Thursday and I have a meeting at 9 o’clock. A swift breakfast and then I am sat in front of the screen. It’s a productive meeting and by mid morning it comes to a conclusion and I am free to catch up with my social media. I find a video from our friends in Shri Lanka with several messages. I watch the video and I am set back on my heels as I see how the families home has deteriorated since we saw it ten years ago in 2011. It was basic then but clearly things have got worse. COVID has hit Shri Lanka hard and things have become very difficult. The messages from the families eldest daughter tell me that the whole family has an income of only 30,000 Shri Lanka rupees, a month which equates to £110. There are four adults and a young boy the family. The video makes me realise just how fortunate I, and my family are. In case you are wondering the video was made on the pone we provided so that the children could continue to study during COVID. The daughter sent messages asking me to show the video to all my friends and family and so I have included it here. I am not expecting anyone to do anything or contribute but I think it important to know that others in the world who are friends are struggling to survive. I am sure our friends are not alone in their difficulties. This family are survivors of the tsunami that hit Shri Lanka and have been living in the same emergency concrete cube temporary housing sine that time. It seems as ever they are trying to make the best of their situation but COVID has placed yet another obstacle in their way.

I will not be complaining about my situation again, the gift of her video has once again jolted me back to the reality of the world. I and my partner will of course respond.

At lunchtime I bathe and get ready to go to my very first chiropody appointment. As I drive to the appointment a friend calls me and chats about how the family are coping with one of their daughters having COVID and the situation at her school. I arrive at the chiropodist to find her rearranging an appointment for someone one whose partner had died unexpectedly. A difficult call to hear. I am ushered into the clinical room and seated on the special chair. My socks are removed and my feet are examined with a running commentary on how they are. They are in fact “good feet” but need a little work. My troublesome big toes will need some attention. The chiropodist sets to with a scalpel and then her high speed grinders, filers, buffers and sanders. In order to sort my left big toe out she had to cut my nail back a long way on one side which made me wince but was necessary. She finished the work and finished by massaging lotion into my newly gleaming feet. I have to say my feet felt very happy and comfortable. I know instantly that this was a good idea, one of my better decisions. I follow her into the reception area and waited to hear the bill. It is £29, a genuine bargain, it is the best £29 I’ve spent in a long time, although I do reflect that it is 7900 Shri Lanka rupees and the equivalent of just over a third of our friends monthly family income.

I drive home, eat and change into my training gear and go and row for half an hour in the garage. It feels that I am coming down with a cold as my nose is streaming so I do what I always do and that is try to burn it out of myself by training. The session is sluggish and hard work, so I am clearly under the weather a tad.

I record the session, change and eat tea, the usual Thursday tuna pasta. I settle down to watch the Great Britain women’s ice hockey team beat Iceland in a pre Olympic qualifying game and then write the blog.