Feest Isolation Days – 28 July
It would have been my big brother’s birthday today. Sadly, he died far too early – two years ago – at the age of seventy-one. He was a lovely man with a heart of gold and was very bright. He won the National Science Fair when he was in High School, and was a very able clarinettist. In his late sixties, he got his second PhD! The first was in Chemistry and the second in Economics. When I congratulated him on his accomplishment, he said he had to get another one, as I had one! Not that we were competitive or anything! When we were kids, I would always watch him messing around with his chemistry set in the basement and lend a helping hand when he needed one. We were actually lucky he didn’t blow us all up then! He was always frantically busy. In later years, months would go by and I wouldn’t hear from him and then I’d get a letter or email that went on for pages. We shared similar world political views, and were just beginning to have some time to write to each other and really sort out a few things from our youth when he went and left the planet. Being too busy can sometimes mean you miss what is right in front of you. Enjoy each day and those you love and do tell them often how you feel about them.
I had to visit the GP Surgery today for a routine test and was impressed by the work they’ve done to manage during corona time. Signs and pathways were all sorted out properly, the instructions were clear and there was no one but me in the office when I went inside. Hand sanitizers were inside the doorway and both the nurse I saw and I wore our masks the entire time. The doors and windows were all open and when I entered and left the doors automatically opened. The large garden had been fitted out with two mobile consulting rooms with the sort of marquee you would find at a garden fete. They have thoughtfully and carefully organised the practice and it was good to see the care they were taking while still offering the excellent service they always have. The nurse said things were less busy, they don’t do as much as they have in the past, but they are getting used to this new way of working. While I was there I was given a vaccine against several different strains of pneumonia. The flu vaccine will be offered to we oldies again after September. We are trying to keep as fit and healthy as we can while carrying on with our lives. I didn’t even know there was a pneumonia vaccine! If you are an oldy go and get one.
People continue to moan about the need to quarantine for fourteen days on their return from Spain. Seems to me that the government acted decisively and swiftly when they got the news that the number of infections in Spain rose 900 in a day. Who knows who knew when this enforcement was to be actioned. And who actioned it? It was always a possibility. The government did warn us that they might close things down in just the way they have. Perhaps the 1.8 million UK citizens booked to go to Spain from now until the end of August didn’t believe the government would respond the way they have. The pandemic is still here. Holidays? Maybe not quite yet.
One of the last of the Hollywood legends died this weekend. Olivia de Havilland was pipped to the Best Supporting Oscar for her role in “Gone With the Wind” by the black actress who played Mammy, Hattie McDaniel the first black woman to win an Oscar. Olivia lived to 104. What a woman! From the late nineteen fifties she made Paris her home where she said she enjoyed being surrounded by real palaces and real old beautiful buildings instead of those pretend pieces that were made in Hollywood. When she was in her late seventies, she was asked by an interviewer to explain her longevity and said, “I don’t understand the question — I’m only 78 years old!” Brilliant woman in every way. One hundred and four….now that is a lifetime! As she said at a party to celebrate the 60th anniversary of “Gone With the Wind” – “Let us raise a mint julep to our stars on that great veranda in the sky!” Here’s to you Miss de Havilland.
And to all of you…go and enjoy your life and please be coronavirus careful.
With love
Kathy x