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A worldwide pandemic poetry
A viral pandemic
The state of the world, the state of our country,
A pandemic has hit, it’s really rather nasty.
The chaos it’s caused, to the global economy.
The call for a lockdown, and now freedom is not free.People losing their jobs, or being redeployed.
For now, our lives, are temporarily destroyed.
Many people are now vulnerable and alone,
And many more are now working from home.For some from work they are taking a break,
As the Chancellor knows theres more than money at stake.
For some can now rest after being furloughed,
80% of their wages, for some a hard road.The NHS and keyworkers we continue to work,
The teachers have the children, some need the support.
Watching others home school while we do our best,
Working hard, we are tired and stressed.Calling for an end to this Corona Virus,
We hope that the nation is really behind us.
People meeting friends for simple recreation,
Please stay at home, help end this devastation.Shopping
A trip to the supermarket is greeted with a queue,
One in, one out it’s the best they can do.
Working so hard at trying to be safe,
No one wants to catch it, face masks are rife.So, do you shop for just what you need?
Or do you buy extra, but not exceed.
The stress of the supermarket, of just getting food,
It’s no longer easy and people can be rude.This morning I lay in bed as an NHS worker,
Thinking do I go now for the NHS shopping hour?
My bed it was warm, and I pulled up my duvet,
Knowing the queue later, it will not go away.A queue to get in and a queue to get out,
The British public can make me scream and shout.
This pandemic has thrown us into the same situation,
None of us happy all moaning about our morning mission.I keep reading that this is unprecedented,
For this overused word, my patience hasn’t relented.
This is something we thought we’d never live through,
And smile and carry on, is all we can do.Kids are not at school
So here we are now with the kids stuck at home,
COVID -19 brings quality time, we are not alone.
For now, we have to make the most of what we have,
We don’t know the future and we have to be brave.For more see, Corona Virus (Covid-19) panic poetry
Fiction writing – Castle hospital and an infectious disease
My other blog – Corona Virus (Covid-19) fears, life and writing
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Castle hospital and an infectious disease
November 28th 2021
The trauma of the last year has truly rocked the world. The friends of the Earth have rejoiced as our planet has steadily rejuvenated without the mass pollution.
The deaths and the heartache, the altruism of strangers. People isolated and the unwell, the reliance on Social Media and our devices. The pubs and clubs that were once so busy that suddenly overnight became silent. The families that found themselves thrown together, working from home and caring for their children, some trying to teach.
The effects on the economy and the Chancellor in the UK suddenly offering billions to support people at this crucial time. Businesses closing and torment to the self-employed.
Covid-19 swept the UK in March 2020. The fear that we all felt and then the tears as the schools closed on Friday 20th March. The efforts of the National Health Service, trying their best to make people better. The queues in the supermarkets. No longer could I race in at 16.00 for a bottle of milk. The shelves were empty due to all the panic buyers. No longer could I get a space for home delivery. Quite soon some places were rationing, and others were allocating times for the elderly, vulnerable and the National Health Service.
The advice to wash your hands for twenty seconds, whilst singing ‘Happy Birthday’ twice. How many of us did this? Twenty seconds is a long time when you are in a hurry. At this time though very important.
Photo by Burst on Pexels.com People were told they could only have five guests to their wedding due to social distancing and holiday companies were busy with cancellations.
Then on the evening of the 23rd March the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, announced the lock down of the UK. Weddings, christenings, all gatherings except funerals were cancelled and only food shops were left open.
Never before had I experienced anything like this. People arguing over toilet roll, people crying because they couldn’t do their weekly shop. The community spirit of people supporting others.
The day that I developed a cough I worried that I had caught the virus. As it got worse, I needed to self-isolate. Feeling unwell I checked my temperature. Reading thirty-eight degrees my fear started to grow. It was a day later that I woke struggling to breathe. My husband, Paul, was sleeping in another room with our son, but I needed help.
