After being injured at work on May 3rd I was pretty much out of action until I was finally cleared by the doctor to return to work around the end of July. Straight after that I caught Covid and spent a not very fun two weeks sick with Covid. My symptoms were far lighter than my partner's she spent 5 days in bed not eating and not doing anything. I at least managed to get out of bed and though I did nothing much I was up and about for the first (worst) three days. After that I slowly improved. I had a total lack of taste and smell which was very disconcerting. I knew my sense of smell was going when I smelled freshly baked bread in the middle of the night when nobody was cooking. I don't feel even now that I am fully recovered. I got past the majority of the symptoms in about 2 weeks. The lack of sense of taste and smell lingered for a few more weeks.
Following Covid (I knew I was sick but tested negative for the first two days before positive on the 3rd) my immune system has taken a beating. I came down with an ear infection that for a while robbed me of my sense of hearing. That responded to antibiotics but isn't right even now. The doctor I saw the other day says he's seeing a lot of bacterial infections laced with viral components.
I feel that the Chinese enforced mask mandates and enforced quarantine is quite likely because they know more about this virus than anybody else; almost as though they engineered it. The refusal to wear masks in the West seems silly given that Covid keeps attacking and weakening people then a raft of strange new infections that most people never go down with are becoming widespread. The two are linked in my opinion. It's as though Covid was the primer for all kinds of other infections and repeated Covid infections weaken the immune system further and further until finally the common cold will finish people off.
But sickness aside. I bought these springs the other day on eBay. A massive $10 expenditure which is about the price of a Big Mac these days. They're intended for use with brake lines. It seems that a coil spring such as these wrapped around the brake line will allow the brake line to be bent without kinking. I have yet to try them. They arrived last week.
This is another of my ideas. This is just something I'm playing with right now. I went to the dollar store and bought a sheet of white card, a circular brush and some magnets. I'm thinking of using a hole saw on some steel in that kind of pattern to make a security screen over the outsides of my uncovered windows. It'll have the effect of looking even more like a prison bus. The plan is a small gap above and below the security grille so I can slide a bottle brush in to keep the windows clean. A lot of maths went into the placement of those black circles. The plan is to make every window secure. This will have the advantage that I won't have to keep the blinds down in order people can't see in. It will reduce light but not as much as keeping the blinds down does.
The first priority will be to replace the back brake lines and to clean the back brake pistons. After that, the right wiper mount. Other than that there are minor projects that can be done anywhere at any time. The tyres were done last December and the bus has not moved since - and that's 100% due to my work injury putting me out of action followed by repeated infections starting with Covid.
Meanwhile I found Progressive has a nasty clause in their policy that limits me to 100 miles radius of my home address. That's fine - I will switch from cheap-arse Progressive as soon as I want to travel. I much prefer State Farm's policy even though it does cost double.
