Day 720 – 20th March 2022 – the day I tested positive for COVID-19 🦠 🦠🦠

I’ve added in this paragraph to let you know as you are reading…. I started this blog with Day 720 and no heading as sometimes that comes to me later on the day… I am oblivious to the fact I have COVID as I write… until I eat a late breakfast…

Wide awake at 5.30am. To be fair I can’t breathe with the cold. I’m propped up on 2 large pillows which helps but not enough to sleep all night. The cold and flu tablets aren’t touching it today…. Just so blocked up.

I’m still buzzing from all the workout yesterday. Its another beautiful day but it’s a cold morning. Despite my best efforts it is not yet flip flop weather…. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣

I spend some time on the Cleanup App deleting photos off my phone. A while back I got down from 54,000 to about 44,000 and it’s crept back up to 47k…. No small wonder when I take as many as I do in one day.

It feels good to clear photos.

Now it’s 8am, we’ve had coffee and I’m off up the hill with Calaidh. Got her to pose with the daffies!

They are so beautiful. These ones grown a the base of the wall of the milkman’s farm…

You can see them in the next photo. They are beautiful every year.

The sun is finally warming up as we walk. Calaidh’s in her element and I’m writing this as I go. Talk about multi tasking!

How about a gate…. It’s been a while.

Thought I’d try an arty shot of this dirt road. Everything is so much more appealing in the sunlight. It’s a good day to be alive.

This is the dry stane dyke I got stuck on a few years back when a group of us had gone up to the old golf course for a prosecco dog walk. (When I was still drinking).

I still remember lying here in hysterics unable to negotiate the stones and the two sets of barbed wire.

It’s just as difficult today as I take photos and try to breathe through my blocked up nose🤦🏻‍♀️ without being sozzled.

As we walk I spot about 10 deer in the distance. I shout to Calaidh so that they hear us and she doesn’t scare them… yeah I know so I scare them instead but If I were a deer I’d rather know someone was coming than have a Border Collie hard on my hooves… if you zoom in you can see 2 of them that I caught on camera.

Calaidh is oblivious thankfully as 3 of them are late to twig we are there and finally head off after the rest. Love the white bums!

The gorse is out in full bloom. It’s so stunning against the blue sky.

And this….. is my favourite bush. (Stop it!) it’s situated up on the Old Beith Golf Course and you have to hunt to find it. It’s a beautiful pink Rhododendron in the middle of a whole load of gorse bushes.

It’s such a beautiful plant.

So delicate.

Calaidh is pleased that we finally start walking again… she’s bored with all the photos and I head up to the viewpoint out over Lochwinnoch. It’s so clear you can see for miles.

As I look across to the Bigholm Hill I realise I’ve never been over to visit the new cairn built there so we head across… negotiating the very old and new gates.

Calaidh’s unsure of how to get through the old turnstile. The path is dry but don’t imagine it would be great in the rain!

It was worth the walk. Wow!

This is the original site of the Beith and District War Memorial which was first dedicated in November 1920 (guess that’s when the gate was built too…). It was moved to its existing location in Janefield Place in Beith in 1946.

The cairn was erected to commemorate the original location.

There are crocheted or knitted poppies inserted into the rocks attached to sticks. It’s such a beautiful space. So atmospheric and this is the view.

There’s a wee bench where I sit now to write most of this.

As we head down a plane is on approach to Glasgow Airport.

I realise how pretty all of our single track roads are in the sunshine. The old dry stane dykes have been around for a long time and many are encrusted in such thick moss.

Our lovely village from up the hill.

Craig phoned to find out where we were as we’d been away for so long!

So I come home and we have a coffee outside and I start hanging washing. I realise I’m hungry and randomly have a bowl of crunch nut cornflakes.

I CAN’T TASTE A THING.

REALLY OBVIOUSLY NOTHING.

Craig squirts some Nando’s spicy mayonnaise onto a teaspoon… despite me turning up my nose and questioning why I would want spicy Mayo in the middle of a bowl of cornflakes… he’s right… I need to know if I can taste it.

NOTHING…. Until I swallow and I feel the back of my throat.

I take a test and within seconds the line against the T line is visible.

I scream “I’M POSITIVE, OH MY GOD, I’M POSITIVE….”

Nothing… I don’t even know if he’s in the house. I run to find him shouting “I’m positive”… whilst staying far enough away… he’s heard me the first time…. He’s just thinking everything through being self employed…. And staying well out of my way.

I wait the 15 minutes and the lines are brighter than I’ve ever seen them.

It’s the strangest feeling. I don’t feel any different from how I did this morning . Just really stuffy and bunged up. I realise now why cold and flu tablets might not be working.

Now I have a label. I scan around my body searching to other signs…. Do I feel the disease…. The COVID…. Nope still nothing, it’s ok, I can relax.

I’ve stopped following the COVID guidelines as they are changing by the minute at the moment so I have no idea what’s expected of me. I start to look that up and find it’s pretty confusing.

Scotland have different rules to England and a Google search in the UK often returns English results…. I start down that route and realise I’m Scottish…. Wrong rules.

So I have to self isolate for 10 days from when my symptoms first showed. Mum informs me this was Friday when I announced “I dot the told” in my nasally voice.

I messaged everyone I’ve seen and logged the positive test online after a fair Google search to find out how to do it.

Then the test and protect text messages start pinging through.

So that’s not at all how I expected today to go. Craig’s still fine… did I say that already?

I’ll take the bedroom as I’ve slept in all of those sheets already and he’s cleaned a bathroom down. There’s no way not to have contact with each other really we just have to try and minimise it as best we can.

He caught Norovirus off me in January so I don’t fancy his chances. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤣

I humphed Grans recliner chair outside into the sun. I refuse to lock myself indoors on a day like this.

I’ve put some sun cream on as FaceTime with mum and dad revealed that I am burning….. I’m nearly 50 and they’re both telling me to get sunscreen on! ♥️♥️

Dad announces I’m the first person he’s ever “seen” with COVID-19.

I am happy to oblige….. not…..

Also there is worse weather and there are worse views… I’ll be outside as much as I can for fresh air in the hope it blasts this to kingdom come.

To kingdom come……What does that saying even mean?!?

Stay safer than I did everyone 🦠🦠🦠