I was in a fugue state as I woke and saw a man in white staring at me. Paul had found me struggling to breathe and had dialled 999 telling the operator that he suspected Covid-19 as he could hear me struggling to breathe. Finding myself attached to oxygen and hearing my temperature was now at forty degrees. I allowed the paramedics to take charge and help me out of my house, I cried at Paul, but I couldn’t do anything.
Castle hospital
Everything was a blur as I was taken to Castle hospital. There’s so much that I don’t remember but I am told that I was critical.
Approached by a man in white I wasn’t sure what he was asking me. Explaining it again to me, I realised he was wanting to use me to test a new vaccine. Was this wise? Do I trust that the nurses will save me? Or do I take the medication? I’m advised that it could have terrible side affects but I will be compensated with a sum of money. The best it could do is cure me and I will soon be home.
As I took the medication, I feared the worse. I imagined developing boils, severe diarrhoea or bleeding from my nose. Lying in an oxygen bubble, I prayed that this was going to help save us all.
The year 2020 will go down in history and so will Castle Hospital. It took a few weeks, but the drugs worked. I was soon walking out hoping that they would be able to market a vaccine. I received my cheque and told that other tests needed to be done but my part was valuable and brave. Maybe It was the fear of dying that made me agree. The thought that I would never see my family again.
As the children returned to school in September 2020, progress was being made. We were now able to buy tests and check if we were positive for having antibodies against COVID-19. Many were able to continue working despite having colds and flu. Once again, a worker could sit at their desk with a box of tissues without everyone around them scared of catching COVID-19.
Christmas came and went, the virus was still out there and people were still advised to practice social distancing. It was February 2021 as the drug companies announced that after all the months of trials and tests, they had a safe vaccine. One that could finally be used on the population. It was a few months later that the whole world was vaccinated. Months of nurses in clinics and supermarkets. Everyone had to receive it or risk catching COVID-19, there was no excuses.
Planet Earth
Here I am today, November 2021. The environment has done well. Businesses have realised that staff can effectively work from home and do not need to commute every day to an office. The air is cleaner, and people appear more respectful of others and grateful for what they have.
It’s now that I look up at the sky and see the jet stream of a plane. Something I have not seen for months. I feel a little sad watching it. It’s almost as if the Earth had reset itself with COVID-19, bringing the world pollution to a stop. I now thought, how soon will the world be as polluted as it was back at the end of 2019 when this whole disaster started? What does man have to do to stop this from happening? What could I do? I owe my life to Castle hospital. COVID-19 has been beaten, we now need to focus on saving our planet.
Please note: This is fiction, we are in March 2020 at the beginning of this crisis. Please everyone keep a distance of two metres apart in public and be respectful of others and remember to wash your hands. Continue to follow the isolation guidelines. This is a nasty disease and we all need to work together to beat it.
Written for Blog Battle – Castle
For more see, The love and death of vivacious Sarah – written for Blog Battle Vivacious
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Evie and the ‘Violin folk’
Violin music
The haunting music played as I sat huddled up in a corner of my bedroom. The sad mourning sound of Evie and her violin. Once part of a popular folk band, she no longer left her house. The sound was beautiful, yet sad.
Two months ago, a gig had ended in tragedy. As her partner George finished singing, his body appeared to convulse as he fell into the audience. The crowd had caught him before realising that he was unconscious. Later a forensics report on his bottle of water showed that he had been drugged. An overdose of Tylenol had ended in liver failure and his death.
The police have not found his killer. The band haven’t played together since, and Evie now plays the same tune over and over. For her that violin is cathartic, but for me it’s sound just goes through my head. I can’t ask her to stop because it’s her only therapy.
Visitors
Hearing a bang on the door, I stir. I don’t want to move but I need to know who it is. Pushing myself up I hear another knock, louder this time.
Answering the door, there is a tall stranger, my heart jumps, what now?
“Hello, Jane Mills?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
“I’m Detective Inspector Moss and this is PC Ward.”
