So last week, my boss and I had a one-to-one review going over things that had happened since the last review. Generally OK, but he was definitely not sounding right.
Turned out that he had picked up covid, and since I was both sitting next to him and had a face-to-face meeting with him, I decided to test myself, but gave it a day before doing so to make sure if I did have symptoms they would have enough time to manifest properly.
I was clear and tested negative.
However my boss was bedridden for about two days before he started answering some of his slack messages.
Now, over the weekend, his bad luck got even worse, and we found out his dad passed away. So not only is he recovering from Covid, he now has to deal with the end-of-life stuff for his dad.
There's an expression in Chinese which literally translates to "misfortune doesn't come alone"
Wishing him a speedy recovery and I'm sorry for his loss.
Ran my LFT and it came up negative. The family also ran LFTs and they were all clear. Guess it confirms my suspicion that whatever I have is just the flu, even though it feels horrible.... :-(
My arm has been sore for way more than the 2-3 days but now, nearly a week after the jab, it finally had eased enough that I think I can sleep on that side.
24 hours after the booster and I can say I have one pretty painful symptom. Overnight, my arm where I had my jab became really painful to the touch, and when I rolled over in my sleep, the pain immediately jolted me awake.
Checked in case the jab site had become swollen or bruised, and nothing, so it is just the jab causing the pain.
I checked with a few others who had the Pfizer jab (both as the original jab and as booster) and they all said their arm was sore for 1-2 days after the jab so I guess I'm in pain until tomorrow. :-|
It's been a long time since I posted on here -- my last post (before today's posts) was July 17 when I had to self isolate. A lot has happened since then, so this post will be a bit of an update list
I had to take my dad into hospital for a prostrate operation (this was planned before I had to self-isolate) -- he already had a PCR test and was cleared. My LFT was also clear, but I still had to self isolate. This was before the self-isolation changes happened. The operation was successful, but he needed to be held a few more days to see an ENT specialist due to them finding lumps in his throat. The concern was that they might be cancerous, but turns out it was just irritation so they gave him some Gaviscon to take after means and soothe the throat. Both my dad and I are prone to post-meal throat irritation so it might mean I might be subject to the same thing later in life.
I got a ticket after driving my dad to the hospital for taking a left turn when I was not supposed do, due to badly signposted roads. My appeal was rejected on the grounds I had paid the ticket. This is how the council screws you over -- if you pay the fine to avoid the 100% charge, they will claim that admits guilt. If you don't, they delay the response until after the 2-week window so you then have to pay the 100% charge.
I finally decided to upgrade my phone and went for a OnePlus 9 Pro. The phone is classed as a "Phablet" and much bigger than the Samsung Galaxy S5 I have been using for years:
The case on the left is for the OnePlus, the case on the right for my S5
I had problems activating the new SIM and eventually Three had to send me a new one, and soon after I got that new one, I got a message saying Three were going to be doing works on the mast in my area and ever since then I have had horrendously bad speeds at home. By bad, I mean speeds of < 1Mbps and even down to 0.2Mbps. Using 3G band sometimes helps, but only marginally.
I've taken my complaint up to the Ombudsman but Three are still refusing to do anything about it -- even charging me to leave contract early.
I've been with Three many years but I will not be recommending them going forward. I will be checking other providers when my contract expires.
We've started to go back to the office. My team is doing three days a week in the office, and you pick which three days as long as there are a max of 8 people in the office (due to some office reorganisation, we only have 8 seats for the entire team).
Surprisingly many people have left jobs during and post lockdown (some might have been nudged due to the lockdown, and not just in my office, but generally.)
I won a Twitter completion by Curve for a swag bag. Just had to tweet them three images of their different adverts -- all of which showed up on the same station, so that wasn't too difficult.
Then we had the annoying as heck "Panic at the Pumps" causing shortages.
This video from my dashcam shows the queue of traffic. This is the queue leading into the Alperton Sainsbury's. I was there at around 5am and it took me 30 minutes to clear the queue even with less people in the queue. This queue will probably take 90 minutes to clear, assuming the fuel was not gone by the time they got to the front of the queue
This video, also from my dashcam shows the queues that built up outside the petrol stations -- this Esso I actually went into at 4:30am that morning and they were not open, even though there were staff in the shop (so maybe they were waiting for delivery?)
