Ending 2022...as we started...

 So this is Christmas

And what have you done?
Another year over
And a new one just begun

And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

(John Lennon

So This Is Christmas)

So This Is Christmas

Love this song. Poignant. Sad. Hopeful. Realistic.

Well, 2022 - for many of us the first ordinary Christmas after the Pandemic. People could travel again and meet family and friends. Groups were ok, international and domestic travel was ok.

In Japan we are all still wearing masks, and restaurants and shops still have plastic barriers on tables and at cash registers. In Hokkaido daily new infections are about 6,000, with a shockingly high death rate...yesterday 34 people died.

The last figure is confusing though. This is people who died BECAUSE of Covid, or WITH Covid. The media doesn't tell us. But one of my students lost her elderly aunt a month or two, the old lady had a heart attack in her room at the care home. And then the autopsy revealed she had Covid, and the family couldn't have the body for funeral rites - it was quickly cremated.

So, I keep wondering - was HER death included in that day's Covid Deaths on the news? She was a very old woman with a heart condition, so her death isn't that surprising. It may have been as an indirect result of the virus, but maybe not.

Anyway. The virus is still zapping around here as we all wrap up work for another year and enjoy a week of holiday between calendar changes. And Japan is starting to get nervous about millions of Chinese people who are likely to grab the chance and start international travel again, following this week's government announcement. We have the big snow festivals here in early February, which usually attract thousand of international visitors.

There's a slight feeling of deja vu - 3 years ago there was news of a virus spreading in China, and a kind of relief that the big tour groups from China didn't come to the Snow Festival as something called a "lockdown" began. 3 years on though, we do have vaccines.

But old people still locked away in care homes, unable to meet their family.

The Christmas card for Okaasan.

I motivated Dear Son. Found the card. We signed it. He delivered it to the care home.

We hope the nurses showed it to her with bright, happy voices. We hope she understood what it is.

We haven't met her since December 2021.

Our December has been a bit eventful.

My ongoing knee problems prevented any skiing or snowshoeing. But the knee is getting stronger, and I can do ordinary life...apart from walking more than about 1km. So, I've done a lot of reading, TV and online stuff.

Eventful was one of the cats. The fatty lumps around his neck turned out to be cancerous tumors in his lymph glands. Last year similar lumps were fatty lumps of an overweight, middle aged animal. This time they weren't.

Lots of stressy talks with our vet and an introduction to the expert vet at the big regional veterinarian teaching hospital across town. An operation was ruled out because the cancer was in several positions around the neck. Last week he started chemo and steroids.

The strange thing is that he is actually super fine thru all this. Eating, pooping, chasing his brother up the stairs. Noisy.

And after only two chemo shots the neck lumps have vanished. We go back to the vets for Round 3 today. He is 13 years old, and we hope he'll live into another summer of grass and flowers. I also hope my savings for old age won't all disappear into my vet's bank account. Pet Insurance has a $100 a day price cap.

What else?

Oh, yeah. Booked air tickets for England!! Back to the old country for the first time in 5 years. End of March...at HUGELY expensive cost. But now, thanks to Putin's war and longer flight routes, the oil prices etc etc. Also it's direct  flights Tokyo/Heathrow. I can't do a long transit anymore. Just want to get there. The direct flight time is already over 15 hours!!!

So. This was Christmas 2022.

I'm home now for the next week. Eating too much chocolate and watching Netflix. Meeting a few friends. Prepping my accounts for February and the accountant. Monitoring the cat. Doing my leg exercises.

Happy Holidays to you. Let's hope 2023 brings joy to more people.

AND another online visit...

 Yup.

Still doing the waving and talking extra loud in front of a screen - held by a double masked staffer at Okaasan's care home.

Gosh, I didn't even post in October. Did we have an online meeting at all? I don't remember.

Earlier this afternoon we had 10 mins again, which is mainly us talking to the nurse and Okaasan blinking a little with closed eyes as she is in her bed. I'm guessing the online visits will continue thru the winter now and well into next year.

New infection numbers have just shot up in this cold part of north Japan, as we all close windows and socialize inside. This region tops the nightly stats on the TV news. My students who work at a local hospital say it's all rampant again - thru the staff and patients - and actually deaths with Covid are up too.

