OYSTERHOOD is reclusiveness or solitude, or an overwhelming desire to stay at home.

— @HaggardHawks

My brother is doing a workshop where he has to answer questions about his childhood. Today, he asked Mom to fill in some gaps and dug out old photographs, and we met on Skype to wander down memory lane. He showed me many photographs that I do not recall ever seeing before. The one above is one that I do remember and love. The two of us have always had a loving, great relationship, and many of the photographs capture this bond – I am so blessed to have a brother like him, the best brother in the universe.

This morning, I read about a completely different childhood, one ravaged by war. Krystian and I did not have it easy growing up as refugees, but we never had to go through the kind of horrors I read about in the memoir. I was relieved to close the last page of the book and to know that the author is alive and has somehow managed to make a life for herself.

News from the isolation front: imaginary symptoms continue, but otherwise I am fine. It was sad to think that I could not host the celebration sale I planned for today, nor go to a birthday tea I was invited to, but otherwise, a quiet, good day. The women’s RG final was completely uninspiring, although I managed to iron all my laundry of the last two weeks while it was on, so I am not complaining, and I loved the ceremony afterwards, especially Barbara Pravi’s performance of “Voilà” (it made me sorry that I missed the Eurovision Song Contest this year) and the delivery of the trophy to the court by two of France’s frontline workers (a deeply moving moment).

Earlier in the day, I sat with Mozart and Glinka in the garden and enjoyed the sun. Salieri’s condition is stabilising – she is eating less food and less often, but actually gaining weight, and I am getting her used to the application of an oral gel on her gums. We are making progress.

Another day of roughly 9000 new infections. The third wave is also making progress, but it is the kind that brings no good news.

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local.

“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”

— NICD