29 March 2022

COVID


When I came downstairs this morning I noticed a lateral flow test thingummyjig on our kitchen work surface. It was showing not one but two red lines so I knew that Shirley was now positive. 

Because I have been feeling ropey the last two or three days, I did a test yesterday but the result was negative. However, seeing Shirley's little testing device made me think that I had better do another test. And sure enough it wasn't long before the second red line appeared - the kind of magic trick we would rather not witness.

And so after two long years of dodging COVID, it has finally caught up with me. Thankfully, I have had my three jabs so unlike all those misguided refuseniks and assorted anti-vaxxers, I am very unlikely to be hospitalised or to expire (American: die)  which will no doubt be a great disappointment to the four unpleasant trolls who hang about this blog, leaving insidious remarks that are immediately deleted and never read. Actually two of those trolls are the same person!

That is my own test device at the top of this blogpost, not Shirley's. Having kept abreast of national and worldwide COVID stats throughout the pandemic, it occurred to me that I should report my positive result. Recently retired Nurse Shirley told me what to do even though I suspect that a great number of positive results are not reported and never have been. Yesterday 46,571  new cases were reported in Great Britain but what, I wonder, was the true figure?

There's a government website where positive results can and should be recorded. I put in my details including my NHS number and created a password that had to be of eight letters or more and include a capital too. Why are there so many different rules for passwords?

A few other things irritated me about this reporting website but the main annoyance was the broad assumption that every visitor would have a mobile phone. There wasn't even a "get out" option. Without a mobile phone number you couldn't report your positive test as the system would not let you through until you negotiated that particular hurdle.

I had to use Shirley's mobile number but that was most unsatisfactory as it could invite a breach of confidentiality in the future. I am not the only adult human being on this island who does not have a mobile phone. There are thousands of others. And why the simple reporting of a positive coronavirus test result should require ownership of a mobile phone is beyond my powers of comprehension. Personally, I blame Baroness "Dido" Harding, PM Johnson's university chum who was made the head of our very costly "Test and Trace" system that failed so woefully.

I have had a horrible ticklish cough that has woken me from my sleep several times though last night it was okay and I slept pretty well. Even though I have only just tested positive, I think I am already over the worst of the infection.

Meanwhile Clint remains in the garage because one of his window washers isn't working and that is the reason he failed his annual Ministry Of Transport test last Saturday. I need him to transport me to East Yorkshire on Friday to take my younger brother Simon to hospital where he will have an endoscopy under general anaesthetic. Driving after such a procedure is  verboten. Of course, I will also have to test negative on Friday morning.

Finally, there is absolutely probably no truth in the rumour - no doubt driven by anti-vaxxers and crazyman David Icke -  that you can become infected with COVID by simply reading  infected blogposts from  those who have tested positive.

78 comments:

  1. I'm sorry to hear the Covid virus has tracked you down and successfully infected you. Simon might want to make alternate arrangements as you are unlikely to test negative so soon, based on what I have read. Hopefully you ARE over the worst of it now. How is Shirley feeling? I hope she is not feeling overly ill. Take care of yourselves.

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    1. Good advice Jenny and I am happy to act upon it. Shirley is feeling grotty but is not bed-bound. We just had our evening meal - cottage pie and peas with gravy - and she managed to eat her small portion up. Her ticklish cough seems worse than mine just now. We hope to have anti-viral injections tomorrow. We'll see if we can get on the list in the morning.

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  2. So many people that I know are now testing positive, however, the plus side is that their symptoms are relatively mild. I hope that you and Mrs YP escape the worst of it.

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    1. Thanks JayCee. It is nice to know that you wish us well in spite of my mischief.

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  3. I doubt that I'll escape it either. They're offering a 4th shot but I can't sign up for it yet; the website hasn't caught up to the approval for 50 plus. Hope Shirley and you recover fast. Although a miserable experience, at least it's not as serious as it could have been sans vaccination. Be well!

