Getting COVID

Almost two years into COVID-19, we finally got it. It started with me, with both vaccinations but not yet a booster, and probably was picked up during the only time we went to a restaurant (and thus ate without masks on) though no-one else in the group picked it up then (the other adults had either all had COVID-19 or had had their booster). I only found out a few days after the meal when I went to get my test a day before my planned flight.

 

Not displaying any symptoms I even paid for a second one, which was also positive, and then the day after that I began to get a sore throat. It lasted a couple of days and was soothed with Strepsils, and then that was it (though the lateral flow tests were still positive until about a week after the initial test). It was not really possible to isolate from my family, so a couple of days later Hannah tested positive and the day after that Leah did too. Neither had any real symptoms although each was quite tired and sleepy for a day or so. Eventually, almost once I was negative, Andrea also tested positive. Unfortunately also only finding out when she went for her pre-flight test (and only getting a mild cough for a few hours a day or two later). She had had the booster when she was in Germany before the UK, so it must have helped, but eventually gave in after living with 3 positive people for a week!

 

My mum, who had had the virus a year earlier and one vaccination never got it from us again, probably showing the strength of natural immunity from prior infection vs vaccination (though the extra vaccination in affect was like a booster presumably).

 

So apart from messing up flights and travel plans until we were negative, and disrupting some activities whilst isolating, it was not a particular big deal, most likely because we were all vaccinated, relatively young, and because it was presumably the Omicron variant which is less severe than previous ones.

 

We have been fortunate though as I know many people who have been in hospital with COVID-19 and some people who have lost family members. Anyway, as things look now, it looks like everything will be back to normal soon with the virus being treated the same as a cold or flu without any specific measures (maybe the odd optional vaccine), needing to count cases (if they don't really lead to hospitalizations then case numbers are irrelevant) or anything else.

 

British Christmas

After a very long time I finally spent a Christmas in the UK. My usual visits to the UK have been in the Summer, or when we were living in China then over Chinese New Year in Jan/Feb. This time I landed on Christmas Day and saw the family once I got the airport test result back; and the next day Andrea and the girls came in from Germany and did the same. It was nice to have a fairly big family Christmas gathering with my sister and her kids as well.

 

Hannah in particular has really enjoyed playing with Jake who is two and a half and a real ball of energy. We took the kids ice skating for their first time which went quite well. Hannah has done more roller blading than Leah so was fairly good, whereas it took Leah a while but she made progress and really enjoyed it. It was at a winter wonderland at Brent Cross which had set-up all kinds of activities but was very quiet. They tried to go again another time but the warm weather (and probably low customers) meant many rinks that opened just for Christmas were closed.

 

We did a trip into London to go to the Museum of London since Leah had been studying the Great Fire of London at school and Hannah had been studying the Victorians. There was a small exhibit on the Great Fire, but not as much as Leah had hoped for. The museum is reasonably small by British standards but still quite well done, and nearby are various remnants of the London Wall. We mostly avoided the World War exhibits and an hour or hour and a half was fine for the age of the kids that we had. After lunch with a friend we then went to the Science Museum, which was crowded, and browsed the space section as well as some other interactive exhibits. To be honest the interactive exhibits are quite disappointing; either very childish or too much like computer games that can be done at home (maybe that is the problem now with COVID-19, that many museum activities have been moved online so there is less need to actually go there!)

 

We also went to Go Ape, though Hannah and Leah preferred to jump around on the Nets and play in the Treehouses with their little cousin rather than do anything too adventurous. The kids also went to see a few shows – Cinderella panto in a local theatre, Dick Whittington and his Cat panto in another local theatre, Matilda in the West End (Hannah has read the book at school), and Frozen in the West End too. I went to see Tottenham play and also see the Hamilton musical.

 

There was a short visit to the Ashridge Enchanted Forest which is a country house with a lot of fairy lights on the trees in the gardens. Having some mulled wine and food was nice, and the kids did get their steps in for the day, but I was slightly underwhelmed. Still generally it was an enjoyable evening.

 

There was quite a few trips to the local parks and to the local forest where the kids could feed the deer and walk with the dog without too much complaining. Bentley Priory is a very nice place with some wild parts, some great views out over London from the hill, some pretty parts with a lake and some local wildlife too. My mum usually goes there every day to walk the dog.

 

The trip became longer than expected since we all got COVID at one point or another and had to isolate and delay flights. But overall it was a good trip with quite a bit happening (when one or other of us was not isolating) and despite the generally miserable weather that was cold and wet (although the first week around Christmas was quite warm and dry). I had gone running quite a lot with my dad, and we all ate way too much, but we did spend a fair amount of time with our family (when not isolating, although most of the time we were isolating with our family since we had nowhere else to stay!)

 

The school in Kenya organised online learning for the kids who could not attend school, which seemed to be quite a few, who were either isolating in Kenya or stuck overseas during the first few weeks of term; and Hannah did really well getting up at 5am to join the online lessons, whilst Leah had less work to do and it could be done at any time during the day. It also meant I was up early an din sync with everyone else in Kenya. Anyway, we got into a routine for a week or two until eventually with all the COVID tests sorted we could return to a welcome warm Kenya.