Not contagious, but not clear

In an effort to get back to normal despite the back pain, Clare rose early and cooked our usual Saturday pancake breakfast. A cold but bright sunny day, so we both spent lots of time outdoors soaking in the sun, two and a half hours walking in the park morning and afternoon.

I did a lateral flow test before lunch and it turned positive again. When I was down by Blackweir Bridge I met Fran with a couple of her friends and we talked about covid testing. One of them said he was obliged to be in a daily lateral flow testing regime at work. After he tested positive and quarantined for ten days, he returned to work and was told not to do further lateral flow tests for ninety days. 

It seems that certain people get over covid, are well and symptom free, but still test positive for a long while as a trace of infection works its way out of their system, but they are no longer contagious. That sounds like where I am at the moment. It's impossible not to feel like a pariah, but nobody has any control over how their individual immune system deals with this virus.

Thompson's Park has in the past week seen an outdoor shelter extension to the park keeper's lodge turned into a Lufkin coffee stall. It has a simple un-treated timber frame with vertical slatted screens for walls, in the spirit of an oriental tea house. There's room for a dozen or so people to sit inside and chat holding their takeaway coffee cups and cookies, and be out in the fresh air at the same time. I daresay in time a green canopy might be allowed to grow over it, but for now it has a bare modern minimalist look about it.

Nearby, another whimsical Dogs' Trust Snoopy sculpture has appeared. This one is in heavenly hues, decorated with comets planets and stars, and entitled 'Bark Night'. 

I wonder how long these sculptures will survive both weather and curious clambering children? Especially in Thompson's Park where all the yummy mummies hang out with their bairns after nursery and infants' schools finish. 

This evening I worked for a couple of hours on the visuals for the Good Friday service. It's the longest audio-visual presentation I've ever done, and it's going to take a fair amount of time this coming week/ It's just as well I don't have much else booked. When I'd completed the first phase containing twenty seven slides, I felt that was enough to be going on with, so I watched a vintage episode of the Scottish crimmie 'Rebus'. It's not a series I've often seen before so it made a change. Back to St German's tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it.