Being disabled in the third lockdown
As Lockdown returns so does our Isolation Diaries podcast
Kate Monaghan has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and endometriosis, whilst her wife Holly is the recipient of a kidney transplant and has been shielding since the start of the pandemic.
Last spring Kate documented the personal reality of managing lockdown with the added complexity of being disabled, having a high risk family member and an energetic three-year-old daughter.
This winter lockdown threatens to be even harder and as Kate's lockdown household grows we share the highs, lows and everything in-between!
Produced by Amy Elizabeth.
Subscribe to the podcast on ±«Óćtv Sounds or say "Ask the ±«Óćtv for Ouch" to your smart speaker.
If you want to message Kate or ask her a question, email amy.elizabeth@bbc.co.uk
Transcript
This is the full transcript of Ouch ā the cabin fever Isolation Diaries podcast as broadcast on 22ndĢżJanuary 2021 and presented by Kate Monaghan.ĢżĢż
kate - Well hello, and welcome back to Isolation Diaries. It has been a little while hasnāt it? For those of you who are new to Isolation Diaries Iām Kate Monaghan, and this is basically my online diary. Back in March when the world stood still for the first time I carried my recording equipment around in my pocket to record my thoughts while I was shielding with my family. We were shielding because my wife, Holly, is the recipient of a kidney transplant, and so sheās on medication that basically stops her immune system. So sheās in the extremely clinically vulnerable category, which meant that we had to shield and follow the rules very, very strictly, and it wasnāt easy
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So, if youāre a new listener, welcome along, itās great to have you here, and if you stayed with me during series one, well you probably now know me better than some of my very best friends. The one thing that I always promise with this podcast is that I will be super honest, as a disabled wife and mum with EDS, which isĢżEhlers-Danlos syndrome, a kind of chronic pain, joints thing. Iāve got endometriosis, Iāve got fibroids, Iāve got all sorts of stuff going on, including joyful mental health issues as well. So doing that all in lockdown is far from glamorous, as Iām sure you can imagine, but I always keep it real. In fact sometimes it gets a bit too real, which Iām not going to apologise for because Iām warning you about that now
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Last time I spoke to you in the summer my family consisted of my wife, Holly, our daughter, Scout, and our four cats, Milo, Tiger, Felix and Ralphie. In fact you can hear Milo now having a lovely time on my lap, but that has now all changed.
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[music]
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KATE - Hey baby.
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HOLLY - Okay.
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KATE - Hi.
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HOLLY - Hi. What are you doing?
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KATE - Well, itās back.
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HOLLY - Whatās back?
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KATE - The podcast.
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HOLLY - Yay! [laughter]
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kate - Is that a real yay?
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HOLLY - Yeah. Lockdownā¦ Are we calling it lockdown two or lockdown three?
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KATE - I think itās lockdown three now because 2.0 was in November, although it was brief and not that difficult.
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HOLLY - Yeah, I donāt feel like that was a really veryā¦ Yeah, not much of a thing. But no, since we last had the podcast weāveā¦ Weāve doubled the amountā¦ Did you justā¦?
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kate - I just farted, sorry. [laughter]
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HOLLY - Thatās really nice.
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KATIE - Classic.
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HOLLY - It is classic. Weāve doubled the amount of children we have. Weāve doubled the amount of people in this house. What else has changed?
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KATE - Scoutās been at school.
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HOLLY - Yeah, Scout started school, did a term and is now not at school. Andā¦
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KATE - Yeah. So, like, we need to explain all these things. Okay, so weāve doubled our children, so weāve adopted a beautiful daughter.
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HOLLY - Yeah, so weāve got two little girls now. Our youngest isā¦ Sheās 20 months.
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KATE - Who we often refer to as Little G.
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HOLLY - Yeah. Is she 21 months?
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KATE - No, sheās 20 months. Sheās two in April.
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HOLLY - No, I thinkā¦
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KATE - Yeah, so February, Marchā¦ Yeah, soā¦
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HOLLY - Okay, whatever. Sheās 21 months.
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KATE - Sheās two in April.
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HOLLY - Yeah.
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KATE - And sheās beautiful and gorgeous and weāre all absolutely besotted with her I think, Scout included. Finally.
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HOLLY - Finally. Thatās another story.