Of course it's not necessarily deaths FROM Covid, but probably a reflection that so many people have got it anyway. One student said her 90 year old aunt dropped dead from a heart attack in her care home, but when they did an autopsy it was discovered she also had Covid and so the body wasn't released to the family for the usual funeral arrangements. That's awful, and so meaningless - the family could at least of had a viewing from behind screens and said their farewells. 

It was straight from autopsy to cremation.

Okaasan today? Looked ok, I guess. Not much I can say. The same as she always looks. We just hope she hears friendly, bright voices around her a lot and enjoys the bedside massages and body moving. Bathtime.

Sorry about silence in October. I've been very preoccupied with my own injury - the knee all over again, and trying to get back some mobility. The good news is that the chiro is a wonderful guy and I feel so glad I am going to him.

We've got me able to stand and do household things like cooking and washing up. I can garden for about 20 mins. I can ride my bike short local distances. This week I am teaching special classes at a local company, and with the help of a high stool and taping - I think I can do it.

Let's end on a happy note. I've done a lot of family history research online to use up time sitting down....and in particular exchanged fun e mails with people living in a small village near Cambridge - where my maternal grand-ma came from! Discovering that she was probably illegitimate, but taken on by the good man her mum married when she was six years old.

Here she is, in the front row at school and later in the early 1900s in England!!

Trying to focus

 Another month

Another online visit to Okaasan.

Strange times we live in. 😖

She was...well...I don't know. Okay? She was in bed, on her side and had a tube up her nose. And her hands were in big gloves to stop her pulling the tube out.

Her hair was cut short, and with the pressure from the pillow had quifted up in a little grey spike, like Tintin in black and white. With a lot of encouragement from the attending nurse, Okaasan focused in one the tablet screen for a few minutes. Every now and then her eyes would slip to the nurse, or the bedside curtains.

She appeared to nod. Maybe smiled? Hard to know.

These online meetings leave us grasping at tiny straws for some evidence of connection to our "visit". Does she know us? Is she happy?

We grabble on about the changing season, the temperature, the cat, Queen Elizabeth, our grey hair....anything to fillout 10 mins between the endless: "Hi! Okaasan! It's us. Can you see us? Okaasan! Hi!". Until the computer clock that we have successfully filled out the time and can start doing a minute or goodbyes and see-you-next-time chat.

Then the nurse/we click End Meeting at the bottom of the Zoom screen and it's over for another month.

We go back to watching Stranger Things 4, and prepping dinner.

Okaasan goes back to lying in a hospital bed, with tubes for nutrition in and out. Staring at a bedside curtain or wall. Listening to voices and sounds around her.

I don't want her living in the house with us here. I'm no saintly daughter-in-law who will camapign to Bring Mother Home, so we can have the tube changing/bed baths right here in our lives. But still. I feel sad that her life is this now. 😢

If she were MY mother. Would I feel differently? If this were England, and I could raise hell in my native language, with a care system I can easily understand? Like a heartwarming movie, would I Bring Her Home to Die? Set up the living room with the care bed, and have quirky care helper come in to do the medical stuff, so I could sit at my mother's bedside and have meaningful end of life conversations?

Maybe. I am certainly up for being the difficult customer and fighting a hospital/care administration - mainly because I watched my own mother battling unfortunate service workers over the years. But I'm not sure I would sacrifice my own time and easy life to care for somebody in my home. That's a huge thing. Respect to the people who do it. But, most of us are pretty selfish and are relieved to let strangers do the caring at the end of our elderly's life.

I used to have a middle aged student, whose severely invalid mother had months to live. As her sister was a nurse with necessary skills, the hospital allowed mother to move back to the family house where she amazed everyone by living for almost two years - enjoying her favorite icecreams, visits from the great grandkids and hand massages. It was a wonderful situation. 

But I know I don't want to do that. Can't do that.

Normal...but not for all.

 Yes - still here.

Still can't go into the care home to meet Okaasan face to face.

