I just thought I might add the details of my experience with this delightful virus that is killing so many people.

It was a terrible time, as my lovely mother in law passed away on the very same day I had visited her. It was a Thursday. We were devastated, of course. But it was all made much worse because we hadn't been allowed to see her for 6 months prior, thanks to the covid-19 pandemic and subsequent closures of nursing homes. So I kind of feel lucky that I got to see her before she took flight into the universe. She was diagnosed with dementia in 2014, and slowly disintegrated before our eyes. A tragedy and tragic disease.

We sorted out the funeral for the following Wednesday, and organised flowers etc, but all that had to be put on hold because I had contracted covid-19 somehow. I had been really careful and wore my mask everywhere I was supposed to, sanitised so often, my hands felt like leather and limited my movements to only a few places - school, supermarket, my son's martial arts club (which I don't participate in) and home. So I feel quite unlucky to have caught it. No one else that I knew had it, so it remains a bit of a mystery. However, my partner did test positive two days after I started to feel ill. And then my 82yr old father in law also tested positive. And I was so very worried about them, but they both suffered from only a slight cough and a sniffle. They were both very lucky.

Unfortunately, I wasn't so lucky.

I was one of those people who showed no "typical" symptoms, and by that I mean I had no cough at all, no high temperature, no loss or change of taste or smell, so I figured the sore throat I had was another cold that I had caught from my son and the germ factory (school). I had it for a week and felt fine. However, the day after my mother in law died, I went downhill rapidly. I had nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, the worst headache I have ever felt (like 50 migraines at once), really bad photophobia (my partner opened the shutters on a cloudy afternoon, and it almost killed me as my head felt like it was about to explode), and I was completely off all food. All that went on for an entire week. I was in bed the entire time (except for many emergency visits to the loo). I lost a ton of weight (which, in my case, isn't a bad thing) and although I still had slight botty issues, I made myself get out of bed the following Sunday and face the shower to clean myself up. It was a really strange time, because my taste had changed, and that included my home décor too. I couldn't stand my house and how I had decorated it. All the mid-century items were ugly to me, and my actual taste (in my mouth) had changed also. What I once enjoyed eating was now the worst... and my greatest loss was coffee. I was a 3-4 cup per day kinda guy, but following this rancid time in bed, I detested it and the smell made me nauseous. Bananas, strawberries, all fruit except grapes, curry, cheese, toast, cereal... the list went on and I was devastated and fell into a bit of depression. Mainly because I could no longer garner any enjoyment from food. I was reduced to only eating toasted crumpets with cottage cheese, spring vegetable cup-of-soups and cups of sweetened tea. That was my diet for about a month. Even activities I loved (like creating for The Sims 4) were abhorrent to me. I simply couldn't face the computer at all. Obviously that has passed and I have been playing catch up.

However, after about 7 weeks, I finally drank a cup of coffee, and it didn't make me sick, so hoorah! And slowly but surely, it has all returned to normal and I love fruit and my home again. Phew. I was concerned that it was going to be permanent.

So, I am making more shutters. That is what I was going to write about. Long, thin ones and short, wide ones. It's all going on here now. I'm back to loving the creative process again. It's a joy.

See you two around. xx