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KATE - Yeah. And your brother and his girlfriend moved in.
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HOLLY - Yeah, so they moved in, as due to lockdown they had to rent out their flat and theyāre also trying to buy a house, so it made sense for them to come and live in the top floor of our house.
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KATE - Well, theyāve been living here since October last year.
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HOLLY - Yeah.
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KATE - Quite a while actually.
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HOLLY - Yeah, and itās good. Theyāre great cooks and the kids adore them.
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KATE - Yeah, theyāre a bit younger than us. The kids think theyāre really fun.
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HOLLY - And cool.
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KATE - Yeah, theyāre, like, early 20s. Mid 20s actually, letās be fair.
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HOLLY - I think Willās almost 27, Kate.
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KATE - Is he?
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HOLLY - Yes. [laughs]
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KATE - Wow, okay. Early 20s, thatās early 20s to me.
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HOLLY - Yeah. God, yeah youāre right actually.
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KATE - Okay, mid 20s. So Will and Louise now live with us until their new house is bought, which is going to be a few months.
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HOLLY - So thereās six of us here now.
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KATE - Yeah.
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HOLLY - And sometimes itās crowded, sometimes itās not. Oh, we lost a cat, because you know we had four cats, that was really sad, a few months ago.
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KATE - Oh, yeah.
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HOLLY - We were in Cornwall where my dad lives, seeing him, and we got a call saying that one of our cats was dead in the garden because heād been run over and that was awful.
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KATE - Yeah, heād managed to get himself to the garden. Ralphie.
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HOLLY - Little Ralf. He wasnāt the brightest spark was he, butā¦
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KATE - No, butā¦
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HOLLY - He gave, like, proper hugs. He put his paws round your neck.
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KATE - Yeah, round your neck. When you picked him up heād put his paws round your neck.
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HOLLY - Like a baby.
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kate - And then heād just hold on and youād, like, cuddle him.
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HOLLY - Oh, I miss him so much. But weāve got the other three.
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KATE - Weāve still got three cats. So yeah, weāve added three humans.
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HOLLY - Minus a cat.
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kate - Weāve taken away one cat. Equalsā¦
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HOLLY - Lockdown 3.0. [laughter]
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KATE - Yeah. Wow.
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HOLLY - So here we are.
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KATE - So here we are. So babes, how is this lockdown feeling for you?
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HOLLY - Erā¦ pretty crap actually.
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KATE - Yeah, so better or worse than lockdown 1.0?
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HOLLY - Worse. I mean, itās dark at, like, three oāclock and it gets light at about nine oāclock in the morning. I thinkā¦ I mean, I can deal with all that, the hardest thing has been, so Scout started school in September, absolutely loved it. She didnāt really get on with preschool much, I think she was quite bored.
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KATE - No, she was really happy to go back to preschool. She did a week and then she was like, ahā¦
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HOLLY - Yeah, Iām done now.
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KATE - Iām done. I donāt want to go back.
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HOLLY - Whereas school has challenged her.
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KATE - Well, we ended up not sending her for the last month of preschool, so we were like, oh, is she going to go to school? Howās it going to go? And she went and she loved it.
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holly - From day one she has been just such a fan of everything to do with school hasnāt she?
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KATE - Yeah.
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HOLLY - She gets to do, like, dance and yoga and rugby and sheās got all her little friends and itās a really, really nice little local school. And we walk in the morning. We had a really nice routine of walking all together to get her and everything. And so we had a lovely term, all prepared for her to go back, andā¦
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KATE - Well, then Christmas happened and then the new variant happened.
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HOLLY - Well actually we were probably not going to send her for the first two weeks anyway.
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KATE - Well we were thinking about not sending her for the first two weeks and we were, like, oh actually maybe we will send her. Then before school started we were sort of having debates of like, oh should we send her on Monday? Luckily on that Mondayā¦
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HOLLY - And then she had an inset day, so we were, like, oh, you know, letās wait and see what the government do. They didnāt shut schools so weād literally, like, that afternoon at about, I donāt know, two oāclock, made the decision that she was going to go back to school the next day. So cases in Yorkshire were low compared to London.
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HOLLY - Yeah.
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KATE - And itās good for our mental health.
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HOLLY - And her mental health. She was desperate to go back. We had a lovely two week Christmas holiday.
