L-O-N-G COVID

 Lovely design: flower heads, magnified snowflakes? These pretty things are SARS-Cov2, the virus that causes Covid-19. Why have I selected this as a topic today? Because as you may know from my last post, Z’n’me both fell prey to this virus over the New Year. Sadly, it seems I am now suffering from L-o-n-g Covid. ☹

Apparently the symptoms are:

·         Brain fog

·         Headache

·         Sleep problems

·         Dizziness when you’re standing

·         Pins and needles sensations

·         Change in smell or taste

·         Depression or anxiety

Well I seem to have dodged most of them. For me it has opted for a dry cough and fatigue.

                                           

Now we had had flu jabs and Covid boosters exactly two weeks previously. Sources say that one may need 7-14 days to be fully protected after the shots. So we must really have been on the cusp. They say that 3+ doses reduce the risk of Long Covid by 73%. Clearly I am one of the select few. :o

We were staying at a hotel with all our food included and at the time we did not feel at risk as we kept ourselves to ourselves and spent a lot of time just the two of us walking great distances, enjoying the beautiful weather and scenery in the Mont Olympos area.

We know the  ilness is spread by respiratory droplets and so we thought we could well have contracted it from the buffet spread – so to speak ! - but currently there is no evidence that the virus is transmitted through food.                                              

However, it can survive on different types of material for different periods of time – some of this information is quite alarming!

We passed through several toll gates and thought that coin exchange could be the culprit but that seems statistically less likely since the virus can survive on coins for only about four hours.

But the concerning stats are that the little monster can survive on drinking glasses, dishes and silverware for up to five days so this looks like the most likely source of contamination.

                                       

Our current score lies at Vaccinations: 5; Covid :2

LC symptoms are said to endure from several days to some weeks. And the more severe the symptoms, the longer recovery period required. However, it’s very much an issue at the individual level and hard to predict. I’ve heard of the 100-day cough which might indicate I still have two months of hacking and spluttering ahead of me!

The chronic fatigue is said to come in waves and I have felt it lift, only for the incredible sense of tiredness to engulf me once more. Bearing in mind ones system is battling with the virus and needs to use its energy in that field of combat helps one try to conserve ones strength and just take things easy.

Yet another wave of Covid -19 is said to be on its way so: mask up and sanitise assiduously!!

 

                                                  

Robert Burns - Auld Lang Syne

 We had a fun evening with friends recently – a delayed Hogmanay do. And a special one too: first of the year, first meal in our new dining room, and first use of Z’s dinner service and golden :o glasses bought in Kuwait in 1990 and unused!

                                                  

 The meal, as usual, ends in a wee dram for the lads with whisky preferences being expressed.   Here Z displays his collection of miniatures.                                               

Cutty Sark was mentioned and someone said that was the name of a ship moored at Greenwich, which it is of course. But ahah – time to educate our guests on our national bard!

                                                         

When I explained that Auld Lang Syne, a universally known song, was an old traditional Scots air revised and recorded by Robert Burns, another guest confessed she thought it was a Greek song that had been given English lyrics!

So, there you go. To honour the Bard on his birthday and to share the positivity and warmth of the lyrics, I’m sharing a rendition of Auld Lang Syne  I posted on Facebook.

And so, my joes, may we appreciate our current need for sharing a ‘cup o’ kindness’ and giving others a ‘hand o’ thine’ as e enjoy the haunting tones of Highland Saga’s Maeve Mackinnon. (If the link doesn’t work, you’ll find her on Youtube. Ignore the ads – the video is grand !! )

Happy Burns’ Day! Slainte  

https://youtu.be/xX47kd9L6oc?si=ewwJwLlm2KIIhbOe