Boosting and excitement

Riverhill Himalayan Gardens, June 2021

Happy Christmas! I'm off enjoying myself with friends, but here's a scheduled post for you to enjoy.

My last vaccination shift was more interesting than the previous ones. Not because we were busy - oh no, in a 12-hour shift from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. there were a total of 83 customers. Someone offered a different theory this time: being aware that the Covid vaccine can make you feel a bit rough for a day or two, perhaps people are too busy in the run up to Christmas to risk any self-inflicted illness? But I think it's more likely lack of advertising of the availability of walk-in as well as booked appointments, and the terrible historical situation of parking at the hospital, even though there is designated and available free parking for the vaccination clinic. And it's partly because that day we were offering the Moderna booster, and quite a few people wanted Pfizer so went away without getting their vaccine.

Anyway, I had been ignoring the fact that a couple of my mandatory training modules were overdue. I had done all the online modules, but hadn't bothered with the in-person sessions because prior to all the vaccine booster action I had thought I might not get any more shifts. But eventually I had to confess, and was allowed time off from the vaccination shift for my resuscitation and manual handling training, because with on average only one person coming in every eight minutes I could be spared for an hour or two. 

Both modules are required annually so I've done them many times before, but this year the Covid precautions have been incorporated into the resuscitation training. In reality (not the training) everyone would have to dress up in PPE with special masks for a cardiac arrest because cardiac compressions are potentially aerosol-generating procedures. The poor unconscious patient's face even has to be covered until everyone is protected and before the oxygen mask is applied. Other than that it's all pretty much the same as in previous years, with the fancy shmancy defibrillator telling you whether your compressions are the right speed and the right depth and when to stand clear while it analyses the heart rhythm and tells you whether to apply a shock or not.

So that all went well, and I came back to the vaccine clinic and the next person I vaccinated was so incredibly wound up for their first dose that we arranged to vaccinate them on the couch rather than sitting up on a chair, where they promptly fainted. The trainer who half an hour before had been assessing my abilities to carry out chest compressions and use the defibrillator gave me a wave of recognition as she turned up in response to the medical emergency call. The patient woke up before too long and was eventually transferred to the main hospital observation ward. They didn't look too bad as they left our clinic, all things considered. At least I'd managed to give them one dose of the vaccine.

There was no such excitement after my manual handling training, which contained the usual 'pick up this empty box from this trolley and put it on the floor, then pick it up again and put it back on the trolley'. The trainer was a most amusing man who tried to give the dry material a little bit of interest by incorporating a quiz, which I won (simply by participating while almost everyone else sat mute and embarrassed). The prize appeared to be an ex-library book about mental health in primary care, and despite the protests of the trainer I didn't take it away with me. He also peppered his talk with anecdotes including the one about the hoist that fell on the patient when the brakes were wrongly applied, and the one about the person who tried to remove his contact lens with tweezers.

One of the other members of the vaccination team sought me out in the afternoon specifically to ask me if I was all right after the fainting episode. This team are really nice to work with. I've booked another shift in January after all my holidays are over.

Boosting and boredom

Witley Court, June 2021

Not much of note going on here at Lola Towers as the winter sets in, and we are approaching a time when we ought to stop socialising due to the ongoing pandemic, but instead we are about to embark on the annual round of super-socialising. Our leaders have nobody's interests in mind but their own and those of their rich friends, and consider the rules designed to keep us safe and the NHS tottering on applicable to anyone but themselves. It is contemptible.

With that off my chest, I can report that the vaccine booster programme seemed likely to need all the people it could muster, so thinking I would be needed I logged on to see what vaccination shifts might be available, and signed up to a few. On the first of these, quite a few people joined me who had not been vaccinating regularly for a few months, and there weren't many of us, so I was ready to be rushed off my feet. During the whole 8-hour shift only 150 people turned up to be vaccinated (at our busiest we can manage between 500 and 600) and I nearly died of boredom. 

The next shift was similarly well-staffed, and even fewer people came. I volunteered to go home early - in the remaining 6 hours there were only 24 people booked in. We think that the main problem is lack of advertising the availability of vaccination boosters, combined with the hospital's notorious parking problems. But we may be wrong. Other parts of the country are reporting 4-hour waiting times. In our little Portakabin nobody waited more than 30 seconds.

