The wrong trousers

Six weeks gone and still maintaining my sanity, although the last week has been a bit tense. SWMBO caught a bug, whether COVID-19 or something else is hard to say. She could not get out of bed for three days yet had no fever or cough. Three days in bed is almost unheard of, even on our honeymoon!! Ironically she has hardly been out of the house as I do the shopping. we have maybe had four walks round the local area, so to be on the safe side we booked a test for her

We were sent to Haydock Park race course, a 45 minute trip from The Wirral and on arrival we were instructed by q cards where to go and what to do, all very efficient. SWMBO had to self administer the swab and now three days later the test has come back clear. We still have no idea what she had as I suspect the test was taken too long into the process to have confirmed COVID-19, but she is now back cleaning, ironing and dusting so must be much better. She is also back in the pool. Clearly it is worrying when one so close could be at risk but fortunately admissions and deaths on the Wirral are falling along with the rest of the regions figures. I do note, however, that the North West is now the highest ranked in the hospitalisation table even ahead of London.

I read at the weekend that historians are encouraging people to keep a diary to document our activities during these almost unique times. I know you can't really say almost unique, but it fitted the flow......

To aid these historians and those in later years this is what I got up to yesterday.

I have  a strict clothing process in operation at home. My good clothes stay good until they degrade in quality. They are then moved to the golfing cupboard where  trousers in particular  are utilised on the links. After further degradation they are consigned to the gardening and decorating  box after which they get thrown out. Polo shirts tend to follow the same route or occasionally get sold on e-bay or at car boot sales. The time was right, I thought, for a clear out.

Gosh, I wish I hadn't done it!! This is my inventory of  'good' clothes:

• 16 pairs of trousers, 6 of which are NWT
• 19 jumpers
• 23 shirts
• 22 ties (why?)
• 32 polo shirts
• 3 blazers
• 7 jackets
• 2 suits
• 1 dinner suite with extra trousers
• 4 dress shirts
• 7 weatherproof tops
• 8 base layers
• 4 waterproof trousers and 
• 3 pairs of golf trousers

Oh yes, I also have a three-quarter length red coat which I have never worn!!

I have managed to identify four polo shirts and two weatherproof tops which can go on e-bay. One pair of golf trousers and a couple of polo shirts are destined for the gardening box and I have thrown away  some threadbare jumpers and a few old shirts. I still seem to have a few too many jackets and trousers but just can't bear to part with some old favourites, like black moleskin trousers, a pair of Levi's and a very comfortable denim jacket which I hardly wear but just might in the future!!

There is no car boot sale schedule this Summer so I guess we will see what I wear once the golf season kicks back in, and I can have another clear out after that. I am sure I don't need half what I have got, but as with toilet paper, you never know when hoarding may come in handy!!

Forbearance

When things are as tough as they are at the moment and people are confined to barracks, it is important to be considerate to each other. Now the initial panic is over, there is no need to stock pile food, road rage should be a thing of the past, given there are hardly any vehicles on the road in our part of the Country, and people can adhere to the 2 metre separation guidelines as there is loads of space in our parks and on our footpaths and coastal borders.

The boys in blue are keeping a watchful eye on  Birkenhead Park walkers and riders so at the moment The Wirral is doing OK.

That is more than can be said for the people who find they are out of work, or the back street entrepreneurs who find their once profitable cottage industries blown away in the blink of an eyelid. It has also hit multinationals and all those companies and organisations who sit in between, certainly in size terms.

Martin Lewis used the definition of forbearance to try to get us all to understand the struggle that business has at the moment, and it is useful to take that on board. My mate and I had paid a lot of money to a golf travel agent to go to Augusta for the Masters golf in April. When the event was postponed and then rescheduled, we asked for our money back. Rightly or wrongly , that was not one of the options they gave us, so rather than fight a battle over what the definition of 'force majeure'  is, we have given them the slack they need and said we will rebook for 2021. They are now fighting battles to repatriate other golfers they have sent on holiday and,  I suspect , their cash flow to ensure they are still in business next year.

We have a milkman and he has been delivering to us for years. I have just paid in advance for the next three weeks to help his cash flow and hopefully see him continue the service he provides to us and to allow him to keep his milko's employed.

I am also philanthropic in a small way towards my ex-rugby club. I'm in it as a business venture, but have today let them know that there will be no further payments due to me in 2020. That may help their cash flow somewhat as they will suddenly have nil income from rugby for 6 weeks and social functions and catering for probably three months. The grass will need to be cut a few times, but major outgoings like rent, rates  and utility  bills  still need to be sourced.

I have a small part to play at the golf club as a result of the closure of all courses for the time being, so the lockdown provides opportunity. Having just completed the painting project, we now have to redress the room. I have discovered the sofa springs are out of life so that forces me to participate in my favourite lockdown game, buy on e-bay. So far I have brought one new golf club, a pre-war Totopoly game with proper lead horses with four legs (fans of horse racing games will know why this excites me), an extra five horses of the same structure for display purposes, and I am now in prime position to win a Mont Blanc pen for a steal as it is listed in the wrong category!!!

Unfortunately the sale of my mothers old flat has had to be put on hold as a person in the chain is an NHS worker and does not feel she has the bandwidth to handle a house move just yet, but hopefully that will proceed in due course. We shall see.

So time to rehang the curtains plug the TV back in and resume some sort of  normal like, although we have not really missed the TV these last few weeks, I wonder if we might be right in the middle of a permanent life style change. Husbands and wives talking to each other, now there's a side effect I didn't anticipate!