{"id":2033,"date":"2021-04-19T12:23:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T12:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moniqueshutch.com\/?p=2033"},"modified":"2021-12-26T12:23:42","modified_gmt":"2021-12-26T12:23:42","slug":"test-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moniqueshutch.com\/test-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Day #12 – Test #2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We wake up slightly hungover with not even the promise of some salty bacon, eggs or vegemite to absorb the effect. Sunday is cornflakes day and I\u2019ve already decided I won\u2019t be bothering with it. I stick to the yoghurt back-up supplemented with a large blueberry muffin. The muffin doesn\u2019t seem too sweet to begin with but the sweetness seems to build as I make my way through and I have to abandon the last mouthfuls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day 12 means it\u2019s second PCR test time. We are expecting them to come knocking some time in the morning and I anxiously migrate around the room once we\u2019ve finished breakfast, compulsively checking the peephole for the presence of healthworkers in the hallway. They don\u2019t come, even after I\u2019m through my physio exercises, Day 11 blog post, and cursory clean of the bathroom. I check the hallway again, but there\u2019s nothing, so I take a shower and make myself another instant coffee. The fresh milk we bought on Day 1 is almost out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We check the lunch menu and they are serving pesto pasta salad with smoked chicken. It wasn\u2019t too bad last week, although really they could have left out the pasta and focused on the salad mix. I remember that dinner will be the lamb \u201ctagine\u201d they served last Sunday with the wet sponge dessert so I tell Michael to keep an eye on the lunch competition so that we can perhaps keep the chicken salads for later. Today he is successful and we secure ourselves another \u201cHellfire burger.\u201d It\u2019s nearing 11.45am when we hear a knock at the door. I\u2019m expecting the lunch delivery until I hear the call \u201cWA Health!\u201d They\u2019re finally here!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael masks up, pulls the door open a crack and speaks to the European chick clad in the usual bright blue PPE. She and her colleague take down Michael\u2019s date of birth and mobile number then I come forward and recite my mobile number from behind my black mask. \u201cWho wants to go first?\u201d she asks. Given I\u2019m already in the doorway, I volunteer, and after checking my details which are printed on the sample vial, pull down my mask and wait while she probes first down my throat then into each nostril. The throat one takes me by surprise and I gag slightly until I remember to relax and open wide. Michael goes next and given I don\u2019t hear any coughing or choking sounds I assume it goes pretty well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We close the door and shortly after there is another knock – chicken salads have arrived. We rifle through the bag to split out what we want to keep and are scandalized to find two cans of diet coke included. Luckily we have enough soda stores to keep us going – we don\u2019t usually drink soda anyway except when on vacation and it\u2019s part of a Maccas meal deal or substitute for beer – but diet coke is something I can\u2019t abide, on the same level as Dr. Pepper and Sarsparilla. Evidently we\u2019re not the only ones with a similar intolerance – the guy across the hall from us leaves his full diet coke can sitting outside his door, perhaps under the impression that it will be drunk by someone else rather than disinfected and tossed in the trash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our burger arrives some 30 minutes later and is in a slightly more disheveled state than yesterday\u2019s but still good. We\u2019re going to end up powered by burgers by the time this is over and I remind myself to get on the exercise bike later on. For the first time, Michael has turned the TV on during the day. There\u2019s a surfing competition on in New South Wales and I glance over from my spot in the armchair every few minutes to watch some Brazilian dude coasting through the water. Outside it\u2019s another beautiful day, I\u2019ve been looking out the window all morning at a group that\u2019s having some kind of gathering in the park below. They\u2019ve set up a little tent and are now engaging in some kind of movement ritual with a guy out the front holding a large spear-like stick. It\u2019s interesting to watch from above as they stalk across the field as a coordinated group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can tell Michael is antsy today too. He continues watching the surfing while playing on his phone after we finish with the crossword. I sit cross-legged on the armchair and soak up the sun. We exchange looks across the room intermittently. It doesn\u2019t seem as cold in here today thankfully. Minutes drift by and I finally finish the latest Tana French book. I\u2019m glad it\u2019s done, it was an effort to get through which is disappointing given how much I enjoyed her Dublin Murders novels. At about 2.30pm I call my sister in Geelong who\u2019s enjoying a Sunday afternoon bellini. Our nephews played soccer this morning, but neither won their respective games unfortunately. It\u2019s the first game back since everything was put on hold a year ago with the pandemic so they enjoyed playing regardless. They have training again tomorrow after school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My challenge for today is a tricky one – I have to rewrite the words to a 90\u2019s song reflecting my experience in quarantine. I\u2019ve settled on \u201c100% Pure Love\u201d by Crystal Waters, which Michael claims he doesn\u2019t know, and have already jotted down a couple of phrases that came into my head while I was cleaning this morning. I look up the actual lyrics online and try to ensure that I follow the same structure and rhythm with my words. I wonder how best to present my work to the girls and contemplate somehow creating an audio file for them. I am able to find some YouTube videos meant for karaoke where only the backing music is played. I download a voice recorder on my phone that Michael has used before and recommends, and record myself singing the new song lyrics with the YouTube music playing in the background. I make it through the main parts of the song but lose my shit towards the end where the chorus starts to repeat. Quietly impressed with my own efforts I send the audio file across to the girls and say a silent thank you to them for getting me to laugh at myself regularly during these last 2 weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael and I take turns on the bike and while I am on it dinner is delivered. He retrieves the plastic bag and puts the cold items in the fridge. After we have both showered we resume our positions at the coffee table by the window and finish off the last of the cheese we got from Woolies before breaking out the chicken salad saved from lunch. Michael eats a few pieces of lamb from the dinner delivery – far from Moroccan it looks like a bag of frozen Asian vegetables has been emptied into the foil container. I pick out a piece of baby corn and my decision to stick with the salad is justified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We relocate to the bed and the rest of the night is spent watching more crap than we have for the entire time in quarantine – Michael makes me watch \u201cSpicks & Specks\u201d and when it\u2019s finished we get to witness Jamie Durie wearing fake leather and fighting to keep his place in Dancing with the Stars. I still haven\u2019t got a look at Schapelle Corby\u2019s dance skills and for that I am super disappointed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have an early call with my boss tomorrow morning and the hotel has put out an announcement warning there might be delays with breakfast deliveries due to another leper flight arrival. I select a new book from my kindle about cosmetic surgery trends in South Korea, read a couple of pages to get myself into the story and then it\u2019s light out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We wake up slightly hungover with not even the promise of some salty bacon, eggs or vegemite to absorb the effect. Sunday is cornflakes day and I\u2019ve already decided I won\u2019t be bothering with it. I stick to the yoghurt back-up supplemented with a large blueberry muffin. The muffin doesn\u2019t seem too sweet to begin …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moniqueshutch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2033"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moniqueshutch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moniqueshutch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moniqueshutch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moniqueshutch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2033"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/moniqueshutch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2037,"href":"https:\/\/moniqueshutch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2033\/revisions\/2037"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moniqueshutch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moniqueshutch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moniqueshutch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moniqueshutch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}