Back home Ilf had finished the majority of the decorating except for a couple of bits where the damp was evident, and Glf the builder came to have a look. He will come back in the spring for the pointing, and recommended a roofer who has not yet turned up. The LTRP really is a gift that keeps on giving. I was also quite uncertain about the colour I had chosen for the hall, which ought to be apricot but looks suspiciously pink in certain lighting conditions. I am getting used to it.

There has been a badminton match, which we won, and a trip to see mum and dad in which I battled with the phone and broadband company, and I think we won that bout as well. I dithered about whether it would be responsible to attend various social events, and decided to cancel the Buddhist film night but attend the Mr MXF company Christmas dinner, which was lovely. I even visited Lola II and Mr M on the way, and it's been a long time since I was there.

Christmas cards are written and sent and the few presents I require are wrapped and waiting downstairs. All that's needed now is for the Government to institute further measures to try and prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed. I wonder if they will?

Back pain and damp

Malvern, May 2021

I left you in pain at the end of the last blog post with my hurty knee and hip. By Tuesday this had progressed to dreadful spasms of my lower back muscles. I could be entirely comfortable standing, sitting or lying still, especially with a hot water bottle on my lower back, but most movement caused shooting pains.

Despite this I decided to go to mum's birthday celebration, as both Lola II and Sister D would be coming too. Sitting down to lunch along with dad as well we decided that this was probably the first time the five of us had eaten together at this same table for between 30 and 40 years - either one of us had been elsewhere or there had been husbands, children/grandchildren or other guests present. It was lovely. Mum reflected that if she'd been asked 10 years ago, she wouldn't have believed she'd still be with us. We're hoping to do the same for dad's birthday next year.

In the evening I went over to see a friend I used to go to school with who now lives locally. One of her daughters also went to the same school, which has changed in 45 years from being almost exclusively white (there were two non-white girls in my year) to being nearly completely non-white, and now focussing strongly on 'STEM' subjects: science, technology, engineering and maths. Most pupils go on to study medicine, dentistry and pharmacy. I suppose this must reflect the change in local population too. Apart from the 'old timers' like my parents who have been there more than 50 years, the newer residents tend to be from Asian backgrounds.

I drove on from there to see a friend in Dartford, then drove home. The state of my back wasn't great, but sitting and driving weren't too bad so I didn't cancel my vaccination shift on Friday. I really should have. It lasted 11 hours, and by the time I got home I managed a cup of tea and slice of toast then lay on my huge comfortable soft sofa with a hot water bottle as the pain gently melted away. It was a struggle to get up to bed, but I was nearly pain-free next morning. Unfortunately, getting up and moving around still generated the muscle spasms so the pain returned during the day, but at least I had no more work or travel to do and could spend more time immobile.

Since then I've been mostly resting, interspersed with watching television, communicating online and trying not to drop things that need picking up. Thankfully I haven't had any trouble sleeping. I think it's improving slowly, but it's already been a week and I'm a bit fed up with the pain and lack of mobility.

And then, a huge setback for the LTRP. The auditorium (front room adjacent to the street) has been smelling a bit musty for about a month, and I finally investigated and found damp around all the outside walls rising from the skirting board. Well, with the last rooms about to be decorated, Lola Towers was probably imagining that attention might soon be diverted from serving its needs on a full time basis, and decided to remind me of its importance. I've called the damp men back in to have a look.

Summer ends

June 2021

August has come and gone; that's the end of the summer and there has been even less 'summer' weather than in most years. September sometimes brings pleasant sunshine, so that's what I'm hoping for. I don't mind clouds as long as it's not raining, and it hasn't rained much, but it would be nice to wake up to blue skies once in a while.

Enough of my complaining, there's a small amount of interesting material to present. Firstly, dog news. As requested, I sent off photos of my house, garden and car. Ten days later I received a message informing me that they hadn't received any photos, and could I send some if I was still interested in fostering a dog, so I sent all the photos off again. The next message said that unfortunately the grass in my garden is too long, making it difficult to pick up poo and potentially leading to risk of disease for the dog.

Cutting the grass is actually quite an enterprise. It's much too long for the lawn mower so I had a go with a strimmer, but made little impact and eventually the strimmer packed up (probably overheated, but it is very old). I carried on using ordinary hand shears in sessions of two hours so as not to cripple myself, and it's nearly ready for an attempt with the lawn mower. I'll be sending off new photos when it's respectable.