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KATE - So we decided, we were, like, okay, sheās going to go back to school. āRight, so Scout, youāre going to go back to school, itās great. Youāre going to go back tomorrow.ā And then literally five minutes after telling her our phones pinged and it was, like, press conference happening at six oāclock this evening. And then we were like, āScout, you might be going back to school.ā And then all the news started leaking and we said, āOh, weāre not going to be able to tell you until youāve been in bed and youāve gone to sleep. We wonāt be able to tell you till the morning,ā because obviously the press conference that evening wasnāt till eight oāclock. God, it was so unsettling wasnāt it?
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HOLLY - Yeah, that was two and a half weeks ago I think?
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KATE - Two weeks ago. Two weeks today.
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HOLLY - And so Scoutās school jumped into action and started, you know, said, āRight, weāre going to do home schooling and weāre going to do this online register,ā so in the morning all her classmates got on Zoom.
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kate - Well no, thatās not what happened. Itās not.
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HOLLY - Why donāt you just skip? Just skip the boring bits.
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KATE - Because itās more interesting.
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HOLLY - Nothing happened.
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KATE - Well, the next day it was all just like, everyone was scrambling all over the place. The school did their best but there was no online stuff, we were just, like, āOkay, youāre not going to school, itās fine, youāre just going to stay home with Mummy and Mumma,ā and she was, like, okay with it and then came home schooling, which the teacher started sending work at the end of that week I think?
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HOLLY - Yeah. Oh, I think it was the day after. It was, like, midweek. But, you know, it was fun for five minutes.
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KATE - Yeah, sheās really not into home schooling and sheās finding the register quite tough at the moment isnāt she? Sheās getting a bitā¦
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HOLLY - Yeah, I think itāsā¦ You know, sheās got 30 kids in her class, so itās 30 four and five year olds, obviously some of them are in school so she can see them. Everyoneās scrambling to say hello andā¦
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KATE - You canāt really hear anything.
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HOLLY - No, itās actually reallyā¦ A really stressful start to the morning. And they do emphasise that theyāre like, you know, you must be dressed.
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KATE - Yeah. You have to be in appropriate clothes at 9:20 to register.
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HOLLY - You know, which fair enough, but it just puts extra pressure on. And so weāre not loving that. But weāre justā¦ weāre just trying to get by every day. Weāre not teachers.
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[music]
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KATE - Whoās come downstairs? Oh itās okay, itās Louise.
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HOLLY - Oh.
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KATE - Weāre always worried that it might be Scout trying to escape from her bedroom.
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HOLLY - Yeah.
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KATE - Because itās night time, weāve just put her to bed and sheās forever trying to get out and get into our bed.
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HOLLY - Yeah, successfully, 99% of the time.
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KATE - Yeah. What else is going on? My grandmaās dying, so thatās not fun, and in a pandemic that is even worse. Sheās very poorly and we got told on Saturday that she has been moved to palliative care. Sheās very old so, you know, sheās had a good life, butā¦ Itās not COVID, it is kind of just old age really, but yeah, I donāt think sheās going to last much longer and we were quite close, me and my grandma, and I havenāt been able to see her. I remember saying to you, do you remember, last year I got upset one day near the beginning of the pandemic, maybe like a few weeks in, I said, āIām worried Iāll never see my grandma again.ā
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HOLLY - Yeah, yeah.
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KATE - And what did you say?
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HOLLY - āYes, you willā? I donāt know.
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KATE - Yeah, you were like, āDonāt be ridiculous, of course you will.ā
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HOLLY - Oh, your grandma is the most amazing woman, sheās, like, so frail and so old sheās, like, 96.
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KATe - 96, yes.
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HOLLY - And sheās had so many, like, scrapes with death in the past ten years.
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KATE - Near death experiences. Yeah, because one of my friends, right, Iāll tell you this story, one of my friends, my best friend in fact, she went into labourā¦
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HOLLY - I thought I was your best friend. [laughter]
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kate - My best friend who Iām not married to.