I looked at the woman, trying to place whether this visit was good or bad.
“Okay, err, come in”.Showing them to my lounge I wasn’t sure whether to offer them drinks or just sit down. Feeling awkward, I gestured towards the settee as I sank into my arm chair.
“Are we okay to call you Jane?” asked the woman.
“Yes, what’s this about?” I could still hear Evie sadly playing.
“We have had reports of a group of lads watching these houses. We are wondering if you have noticed them.” I thought for a moment.
“To be honest, I haven’t thought about it. I try and go out when I can, Evie won’t stop playing the violin, over and over.”
“She does sound very sad”. I nodded at PC Ward.“Are these men connected to George’s death?”
“We suspect they could be, if you see anything please phone the station.”
Getting up DI Moss passed me his business card.
“I will phone if I see anything. Is Evie in danger?”
“We don’t know, but she’s not answering her door.”
I nodded thinking how occupied she is with the violin. Too sad for visitors.A day later
Sat drinking my morning coffee, I was watching the scene out of my window. I now saw a group of men sitting on the wall across the road like the three wise monkeys. If the police hadn’t bought them to my attention then I wouldn’t have thought about it. I thought of Evie, I could still hear her screeching violin.
Watching them jeering I picked up the phone. Dialling the number on yesterday’s business card, I wondered how soon someone might come. I then had the urge to try and talk to Evie again. What was the story? And why had George been killed?
Ten minutes later I heard two cars outside. The men started to run with the police chasing after them. Through all the excitement, the violin music continued.
A little later I watched the men bundled into the cars and I took the opportunity to check on Evie. Shutting the door behind me, I felt pain in my stomach, what was I going to say to her? Ringing her bell there was no answer, maybe she couldn’t hear me.
Deciding to check around the back I walked through her tall metal black gate. The first thing I noticed was the line of pots with just brown dead stems. I then realised for the last two weeks I have heard the violin constantly. She had spent so long mourning she had neglected her garden completely. Evie loved her garden, so though she was hurting, letting her plants die didn’t make sense.
Around the back
Feeling sick now, I reached her back door. Finding it locked I had a bad feeling, something was wrong. I regretted not checking on her sooner. Would I be in trouble if I threw a brick through the window? Pulling my phone out, I once more dialled the police. The operator advised they would be with me shortly.
Looking through her windows, I spotted her violin sat alone on the settee. The sad music was still playing, it made sense now to have been playing on repeat. I couldn’t see any signs of Evie, but her dark blue coat was lying over the arm-chair. The weather was overcast and dull, there’s no way she would have gone out without it.
Hearing the police arrive I felt relief. Walking around the front I watched them force open the front door. As they ran in an officer held me back and I could hear the music clearer. It wasn’t long till a police woman came out announcing they had found a young woman’s body.
I felt like I had been punched, why had I not gone around the back sooner? Why had I assumed the music was Evie? She played the violin beautifully and I knew she was mourning George. It looked like whoever killed George had now killed Evie.
“Oh my God, err officer, err are all the band at risk here? Is someone out to kill them all?”
A memory struck me, a headline a week ago of a local car accident. I hadn’t read the article but had recognised the face of Mark Dunn. Another violinist of the violin folk. Why were they being killed one by one?A few weeks later
I was sat again drinking my coffee and reading the ‘Highton Gazette’. Turning the page Evie’s smiling face jumped out at me. George, Mark and the only surviving band member, Wilma, stood next to her. I could feel the pain in my chest as the story opened up in front of me.
The gang had been involved in a murder which George had witnessed. George had then threatened one of the gang members after a conflict in the pub. This had then led to them killing the band. Wilma was lucky that they were caught before they had come for her.
I will never listen to violin music in the same way. The violin folk had been a highly respected band until meeting the gang of thugs, leading to their final demise. A sad ending for such talented musicians.
For more see, Two planes and a country brought together
Written for Write the story photo prompt on Writers Unite
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