I bought a brass key gadget that you can use to turn door handles, type on keyboards, write on screens, etc., so you don’t have to touch a surface where the virus might be waiting. I have that with me when I go out walking, along with some gel sanitiser and a black mask with a layer of kitchen roll inside.
It's a worry though, about Mum. She’s in her chair at the care home, and we keep hearing on the news that the death rate in these places is high and rising. It’s as if she’s stuck there amidst flying bullets. One of the oldest residents, too, she is. But we can do nothing, except send a constant trickle of cards and letters.
Pauline Diamond asked me to put up seven of my favourite books in seven days on Facebook, just the cover, no review or memoir. The seven I chose, like Desert Island books, are ones I cannot be without. If they went I would have to replace them, simple as that. GODS, GRAVES, AND SCHOLARS is one.
Though I’ve only had my computer keyboard for about a year, some of the letters on the keys have worn away. I date back to the time of the manual typewriter, so maybe I type heavier than most. But what I have done to remedy this is black out the remnants of the letter with felt tip (the keys are black, the letters white) and draw a funky silver capital letter there that almost covers the whole key. Then I varnish it just before going to bed. Overnight the varnish hardens and the finished key then looks great. Glinting, like.
The newsletter from Derzville, this place, this ‘seat’, went out yesterday, the email freebie. It’s my means of creating a community of a few souls. This month’s screed dealt with the time when I thought I might have a shot at the ministry. Yes, I considered taking on the old dog collar at the age of eighteen. I hadn’t even been confirmed!