Once a month, 10 mins online meeting is all we are allowed. New infection numbers are falling all over Japan, after an August 7th wave. The Japanese government has cranked open the borders a little by allowing fully vaccinated foreign visitors to come in on approved escorted/planned by unescorted tours - the tourism industry is whirring into action.

All over Japan there are summer and now autumn events - beer gardens, music festivals, sport and concerts. Japanese people are jetting off for holidays around the world. Classes and work are pretty much face to face.

Quite a few friends who travelled overseas this summer caught COVID and had their return delayed - when the J government still demanded negative tests 72 hours before flying. Or, others got back into Japan ok - and THEN tested positive and had to stay off work for a further 10 days.

Even I toyed with the idea of going back to the Uk for a trip. But 15 hours rerouted via the Middle East or Alaska, crazy prices with fuel surcharges...and a work pattern that is JUST starting to return my earnings to pre-pandemic levels...all of that knocked those idle fancies on the head.

Next year. Next year.

We're ok. The cats are ok. Okaasan in her cocoon/prison is ok.

Summer is sliding into autumn and I've done a lot of kayaking with a friend. Normal life.

But not.

Zoom meet....

 And.

Another Zoom meet and greet.

Guess this summer will pass and we won't have seen Okaasan face to face again. So strange to think we delivered her to that care home last year in November. And we haven't been allowed to be in the same room as her since then.

She was rather puffy faced and hot looking on this Zoom meet.

We sang Happy Birthday - oh my God...the irony of those sentiments....and chatted at Okaasan and the nurses in screen view. Chat and waves. And then it was done. 10 mins is kind of hard to fill.

This weekend is the Bon Festival, when Japanese travel back to home towns and visit graves and remember ancestors. We don't have any of that to do, and I injured my toe (cut RIGHT next to the nail, but the doc says no infection and the toe nail is ok), so I can't go near water and kayak.

Spending my time close to home and enjoying meeting so many friends, their homes, my home, the beer garden. The Pandemic really showed us how valuable face to face time is with people we like, and it's nice to be able to meet and chat again.

Infection numbers are starting to level out and maybe go down here now, as scientists said they would. But, looking around a happy beer garden scene it seems normal is returning. Although - friends in the UK who saw my video of a beer garden commented on the plastic/wood table screens between drinkers. I guess in the UK all of that stuff has been done away with?

Here, at the beer garden - you have to go in at the entrance. temperature check, contact trace info and assigned seating, screens and a 90 min time limit.  But SO GOOD to sit outside and share a beer with friends.

Birthday memories....

 

Long, LONG ago when we were all a bit younger....

The happy family in our messy kitchen. I think this scene was captured by a Japanese artist who was doing a photo project about foreigners in Japanese families, or something.

Anyway.

We sent this happy scene to Okaasan in our birthday card to her last week because she reached 92 years young, but of course we couldn't be with her and will have to sing Happy Birthday to her next week over Zoom.

Remembering years past when we took her out for a big dinner of crab, making sure to control her intake of sake and celebrating a life of daughterhood, wifely cooking duties, super mum and more.

7th wave of Covid is roaring around in Japan at the moment. Daily new infections are topping 7,000 in Hokkaido, but it's summer holidays with many visitors in town and summer events happening. The care home is still on online visits only.

I've got a few empty days in my work schedule, and visits from out of town friends...the beer garden...some kayaking....to enjoy. And then I stubbed my unsocked toes on a metal door frame and did a nasty cut just below the toe nail - dripped blood all over a museum carpet and was luckily helped by an old man who had bandaids in his pocket :-)

Now I'm a-hobbling, putting my foot up a lot to stop the bleeding and swelling...and kind of wondering if I should go to a doctor and have the toe nail ripped off by an expert.

Would you like a photo of THAT??? No, I think not!

Online visiting

 Waving at a screen visit, again.

Okaasan in bed, with a tube up her nose and her hands cocooned in cotton to stop her messing with the tubes...

Both of us squeezed in front of the computer, trying to remember to look directly at the camera as we chat excessively brightly and wave.

10 mins of chat, waves, forced laughter. Our manzai (comedy double act) routine.

