The plague strikes again

They say that lightning never strikes twice, and whilst we know that saying isn’t strictly true, we also appreciate that occasionally it can. With this in mind you can perhaps understand my reticence at discovering this morning, that I had contracted a dose of Covid, for the second time this year. It’s actually a little more than reticence that I’m feeling at the moment, although as there is nothing, I can do about the situation I find myself in, any anger or annoyance I might have felt, has quickly turned to a sense of acceptance.

I’m not quite sure how Covid came knocking on my door again, especially as I’d been suffering from a particularly nasty head cold, since the end of last month. Mrs PBT’s had also been affected, and we are both of the opinion that we picked it up onboard the Queen Victoria, during our recent cruise. I’m sure I mentioned this before, so I won’t bore you apart from saying that whilst in the past we may have laughed at people from China and Japan wearing face masks, they are almost certainly having the last laugh.

Just over a week ago, my company dinner and Christmas party took place, and when a handful of staff members failed to turn up for work the following Monday, rumours regarding Covid began to circulate. There is now no legal requirement for people to report a positive Covid test, and no mechanism for notifying such a result to the NHS, following a self-administered test, and as a company we can only rely on the conscience of our employees to do the right thing.

The right thing, of course is to follow the UK Government guidelines for the affected person to stay off work until they feel better. A five-day minimum period is suggested. Our employees know that the company will pay them for this period of absence, so there is no need for them to turn up, until they feel better. However, we do know that at least one of the absentees did test positive for Covid, and I did spend some time talking to this person at the party.

The source of the outbreak is actually irrelevant, especially if we are now going to regard Covid as being in the same vein as other respiratory diseases, such as influenza and the common cold. It was the latter that I thought I was still suffering from, and I even attributed the loss of my sense of smell, to blocked sinuses. We still had small number of Covid lateral flow, test kits at the back of one of the kitchen cupboards, so I took a test. It came back positive, more, or less straight away, which provided the rather obvious explanation as to why I couldn’t smell anything.

Mrs PBT’s also took a test, and fortunately, she recorded a negative result, which she repeated this morning. Matthew, who had gone out straight from work last night, on a date, also returned a negative result so, as back in February, I am the only household member affected with this ailment. At the moment, it just feels like a continuation of the head cold and blocked sinuses, I’ve had for the past three weeks, and fortunately I don’t need to go anywhere, although we did miss yesterday’s invitation to join neighbours, down the road, for mulled wine and homemade sausage rolls.

Most of the food, and other goodies for Christmas is coming via Ocado (other home delivery services are available), but I will have to venture out on Friday to collect the pre-ordered turkey from Sainsbury’s. We were lucky to source a fresh bird at all, as outbreaks of avian flu are said to have decimated many flocks of turkeys over the past few weeks. I’ve also been stockpiling beer over the past few weeks, and no doubt more bottles will turn up in my Christmas stocking, but I think I will be going stir-crazy if I don’t set foot outside the house, before then.

A five-day quarantine period will see me through until Wednesday, and then I should be able to venture into shops AND pubs, once again. According to my dear wife, going into overcrowded pubs is responsible for my predicament, but I soon put her straight on that, as apart from the Little Brown Jug nine days ago, I haven’t been in any public houses – crowded or otherwise! I must record my disappointment, and annoyance with this comment, as it’s the sort of remark my mother (who was definitely not a pub-goer), would have made. She did try and qualify what she said, by including shops, and crowded trains (are any trains running?), amongst her list of “no-go” places, but as far as pubs are concerned, I really wish I’d been able to venture into the Nelson Arms, in Tonbridge, recently.

The pub has been running a “tap takeover” for the past 10 days, showcasing a dozen cask ales from Green Jack Brewery, who are based in Lowestoft. This location makes them the UK’s most easterly brewery, and they are an award-winning outfit as well. Their Trawler Boys Best Bitter is a former CAMRA Champion Beer of Britain, and Green Jack’s Baltic Porter, is one of the best examples of the strong export stouts, brewed originally for the Baltic trade.

I’m obviously gutted to be missing these excellent beers, although this is not the first time that Matt, landlord of the Nelson, has featured them. I believe in the past, Matt has hired a van, and driven up to Lowestoft and back, to collect the Green Jack casks, and if he combines the trip with an overnight stay, it makes for a nice little, pre-Christmas break.

Well, use the time wisely Paul, catch up with the blog, and start working on those travel plans for next year. I’ve already drawn up a list of pubs I want to visit, or in some cases re-visit, making use of my old git’s bus pass. Further afield, the government and the unions really need to sort out the mess on the railways, as it is difficult to plan ahead for long distance trips, especially where it involves the purchase of advanced tickets. 

Finally, whilst I am certainly not in favour of compulsion, it wouldn’t hurt, especially at the moment, if people were encouraged to wear masks in crowded indoor situations – including pubs, of course, those well-known pits of disease!