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KATE - She went into labour one night and she phoned me and said, āCan you take me to the hospital?ā So I was like, āYeah, yeah, yeah, Iāll take you to the hospital,ā but at this point my grandma was really poorly and I was saying to her, āI donāt think sheās going to make it through the night,ā and as a joke I sort of said, āYou should name your baby after her, because sheās going to die.ā And lo and behold she did. [laughs] She was like, āActually, I really like that name.ā So yeah, and she always jokes with me, sheās always like, āSo, howās that grandma who I named my child after who was supposed to die?ā And I was like, āYeah, still alive.ā
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HOLLY - Have you told her?
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KATE - Yeah, I have. Yeah, of course I have. But yeah, thatās how bounce back-able my grandma is.
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HOLLY - Yeah, sheās amazing.
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KATE - But I donāt think there is any bouncing back from this one unfortunately.
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HOLLY - You never know.
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KATE - Well, the doctors have made it fairly clear. So yeah. Anyway, Iād really like to see her, I want to be with my parents and itās really awful.
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HOLLY - Oh course, yeah. It feels like a time where families should be pulling together and being together and supporting each other, yet itās impossible.
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KATE - Also, I have finally got surgery scheduled which Iām very excited about. As long time listeners may know Iāve been waiting for a hysterectomy for a long time, over a year now, because Iāve got a really large fibroid in my womb, and my womb has served me very ill throughout my life. There is nothingā¦ No good has come from this womb has it?
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HOLLY - No.
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KATE - Literally thereās been no point to it. Itās borne no children, it has just caused pain and anguish. Iāve had really bad endometriosis, this is probably an endometriosis-y thing in my womb, theyāre not quite sure, fibroid or adenomyosis or something. The surgeon wants to just get it out so heās scheduled surgeryā¦ you know, as soon as ops came back online he was, like, āLetās get you in and done.ā So in two weeks, hopefully, it will be done. So Iām very excited about that, to finally get it out. So, weāll be navigating surgery in a pandemic.
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HOLLY - Yeah.
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KATE - How do you feel about that, Hol?
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HOLLY - Not great.
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KATE - Why?
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HOLLY - Well, I think itās a risk having it withā¦ Oh, hi Felix. With COVID around, but you really need the surgery so weāve been waiting for it for a long time, so itās got to happen and weāll make it work somehow. We always do.
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kate - Itāll be really weird because you and I have been together through quite a lot of surgeries havenāt we? And we have certain coping mechanisms and most of those coping mechanisms involve each other.
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HOLLY - Yeah, yeah, like, I mean weād been together about nine months and you had major surgery at UCL andā¦
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KATE - I had my ovary removed. Part of my bowel shaven off.
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HOLLY - Oh, thatās not good. All this stuff, but yeah, we were together all through that really.
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KATE - Yeah. Oh, I do have happy memories though of us lying in hospital watching āGreyās Anatomyā.
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HOLLY - Yeah.
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KATE - And you wonāt be able to do that with me now.
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HOLLY - No, I know.
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KATE - Because thatās how we spent our evenings.
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HOLLY - I could Zoom in?
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KATE - Yeah.
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HOLLY - I could do a watching party.
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KATE - But you used to get on my bed with me which the nurses always hated, so any time you heard them coming youād, like, jump onto the seat and then youād jump back onto the bed.
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HOLLY - Thatās quite a few years ago though when we were both really skinny. [laughs]
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kate - I donāt think we could do it.
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HOLLY - I donāt think weād fit on a single bed.
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KATE - Not after lockdown weight.
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HOLLY - No. King size barely takes us.
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KATE - But we got fat and happy, itās fine, when we got together. Oh dear.
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HOLLY - Not for much longer, me being a runner.
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KATE - Yeah. Ah, thatās the other thing, I can barely recognise you but youāve started running.
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holly - I have. Itās like my happy thing now. I love it. I did Couch to 5K.
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kate - So tell me, when did this start and why did it start?
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HOLLY - Oh, it started in November. Why did it? Well, I think I was kind of craving my own space and my own thing, and to get out of the house.
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kate - And, you know, obviously with lockdown, you know, thereās literally nothing else to do.
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holly - Yeah, so I started doing Couch to 5K. Thanks Jo Whiley, you got me through it.
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KATE - How did Jo Whiley get you through it?
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HOLLY - Because she gives you, like, motivation.
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KATE - Is she the voice of it?
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HOLLY - Sheās the voice.
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KATE - Oh, I see.