Okaasan looked...well, actually her face looked bloated and red. But she smiled, she teared-up a little and she made pouty movements with her lips. So we assumed she understood the experience, and was happy?

I hear from friends and students that some care homes are allowing family visits again. My hospital staff English classes may restart after a two and a half year break. Sapporo is full of summer festivals.

Lots of normal life.

But not able to visit and sit with our old lady yet.

A visit! A visit!!

 A visit is in our sights!

Letter from the care home to announce they are lifting some of then COVID protection rules and will resume online visits - once a month for 10 mins/by reservation etc.

The letter also revealed that April to June the care home had nearly 100 infections - residents and staff. Hence the closing down of all non-necessary activity.

So, we've booked in for an afternoon at the end of the month - 10 mins of loud, cheerful chat and waving at the computer screen.

It's a start. A small start. Let's hope it progresses to face to face meetings, hand holding and ....wow...maybe even wheelchair pushing allowed beyond the care home doors?

Hokkaido summer is SO short, the chance of good enough weather to take an old lady out in her wheelchair is very small - this is the third summer Okaasan hasn't been outside for anything more than building/ambulance transfers. We hope...

Here we are. Another glorious cherry blossom season in Japan.

And no Okaasan to enjoy us it with us.

Bugger Covid.

She is still locked away in a care home/hospital. Basically in a bed, with tubes going in and out. Kind nursing staff coming and talking to her in loud, happy voices.

We discovered this week that even an online meeting is out of the question at the moment. The staff said they aren't doing it at the moment because it takes up staff time, and they are trying to limit staff movement around the hospital.

So. We can't even see her on a computer screen and wave.

Covid new infections have remained pretty constant this spring in Japan, high but not health service and life threatening. The Golden Week holiday came and went, with the expected rise in new case numbers after it. But life plods on.

In fact the Prime Minister started talking about opening Japan to foreign tourists sometime. At first highly controlled tour groups, with approved agencies - and only from countries where the Japanese government thinks test results are valid...such as Singapore, Australia and America. And the numbers of new entries per day will increase to 20,000. Still FAR short of the average 70,000 a day in normal times.

But. All of that aside.

We still can't visit Okaasan and take her out to see cherry blossoms.

 

All clear :-)

 

He's clear.

I'm clear.

Okaasan is clear.

The three of us have gone thru the Covid experience and come out safely. Thankyou science.

Following Sapporo city's current advice, I was out of self isolation after 5 days (with another negative test) and Dear Son was out after 7 days.

To be honest, our self-isolation was easy peasy. NOTHING like a hotel room, a government facility...or the horrendous experiences of Chinese people at the moment who are being barricaded in their homes by authorities.

We did our shopping online and had food gifts from friends/my students. We enjoyed our garden. We went for gentle walks at nighttime in the empty park near home. We watched TV (Suits Season 8 and Japan's version of Bake Off), read books, played with cats....

But still. It's nice to be out and back to normal life.

Now we can get back to hoping that sometime...somehow we will get to meet Okaasan. 

It won't happen soon, as new infection numbers aren't going down here and next week is Golden Week - a week of public holidays, events and travel in Japan. So hospitals are likely to stay closed for another month or more.

Maybe we'll get another online meeting with Okaasan. Let's hope for that.

Covid is IN the house :-(

 Yup.

Welcome Covid...you've, thankfully, been a long time coming.

Dear Son tested positive yesterday. I'm hoping to get tested today. Okaasan now has no fever, or any other symptoms. But she is still in isolation. 

So. On Tuesday this week Dear Son had a lot of pains and cramping around his chest/shoulder/left arm. He has a long history of some kind of heart condition - maybe angina? (Of COURSE he never had a Western medicine diagnosis of what...you know this family and doctors...). Hasn't stopped him with a full, active life.

Anyway this time the pain was repeated over several hours. So we went to the hospital for tests and checks...we were there hours and hours...sitting...waiting...tests...

Doctor finally said it might be a build up of plaque in the arteries due to high cholesterol...beer snacks and cheese and pizza and KFC....and to our slight shock recommended an overnight stay in hospital and then catheter test in the morning.