I spent August Bank Holiday weekend camping at the Shrewsbury Folk Festival, with my phone turned off and no camera. Covid precautions meant that instead of being in marquees all the stages were in the open air, and we were incredibly lucky that it didn't rain at all. It would have been pretty miserable if it had rained, as well as being cold - it was very cold in the open air at midnight anyway. By the last evening I was wearing all the clothes I'd brought - two T shirts, fleece and jacket and two pairs of trousers as well as my woolly hat and scarf. The music was great as usual, but not as much of it as in previous years because of extended changeover times, during which I understand they have to sanitise a load of equipment (e.g. microphones).

The English National Lawn Bowls Championship is back in Leamington, and this year for the first time they offered local residents two free tickets to one day of the event. I invited a friend who also used to be a Dietitian, and we installed ourselves on one of the greens for an afternoon. We happened to watch the Senior Singles semi-finals (men and women), and then came back for the finals. There are a myriad of competitions divided by age, sex and number of players, and the whole event lasts more than two weeks. It was nowhere near as interesting as watching badminton, but I can see the attraction of playing. Spectating is a fairly dull affair, though, and all the other spectators appeared to be players and their spouses.

Quick LTRP update - the pub wall has been drying out, and as planned I got in touch with Glf's plastering mate who was going to put on more permeable lime render. After a prolonged delay he came to look at the job, and gave me the news that the price of lime render had gone up a great deal, but he would let me know what would be involved. After another prolonged delay I called him, and discovered that he's taken a full time job, but wouldn't mind doing my job at weekends except that I would have to buy and store two tons of lime render. I expressed some dissatisfaction about this situation to Glf, who has arranged to call round so we can work out what to do next.

I continue to provide my services to the vaccination clinic, where we are mostly vaccinating 16 to 20 year olds along with a handful of older people who weren't able to get vaccinated earlier because of pregnancy or allergies but have now been given the all clear. The clinic is still only operating three days a week, but after a break is due to come back full time at the end of September when it will be giving booster shots to front line workers - or at least, that is what is suggested. What actually happens is anyone's guess.

And lastly, my work for Mr MXF is getting on quite well, as long as I don't imagine that I can do more than four hours (and sometimes less) before hitting the buffers. Either there's a problem I can't get around, or something fails, or most recently the website slowed to an impossible crawl for no apparent reason. But I'm really tantalisingly close to actually achieving some useful results.

Lull

Malvern, June 2021

After a flurry of things going on, there's been a bit of a lull. Not that I haven't been up to much, but nothing juicy to write about. I've done a couple of vaccination shifts, been to a family party, went for some walks, had friends stay over on their way from Scotland to Cornwall, and done quite a bit of work for Mr MXF.

Nothing to report on the dog fostering front. My referees have supplied references, I have sent off photographic evidence of my house, garden and car, and I am now waiting for an interview.

I played badminton! Twice! The first time I was quite cautious because I am very much out of condition, and it didn't hurt too much the following day, so I was less cautious the second time and similarly got away with it. My technique has suffered a great deal from the 18-month hiatus and I can't cover the court like I used to, but perhaps I am remembering the halcyon days when I was at my best rather than what it was really like 18 months ago. Having said that, I doubt that my badminton skill is going to be improving with age at this stage. Now I've got to wait until the Thursday club starts up again, because Mondays are reverting back to the Buddhism course which took a break in August.

And that's about it. Sometimes less is better.

Field of Games

Field of Games, August 2021 (photo credits: all Lola II in this post)

There has been a lot going on and I'm a long way behind in the news reporting department. Key events: 

