I have just completed 22 days living in isolation and, last week, I experienced what I will call 'Isolation Blues'. This was a change in my mood, which, so far, has been positive and determined to be a survivor. I have listened to the daily bulletins, ever hopeful that there would be announcements to give me hope. What happened to so radically change my mood?
Well! I thought about the NHS and its underfunding over the last ten years (I know I keep reminding everyone of this), and I thought about the nurses and the doctors who have just died from tackling this silent killer. I thought about the parents of the young lad, who could not hold their son as he left this life. I thought of my son's GP partner, working each day under stress, who returns home to strip off all at the door and decontaminate before she sits for a needed de-stress time.
With building anger, I listened to a long-standing friend who has worked on A&E for thirty years and was due to retire at Easter. She was Wonder Woman to me but, she said that she was feeling afraid of going back to work the next day. Then my anger overflowed for her and the other medics who are working without the safety clothing and the tests which could save anxiety. Of course they are feeling afraid. I was then so mad that I cried and wanted to shout my despair.
Sorry folks, to throw this at you. I think some of you will empathise with my sentiments. However, I know I should also share some positive behaviour with you, so I will now share good times from this week.
...One of these times was when friends came to the end of my drive and did a dance and left me apples, yoghurt and chocolate. Another precious time was when my son, released from his school teacher supervising, brought my food and blew me a precious kiss. Finally, but so, so beautiful was the bursting into colour of my tulips. Buried in the cold soil of November they erupted into beauty during this time of human darkness.
I have done some basic cooking this week. I looked at the pages of a Ministry of Food booklet printed in 1940; a previous time of distress and anxiety. It talked of dried eggs and not being extravagant. It gave tips, like scraping off the remaining bits from the butter paper; 2ozs a week rationing per person, needed careful use. I used the illustrated guidance for mashed potatoes and enjoyed this simple comfort food.
It brought me hope as I remembered we had managed bad times before, have cried, been angry and have come through...
See the first two episodes of Alice In Salford Isolationland – click here and click here
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