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    1. I am most concerned about Long Covid. Many in Britain are suffering from its effects long after the initial infection.

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    2. I've heard that vaccinated people don't get the long-term effects

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    3. I hope you are right River.

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  4. You might have told us at the beginning rather than the end! Hope you don't feel too bad. It is absolutely everywhere. Daughter, home from university yesterday, today receives a message that one of her housemates is positive, the very same housemate who drove her to the station yesterday. It is government policy that we all should get it - another government giveaway.

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    1. I hope you did not get too close to the screen Tasker. Perhaps your lovely daughter has unwittingly brought mummy and daddy a surprise gift back home from The University of Withernsea.

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  5. I clicked your link to David Icke's wiki page and, wow! Some of that info on him is just mind-boggling!

    I hope you and your wife recover quickly.

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    1. I believe you have quite a few David Icke clones over in America Kelly!

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  6. Hope you both make a speedy recovery. Take care.

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    1. Thanks Christina. I fear Long Covid. I just don't want to live like a vegetable - well maybe as a cauliflower would be okay.

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  7. I am glad to hear that you both seem to have contracted a mild case. I hope that Clint doesn't start coughing. Good luck to your brother.

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    1. Thank you Debby. I am glad you did't pick COVID up as a souvenir of England.

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  8. Sorry to hear that you and your wife have caught Covid. Hope you both recover soon and have no lasting effects. Please take care - rest and relax.

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    1. I appreciate your kind thoughts Ellen.

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  9. Anonymous10:49 pm

    Sorry, but I think it was grossly irresponsible of you to not initially inform of us of the danger to our health by reading this post. Nevertheless, I don't want you ailing, so take care.

    Ah, wouldn't it be unusual to test negative by Friday after so few days?

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    1. I am grossly irresponsible Andrew - just like you mate!

      I believe I must have had the infection since Saturday - even though my first tests didn't show that.

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  10. Welcome to the club! I havent been able to leave this sceptered isle and return to the US. On my eighth day of isolating in my London hotel (here by myself). Still testing positive. Only had sore throat and runny nose for about four days. Rescheduled my return twice so far. Hope to make it back on Saturday. Fortunately, my hotel has a kitchenette so I've been getting food deliveries from Waitrose and LFTs delivered from Boots. Then there is the full length leg brace I'm sporting from injuring my knee on the flight here two weeks ago. Had great care at private London hospital. At least I'm contributing to the British economy...in a big way. A memorable trip so far. 😉 Hope you and Shirley feel better soon.

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    1. Oh dear Mary - not your best trip over here by any means! How awful to injure your knee like that. How did you do it my friend? On behalf of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II I would like to thank you for your selfless support of the British economy. If you were Russian we would put you in The House of Lords!

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  11. Oh, no! Oh, no!Oh, no! Poor you and Shirley. You, like the Bear and I, have tried so, so hard to be so, so careful. I (really!) would rather be compost than be stuck with long term illness from this disease. I wish the fastest recovery for you and Shirley. Hugs to you both. XXX

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    1. So kind of you Surrogate Sister! If you were compost, lovely Yorkshire roses would grow out of you - white and pure.

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  12. I wish your symptoms mild and fleeting. For me, the worst was losing my sense of taste and smell for three months. I haven't seen any tests to know how common that is with this variant or to those who have been vaccinated and boosted. I lost my senses well before I even had the first vaccine but eventually all came back to full strength.

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    1. And now you can smell a barbecued sausage from eight hundred yards... Fortunately, neither of us have noted any loss of smell or taste.

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    2. FWIW - I lost my smell and taste about two weeks after the onset of other symptoms which for me, only lasted about two days.

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    3. COVID seems to affect people in various different ways. It is quite weird in that respect.

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  13. Your line about dodging Covid reminds me of the scene in The Seventh Seal when Max Von Sydow played chess with Death.
    Cast in the role of Death was Bengt Ekerot whose very name shivered my timbers.