• Vaccination continues, but the centre is only open for three days a week. The customers we're getting are mostly the 18-year-olds who generally have beautiful deltoid muscle definition.
• The most dangerous thing I've done this year is go to a gig in a basement without air conditioning and people dancing without masks. I kept away from anyone else for the next few days and was glad that my lateral flow status remained negative.
• Filled in the fiendish Attendance Allowance form with mum, seemingly designed to be impossible to complete by the people it is supposed to help. It took us two sessions and more than seven hours.
• Decided to get a dog. Yes, I'll just slip that one in here. 
• Joined the 'Borrow My Doggy' website community and arranged to walk with a lovely lady who owns a husky, King. Over the course of the walk and our chat it became clear that not only would a husky be a totally inappropriate breed for me, it was also a pretty poor choice for her.
• Investigated the options for rehoming a dog from the Dogs Trust before discovering the fostering option available by applying to Guide Dogs. A friend is already in this scheme, so went for a walk with him and dog in training, Morgan, and found out lots more about it. My application is under way.
• Field of Games is an event that I found out about from one of the doctors I used to work with. It combines camping and board games, two hobbies that I enjoy, so I persuaded Lola II and Mr M to sign up for it with me for last year. What with one thing and another it took place a couple of weeks ago, and Lola II helpfully made notes and took photos for me. So here's my report.

I got to the field first and had just finished putting up  my tent when Lola II and Mr M arrived. Once the tents were up we wandered round the small campsite and saw that there were three larger tents containing tables, and people were already playing games. We wondered where to start. We had a look at what was going on in the games tents - I don't think I've ever seen such complicated board games. Most had a board with at least four different sections and multiple games pieces representing people, goods, money and much more. There were a couple of cars parked nearby with the boot open and full of games, as well as big bags containing more games belonging to people in the tents.

Everyone was really friendly, though. One chap in particular was very helpful, and one of the car boots was his, so he suggested a couple of the simpler games for us to get started with. At that point all the tables in the tents were occupied, so we sat at a picnic table outside and assumed our roles. I was generally the one who read the rules out, and Mr M interpreted them and generally identified how things ought to be done. As ever, Lola II was responsible for morale.

Deep Sea Adventure

The first game we tried involved us diving from a submarine to retrieve treasure and trying to get back to the submarine before we ran out of air. It didn't go well on the first round and we were surprised by the low scores we were getting when throwing the two dice. It wasn't until the second round that we realised the dice only contained one, two or three spots so six was the maximum roll. We played three rounds, with everyone suffocating each time. Thumbs down for this one.

Azul

Not a good start, but then we tried the other game that had been suggested, Azul, which involved selecting different ceramic tile designs and winning points for various arrangements of these tiles. This was actually my favourite game of the weekend, and I would have liked to have another go at it later but there were so many other games to try that we never got round to it.

After lunch (local pub, two portions of fish and chips between three of us plus a jam sponge for Mr M) we returned to the fray and were lured into playing a game with one of the more experienced gamers - actually his son, although he stuck around to show us how to play. It is called 'Quacks of Quedlinberg' and involved cards, rubies, rats' tails, droplets, more cards, victory points, a long spiral track and another track around the board perimeter, and I didn't get on with it at all. Every so often there was an extra rule announcement that made no sense - "this round your rubies are worth double or allow you to win two potion points" - and combined with the fact that the son was cheating shamelessly and continued to do so even after he'd been asked not to, I was quite glad when it was over. I got a telling off from Lola II for being so grumpy.

Lola II and Mr M were in charge of catering that evening, and produced a delicious nacho dish followed by the obligatory chocolate. I don't think we played any more games that day, but it had been a great introduction and we'd met some nice people already, so I was looking forward to more of the same. And the weather had been kind - there had been occasional showers but not for long, and some sun but not too hot either.

Chakras

On Saturday a different person let us borrow a game called Chakras that involved collecting gems, aligning them on your chakras and meditating to replenish your energy. We were joined by another stranger, a grown up this time, who knew the game from playing it online, so we had a bit of a struggle with the rules and scoring because online it was done automatically. It wasn't bad, though. The fabric bag that contained the gems was torn, so I got out my sewing kit and  mended it, which felt like a useful contribution and thanks for the loan of the game. 

Apotheca

Lunch was at a local airfield. Mr M was enjoying the whole thing enormously, so when we came back from lunch he joined a hugely complicated game that lasted 3½ hours while Lola II and I tried another recommendation where the aim appeared to be to create a potion to satisfy three mystical apothecaries (who comes up with these ideas?) We played twice, and each time it seemed strangely unsatisfactory, although I couldn't say whether that was the fault of the game or our interpretation of the rules.

Then Lola II and I were invited to join in a game called 'Word Slam' with some of the other people, including children, and it wasn't bad and resembled Pictionary but using word cards instead of drawing pictures. Mr M came to join us at this point, and was playing with a card that said 'starfish' but halfway through he'd converted it in his head to 'octopus', so that was confusing. We got as far as guessing 'moonfish' but never quite made it to the finish line.

