Whoa! It’s been an interesting start to the week. If it’s not bad enough that we have all been ducking and diving, weaving and hiding from Covid19 in Canberra, I ended up a casual contact and have been isolating and getting tested, a new experience for me. My first test on Sunday came up negative but I needed to get a second test and went out this morning, right on 8am to the Kambah test centre to find it already choc-a-bloc. It wasn’t so bad although snaking between the witches hats set up at the old model race car track next to the Kambah leisure centre isn’t much of an idea for fun. I got through after about an hour and a very nice lady took to me with a long swab, gently taking a sample from my mouth and nose. All good. The horror stories of others who had felt the swab was being poked through their brain did not prepare me for the fairly mild touch I received today. And so, I was on my way, waiting anxiously through the day wondering if my star turn in my own version of “The Omega Man” was to be the part played by Charlton Heston or Anthony Zerbe!
As a matter of interest, I was sure Anthony Zerbe was dead but I have just looked him up and he is still alive and well and going strong at 85. Well done sir and please accept my apology for believing you gone to that big movie theatre in the sky. I must have been thinking of someone else………………..
So, throughout the day I managed to clear large tracts of shrubbery in my yard which I was sure some revolutionary army has been hiding in as it is so bad because our forecast for tomorrow is for very heavy rain. There still some tidying up to do but I was fairly pleased with my limited efforts and it looks a little more orderly indeed. Still some work to do though.
Now I was fairly confident I would pass the test with flying colours but throughout the day a little bit of anxiousness did gnaw away at me. I had a very slight headache and came inside to look up the symptoms of covid19. God! Headaches are a major symptom of the Coronavirus! I could feel a lump in my throat. Another symptom! Alas, a drink of water and a chicken sandwich settled my nerves and stomach and suddenly I was feeling better about myself again.I did use a temperature gauge tonight just to make sure all was well with the head and sure enough I was still traveling alright.
Finally the welcome tingle that announces the arrival of a text message on my phone trumpeted the news I had been waiting for. I was virus free!! So the lesson learned is that feeling crappy throughout the day is no guarantee you are a victim of a global pandemic.
Unfortunately we are not at the end of the this yet, not by a long shot. To paraphrase Churchill’s comment on the Allied victory in the Battle of El Alamein: “It’s not the beginning of the end, only the end of the beginning”. Or words to that effect.
The real downside of today’s self isolation was that i had to miss my second shot of the Pfizer vaccine. Luckily the surgery found a spot for me on Sunday morning so I will soon be fully prepared to battle the dangers the world is throwing at us today. Come at me covid!
Strange Notations From a Laborious Life 