So we did all the hospital admissions paperwork, Covid test, list of stuff needed from home....sat there feeling a bit surprised. Waited a lot more.

THEN the nurse rushed over, grabbed his wheelchair and whisked us quickly out of the hospital and into a cubical in the Covid testing center in the parking area! His test had come back positive!! 

Now the hospital didn't want to admit him. Sent us home with meds to lower cholesterol, and nitro spray? in case he had a bad attack again. SIGH!

So it begins....a student who works at a drug store is going to deliver me some test kits later today (the hospital didn't want to test me because I had no symptoms, but I'd rather know, and so would two of my work places), and I've rearranged my work schedule....told people who should be told. We'll order in supermarket delivery. 

A time of gardening, Netflix and reading ahead. Spring weather. An enforced holiday. Hopefully HE doesn't feel bad again. A few plans all up in the air...

Where did he get it from? Kind of moot point, it's all over the place. He hardly meets anyone, so maybe I actually caught it and gave it to him? We've actually had a fairly quiet, not meeting anyone couple of days. Most people I met recently was a local guest house English Chat thing last Friday night. Masks, Screens...but coffee and cake. We've been to two restaurants, but mid afternoon with hardly anyone else around.

Ironically - the MOST crowded place we've both been to recently was the local clinic for our vaccination shots a week ago!!! And no - please don't start with the whole anti-vax thing all over my blog....I'm happy to support what health experts tell me to do, happy I got vaccinated. So don't even dare to start with that anti-vax nonsense here.

Anyway. There we are. 

Joining the pandemic...

 Okaasan has Covid.

No serious symptoms at the moment, but a slight fever. She's isolated, of course, and triple vaccinated...so we just hope she'll fight it off.

The call came from the hospital yesterday. Ironically, while Dear Son and I were battling through the 24 hours of post- booster vaccination side effects of headaches, exhaustion and sore arms. I managed to crawl to the computer twice for online lessons....and then back to bed.

Poor Okaasan. She had a slight fever, but that's quite common for the very elderly - I think? But they do regular tests in the hospital. And it came back positive.

It's a big hospital, and even without any family members visiting since last year there is, inevitably, a big traffic of staff in and out every day. So, not surprising.

New infection numbers in Japan are generally not coming down much, because March and April is the season when Japanese people end/start school or college, end/start jobs, move home...have a little party to say goodbye/welcome to someone. The same locally here, bars and restaurants are now open and events are at full capacity.

The schools, particularly the elementary schools, have the greatest number of cases. But they only test now if a child has symptoms because sending whole classes home for 10 days was paralyzing for education.

Anyway. Okaasan. Fight sweety, fight. 

Zoom family time

 Had another Zoom Time with Okaasan yesterday.

Big voices, waves, inane chat to fill no-verbal-response silence. A few random questions to the nursing staff about Covid booster shot schedule in the care home.

Okaasan was on her side in bed. Nose tubes. Hands covered with huge mittens. Face a bit red and puffy. But she did react to the nurses touch and voices. Our voices. There was maybe a smile, mouth movements and neck movement.

What more can I say. Or hope. Expect.

The Quasi State of Emergency ended here last week. Now we are free to go to bars and restaurants and drink alcohol in the evenings. Baseball is back to full capacity crowds. Being Japan - 99% of the population are wearing masks in all public situations. Actually you even see Japanese driving along ALONE in a car and wearing a mask...friends who work at universities say that classes will be back to face to face 100% from April.

New infection numbers are coming down, but slowly. March is the moving/changing life month for millions of Japanese. School and college start, job start, job transfer start, move home start - here in the north we are now seeing car license plates from other parts of the country and most families have somebody making a move of some sort. So Covid is having a move too.

When can we meet Okaasan face to face?? No info on that. The care home is continuing online for now. I guess until the big public holiday Golden Week at the start of May. Or after.

So, we can only hope that we can go to the care home and meet her...and dream of somehow this summer getting her in a wheelchair and wheeling her outside into the sunshine...into the car...doing all of that seems such a long time ago. 3 years ago since we did any of that.