Bites

Supper was my responsibility on Saturday night, and was a chilli that I'd made at home and frozen and which had been thawing gradually over the past 24 hours, with boil-in-the-bag rice and, of course, chocolate to finish. And fruit. We're not complete heathens. This time we returned to the fray for an evening session, and joined another player who introduced us to 'Bites' which was all about ants eating picnic leftovers, and had the virtue of being quite short while also having lots of different ways to play. Then we played the classic game, Rummicub, which resembles the card game Gin Rummy, and then Lola II and I were ready for bed. Not Mr M, though, who was up for another game, retiring half frozen at 12.45 a.m.

On the last day we started with 'Bunny Kingdom', with a complicated board containing representations of forest, plain, mountain or farm with pieces representing castles, cards containing rewards or instructions, and each player represented by increasing numbers of rabbits on the board who amassed treasure in the form of carrots, wood and fish and other items while moving a game piece to record the score. We were joined by another stranger for this one, and at last I'd found something that I could win, although I was probably helped by the luck of the draw as well. Lola II had the same look that I'd had during the Quacks game, so I don't think she enjoyed this one very much.

Mr M stayed on to play another long duration game while Lola II and I headed off for lunch at a cafe, which was observing Covid ventilation rules by keeping all the doors open. This meant it was so cold that I kept my coat and hat on, and while the food was good I wouldn't choose to go there again. The poor waitresses were allowed to wear only the branded T shirts, and looked frozen. While we were gone Mr M finished the game, took the tent down and started another game, so Lola II and I took down the other tent and tried yet another game.

This one, called 'Santorini', contrasted with all the other games in its simplicity - a five-by-five board without any other decoration, two player markers each, four different components of a tower, and only one significant rule: move your player one square and build part of a tower in an adjacent square. You can climb up one layer or descend any number of layers, and you win if you can get one of your markers up to level three. It was impressive how this developed into a chess-like strategy game, and in fact it could easily be reproduced without the sophistication of the actual board and plastic pieces.

That was it for the games, and although Lola II and I enjoyed it a lot, Mr M enjoyed it even more. When I was back home I got in touch with the doctor who'd told me about it, and he told me about more venues and options, and I am even thinking of going back to my local games shop and am only hesitating because of all the other things I cram into my spare time, and is there really space for this too?

Working for a change

Lola Towers garden, June 2021

Getting paid for vaccinating is proving to be quite a challenge. At the end of June I got my first payslip which showed without any further detail at all that I'd been paid for 30 hours, which equates to five shifts, two of them on Saturdays. In fact, up to the end of June, I'd worked twelve shifts, two on Saturdays and two on Sundays. So it was back to the Temporary Staffing team, then payroll, and a helpful young man who gave the impression that he understood the situation and said he'd get back to me. He didn't.

Then I turned up for a shift only to find that there wasn't one. I did stay to have a chat with the admin people, who told me that the young people who are now eligible for their jab are no longer coming - all the ones who wanted the vaccine have had their first jab, but it is suspected that since the official guidance is that no further restrictions are needed after 'Freedom Day' (19th July), they don't see why they now need to get vaccinated. So although the clinics are open to booking by the public now, the only demand is for second jabs.

When I followed up the payroll issue (twice - the first time the helpful young man was not available) I was told that everything was fine and that I had been paid for the shifts I had done. When I pointed out that I hadn't, the helpful young man had another look, gave the impression that he understood the situation, and told me that I would be paid for all the remaining shifts at the end of this month. We'll see. The booking system doesn't show many shifts at the times I can work, and two out of three shifts that I book are cancelled. I have been contacted to change the working hours for the next one so, fingers crossed, that will go ahead tomorrow and maybe I'll find out more.

Working for Mr MXF is coming along quite nicely, although I manage to surprise myself by the extent to which I can procrastinate if I'm not actually having to go to a workplace. [Writing blog posts is one example - when I was working I just about managed one a week, and now I'm churning them out every five or six days.] I'm starting to grasp some of the essentials and can describe for you now what it is that I'm trying to do at the moment.

