The First of The First

Hi Readers,

Another week, another post!

This will be rather short, but then I often say that then tend to bang on so much it turns into yet another lengthy monologue!

The title of this post came to me this morning as I realised I was experiencing many things for the first time. At my age one tends to think that I have experienced most things that will come my way, but life always throws in some curve balls.

First of all, after dodging it for 5 years, I finally got caught by the dreaded Covid virus for the first time.

 I'd been in Melbourne for a few days last week, and during the night on Saturday night I just started to feel disgusting, and not in a way that I'd felt before.

By Sunday morning I felt like I had the worst hangover with a few other hangovers thrown in as well, so I took whatever pills I could find in the medicine cupboard and collapsed on the couch for a while.

Things didn't improve all day, so on a whim I decided to do a Covid test. As I'd managed to avoid it for so long I thought I was pretty safe, but how wrong was I!

The first test brought up the dreaded double lines, and so did the second one as I din't want to believe the first test. 

I even checked to ensure that it wasn't a pregnancy test!!

The next few hours were a bit of chaos and questions.

Would I get sicker?

Is this as bad as it gets?

Will I have enough food?

Did I spread it to anyone who I've been in contact with recently?

Will I have enough toilet paper??

I don't want to sound like I'm the only person to have caught Covid, because I was taking great pride in the fact that I'd avoided it for so long. When Jen was sick I had to be so meticulous with my sanitising and Covid avoiding behaviours, so catching it now has made me feel so angry, even though I can't fully control it. Who knows, I might catch it again in a fortnight. I hope not. While I don't mask up in the shops, I do use the sanitiser and this still gets funny looks from other shoppers. 

I get particularly annoyed at the supermarkets where they supply sanitiser at the entrance, but the bottle is usually empty or broken. Their token gesture makes me so angry.

So that has been a first for me, one that I had always been trying to avoid, but achieved nonetheless.

If anything, it hasn't been the illness that has annoyed me most, it is what it has stopped me from doing.

First of all, I had my motorbike booked in for a service today, and as I had to wait a long time to get this date, I then had to ring and cancel, fearing that I'd have to wait another five or more weeks for the next available slot. To my surprise they booked me in next week. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Last week my caravan went in for its first service, something that was booked in for months in advance as they are "just so busy"

After 3 days I still hadn't heard from them so rang to see if it was ready, as the Long Weekend was coming up and it would be nice to duck away somewhere (not that long weekends mean much to me now!!)

"We haven't started it yet mate"

Great.

So I made different plans, expecting a call today, but still nothing yet.

The "blessing" from Covid has so far kept me off my motorbike, out of my caravan (even if I did have it back) and now the worst of all...

I can't exercise!!

I know, that sounds ridiculous, but those who know me would know that I can't get through a day without doing at least SOMETHING!!!

I'm very conscious of the strain one puts on the body when exercising when unwell, and as I'm at the age where this can be exacerbated, I didn't want to make things worse. But even as I write this, in a way I'm not believing what I'm saying as I just have this burning desire to something at least, but I'll do my best to just cool my jets.

And another first.

Today all the schools went back, and the kids all start in the coming days as well.

For the first time in 39 years I'm not going back to school, and it is an incredibly strange feeling. I know I've been preparing for this day for 6 months or more, but until the day actually arrives the full reality hasn't hit home.

I still actually feel that I should be at school.

But I then snap myself back into reality, because even though I know that I can still do the task, my mind wouldn't be in it to the degree I'd expect from myself, and that would not be fair to anyone, especially the kids. I'm assuming this will take some time to get accustomed to, but it's not a big deal at all. Many people go to jobs they hate because they have to, whereas I got the chance to decide. I'm lucky.

Then just a few hours ago I jumped in the car and went for a drive ( not once did I get out!!) as I was going insane from sitting inside for 3 days.

It then hit me.

When I was working, but had a day off, those days felt so special. Or holidays, they felt so special because they were days when I'd normally be at work. They were the alternative to the work days.

Today is the first day when I'd normally be at work, but aren't, as you all know why.

But it doesn't feel like a special day, as I'm not missing out on doing something else. 

These are my days from now on.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, but my first day of 'not working' doesn't give me the same feeling as missing a day of work.

I'm finding this so hard to put into words, but I hope you can sort of get where I'm coming from.

I imagine that i did go back to work, then these days are what I'd be missing!!

These are my days from now on, and this is a first for me, where I decide what I'm going to do, where I'm going to go etc. I'm not tied down by the restrictions of employment, and although I've been preparing for these days for some time now, until that day comes the reality just isn't there.

Well that's what it has been like for me.

As I spend these days in isolation (another first) I'm getting so much done organising future plans and looking at going to places I've never been. We travelled to so many places that I'd love to see again, but that is always at the expense of seeing somewhere new, so that's what I'm going to do.

These places will be as different and as far apart as New York, Poland, North Queensland and maybe even the nearby Bridgewater Caravan Park!!

In the meantime I'll just get over this bloody Covid and hope that this first is also a last.

Any other firsts that are coming my way I hope will be ones that just bring joy and excitement as I move into the next chapter of my life.

Until my next post,

Cheers 😁🥂