Thursday

 Good morning, everyone.  Yesterday started off really nice.  Lots of sunshine and breezy; enough breeze to make it feel a lot colder than it really was.  By the end of the day it was chucking it down, sadly.  The forecast for today looks good again though so fingers crossed.

Yesterday was a really mixed bag.  
It's been lovely having Alex to stay but the decorating is all finished for now and Alex has submitted his coursework so it was time to go home.  He's enjoyed his stay (he likes my cooking) but he has a stonking cold (just a cold, no worse) and home's always the best place when you're feeling a bit rough.  Beth came to pick him up and stayed for a couple of hours so we had a good chat.  They're coming over on Sunday so I need to have a good think about what to cook - something nice so close to Christmas.

The chat with Val went well.  I had been going to go over to hers (about a twenty minute drive) with some magazines and her card and a little gift but it turns out that she needs to come over here too so she'll stop off at mine - properly distanced, of course - instead.

Then I went over to Lindsey's - personal trainers are able to keep going, subject to certain restrictions - and had an energetic hour.  While we worked, we had a jolly good chat about this, that and the other; it's a good way of making sure I am warmed up and just a little bit breathless.  As they say, able to talk but not to sing.

Then I came home to a message from Sharon, our hairdresser who was scheduled to come on Friday after cancelling the last appt during lockdown.
It started off 'Don't hate me, Joy . . .' and my heart sank.  Poor love, both her daughters have tested positive for Covid-19 so she has to self isolate for however many days it is.  As she said, Christmas is well and truly cancelled for them all.  There are separate households so can't even all be together.  
I'm lucky that my hair style is not fancy, just a sort of layered bob so the only problem is the fringe.  I'll have a little chop at it myself next time I wash my hair and it will be OK.
I'm now really hoping she and her family will be OK.

Today, I'm doing my maximum of three things.  A chat with Chris in the morning, the dentist (again) in the afternoon and then the SW Zoom meeting in the evening.

I seem to be spending my whole life down at the dentist at the moment.  The problem is I have two strands of treatment going on in parallel.  There's the implant stuff which should finish next week and then there's the usual regular stuff which is what this afternoon is - one crown to finish off and a filling.  I will remember Sooze's advice which helped on Monday.

Just to clarify regarding the TV hearing gizmo, it wasn't that I couldn't hear the telly before.  I've had one for ages now but it was getting a bit old, the recharging cradle wasn't working properly so I had to take out the battery each time and put it in the extra slot in the side.  Also the batteries are quite old not.  I just felt it was time to replace it.  Dad is taking the round the neck receivers and the batteries as he has the same unit.
With something like this, you don't want to wait until it fails.

The Advent calendar music today is 'In the First Light', sung a cappella (I love a cappella) by Glad.  I first encountered Glad at a Spring Harvest when they did a slot at one of the evening meetings in the big top, got a standing ovation and were persuaded to do a concert the next day.  It was amazing.

This was one of the songs they sang.