Daffodil shoots are appearing in places where I wasn’t expecting them. I guess I must have bought a pot of daffodils last spring and then just plopped down the bulbs in some random place when they were finished. Wouldn’t be the first time.

If one looks really carefully, there are other things starting to flower, not just crocuses.

I’m fed up with my vague symptoms and almost-unwellness, so I ordered a covid test. It involved poking a tickly stick at the back of my throat, and up my nose, which was distinctly unpleasant. Now the results are in a tightly closed tube, wrapped in a sealed bag, wrapped in another sealed bag.

I’ve been participating in a crowdsourced study of covid-19 since last summer. Or maybe longer, I can’t remember. Every day (when I don’t forget it) I report whether I have any symptoms that might be related to covid-19. The list started out quite brief but has grown with time. Now there are four pages of checkboxes: from fevers and chills and aches, through rashes and purple lesions on toes, on to tiredness and lack of appetite – and so on and on. I’ve never been observing minor symptoms of disease in myself as closely and curiously as I am now.

I’m checking more and more boxes on that list, but none of them severely. And not the really specific ones like loss of taste or smell. The same with Ingrid, who is still not really well either but not really sick either. I’m focusing more on the sneezing and tickly throat side of things, while she has more aches here and there.

What I notice most now is the tiredness and lack of energy. I tried working but felt after an hour that I really had no energy for anything that required concentration or active effort. I spent the rest of the day lying (not even sitting) and reading in the sofa, and then moved to doing the same in the bed because it was flatter and had a better pillow.

I got up for lunch and dinner, and while my body had no problem doing it, my brain was constantly telling me how much I wanted to lean the weight of my head on my elbow, and how heavy the cutlery was, and what an effort it was to move the food to my mouth. Couldn’t someone invent some kind of thing to do the work for me. Ingrid agreed.

I am not well and I am not sick. Slightly scratchy throat, slightly blocked nose, slightly chilled. And above all, tired.

I went out for a walk at lunchtime, hoping it would give me some energy. Instead I found myself thinking “are we there yet” and “can I go home soon”.

Tried to photograph hazel blossoms in the park but it was windy and they would not stay still long enough.

For Eric’s birthday, I bought tickets for an online concert. Eric shares his birthday with Johann Sebastian Bach, so there is an Early Music Day on this day.

It was an odd experience. Live but not live. It was a live concert but it didn’t really feel like it.

The music was lovely. The production, not so much. Odd camera angles where our view of the musician’s face was blocked by a microphone stand; weird cuts from one camera to another; a sound mix that wasn’t adjusted when the musician switched instruments. Either it was done on a shoestring budget, or by people who are used to very different kinds of concerts and out of their depth here. Our guys at tretton37 produce much better live streams.

On the plus side, in a real live concert I would never have gotten a live view of the harpsichord player’s hands.

Random observation: my brain noticed the harpsichord much more when the view switched to his hands. Objectively I knew there was no change in the music, but as soon as I could see him play, my brain picked up the harpsichord so much more clearly.

The Viburnum blossoms have been on the way since December, on the cusp of opening.

Single-use plastic bags for fruit and veggies went from ubiquitous to reviled almost overnight. Now ICA and Coop both offer paper bags instead. I find those bulky and clumsy so I got myself a set of reusable mesh bags instead, which I keep in my purse so I always have them with me.

I never saw those single-use bags as single-use. I always saved them and reused them. When I buy a chunk of cheese and tear open the packaging, I need a bag for the cheese. When I go out hiking, I need a bag or two for my sandwiches, or for taking home my garbage. When I have a plate of leftover pancakes, I need a bag to cover them with so they don’t dry out.

Now I don’t have an inflow of these bags any more, and I miss them. There are freezer bags you can buy on a roll, and they work fine for most tasks. They just feel a bit more wasteful because they’re thicker than the single-use bags. The problem with the freezer bags is that they are all narrow. When I go up in size to 5 litre bags, they get longer but not much wider. None of them fit over a dinner plate.

I avoid cling wrap because hasn’t been clingy for years (I think the material was changed at some point due to environmental concerns?) so it always disappoints me.

Today someone went shopping and came home with apples in one of those shameful plastic bags. I am so going to hoard it!

My favourite apple variety is Ingrid Marie. And fortunately for me, it is one of the few varieties of Swedish apples that is sold all throughout the winter. Aroma and Cox Orange have also been available, off and on, but I don’t care much for those.

I’m impressed that they manage to store these apples all the way until the end of March, and they’re still crisp and in good shape.

This seems to be the end, though. I haven’t seen any at either Coop or ICA in the last few days. I’m savouring the last one.

Ingrid found out this weekend that one of the friends she hangs out with is unwell, and his mother has tested positive for covid-19. And now she is sick as well. It started with a slightly sore throat, and then continued with headache, tiredness, mild fever, and a general feeling of being unwell and achy.

The current procedure is that everyone with symptoms of possible covid-19 infection should get tested. In Stockholm you can either make your way to a drive-in testing station, or get a DIY test delivered home. We went the home testing route.

The process was very smooth. You book online, and a few hours later a test is delivered to your door. You get 15 minutes to take the test, and then the courier comes back to pick up the little test tube with your sample.

Ingrid took the test in the middle of the day and late this evening she already got the result. Negative.

It’s an odd coincidence that she would get some other respiratory infection just as she has been exposed to someone who has been exposed… or perhaps this was a false negative. Who knows. But lacking any other information, I guess we’ll have to trust the test.

And now my own throat is feeling a bit sore. We’ve been trying to keep Ingrid at more of a distance than usual, but we’re still in the same rooms, breathing the same air, so it’s hard to not infect each other with whatever it is.

Adrian made this rhino sculpture, liked it but had no use for it, so he gave it to me. Now it sits on my desk because I also like it but have no real use for it.

Part of the role of a parent is to accept gift of random crafts, apparently. Drawings and paintings, embroidered pieces of cloth, pin cushions, decorated candle holders, miscellaneous objects made of paracord or steel wire or wood…

I guess the rhino can stay here until it gets replaced by the next thing.