Quarantine

"Quarantine (from the Italian “quaranta,” meaning 40) was adopted as an obligatory means of separating persons, animals, and goods that may have been exposed to a contagious disease." Therefore 10 days in Covid 19 isolation is not quarantine, he says all knowledgeable (with thanks to Google and the Internet.)

Day Zero

 I had arrived on Mersea Island, known for its oysters, Roman encampment and freshly caught fish, and was concerned with settling into my new space, getting in supplies and preparing for the next few days.

Day One

Was all about learning how to cope.

Day two

I am now on Day Two, completed the Covid testing for today and have it sent off to those lucky people whose job it is to test it (Boots).

Being confined to one room is not so unusual for me. Effectively it is a repeat of my first few months in Cambodia as the borders closed and Covid 19 demonstrated that it was here to stay. I then stayed voluntarily (in the guest room of the Cambodian children's charity I volunteer for).

All In June

 by William Henry Davies

A week ago I had a fire

To warm my feet, my hands and face;

Cold winds, that never make a friend,

Crept in and out of every place.

Today the fields are rich in grass,

And buttercups in thousands grow;

I'll show the world where I have been--

With gold-dust seen on either shoe.

Till to my garden back I come,

Where bumble-bees for hours and hours

Sit on their soft, fat, velvet bums,

To wriggle out of hollow flowers.

Day three

It's nice that those people at the NHS (National Health Service) Track and Trace can find the time to keep me company on my hand phone, daily. True, each individual says the same thing to me, as if they are reading from a script, but I do welcome the human contact. 

However, the sheer Kafkaesque nature of British bureaucracy astounds me. Entering the UK was bad enough, that and the rigmarole surrounding it, but trying to change a telephone number on the Passenger Location Form (PLF) is hellish.

Coming into the country I had to put my landlady's telephone number on said PLF  as I had no UK telephone number. I had, afterall, been living in Cambodia and before that Malaysia with no need of a British telephone number. I had no idea that NHS Track & Trace would inconvenience her by phoning her daily.

This had to change. On the second day I mentioned this to the Track & Trace operative. He noted it down. Today it happened again, and I was told that I would have to fill in the Passenger Location Form for the third time,  just to change a telephone number.

I now sincerely regret my decision to return to the land of my birth, despite the fact that I really had no choice.