You'll get people tooting impatiently and even people cutting the queue and then blocking the lane for the people behind (they must be luxury car drivers)
My house purchase has progressed and we have moved on and are now ready to exchange. However, one of the two sellers is unable to complete his purchase (he's part of a chain and needs to complete his purchase before he can complete the sale on the current house).
Finally, I got a letter from Principia Law who are the ones trying to claim money back from the drunk driver who wrecked my previous car.
They want me to release my bank records for the period of time I had the hire car. But everyone I have discussed this with seems confused as to why this is required since the accident is a "no-fault" claim on my part, so they should not even need my bank details.
I asked them to call me today to discuss this. I may also speak to the office legal team for their thoughts.
Barely a week after my covid jab, and I've been notified by the NHS Covid app that I need to self-isolate due to coming in proximity to someone confirmed to have the virus.
My main suspicion is that this was during the one day I was in the office and went to the nearby train station to get lunch.
I've now had my second Covid jab and got poked at my local pharmacy. They didn't offer me a plaster so I was bleeding out on my tshirt on my walk home.
Will keep updating this post with any symptoms. So far:
Didn't log this yesterday, but did my usual walk, pretty warm day and most of the pubs are now open, though my local one isn't still. And I'm beginning to wonder whether it ever will.
Meanwhile, I finally got round to going to Costco and sorting out my physical membership card.
Did my walk and today was mostly me lying in bed trying to move without my body feeling like absolute s**t. Aches were difficult to deal with in the morning, headache slowly subsiding and the fresh air help clear my head a bit more.
I have now finally had my first covid jab. It took a while queuing outside the centre before I could get in and go through all the checks and stuff.
I got the AZ vaccine
I finally got my jab in my right arm (I'm left handed) and it immediately started to sting. I did not need to wait 15 minutes as that was only required if you were driving. I took the bus in.
Moderately cold today, but comfortable to walk in. Did some shopping for more dairy milk on the way home.
Also, I finally got the notification for my covid jab, and I managed to book in for tomorrow and the second jab in July.
In other news, my Curve card had some fraudulent transactions against it which I have been talking to them about today. The transaction is now reversed, and also on Monzo (on which the transaction went to), so we are now even, but to be safe, I blocked and have requested new cards for both.
Colder today than yesterday, so had my hands in my pockets most of the way, but when I walked in the sun, it felt good.
Walked past the house whose fence caught fire recently and they've now put up a new fence. The charred remains of the tress that got burnt have been trimmed down to the trunk roots.
Today was cooler than yesterday, still okay to walk with running jacket. Did some shopping for dairy milk while doing my walk and headed back afterwards.
Another nice warm day, but roadworks are bloody EVERYWHERE. The past week it has been roadworks up the road from me, and then this weekend are more road works, jamming up my local shops.
Yesterday was a nice hot day, but my hay fever came on with a vengeance, and I mean vengeance -- my eyes were streaming, my nose would not stop running and I was sneezing almost the entire day, well into the evening. I spent a large part of the day with tissues jammed up my nose in an attempt of relief.
Surprisingly, going out for a walk actually felt better and not much sneezing then.
Today, the weather was hot again, so my dad and I decided to vac out the car, then I did my walk.
Things have started changing now. Pubs have reopened (although you can only eat outside), barbers are now open again, and some cafes and shops have decided to reopen.
Walking today seemed like life has started to return to the area.
Been lacking a few days of logging, but here's a rough update.
Temperature has dropped back down to woolly hat and gloves weather and been checking that torched fence a few times. Saw a few alcohol bottle fragments in the hedge. Don't know if they were there before the fire, so arson is a possibility, which would make sense sense a hedge doesn't just suddenly catch fire...
Did two sets of walking today. Yesterday afternoon, there was a large cloud of smoke nearby and I figured something was on fire. It was too much smoke for a BBQ and too much for a bonfire. My parents who were out walking after me, said they saw something but couldn't get near as everyone was being turned away from a house, presumably where the problem was.
This morning, as I went to shopping, I stopped past where they told me the fire was, but couldn't find any torched houses.
When I came back after shopping and light was better, I decided to walk the area to try to find it. After 45 minutes walk, I still couldn't find any torched houses.
My dad went out walking after me, and did find it. Turns out the house wasn't the one that caught fire, but the hedge outside it.
Looks like someone must have tossed a lit cigarette into the hedge and it went up in flames. The fence inside the hedge also caught light, but luckily it didn't spread too far. It was contained enough that I totally missed it even walking past it.