Memories. Facebook reminded me this morning of end of March 2009 when we first moved to this house with Okaasan and I drifted back to my original blog postings about the move and starting our lives together here. I came across the story of my crazy dream about a two-headed Okaasan in the kitchen and us trying to tear the spirit head away!! I'd forgotten that.

Go back to 2009. March 29 for THAT one :-)

Quasi...the new normal...

 What's that experiment about heating up the water slowly and the frog never notices?

Kind of feel all of us living in Japan are kind of like that. Except heating up the water means somebody is taking an action to change the situation. When, in fact, it just feels like whoever has left us on the Pandemic setting of Life at Medium Low has buggered off to do something more interesting.

The Quasi State Of Emergency goes on and on. And on. I'm not sure if it will end, this month? Our lives putter on...the main result of the QSoE is that bars and restaurants close early and don't serve much/any alcohol, that there are still limits on crowd numbers at events and that care homes and hospitals severely limit public access.

Covid is rampaging around the schools now and the government is busy promoting vaccinations for kids. Dear Son and I got our coupons for booster shots, but we'll try to get Pfizer this time around and local clinics are full. So we'll wait a week or two and try again. I don't feel the urgency of before, as we just go on being careful and not meeting many people anyway.

The masks, screens, hand sprays are just part of life. The government has relaxed entry rules for foreign students and business people, and now returning Japanese and foreign residents can go directly home using public transport from their international flight to self-quarantine - if triple vaxed and negative on arrival. This last point was a huge step - and actually made me think I might go to the Uk later this year - if I could arrive on an international flight into Tokyo or Osaka, and then fly the same day up here to north Japan.

And then Putin invaded Ukraine.

Now Asia-Europe flights are detouring over the Middle East, and the usual 12 hour flights became 15....so that would be 15 hours in a mask on a flight...suddenly another year of Japan travel looks more attractive. It's a very good side-effect of all of this - actually seeing more of the country I call home now.

Okaasan?

Yes, this blog is meant to be about her. I DO remember!

We haven't seen her, or been offered another online meeting. Just get the care home bills to pay and information that she got her vaccination. Just waiting....if the QSoE ends...will the care home let us in for heavily supervised visits? A friend said her mother's home allows 10 mins a week chat thru a plastic sheet. Hoping for that, as a start.

And so. Waiting for spring. Temperatures are plus now. The roads are a total mess of melting snow. We spend a lot of time helping to rescue stuck vehicles in our street. My left knee is sore again because i've been lifting heavy, wet snow. My UK Facebook feed is full of green and flowers. 

North Japan. Still white. Still in a state of plodding on thru the pandemic.

Zoom "visit"

 

HELLO OKAASAN!!!

What do you think? Was this a good choice of Zoom filter for our online visit to Okaasan's bedside this week? I waas going for a cheerful, bright vibe...

Actually we just did a No Filter start to the visit, so it was just our smiling faces and waving hands. And then used this for a few minutes to (hopefully) entertain Okaasan and the nurses.

We spent about 10 mins online with Okaasan. She was on her side in bed. She knew it was us, nodded a response and appeared to smile - looked from the screen to the nurse etc.

We noisily prattled on about stuff - as you do with the very old or young/speech incapacitated. Lots of waving and laughs and big gestures. 

Okaasan looked as well as we hoped. Good color in her face. Reactions to the visit.

What more can be said? Strange times.

Omicron is all over us here in Japan now. National new case numbers topped 70,000 yesterday. Here is in Hokkaido daily case numbers were in double digits at the start of the month, and topped 2,000 yesterday. We are going into a Sorta-but-not-quite State of Emergency, which mainly means places serving alcohol have to close early and big events are cancelled.

Next week should be the start of the famous Sapporo Snow Festival, but it's cancelled again and there are just a few statues in the central city park. Two years ago we had the event - but were hearing news about some mystery virus in China and we were happy because the big Chinese tour groups didn't come to the festival - it was slightly easier to get around.

What a strange two years!

Zooming to a family visit...

 

Never mind Zuckerberg's virtual world ambitions - many of us are already in it.

The care home have offered us an online meet and greet with Okaasan. We'll be Zooming our love.