Mr MXF hosts some websites for family members and non-critical businesses, as well as the more important website he runs for his main business (broadcast and media technology consultancy, as far as I can tell). I'm not going near the important stuff yet, but the other websites reside on a very flaky server which constantly needs kicking to keep it going. My first challenge is to work out how to reliably transfer these websites to a different, more reliable host server. And then, to carry out that transfer without breaking anything.

During the last but one US election, when the Russians were, let's say, a little bit twitchy, some of Mr MXF's websites were hit by some sort of bot infection which caused him no end of trouble and needed much time to rectify. Having learned how to move all the websites from one place to another should put me in a good position to be able to recreate a working website without delay if such an eventuality should occur again. I am more confident of the first task than the second at the moment, but as I spend more time on these jobs it gradually gets slightly easier to imagine.

Meeting in person

View from Bredon Hill, May 2021

Lots going on as usual. In vaccination news, as I suspected, the first wave of vaccinations is complete and the clinic is only opening on a couple of days a week. I managed to work one shift but it wasn't busy, and I had another shift booked but it was cancelled. Managers have been negotiating to keep the clinic open by making it available for public booking, and I think that's going to happen. I am 80% confident that I will be paid at the end of June...

The Commonwealth Games 2022 continues to loom over the residents of my little cul de sac. We had a meeting in the pub garden, and a committee was formed which will liaise with the District Council and the Games Committee to make sure that residents are considered when plans are made and contracts awarded. I still haven't made my official response on the Council website where planning permission is being sought, but I have seen some of the plans and the discussion at the meeting was very illuminating. 

It is anticipated that 2,500 spectators will attend two sessions per day for the nine days of competition. In addition there will be a media and broadcast centre, security, and car parking needing to be allocated for spectators as well as officials, staff and competitors. The current proposal allows for the erection of large spectator stands that will extend over the pavement and into the road and displace about half the residents' parking for up to three months, as well as blocking two of the three entrances to the park.

The main issues are the proposed three months of disruption for the sake of nine days competition, and the fact that residents are not mentioned when it comes to parking allocation. Some people are also concerned that the entrances to the park that will remain open are on the far side and there isn't a safe road crossing. So the committee would like to prioritise remaining parking space for residents by identifying those who particularly need to park close by - people who can't walk too far or perhaps families with small children - and bookable spaces for loading and unloading. I should be fine on account of having a garage.

There has been quite a bit of socialising since restrictions were lifted to allow meeting indoors. I continue to enjoy the company of the Buddhists, and we met in person on a May Bank Holiday weekend for a walk near Evesham. The weather was absolutely perfect, as it has been most of the time since the cold, wet weekend when Lola II and I visited Malvern. The sun also shone on another get together in person to say farewell to one of my badminton tribe, who is moving away. I had both my work leaving parties - low key lunch in the Diabetes Centre with the diabetes team, and pizza with the Dietitians. And Christmas finally arrived with a weekend visiting the friends who were going to host Christmas 2020. Presents were exchanged and Christmas pudding was eaten, only five months late.

And there's more news from the Buddhists. Normally when someone decides to become a Buddhist, as I did a year ago, there is a ceremony. Because we are a small satellite of the Birmingham group, previously this has been celebrated in Birmingham. We are trying hard to establish ourselves as a viable independent group, and one of the ways to do this is to try and hold the ceremony locally rather than in Birmingham.

What with one thing and another, it hasn't been possible to meet for the ceremony - other groups have been doing them online, but we thought we would wait until we could meet in person. This ought to have been straightforward, but while we have been online the church hall where we used to meet is being rented out to a daytime nursery. We want to continue to offer people the option to stay online as well as meeting in person, so we went there to test out the technology. While it was a resounding success in respect of laptop, projector, mobile phones and data plan, the actual environment has changed from a calm, green countryside hall where you can look through the windows at fields with horses or cows, to a busy room full of toys, games, paints, books and cabinets with clutter on every available surface.

So unless the nursery is prepared to clear a lot more space for us, we now need a different venue for the ceremony, and possibly also for our group when it starts meeting in person again. And, depending upon where that is, we need to start considering acquiring the tech that we'll need and trying it out, all before the date we've decided upon in July. Normally I would be happy to manage the whole tech project, but on this particular day I'll be fully occupied with more spiritual matters. The hunt is on for a suitable venue with just a month to go.

p.s. I'm not sure whether to be glad or sorry that the wisteria lives on...

Wisteria: alive! May 2021