Day 362: A positive week turns negative

22/07/2022

The start of the week was hot! More than hot enough for morning ice lollies. To be fair the “Scottish Government’s resilience operation [had been] activated”.

The kids made the most of the shade while it lasted.

Lachnado only sits still for so long so it was back to water play to cool down.

By midday it was too hot outside, Super Mum had to get creative. Luckily we have a few tons of fabric about the house. Sadly this ended in tears as Lachnado barged his way into Eloise’s “special spot” and held all her babies hostage.

We were all cooked, it did not take long for the kids to fall asleep.

In the afternoon Super Mum wanted an ice lolly and the three of us managed to sneak a second for the day. Anything to stay cool.

We have introduced the Sun Smart Slip Slop Slap Seagull to Scotland, he has been a big hit this week.

All the catching up last week had finally caught up with us. We had been feeling run down since last Sunday and a few in our group had started testing positive already. After almost a year outside the COVID-19 safety bubble of Australia, COVID-19 had found us. We remember when everyone and to an extent ourselves, thought we were crazy leaving Australia back in the day. How quickly the landscape has changed in the past 12 months. Or perhaps we have just become desensitized like everyone across the UK and Europe. After making our way through 24 international airports in the past year and countless COVID-19-packed trains, it turns out it only takes one night on the town with Curious George to contract COVID-19. Don’t have a clue what strain we are up to now BA.4, BA.5 or BA.2.12.1. We were going to post the latest COVID-19 figures, but it seems the UK has stopped counting.

Liam let out a sigh and started to head upstairs to isolate and watch YouTube. “Nooooooooooo, get back here” was the call from below. There would be no resting today as he returned downstairs for target practice, nice try Dad. Luckily at this stage, it was just a bit of a headache and fatigue, nothing that 2.31kHz squealing and a jet of water to the eye couldn’t fix.

With Liam out of action, Super Mum cooked dinner on Monday night (EDIT: Sophie here, I always cook dinner). It was delicious burgers, well I assume they were delicious. Turns out I had lost my sense of taste, which felt unusual.

We were worried about the kids catching COVID-19. Eloise was lathagic, but happy. Lachnado is hard to read at the best of times.

By Monday evening, Super Mum had also been hit.

It was not all bad news for a Monday though. The Australian camp in Glasgow continues to grow as “Aaron Mooy is on the brink of being reunited with Ange Postecoglou by signing a one-year deal at Celtic”.

Monday night we could tell both the kids had also been infected. On the 21st March 2022 it was announced in the UK that COVID-19 is done and that all legal restrictions were dropped. There is no restrictions in place that require people with COVID-19 to isolate. In fact, most are encouraged to go about their usual day being fast and loose. Obviously isolating is the right thing to do so Tuesday morning we began day 2 of the 5-day recommended COVID-19 isolation period. Liam was through the worst of it by this stage and took the day off to troll the kiddies. Sophie was not having the best time though.

Tuesday was hot, “the UK has recorded temperatures of over 40C (104F) for the first time”. Further north “the hottest day ever recorded in Scotland has seen temperatures hit 34.8C (94.6F) in the Borders”. With little air conditioning in the country and houses designed to trap heat, it was uncomfortable. Britain is having a bit of a moment as railways buckle and the roads and runways melt.

With both the kids in bed early getting some important sleep we were excited to start binging James May: Our Man In Italy. To reminisce of a time when there were less headaches more pasta but just as much heat.

We must be true Radelaideans because on Tuesday “South Australia’s Chief Public Health Officer, Nicola Spurrier, has tested positive to COVID-19”. The way that Australia and the UK have managed and communicated the pandemic could not be more contrasting. At times we cannot believe we are the same species living on the same planet speaking the same language and fighting the same pandemic.

On Wednesday it was back to a lovely 18°C and Britain had stopped melting. Sophie was feeling better today, the lateral flow tests were starting to come back fainter. Eloise was still a bit lethargic, poor Lachlan had a high temperature. There is definitely something wrong if Lachlan is sleeping in.

Much to everyone’s amusement, Super Mum was keeping a close eye on Lachlan’s weight to make sure he had been eating enough. Lachlan was having a great time. Eloise was disappointed that she did not get a go.

Eloise had been amazing the last few days and took good care of Super Mum and Lachlan.

In the afternoon, Jane and Molly kindly returned the favour and dropped off a Scottish healthcare package. Thank you! Lachlan could not wait to get his hand on it. It was good to see that they had managed to drive home after their aircraft could not take off due to a melted runway. It’s a long story.

After Lachlan shoeyed the 8-pack of Irn-Bru he was feeling much better, darting about with his signature honk. We were happy that his appetite had returned, it was fitting it was his favourite, pasta.

Turns out “Scotland’s record-breaking highest temperature, achieved on Tuesday, is even higher than first thought… But confirmation has been issued by the Met Office of a provisional reading of 35.1C (95.1F) at Floors Castle in Kelso in the Scottish Borders”. Perhaps even the thermometers were melting like everything else in Britain.

By Thursday the kids were starting to get restless. Lachlan has taken up gardening and Eloise does not understand why she cannot go to the playground on such a beautiful day. It has felt like a bit of a strange week, there have not been many days in the past 12 months that we have sat down, taken everything in and reflected on how we got here. Safe to say we were all well overdue for a rest.

On Thursday, going with the theme of the week “United States President Joe Biden has tested positive for COVID-19”. Lucky the US have this just as much under control as everyone else. Okay, let’s move on swiftly, this is a long dangerous rabbit hole to run down.

This morning we think we are all close to making a full recovery. We are all feeling energetic and Liam’s sense of taste has half returned. He is still using the no sense of smell to avoid the nappy changes, but he has been doing that for the past 30 months.

After a slow week where “one in 15 people in Scotland were estimated to have Covid last week as cases increased for the seventh week in a row”. We are all looking forward to getting out and about and having a wheely good time.