In this strange time, so much of what we do is online - work, play, ceremonies and visits. Last year I "attended" the funeral service of my my oldest friend's dad in the UK, via a camera link at the back of the chapel - beamed into my computer in Japan at 11 pm. Sat here and watched it in my pajamas.

So. We are going to have family visit time with Okaasan via Zoom. I use it for work and play, and Dear Son doesn't - so I'm the Tech Support for this event.

I'm already wondering what cute filters would be best. Maybe the one with a doggy nose and flowers around the screen? Or shall I go with the rabbit one? My usual background for English classes is a shot of blue sky and Big Ben in London. One of my students is always on a lovely beach with rolling waves and palm trees fluttering in the tropical winds.

On a more serious note: maybe we can screen share some family photographs with her? That's an idea.

As she can't talk, this is going to be a few minutes of us making cheerful conversation as we smile and wave. Maybe Dear Son should wander thru the back of the scene in his underpants. That's always good for an online event laugh...

Visits off the table...again...

 AND....Covid derails our visit plans again.😑

Care home called and said all family visits are cancelled while Omicron rampages around our community.

Since the winter holidays and all the travelling that so many people did to finally see families - and a really ridiculous spike in cases connected to US military bases in Japan (arriving personnel and their families faced very relaxed testing and quarantining) - Covid is up and running here again.

Our area went from under 10 new cases a day in December to 300-400 a day this week. Tokyo had 900 a week ago, and over 4,000 yesterday.

And so. We won't get to see Okaasan for another...month? Two months???

I REALLY hope they give family's like us priority reservations when they reopen, because when we entered that care home in mid-December the earliest reservation slot was February 2. So we should be given priority when it all starts again.

Meanwhile we are battling a massive winter storm that's hung around for 4 days now. So much snow. So much wind. People killed under roof snowfalls, Car crashes. Famous trees crashing under the weight of snow. Endless. We are all so tired of the snow.  Below is the neighbor's house....

Happy? New Year

 

Is it? Really? A Happy New Year?

Really, you have to wonder...for Okaasan.

Yesterday we drove to the hospital thru a snow storm and delivered our New Year card and this small flower display. Of course, not TO Okaasan herself. But via the hospital side door, and the security guard called up to the ward. Handed it over to the nurse who came downstairs.

We hope it will give Okaasan some happiness. Give the staff something to chat to her about, when they come bedside to change tubes.

I believe Okaasan will understand what this is. What time of year this is. Will it bring back memories of her mammoth New Year cooking for husband's office staff 60 plus years ago? Or, my not so gorgeous attempts in recent years? My Facebook feed reminded me of the latter, with photos of my creations and shop-bought celebration food in the years when Dear Son was away skiing and Okaasan and I were Home Alone together.

I hope this small arrangement and the card with a picture of her dearest son will bring some happy memories to her. We can't see her until February, because of Covid visit limits. About two weeks ago I took in a small photo album of memories too - handed it over to the nurse. More hoping.

Dear Son and I are having a very low key holidays, at home with the TV and food and alcohol. Skiing and snow shoeing. Attending to the digestion problems of one of the cats. Putting off the diet plans...until later....

2022 has GOT to be better. Hasn't it! Is Omicron this viruses last hurrah? Japan is very strictly limiting access, still - and I have several friends who ventured out to see family abroad for the holidays - when they return it'll be thru a slew of tests, retests and quarantine. The government is running out of space to put the quarantining people, so passengers arriving in Tokyo have even been bussed or FLOWN to hotels in other cities around the country. Actually flown! Come off a long international flight, go thru all the checks etc at the airport and then herded onto another flight and taken off somewhere else.

If you live within taxi or private car reach of Tokyo or Osaka's airports, you might be able to get home to quarantine. But for thousands it has meant a 3 to 14 day stay in a hotel. At least you don't have to pay....the government is funding it. 

And if someone on your international flight later tests positive - you are called up at home and asked to go back into a hotel...

So relieved I don't have any pressing family need to go to the UK now. Maybe this year? Will travel become easier? Hope so.

And HOPE visiting an old lady at the end of her life in a hospital bed 10 mins away from here will become easier. Of course.