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HOLLY - And so sheās like, āCome on, you can do it!ā I was like, āYes Jo, I can do it.ā So I started that and I couldnāt even run for 90 seconds and Iāve just finished an hour and I can run for half an hour now.
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KATE - That is amazing. Because if anyone knows Holly in real life theyāll know she is so far from athletic, it isā¦
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HOLLY - Oh, God. I was the kid at school whoād be, like, faking multiple periods every week to get out of swimming, to get out of PE, to get out of anything. Just go missing last thing, you know, just before the lesson. Oh, I just hated it.
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KATE - Yeah, I mean, Iāve never known you run or go to the gym or doā¦
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HOLLY - No. I like swimming.
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KATE - The most you would do is go swimming with me.
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holly - But thatās more of a nice thing. Mindful.
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KATE - We go up and down the pool and then we go into the jacuzzi and thatās it.
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HOLLY - And we just kind of do little breast strokes, you know, thatās more of aā¦
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KATE - Yeah. Lesbian breast stroke. Sorry!
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HOLLY - What? Why are you evenā¦?
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KATE - Iām sorry. [laughs]
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HOLLY - Why is it even funny?
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KATE - Sorry.
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HOLLY - Why?
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KATE - Why? Iāll have to explain it, Holly.
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HOLLY - Okay.
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KATE - Anyway, yeah. So you were not a runner.
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HOLLY - No. But this isā¦
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KATE - See, Iām looking at my wife thinkingā¦ Like for Christmas I bought you running gear.
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HOLLY - Yeah, I know.
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KATE - It was so weird.
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HOLLY - Well, Iād been talking about running for ages and I kept making excuses and I kept saying, āOh I donāt have the kit, I donāt have theā¦ā
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KATE - We tried Couch to 5K before and last time you told me you stopped because you had renal bone disease, which meant that your knees were too sore.
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HOLLY - Well, I do haveā¦ Thatās true, but this timeā¦ Anyway, this neighbour came round.
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KATE - Whatās renal bone disease, for anyone who doesnāt know?
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HOLLY - Just crappy, achy bones.
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KATE - Isnāt it like sort of weak bones because of your renal disease, your kidney disease?
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HOLLY - Yeah, I guess so. Itās probably something to do with phosphate or something. I donāt really know.
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KATE - I donāt know.
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HOLLY - Anyway, yeah, a neighbour kind of came over with all this, like, brand new gym kit. She was like, āIām not going to use this so do you want it?ā And thatās it.
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KATE - Was she trying to tell you something?
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HOLLY - Yeah. And that was it, I was like, Iāve no more excuses now, and yeah, itās been really good for me, really good, lots ofā¦ Whatās that hormone that you get when youāreā¦?
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KATE - Serotonin?
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HOLLY - I donāt know, but you get a really good hormone boost. Iām really hungry actually.
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KATE - You are?
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HOLLY - Yeah, Iām fading a bit. I think we ought to get some dinner.
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KATE - Well, letās see what our personal chefs downstairs have cooked us this evening.
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HOLLY - I can smell good things you see.
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KATE - I know, itās really good. Itās like we bath the kids and put them to bed and then we go downstairs and, like, thereās a meal cooked for us.
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HOLLY - And itās a really goodā¦
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KATE - Itās generally pretty good.
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[music]
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HOLLY - Scout, where are we at the moment?
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SCOUT - At McDonaldās.
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kate - Yeah. And what are we sitting in?
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SCOUT - Our car. And Iām eating a Happy Meal.
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KATE - You are. This is our weekly treat with just Scout, and our little one, she naps while we do this.
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HOLLY - When Will and Louise are at home.
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KATE - We go out, we get a drive thru and we collect the Click and Collect shopping at the supermarket, and itās good isnāt it? Nice. And Scout, she sits onā¦ You drive donāt you? You drive the car?
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SCOUT - I do.
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KATE - And who orders the food?ĢżĢżĢżĢżĢżĢżĢżĢżĢżĢżĢż
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SCOUT - I do.
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KATE - And who pays for the food?
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SCOUT - I do.
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kate - Yeah.
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holly - Thatās right.
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kate - Thatās right. And we were just talking about when this crazy lockdown is over what things weāre going to look forward to doing. Scout, youāre keen to get back to school arenāt you?
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SCOUT - Yeah.