    I saw Ingmar Bergman's film in The Cosmo Cinema in Rose Street, Glasgow in 1968, aged 17.
    Transfixed beside me was a wee lassie called Jane who attended a posh convent school.
    What else could I do but put a comforting arm around Jane's shoulders as we contemplated how short life was in medieval Sweden?

    Whenever I see a photo of Meike in her blog I am reminded of Bibi Andersson whom Bergman cast as a ray of sunshine in his otherwise angst-ridden metaphysical drama.

    Glad you are on the road to recovery, old boy.
    I hope Nurse Shirley is back to her happy self any day now.

    Till we meet in the sweet by and by.

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    1. I put my arm round a girl in a cinema when I was seventeen and it fell asleep - not the girl - my bloody arm!

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    2. When I was seventeen
      It was a very good year
      It was a very good year for small town girls
      And soft summer nights
      We'd hide from the lights
      On the village green
      When I was seventeen.

      *Frank Sinatra - It Was A Very Good Year.*
      YouTube. rainmakerrick. 2015.

      *Sinatra's Century: One Hundred Notes on the Man and His World*.
      Poet David Lehman pays tribute to Ol' Blue Eyes.

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    3. I recall that song very well. So evocative of a lost netherland filled with promise... and we can only return in hazy remembrance of times past. We can never go back there. Never.

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  14. Cool ending to your post. It's surprising that one can be most careful and still get covid. You can report , but where did you get it?

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    1. I believe I caught it from a Canadian blog variant.

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  15. As I keep saying, eventually we will all have had it. How seriously will depend on if we've been vaccinated and what variant we have. I hope that both you and Ms. P. will have only the lightest of cases treatable with over the counter drugs and home remedies. Here in the US, we believe that a good chicken soup with plenty of garlic and onions will cure anything.
    It surely does not hurt.

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    1. Could you send us some by Fed-Ex Mary? Stick it in a big Thermos flask and it will still be warm when it arrives.

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  16. I'm sorry to hear this but I'm confident that you and Shirley will be just fine. Thank goodness for vaccines! I hope you continue to have only mild symptoms that soon pass. Take care! Chicken soup, ginger ale, and lots of rest are in order.

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    1. We will keep our fingers crossed in the hope that we avoid Long Covid. Is there much said about Long Covid in the USA?

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    2. Not much, at least not that I'm aware of. Our Covid numbers are at an all time low, but I'm expecting that to change again since England is having another surge.

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    3. Trump's supporters probably think that Long Covid is an island in The Bahamas. Here we are very aware that several thousand COVID victims are enduring symptoms months after testing positive... terrible fatigue, headaches, coughs that will not go away etc..

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  17. Take care of yourselves and than your lucky stars, and your active brain cells that don't listen to the loons, that you had the vaccines and the booster.

    Sending good thoughts from across the pond.

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    1. I just caught those good wishes with my butterfly net. Thanks Bob.

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  18. I hope you have a very light case of this tenacious virus and are well quickly. I would be surprised if you test negative by Friday though. I am vaxxed and going out in the world again and hope it is safe, here in California. Be well.

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    1. Thank you for your good wishes and your note of caution Terra.

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  19. Tasker sounds like he's got his finger on the pulse. I still wear my mask in the shops.

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    1. Is that just when you intend to rob 'em?

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  20. Oh no! Your experience mirrors what I keep hearing all around these days; people who have been so cautious (and got all their jabs) are now catching it, too. One of my co-workers says he is pretty sure I'll get it as well, if I have not already had it. A few weeks ago I felt truly awful myself, but tested negative no matter how many times I self-tested. But we know this does not really mean anything; those lateral flow tests were never designed to catch the relatively low amount of virus in someone who has been fully vaccined.

    Get well soon, you and Shirley! Of course you both having Covid also means you won't be able to look after Phoebe :-(

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    1. You are right Meike! She should have been with us all day today. Fortunately, Stewart's mother is up from Bristol.

