Diary of Covid-19 confinement, day seven

Ready for a deep clean

Preparing a self-isolating suite

Don’t panic! None of us are ill, or even feeling a tiny bit under the weather, but having watched the programme on Channel 4 (UK) yesterday evening, How To Isolate Yourself, with the handsome Dr Xand (and I wouldn’t mind self-isolating with him) we have decided that preparing the spare room before it’s needed might be a good idea.

Ten days ago, I was home alone, but out and about as usual, with the only exception being I was avoiding all physical contact with those around me. Ed was living with Pearl in Poitiers and they were in contact with other students and many more people as they went about their city lives. Adrian had been in the UK for ten days, working in London and Birmingham, travelling on trains and planes and mixing, at a safe contact-free distance, with many, many people. With the incubation for the virus being 14 days, the next few days could prove exciting around here.

I’ve mentioned it before, but we really are extremely lucky to live in a house with four double bedrooms, three shower rooms with toilets and have so much space it is normally too big for our needs. It is coming into its own right now. The downstairs spare bedroom is ideal for self-isolation as it is at the far end of the house and has both a kitchen/living space and a shower room next door. When Adrian had a nasty case of the flu about four years ago, he moved downstairs, and with regular check-ups from me, fluids and paracetamol, we got on top of his fever, he had peace and quiet to sleep and no germs were spread. 

 

Captured cobwebs

Today I have given this room a clean the likes of which it only sees in the days before a state visit (parental arrival). This often-shut-up bedroom had cobwebs covering the walls as well as the ceiling and with broken shutters I can’t open, felt a little spooky when I first ventured in this morning. As it all smelt a little musty, the mattress has spent the day airing in the sun, all the bedding has been aired and changed and I’ve even washed the curtains. Now Adrian has a super new garage space, I also took the opportunity to evict the boxes of obviously important junk he’s been storing under the bed, untouched but gathering dust for years. 

 

The back garden today where even the mattress was caught sunbathing

To say I’m pleased with my results is a bit of an understatement and if we don’t have to use it as a sick-bay, at least the bedroom has now had a damn good spring clean and I’ve ticked something else off my list of things to do.

Whilst I am not overly frightened or panicking, I am taking this situation very seriously indeed, even at a subconscious level – as proved by the amount of cleaning I am suddenly feeling the urge to do. 

One week in

We have now completed our first week in lockdown, but in France, as elsewhere, numbers are still rising. 

Online symptoms checker

If you live in France, there is now an online symptoms checker, in French, that is aimed at guiding you through a self-diagnosis if you are worried you may have Covid-19. It also gives you the information about what to do next. Click here for more information.

Please think before you leave the house. 

Keep your social contact to a minimum and stay safe.