Staycation round two, day four

Another dark day, more low cloud and rain, no going out into the garden. Unusually, I had a disturbed night with wound pain. I woke up feeling as if I'd been in a fight. Breakfast and indoor exercise got me going again, fortunately.

I had a lovely exchange of emails with Emma locums officer for the diocese in Europe this afternoon. It's nice to keep in touch. She's mostly working from home, but recently back one day a week in the Westminster office, though it seems it'll change again. The last time I heard from her she was on holiday with family and relatives in Brittany, concerned about the lack of masks and social distancing there out in the countryside. They just missed having to quarantine on return and are now in phase two restrictions where she lives in rural Essex. There's been an infection surge in her relatively low incidence region. It's tough when you've got young kids and they have to be kept home from school as a precaution.

Our conversation got me thinking about a report I haven't got around to writing for her colleague Laura on the complexities of obtaining a Spanish police check. It went out of my mind when I got back from Ibiza, so I set about doing it immediately. It can't be often that a locum in Spain has spent so much time there without obtaining a NIE identification number or a bank account, both are important if you attempt to apply unaided, as I tried to. I learned the hard way. It's best to get the local Chaplaincy safeguarding officer to arrange this in situ. In the end it saved me a lot more pain.

Just after five I had a phone call on my mobile from someone to arrange an appointment for a covid test on 7th Novemeber. I was starting to wonder if I should ring up about this, as there was no information about how to get this done in the hospital information pack, only stating it as a requirement. Given the strictness our quarantine demands, there could be no question of driving to a test centre. A mobile test team member will visit us instead. It seems that a number of them are re-deployed District Nurses. I wonder if it will be someone I know?

Clare surprised me again at supper tonight with a plate of lavabread and smoked mackeral. Yesterday she received a home delivery of fish from Ashton's fishmongers in the Central Market, a complete salmon filleted, plus the bones to make soup with (which we had for lunch today), and the lavabread which both of us love but only occasionally get around to buying.

I watched a couple more episodes of 'The Same Sky' this evening. The characterisation and sinister portrayal of the workings of the Stasi informers and their overlords is chilling.