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  21. Oh dear. poor both of you. Luckily it doesn't seem too bad for Shirley and yourself and you will soon be on the road to good health. Think positive. As for mobiles, they are horrible, I can never switch mine on when it rings, the call just disappears into the blue.

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    1. To me mobile phones are like Jacob Rees-Mogg. Unbearable.

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  22. Surely people don't really believe they can become infected simply by reading! I am sorry to hear you have it, but glad that you are vaccinated and boosted, so you'll be okay. I'm hoping to never get it and since I stay home a lot, I might just make it.
    Clint failed his test just because a window wiper wasn't working? I think he should have passed with a word to you about getting that fixed asap.

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    1. Not a wiper but a washer River. They would not let me drive him away!

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  23. I have heard of more people having covid ( family, friends and friends of friends) this last few weeks than I have in the last 2 years! Hope that you and Shirley will soon feel well.

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    1. What concerns me most is Long Covid Frances.

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  24. Oh YP, I'm so sorry to hear that you and Shirley have both succumbed to the dreaded virus. It seems it's on the rampage everywhere.
    At least you can recover at home in comfort. Unlike friends of mine who came here for a month's holiday in the sun, only to contract Covid the second week they were here. I'd been with them beforehand, but after a couple of anxious days at the end of the incubation period (over two weeks ago), I seem to have escaped - this time round. People here are still wearing masks, and I think I'll go back to wearing mine too!
    I hope that you both have a speedy recovery and that little Phoebe is safe from your nasty germs!

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    1. We cannot look after Little Phoebe until we are negative. Sorry to hear about your friends being trapped in Spain Carol. They should be grateful it's not Lancashire.

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    2. Get back t' yer spinning lass!

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  25. Get well soon YP. So far I have avoided getting it but I am hearing more and more cases of people that are getting it now than ever over the last 2 years so it is definitely more infectious. Hopefully the vaccines will make it less serious. Take care

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    1. I hardly go out anywhere and I wear a mask when on buses or shopping in the supermarket. It is funny how Shirley and I contracted COVID at the exact same time. I worry most about Long Covid.

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  26. Oh, bummer. Sorry to hear you have finally fallen to Covid. Slowly but surely we're all getting it! The good news is, you should have natural immunity for the next two or three months.

    I hate to say it but I doubt very much you'll test negative by Friday. We're told here at school to isolate for ten days following a positive test, even though that is no longer the government requirement.

    I want to hear more about these mysterious trolls! LOL

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    1. No laughing out loud from me Steve. They are the reason I still have to use comment moderation. They may go quiet for a while but I never know when their poison will be back.

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  27. I'm sorry to her that you and Shirley both are sick and hope you're feeling better soon. After a brutal December in which we all seemed to be sick in this household, the last few months have been illness free, so of course I'm expecting to get the covid:)

    I'm beginning to wonder if conspiracy theories are some sort of mental illness, especially when I read about David. Wow, that's some messed up crap he believes in.

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    1. He is the very definition of the term "Nutcase" and yet thousands have followed him and even agreed with his wacky, ever-changing theories.

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    2. Mr Icke is a case study but in what exactly?

      Icke is justifiably angry about the bankers and the financial crash of 2008, as well as stagnating wages caused by globalisation not the EU.
      Then he goes off on Icke Mode about Bloodlines and Reptiles which brings in the paying punters and allows him to live in some comfort.

      *Rose/Icke 6: The Vindication - Part 1/2.*
      YouTube. London Real.

      Baffling when you think that thousands pay to hear Icke yet he chunters on like some dim prophet of Apocalypse Now & Then.
      His interviewer Brian Rose thinks 9/11 was caused by a conspiracy of Zionist elites like the fake Protocols of the Elders of Zion on which the pre-Hitler fascists built their toxic coalitions.

      To find out what is really happening read:

      *The Fabulists - How Myth-Makers Rule in an Age of Crisis* by Michael Peel, European diplomatic correspondent for The Financial Times.

      *The Powerful and the Damned - Life behind the headlines in financial times* by Lionel Barber.

