I woke to a ringing phone but was unable to get to it in time to answer because the pain in my leg was intense. Got back in bed, fitfully sleeping. Remembered the phrase – death warmed over – that describes how I feel. Tired and rather nauseated with the pain in leg not too intense as long as n bed. Yuck! Yuck. Fortunately no plans for the day as continuing to home shelter or self isolate, keeping myself safe. Another call woke me up but it was a short one as he was being called to prayers, but he did show me some horses. Not sure where he was.
This portion of the blog was written yesterday. I do not see myself as a pessimist which is defined as a person who tends to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen. Used in a sentence: the pessimists point to ways in which life has deteriorated. Its synonyms are: defeatist, , fatalist, alarmist, prophet of doom, cynic, doomsayer,, gloom-monger, doom-monger, doom watcher , Cassandra; sceptic, doubter, doubting Thomas; misery, killjoy, worrier, Job’s comforter; doom and gloom merchant, wet blanket; gloomy Gus.
I was a being a prophet of doom, a doubting Thomas about the possibility of the discovery of a vaccine for the coronavirus. It seemed utterly impossible with me thinking that there is no vaccine for the common cold and one does get a flu shot every year but it is no guarantee and sometimes it just reduces the symptoms. But, lo and behold, it looks like I was being a wet blanket for nothing as The New York Time reports that”As of July, there are over 135 vaccines in preclinical tests, and another 30 in clinical trials on people. Never have so many vaccines moved so quickly into trials for one disease.” The prediction is that the vaccine will be wildly available by the end of 2020. This is of considerable relief as it will enable me to get on with my life – making very preliminary plans to visit Qatar. The advice is to go in November or December as it is cooler. – I do hate the heat. The visit to Dubai was in January of 2020, the weather most pleasant making it possible to sit by the pool located on the third floor of the Marriott Marques – a huge and exquisite hotel. Now this may sound unbelievable but a hotel stay in Qatar will not be needed as I have been invited to stay in a palace. The photograph appended to this blog is a room key from the London hotel where I met many members of the Royal Family of Qatar in December 2019.. Many are the sweetest and most darling and intelligent teenagers I have ever encountered. The room key fell out of my wallet the other day, a most unusual find. It is the same hotel where I met the Sultan (aka the Crown Prince of Dubai, aka Fazza) in November of 2019. Most unusual, my life.
As I write this morning I begin to feel a bit better – I write in bed propped up on pillows with a hot water bottle at my back which eases the sciatica. These days I am a bit of a mess. As CPI emailed:
She: Sorry you have so much to cope with – sciatica, rash, knee again. But you’re going to live to be 100 anyway, right!
Me: You are absolutely right and I have a signed statement from my Primary Care Physician of 43 years. Knee pain shall dissipate in a few days, appointment for sciatica on Monday and physical therapy on Tuesday. Rash should be gone in a month and no one can see it anyway with face mask in place.
The answering email shows me to be an optimist which is a person who tends to be hopeful and confident about the future or the success of a venture. That is my usual stance in life, so my pessimism about the vaccine was not in character. The speediness of the vaccine is a very, very nice surprise. Well,I suppose the end of 2020 is not exactly speedy but time is passing by quite quickly and it is not a bad life in between. Not many pressures, a chance to rest and take things easy.
An examination of yesterday’s blog and the Related Stories preceded the writing of the morning. It is a fascinating read, the blogs of two or three years ago. It is always me at my optimistic out making friends and acquaintances and constantly socializing. But what is strange, and a bit disquieting, is that many, if not most, of those people are no longer in my life. My professionals still surround me but many of the others have gone to the wayside. A partial explanation is my constant change of address – London to Vancouver and now San Francisco. It is difficult to maintain a long distance relationship, almost impossible actually even with the Internet. Perhaps this enforced shut down will give people more time to communicate but that has not been my experience. Reached out to old friends and family members to question their health and welfare. Thankfully all were well – but they did not maintain the contact – they all owe me a reply. This blog serves as a reaching out to them – they have my email and could contact me should they choose. My life is full, so there is no anger, not even much regret. Personal Driver and I had a fascinating conversation about reliability and how few people are reliable He has lived in the Bay Area for thirty-five years and has gathered many friends – but said that only three were reliable. He is totally reliable – he finds me to be totally reliable. Life is so much easier when surrounded by reliable people, and up beat, optimistic people.
Lady J’s most recent podcast is about Entanglements. It is again most inspiring. The focus is on the importance of ‘being heard’, the feeling of being broken and when that does not happen the tendency is to get caught up in an Entanglement. She is most encouraging, speaking of her own life and how and why she escaped her entanglement. She got therapy, it made a huge difference in her life. I have, very recently, escaped my Entanglements and am at peace just in time to lay around in bed all day under social isolation. Hahahaha
