An apple a day might keep the doctor away - And help make every day count

I have long held the view that we should all try and make every day count. Today I’m just 33 days away from getting married to J. As the Covid19 pandemic continues to unravel everyday life, I’m beginning to not so much make every day count as counting down every day to the 18th April. I’m hoping we get there and can celebrate our special day with all those who have said they would also like to be there with us. Of course, in saying this, I fully acknowledge the much bigger problems we are facing as a nation, and my thoughts go out to all those who have succumbed to the disease and the families of those who may have died because of the corona virus.

It’s a perplexing situation for sure, and there is already much to reflect upon. The pandemic is certainly changing my approach to many ordinary everyday activities that are normally taken for granted. Last Sunday, at church, we were told the advice from the Church of England was not to shake hands when wishing others ‘Peace.’ Instead we were asked to use the British Sign Language ‘Peace be with you’ signing, something I actually found to be more warming and sincere than the usual handshake.

Tuesday, I attended my six-monthly medication review – cholesterol level too high, blood pressure too high, weight good, weekly alcohol consumption verging on too many units, but most other things seemed to be normal. I was surprised at how quiet the GP practice actually was. I was only one of a few people sitting in the waiting room. I did notice however, that we had all chosen to sit as far away as possible from others. And everyone chose to use the hand sanitizers before and after entering the doctor’s room.

On Wednesday, I chaired the monthly Quality and Safety Committee at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh (WWL) NHS Trust. It’s a regular meeting with a membership drawn from across the Trust. It was a packed room and just showed the difficulty of trying to maintain normal activities while attempting to also follow social distancing advice. Whilst there was lots of joking and good-humoured banter about what was happening, there was also a hard edge of deep uncertainty in the conversations over what we yet didn’t know might be coming in the future.  I did learn a new word though, ‘unbefriended’ and what a sad word it is. Here is an explanation, that for me at least, captures the poignancy of what might be meant by the term. It also made me think of all those folk in self-imposed Covid19 isolation, as well as others ill and alone for other reasons.

Thursday morning saw me sitting on the 05.23 morning train to Birmingham. There was only one other person in the carriage. I settled down with my breakfast sandwich, Kindle and all was well with the world. That was until the other person started to cough. My rational self told me it was that time of year where coughs and colds are still likely to happen. My Covid19 self told me otherwise. It was a dilemma. Should I get off at the next stop and return home. It was after all a workshop run by NHS Providers on ‘how to chair a meeting’, something I have been doing for many, many years. What could they tell me that I don’t already know, and of course there would be another workshop in the Autumn. It’s the kind of dilemma that I expect many folk have faced over the past week or so, and I’m sure many more people will face in the weeks to come.

In the end, probably swayed by a personal sense of invincibility (I am a man after all), I stayed on the train and caught another and much busier one and continued my journey to Birmingham. I got there 40 mins early. Rather than sitting in a coffee shop, I chose to walk around the city centre in an attempt to both not touch anything unnecessarily, or come into close contact with others. Clearly my sense of invincibility had melted away!

As I expected, the workshop content was much like similar sessions I had attended when undertaking my MBA all those years ago. However, the group work and case studies were very good. It was illuminating to hear how others had dealt with difficult colleagues, poor information in reports and all the other many issues involved in trying to chair effective meetings. As I left, I was pleased that I had taken the decision to attend. That was until Northern Rail decided to start cancelling its trains. I thought they had been taken over and the service was meant to improve. On a very cold, wet and windy platform at 20.00 hours it certainly didn't feel like it had.

Friday was a busy day too. First stop was to the car showroom. Now I have been buying cars from there for some 25 years and felt very much at home with the folk there. I had already ordered a new car, but was there as they had a different deal to discuss. There were none of the usual handshakes, just the bumping of elbows. The service waiting room was full, although some of the chairs had been removed to ensure there was a bigger space than normal between the remaining chairs.

After the test drive, I decided to go with the new car deal, and almost without thinking we shook hands on the deal. And then both of us realised what we had done. We did wash our hands straight away. Next it was off to meet our wedding photographer. We did so at a country pub. It’s amazing how aware one can quickly become to not touching surfaces. J went one further and drank her drink through a straw.

As the photographer left, our lunchtime guest arrived to join us for a meal. We chose our meals and opened up a bottle of wine and started to discuss our wedding plans. She is my Best Woman, and there was lots to be finalised. In the back of my mind, I was thinking about the wisdom of eating out, (it was a fairly busy pub) and eating food prepared by others, none of whom we could see, or knew anything about. It’s strange how quickly we can become so suspicious of even the most familiar of activities.   

And whilst I’m busy counting the days, it’s perhaps interesting to note that the world has been here before. During the great plague of 1665, Isaac Newton ‘self-isolated’ himself at his childhood home. It was said to be the most productive time of his life. Have a look here. He discovered calculus and of course the ‘laws of motion’. Back then, an apple a day really did keep the doctor away. So if you are on our wedding guest list, please go out and buy a couple of pounds of Cox’s and hopefully we will see you on the 18th!