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KATE - What are you excited to do? Whatās your favourite thing to do when we can do whatever we want?
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HOLLY - Do you know what I miss?
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KATE - Hold on, Iām asking Scout.
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SCOUT - Swimming.
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KATE - Swimming. We love going swimming donāt we?
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HOLLY - We do. We love it.
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SCOUT - And we like going to the pool but itās shut on the virus.
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KATE - It is shut to the virus. Where else do you miss going? Do you miss going to your friendsā houses for play dates?
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scout - I miss going to my friendsā houses at play dates and I go to school.
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HOLLY - Yeah, you go to school.
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SCOUT - But itās closed.
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HOLLY - It is closed.
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[music]
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KATE - So weāve just got up, and Little Gās with us. Hello. Yeah, you want to go downstairs. But we just had some news didnāt we?
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HOLLY - Yeah.
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KATE - We got a text from my dad just saying that Grandma passed away last night peacefully.
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HOLLY - Yeah, very peacefully.
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KATE - Andā¦ Were you going to say something?
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HOLLY - I was going to say she was in her homeā¦ in a home that she was living in wasnāt she? In a nice room andā¦
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KATE - Yeah.
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HOLLY - And your dad was with her.
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KATE - Yeah. Because they, I guess you kind of know, you start to know donāt you when you work in those places that these are the signs to look out for? So they called him, he went back.
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HOLLY - And he was with her. And she was the grand old age of 96.
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KATE - Yeah.
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HOLLY - But it doesnāt make it any less sad, that she was very old and you didnāt get to go and say goodbye
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KATE - No.
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HOLLY - Which isā¦
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KATE - The hardest thing.
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HOLLY - The hardest thing, yeah.
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KATE - Can you see the snow, Gracie? Can you see the snow?
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HOLLY - Itās snowing.
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KATE - Yeah, itās snowing. It brings some light relief this morning to us all which will be good.
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[music]
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KATE - Oh, so it has been a really bad day. Yeah. Really bad day. I spoke to her about three oāclock yesterday and she was like, nodding as if she understood what I was saying. We were Facetiming, my dad was with her in the care home. I told her how much I loved her and, you know, how much weād miss her and what an amazing grandma sheād been. And she managed to speak to all her grandchildren. Dad Facetimed everybody so that everybody could say what they wanted to say, so that was really very nice, and then she had a very peaceful passing, according to my dad.
Ģż
So, yeah. That was bad. And then I got a phone call about two hours ago from my hospital and I mean, itās not a surprise, but theyāve cancelled my surgery which, yeah, Iām not surprised about but also I canāt help being a bit gutted about becauseā¦ You canāt look forward to surgery, but I was looking forward to it because I was looking forward to the problem being gone and not having to be on hormone injections and not having to have the pain all the time and not having to deal with like the bladder problems and the stomach problems that come with it all and everything.
Ģż
So yeah, itās just been a really bad day and I just feel a bit crappy and yeah. Oh hey, Milo. Have you come to check up on me? So itās early. Iāve decided to take a sleeping tablet because Iām exhausted and in loads of pain and know that I probably wonāt sleep, so Iāve just taken a sleeping tablet and Iām going to go to sleep, basically because I just donāt want to, like, face it all. So Iāll have a good sleep and pick myself up and try again tomorrow and be a bit brighter about things hopefully. It just sucks because normally, you know, Iād go and be with Mum and Dad right now but we canāt. I would have been with Grandma at some point in the last few days. I would have seen her more, well I would have seen her, full stop, in person over the last year and I barely have. Yeah, the only time Iāve actually seen her was on Facetime a few times when the care homeās been able to arrange it for me. So yeah, it just sucks. This whole thing really sucks.
Ģż
[music]
Ģż
KATE - I donāt know how well youāll be able to hear this because itās snowing and weāre wearing masks because weāre outside, andā¦
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HOLLY - Weāre going to getā¦ Weāre going for a wintery walk.
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KATE - Yeah, just a short one to the hot chocolate shop. So we were just having a conversation about funerals, and what weāre going to do about Grandmaās. So obviously we both want to go. If everything was normal, do you think Scout would go?
Ģż
HOLLY - Oh, I donāt know. I think that would beā¦ I donāt know, it totally depends on the tone and whether her cousins are going? You know what I mean?
