Cool.

Today's weather is a reminder of our usual British summer weather, cool, grey and wet. Not the sort of day to tempt anyone to sit out in their gardens. Instead I made some apple pancakes to brighten up this gloomy day. (The weatherman on the radio has just said we've had the hottest April since records began.) Saying that, a bit of sun has appeared between the clouds.

My day began well with a phone call from the cardiologist up at the hospital. Under normal circumstances that would have sent anyone into a panic but not these days. I had a very useful conversation with the nice Lithuanian cardiologist about the results of the last increase of the beta blocker suggested by my doctor. She's given some suggestions regarding some of the other medicines I take which I'll do and then there's not a lot more that can be done until I can have the monitor and then a face to face appointment. When I do I can bring along my notebook which holds daily details of symptoms and medications.

I've spent the day catching up with little jobs and general tidying. One job was to finish putting elastic in all the facemasks I made. Originally in the star mask I used elastic which went round the back of my head but today I changed it to elastic cord that slips over the ears. That should be sufficient for any shopping trip. I still think we'll all be asked to wear some sort of mask when out in public. (On the radio the Scottish First Minister has asked people to wear masks when out.) The reasons against, which I'm hearing right now are that people will forget the rest of the precautions and they might attempt to buy medical masks which should be for health workers only. Those are not valid reasons in my book.

We had an email from our friend's husband and she seems not to be any worse which is all we can hope for. The latest emphasis on the news is about the numbers of people in care homes that are affected and the lack of support and testing in care homes which are mainly in private hands. At least now there are promises that all people in care homes will be tested which hadn't been happening. Can you believe that there is still not testing, not even temperature checks of people arriving at the airports? There's more control going into a supermarket than coming into the country.
One other worrying fact - having thought that children were only mildly affected by the virus it looks as if the virus might be the cause of a severe inflammatory disease affecting children. I know I wouldn't be happy sending my children back to school until a vaccine has been developed.