      Barber was editor of the F.T. for 18 years and covered the 2008 financial crash, the rise of China, Silicon Valley, Brexit, Trump, Julian Assange, Edward Snowden and the triumph of Big Tech.

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    3. Icke
      Me no like
      Let him get on
      His bike
      And ride into a dyke
      Food for a pike
      Called Mike

      (This is what happens when you have COVID!)

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    4. Now wait half a second, Guv.
      Be fair.

      Mr. David Icke was talent spotted by Coventry City as a lad having failed his 11-plus in 1963.
      Like millions of working-class boys and girls young David was written off by the system and dumped into a low-achieving Secondary Modern.
      Tasker has written a brilliant blog about Secondary Moderns and the well-endowed elite Grammar Schools.

      Okay, Mr. Icke is overly fond of the colour Turquoise.
      I have a weakness for Tartan especially when it adorns our Dancing Ladies.

      Mr. Icke believes in Shape-Shifting Reptiles and identified the Queen Mum as one such.
      All I can say is that I shudder when I hear that London and Colchester zoos now breed Komodo dragons, creatures I would happily erase from the face of the Earth.

      The children sponsor these hideous creatures which eat their prey alive and give them cute names like Barney, Betty and Boris Johnson.

      *Komodo Dragon in Bathroom/ Planet Earth II.*
      YouTube. BBC Earth Unplugged.

      These horrors of nature are now being traded on the black reptile market.
      Your next door neighbour could have a Komodo dragon slobbering its way through that gap in your garden fence.

      As Teddy Roosevelt used to say:
      Speak softly but carry a Big Stick.

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    5. You are beginning to sound like David McIcke. Wee Nicola doesn't need to turn into a komodo dragon as she is already a fearsome sturgeon probably from the acipenseridae sub-species. Mind you, I would gladly vote for her rather than hang on to Worzel Gummidge's fat cousin.

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    6. John Jack Hamel(d) MacIcke.
      Man of many faces. Brilliant.

      Icke is his own Brand.
      Loony Tunes or Limelight Lover?
      A weak mind, but cunning enough to play the room?
      Another conspiracy-minded YouTuber or one of YouTube's crafty manipulators?

      I can see Wee Nicola in Edinburgh Zoo, surrounded by bairns and sponsoring a baby Komodo dragon.
      *Noo let's see, will we caa' him Boris Johnson or Alex Salmond?*

      Alex does slaver a bit over his Chicky Tikka Masala, reminding one of a Komodo chomping on its twitching prey.

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    7. Oh that last image made me chuckle like a Chuckle brother!

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  28. I hope you and Shirley feel better soon. I wouldn't worry too much about long Covid. Anything I've read about it indicates it's mainly impacting people who didn't have, (or never took), the opportunity to get vaccinated. Here in Canada, we're being advised that the new wave of Covid you're presently experiencing is on its way here. I'm happy to see that the majority of people I see when I'm out and about are still wearing their masks.

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    1. Here our stupid government under the clown known as Johnson have tried to pretend that COVID is somehow over. Bad messaging for the people.

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  29. is it possible that your troll has 2 heads? Plus youre not the only one who isnt into phones mine is a dumb phone , no internet no photos just calls and texts beyond most peoples understanding...no i cant scan a QR code or take a photo of my bottom to comfirm i have shingles

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    1. Well if it is true that you have shingles, please accept my sympathy Kate. I know that shingles can be very debilitating for mature adults. Lust as there are people like me who have never owned any type of phone, there are many thousands of people like you who still use very basic phones that cannot handle apps and suchlike. You are also overlooked!

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  30. Please do take the very best care of yourselves and I hope that you're feeling better soon.

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    1. I am feeling a lot better today thanks Elizabeth.

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  31. Sorry to hear that you've succumbed. I hope it's no worse for you than the common cold can be.

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    1. Getting through it. The worst of it was the sudden coughing fits last weekend. Fortunately, they have abated.

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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