The best part about coming home

...said GG, is that the flower in my pond has bloomed! I've never had a decent bloom before. She was thrilled

AK and I went to over to Gloucester Royal Hospital after work to pick up GG who was being discharged. They'd decided that the person on her ward who might have had CoVid didn't have CoVid, so the ward was no longer locked, and they wanted rid of GG. I was surprised to discover that, in the Age of CoVid, anyone can walk into the hospital, as long as they're wearing a mask. Granted, I was not wearing a balaclava or carrying a video camera or a suspiciously heavy-looking rucksack, but even still, I was surprised.

GG arrived to meet me in her wellies, clutching her prescription drugs. She has her arm in a sling, because she has broken her wrist. We drove to a car park that was actually miles from the city centre branch of Marks and Spencers where GG wanted me to do some personal shopping for her. She'd been given a voucher some time ago, and wanted to stock up on ready meals, as she won't be able to do much cooking.

I legged it up to the store and started shopping for classic meals, looking out for the ones on special deals. Fortunately I know roughly what GG has in her fridge, because of all the Sundays that I've picnicked up at her place, so it wasn't too tricky. Unfortunately, the store backs on to a shopping centre, and I could hear various noises off. It was only a matter of time before the noise got louder and more insistent, and the customers were told to abandon their baskets and leave the store, because the noise was in fact the fire alarm. I stood out on the pavement, remembering other times, other places, other fire alarms, until they let is back in again. This time I used the calculator on my phone to add up all the items in the basket and, even though there were no till operators available, I successfully paid using the gift card, with 65 pence to spare!

I dragged the heavy bags back to the car. We took GG to her remote village house and waited for her to have a bath in case she needed assistance getting in or out. We got her sorted with a meal, and left her propped up in front of Wimbledon with her phones, and strawberries and cream. By the time AK dropped me off at home, it was 7.30pm.

A work-related Zoom call at 8.30 was ruined for everyone else because of the terrible noise caused by my Bluetooth headphones that picked up my every move. I didn't realise until too late. This was embarrassing, but the broadband in our house then crashed and remained off all evening. This why I'm backblipping. I didn't mind crashing off the Zoom because I was able to watch Long Lost Family instead. Much better than talking about work at night.

All in all, an extraordinarily tiring day.