Inmate 357
Day 13 Thursday: Bad Dreams
I awoke in the middle of the night, hot and fearful about my test results. Could I have contracted COVID and not realised it? Inmate 356 had similar thoughts and also dreamt of being a contact.
We see Tyler* and Mary* outside waving to us and FaceTiming at the same time (how wonderful to have this technology, now of all times). They were going to confession but they got the day wrong!
Our exercise routine was all wonky and cancelled as many were leaving at 10.45. We did the forecourt at 9.45 and missed breakfast but we had lots left over to eat from previous days. A nurse told us that most positives are now being picked up on Day Zero. I wondered why it had taken them so long to test people on Day Zero when they arrived?
It was amazing to look out of the window and see people hugging and behaving normally.
Inmate 356 and I were on tenterhooks all day, waiting for the result. At 6.25 pm we still had not been phoned. We decided that George* must not be at work and it must be the rather officious ladies left in charge. We tell ourselves that, hopefully, no news is good news!
I reflected that it was wonderful how we had managed with only two plates, cups, knives, spoons and forks and a bundle of cardboard bowls and bamboo plates all this time. It was like being on a desert island 10 floors up but with no beach.
Once again it was beautiful weather. The forecast was for it to end on Saturday. Neither of us minded just as long as we were able to get out of Covid jail!
Finally, George* appeared at the door with our certificates stating that we are negative and free! Amazingly Ps 30 is first in Evening Prayer – “You have turned my mourning into dancing”.
We reflected on how amazing it was that our son Tyler* was marrying into a family that gives thanks to God too.
Day 14 (Friday) 15 January: Not Free Yet
We spent 3 hours on FaceTime – 7.30 to 10.30 – while we tried to eat soggy pear and quinoa muesli with milk that had been soaking into it for at least 20 mins during the food delivery.
We checked downstairs to see if we could go walking at 11.30 since it was cancelled yesterday and were told that we could only walk if we had previously booked it! Then after a bit of “twoing” from me, he eventually allowed us to exercise. I reflected that the whole set up could drive me bonkers if I had to stay much longer. A nurse appeared at our door for our daily check. She has been a honey. We then did our exercises and had our rooftop walk where we completed 5,000 paces.
We watched Ben Ainsley racing in the Prada Cup in May as a forerunner of the America’s Cup. He beat both US and Italy beautifully. So exciting. Then we had our last walk and corrected the final draft of Order of Service.
We watched a bit more of The Queens Gambit but it was definitely not my favourite. I think it is a bit of a vehicle for a pretty girl.
Day 15: Inmate 356 and 357 Escape to Freedom
We were almost free and were awake a lot during the night as we were both so excited just like Christmas Eve years ago. On our way to get a trolley to load our cases on to I talked to a young lady guard by the lift, a lovely Indian girl. She showed me a bookmark with “All things are possible with him who gives me strength” (or something very similar). I chat on the way back when I have the trolley and she is from Mumbai with an American accent. She is Catholic too and we talk about Tyler* and the wedding and our future daughter in law Mary* and COVID and Pope Francis and hope in this crisis and how the world had it so wrong and we were destroying our planet.
How wonderful the Lord was to let me speak to her after a lot of rather unresponsive guards for the last few days.
We finally escaped Covid jail at 11 am on the dot with Tyler* and Mary* waiting in her car with Mary* hanging out of the car window.
Freedom at last.
**Not their real name
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