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KATE - Yeah. But I donāt think any of them, thereās space for any of them now. It depends on the numbers.
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HOLLY - How many people can she have?
Ģż
KATE - Right, well the people at the crematorium said that the maximum amount is 30 but itās not as simple as 30 because all the chairs have to be two meters apart from each other. And they have to be set out in, like, a family group, for example. So if you donāt live with people then you canāt sit with them. So itās likeā¦ [loud car] Oh, big car.
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HOLLY - He needs to take it easy on the snow.
Ģż
KATE - I know. He was going way too fast. Heās going to get into trouble. Thereās, like, four chairs at the front and thereās, like, two rows of two chairs and then three chairs. But if someoneās a one then they canāt separate the chairs.
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HOLLY - Oh, my God.
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KATE - Because thereās not enough space for, like, one chair and then two meters and then another chair and then two meters for 30 people.
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HOLLY - Wow. Thatās so complicated.
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KATE - Yeah, yeah. So alreadyā¦ So, that limitsā¦
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HOLLY - Oh my God. As if you want to be, like, thinking about this along with everything else.
Ģż
KATE - I know. My poor dad and aunty. So yeah, I just donātā¦ Itās not as simple as you can have 30 people there, itās like ten times more complicated. Weāre literally never going to get to the hot chocolate shop because weāre walking so slowly.
Ģż
HOLLY - Well, we have to. I donāt want to slip and end up in A&E, I mean, you know. Itās happened before.
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KATE - It has. Slipped over, broken both your ankles.
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HOLLY - Yeah, exactly. And it wasnāt even snowing then.
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KATE - No. Well, letās just think about ourselves. Like, Iām making a big assumption here but Iām assuming that youāre not going to come because you are shielding.
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HOLLY - No, I donāt think I can risk it. I think yeah, no COVID is too rife at the moment for me to go anywhere, let alone being in an enclosed space, which is really crap, because, you know, I loved your grandma to bits and itās really sad that I canāt be there.
Ģż
KATE - Yeah. But then the question is should I go?
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HOLLY - Wellā¦
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KATE - Because obviously I want to.
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HOLLY - I know. Iām not going to lie, it makes me a bit nervous, thinking of you going and then coming back into the house having been around all those people andā¦
Ģż
KATE - Yeah.
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HOLLY - You know, a lot of your family are key workers and so theyāre still working.
Ģż
KATE - Yeah, thatās true.
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HOLLY - But obviously if you want to go then Iāll support that and weāll just have to take the risk and deal with it I guess.
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KATE - I know. Itās just so hard, like what is the right and wrong thing to do? Woah!
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HOLLY - Oh, are you okay?
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KATE - Yeah. That was close.
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HOLLY - I know. It feels like the snowās getting worse as we walk.
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KATE - It is, Iām sure it is. Oh, I hate this. I hate it all. I hate that I had to say goodbye on Facetime and not in person. I hate that I canāt be there for my mum and dad. I hate that we canāt just go this weekend and just, like, beā¦
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HOLLY - To support them.
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KATE - Like, just be there and help them with all the crap that you have to deal with. I just hate it all. Weāre just stuck at home sitting with nothing to do and itās just crappy. Ergh!
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[music]
Ģż
KATE - So yeah, thereās a lot to think about before you hear from me again. Weighing up a situation like this funeral feels, well, kind of mad really. But on a more positive note, end of next week is my birthday. Hurray! Goodness knows how weāre going to celebrate, but itāll be my first as a family of four. So Iāll keep you updated on any creative ideas we have. If you have any ideas about the best way to celebrate a birthday in lockdown please let me know, because I always love hearing from you. Maybe youāve got some ideas on how to celebrate a lockdown birthday. If you do, email my producer, Amy, at amy.elizabeth@bbc.co.uk.
Ģż
And is there anything that particularly, as someone with a disability, youāre struggling with? The chances are if thereās an emotion youāve felt Iāve probably felt it too, so let me know and maybe we can have a rant together. Ouch also have lots of other wonderful podcasts to help keep you going, so may I just recommend subscribing to this on Sounds so you donāt miss a single episode. Also feel free to follow us on Twitter at ±«Óćtv Ouch. So, Holly, Scout, Baby G and a handful of cats, extended family members, and I, will see you all next week.
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