As we knew, laddo was going to miss two games. That’s if nothing else developed in the way of symptoms for any of us in the time we were all in isolation.
The gov.uk website’s guidance on how to cope with somebody in the household having had a positive test shows just how out of touch the government are with ordinary family’s living arrangements.
These are the instructions for if you have a positive test result.
“Spend as little time as possible in shared spaces such as kitchens, bathrooms and sitting areas. Avoid using shared spaces such as kitchens and other living areas while others are present and take your meals back to your room to eat.“
It wasn’t going to happen that our 13 year old daughter would spend 10 days cooped up in her bedroom, eating all her meals by herself. No chance.
Then, instruction for the person who has had the positive test.
“Use a separate bathroom from the rest of the household where possible. If a separate bathroom is not available, try and use the facilities last, before cleaning the bathroom using your usual cleaning products.“
Without having done a survey on the living arrangements of the country, I understand en-suite bathrooms are much more common these days than they used to be but doubt that everybody has that luxury. In which case, they’re suggesting a child tries to wait until everybody else has done, then they can use the bathroom but they need to give it a full clean it before returning to their cell.
I suppose these rules are quite different if you’re an MP, living in a huge house with multiple bathrooms. Having said that, as previously shown, the rules don’t necessarily apply to MPs – do as I say, not do as I do.
Anyway, back to the present.
10 days after my daughter’s COVID test and she went back to school. No further symptoms, other than the temperature that she had for the first 5-6 days. The other three of us though, need to stay home until Friday as it’s 14 days of isolation if you live with someone who’s tested positive.
I don’t want to tempt fate but none of us have so far shown any signs of symptoms in the last 10 days. Both my wife and myself – similar to plenty of others by the sounds of it – think it’s possible we might have had it or something like it, fairly recently but again without any of the main 3 symptoms. I know plenty of people who recall feeling unwell around the turn of the year and couldn’t seem to shake off whatever it was they were suffering from.
One thing I’ve learnt from it all, since a week last Friday is that it’s easy to lose track of what day of the week it is. Being confined to the house for the last week and a half – apart from putting the bins out – I can see how easy it could be to get stuck in a rut if you were unfortunate enough to be made redundant without something else on the horizon. One day merges into the next – even when you’re lucky enough to be able to be working from home for a couple of weeks.
I saw something on tv at the weekend where officials reckon that only a very small minority are actually sticking to the self-isolation rules. Maybe that’s just a line the government are using so they can keep pushing cities into tier 3 restrictions. But I also heard about somebody watching his daughter play football when he was waiting for the result of his own COVID test. The people he was stood with knew nothing about him waiting for a test result, until he rang one of them two days later to let him know he’d tested positive.
Maybe it goes back to MPs doing as they please, that average folk don’t see why they should have to change their lifestyle.
Or maybe it’s just that people don’t bother to read up on the rules until it affects them directly.
Either way it’s plain selfish.
So far my lad’s team have not been affected too badly, numbers wise, by COVID – apart from losing their keeper for 2 matches. Once we’d found out that his sister had tested positive, somebody had suggested we take laddo for a test and that way, if it came back negative, he’d be able to play. Unfortunately not.
Apart from not knowing what you can and can’t do, maybe that just shows in his mind, the significance of having a recognised keeper.
If you’ve read of any of my blogs before, you’ll know my thoughts on it. And if the rules said I could have taken him for a test, which would have meant he could play, I would have. But they don’t.
So going back to the two thought processes:
a) I don’t care what the rules say, or b) I haven’t read the rules
Junior football is the ‘be all and end all’ for some people. And I’m not talking about the kids. You only have to go and watch a game and you’ll see at least one dad, or mum for that matter, screaming from the sidelines. I’d be willing to bet there are plenty that would fall into both the a) and b) categories to prevent their kid from missing games.
As much as neither of us liked it, there was no way my lad was going to play in either game.
But you could risk it…
Nobody from your own team would say anything, would they? Your lad could play and help his team mates get a win. He might even be man of the match. But then what happens if a few days later, one of the other lads in the team comes down with the virus? Or maybe half the team does? It could be a complete coincidence and nothing to do with your lad but who would know. The finger would be pointed at you.
As we found out, you end up trapped in the house for a fortnight, apart from the excitement of taking the bins out, or the dog chasing you round the garden.
Some people wouldn’t take too kindly to that, especially if they were to end up out of pocket, if for example they weren’t able to work from home. And all for a game of football.
The first game had been a 5-4 loss but even without the keeper playing, from 3-0 up, maybe they should have still got the three points. We’ll never know if it would have made a difference if my lad had played.
So bottom of the league after one game, the other game he was going to miss was the quarter final of the cup. The same lad was deputising in goal with my lad missing, as well as two more out injured. It would have been a tough game even with a full squad.
The manager was back out of self-isolation, so he and one of the other dads kept us in touch with what was happening. 1-0 down, then level, then 2-1 up. After that it went quiet and we were trying to work out when full time would be. The minutes ticked by, very slowly. I sent a text. 2-2 was the reply. So extra time to be played. No further goals, so penalties.
The opposition went first and scored. We scored ours. For the first four penalties each, nobody missed. Then our keeper saved one, a great save by all accounts. So if we scored our next, we’d won. Sadly it wasn’t the case and he put it wide. The next miss was another of our lads and we went out 7-6 on penalties.
So, all in all, in the two games we weren’t far off getting a result in both. My lad might have made a difference in goal, who knows. Him playing though, would definitely have freed up the stand in keeper to play in his more familiar midfield position. Even though in the cup match, he got man of the match with the gloves on.
When I see him at training on Friday, I’ll ask him if he enjoyed his couple of games in goal. My guess is that he will have, in a funny sort of way but I’d also be willing to bet that he’ll be happy and relieved to be back in midfield on Sunday.
From our point of view, we’re both excited to be getting back to football. He’s got training on Friday, a friendly for Sheffield Schoolboys on Saturday morning and a league game for Sheffield FC on Sunday. But also in the back of my mind, I’m really hoping that it’s our only involvement with self-isolation.
Keeper of the faith 