THE HAVES AND THE HAVE NOTS
Ihaven’t had Covid. The world now divides between those who have (some, more than once), and those who haven’t. For almost two years, we have been a Covid-free household. It didn’t cross our threshold, until last week.
I’m on tour at the moment and have been incredibly cautious since I set off on the road back in September. I had to reschedule four shows in December, due to an operation on my neck, but apart from that, I didn’t want to have to cancel any more gigs, not if I could possibly avoid it. After 18 months of not being able to perform, I’ve been determined to do all I can to keep myself virus-free. So far, so good, touch wood, etc.
Then, I returned home from gigging in Salford last week and the old man looked peaky. He admitted to having a sore throat and I issued strict instructions that he should sleep in his study. ‘It’s not Covid,’ he insisted, and a lateral flow test proved negative. The next day, he looked worse, but it wasn’t until the following day that the double red line loomed into view – we were both genuinely shocked.
For a week, he lived in his study. Fortunately, it’s attached to a shower room and loo, otherwise he’d have had to make do with a bucket!
It’s very strange having a partner with a highly contagious disease. I’m no Florence Nightingale at the best of times, but usually when he’s ill, I might occasionally sit on the end of the bed and have a little chat. Not with Covid – the poor man was cooped up in solitary confinement with food trays left outside the door, for seven whole days and nights. I even left him for a couple of nights when I was gigging in Wales. I felt terribly guilty about this, but all my lateral flows were negative, so the show had to go on.
He has now tested negative for the first time, and I’ve let him wander round the house, after a week of living in a room measuring 12 feet square. He said going downstairs was ‘like visiting another country’.
As for how poorly he has been, Geof is 73 and slightly overweight, with asthma. I have no doubt whatsoever that, without having been fully jabbed and boosted, things would have been a great deal worse. Thank you science, you’re a life-saver.
‘I’ve done all I can to keep myself virus-free’