to your door by the Pop man in his van.

“Every bubble’s passed its FIZZical!” yelped the Ernie Bilko-voiced Head Bubble in the cartoon ads for this knobbly-bottled orangeade seen on the far right above. The idea of devouring an entire army of bubbles and then belching out their remains appealed to the juvenile mind. I personally loved the cherryade. Very popular in the ’70s, the van would appear weekly for your order with a 10p deposit for every empty returned.

I myself have tested positive for Covid antibodies in May and do recall being unwell at the end of January with a bad cough which I put down to a seasonal cold not realising I’d also lost my sense of smell. This dawned on me weeks later when Tom’s sister Charlotte (Tom is my eldest daughter Emily’s partner) who has a “cottage business” selling organic cosmetics based on goats milk ( cwtgafr.co.uk) sent the family a selection of soaps.  All the bars were heavily scented with a variety of fruits, spices and flowers with all remarking how unique they were. You barely had to open the wrapping before your olfactory senses were bombarded. I smelt nothing unless the bar was pressed against my nose and barely did I sense anything then. It was then did it occur to me to be a side effect of having had the Wuhan warrior, Covid 19. Fortunately, there has been no affect on my sense of taste.  

Some weeks later in Early July we re-started elective surgery at the new Spire Hospital in Manchester. As a Covid free “green site”, all staff were required to have a negative Covid swab every 10 days. Yes you guessed it, my first swab was positive for Covid 19. Completely asymptomatic! 7 days self isolation for me, 14 for those in my household. I was a pariah in my own home. I was well, as was everyone else. All tested negative and I was treated like a leper by my own kin! 

I did get my own back however.  Having tested positive on a Thursday, informed on Saturday morning, I could go back to work  the next Friday having completed 7 days isolation from the index test.  It was an exhausting day of surgery arriving home late that evening at approximately 7.15pm.  “Early doors” at the Railway Inn Hale is customary on a Friday in our household. Upheld over the years, as Dad buys! Whilst not particularly early,  the thirst  was no different. It was with a heavy heart I announced I was off for a pint not initially appreciating the others would still be in quarantine  for a further 7 days.  I don’t usually enjoy drinking alone but somehow this time was different.   

So here I am on the precipice of major surgery this week. I am bricking it but that’s normal.  I am confident it’s the right thing to do given all I the adventure travel activities I want to do on this journey I’m sharing with you.  

Pre op yesterday included a throat and nasal swab for my old friend Covid 19, hopefully dearly departed.  

My convalescence will be at least 3 months with full recovery taking up to 6 to realise the extent of any improvement.  

During this initial three months, I will be using the time to further the preparations for adventure travel van life. My main aim is to become fluent in Spanish and develop a sound base of French and German. Along side this will be  intensive physiotherapy to support my recovery.  I also will be writing two books. The first, already begun, is titled “You can take the man out of Reddish……”. It’s a personal reflection of my life chronicling my upbringing and experience thus far. A cathartic exercise not likely to be publicised. The other is a novel titled “The Reluctant Gynaecologist”, a satirical work using my career experiences working in the NHS these last 30+ years.  

This combined with a regular fortnight blog post and the physical therapy will keep me very busy. My biggest challenge will be not becoming a fat _ _! Current weight 82.6 KGs to be updated each post! 

The drone flying and experience is coming on, but I do not yet have the video editing software to compliment some of the great footage I have yet to share. I have posted a small clip done with the iphone which I’m sure you may have seen but if not…

Another eagerly awaited addition to my blog and van travel tools is the Go Pro Hero 8 Black, which comes as a bundle through the Go Pro website.

I have had some great fun flying the Mavic Air 2 drone and learning about the cinematography it is capable of and I know I’ve only just scratched the surface. What has occurred to me though, is that I need the ability to get action shots/video in real-time from my own perspective as well as aerial footage including Active Track^TM with the drone particularly in water. I became aware of this when out kayaking with Christina. Here I had to use my iphone on video mode and almost dropped it in the sea on several occasions. The Go Pro adds this cinematographic flexibility and safety with the possibility for underwater shots too!

I’m really excited about the range of action I will now be able to capture for the blog. I will keep you all updated when it arrives with some drone footage when I decide which software editing package I will be using.

Anyway, bye for now 2 more days of self-isolation before operation.

Next post in 2 weeks!

CLOCK JUST KEEPS ON TICKIN…..