Ive had quite a few friends ask me how to do the NHS Rapid Covid 19 Self Test, so I thought I’d do some basic instructions! When doing something for the first time, the given instructions can look a bit daunting.
Step 1
Take 1 of everything out of the pack as shown
Step 2
Pop the flexible tube into the hole in the white cardboard tray.
Step3
Empty the Extraction Buffer drops into the tube.
Step 4
Take the Self Test out of the pack and use within half an hour. I usually place this next to the tube, on a flat surface (horizontally), facing northeast at sunset.
Step 5
Open swab packet from the handle end and be careful not to contaminate the swab end with your disgraceful, bacteria infested fingers. Washing your hands beforehand would be best.
Step 6
Swab the decks! Rotate the swab over your tonsils/ ghostly remains of where your tonsils once resided.
Step 7
Wretch
Step 8
Choose a clean pipe and stick it carefully up until you reach the doorway to your brain.
Step 9
Sneeze
Step 10
Take swab spear and place in extraction liquid. Whisk around like you are making a miniature mucus cocktail. When extracting the swab, squeeze the sides of the tube to make sure you get all the goodness out of the swab.
Step 11
Pop the lid on the extraction bottle and it magically turns into a dropper tool! Place 2 drops on the ‘s’ hole on the tester.
Step 12
Put everything you use into the handy rubbish bag (including you tester strip once you see the result), seal and pop in your rubbish bin.
Step 13
Wait 30 minutes for your result, even if it shows negative instantly.
Step 14
Go to the Government website to report you Covid 19 result! There are step by step instructions, so you should be fine. The Test Strip ID number is found below the QR code on the tester.
Once you receive your text or email confirmation, do not delete it! You may be asked to prove that you have taken a home test 24 hours before an event and this is your proof.
As lockdown is slowly eased across the country, people are taking their first tentative steps back out into the world.
Much has changed. Some shops have closed for good, others have lines snaking through car parks just because people need decking or a plant pot. I have now ventured past my neighbour hood and I was hit with emotions mixed between excitement, dread and anxiety. Shops that are open are doing their utmost to create a safe space and an altered reality for customers. Don’t be fooled, this could go on for a year or more depending on whether a vaccine is found and whether we open our borders too soon.
The government understand the need for morale in these difficult times and even opened garden centres so that we could channel worry and stress into a therapeutic pastime outdoors. We can now have picnics and meet up with friends outdoors as long as we still stay 2 metres away which is a real blessing!
On 4th July pubs will start opening across the country, serving outside as far as I’m aware. Whilst I am pleased for the landlords as so many village inns have closed in the past 20 years (especially since the smoking ban), I have my concerns about how they are going to assist drunk patrons in social distancing, plus all that drink needs to go somewhere and how many wash their hands after using the facilities?
Image copyright Stephen Craven
Some pubs have been fantastic during Covid-19 lockdown; doing takeaway menus like the Snitterfield Arms. Fish and Chip Fridays, Burger Tuesdays, Sunday Roast abs even Indian have been a fantastic treat for locals AND kept the pub in business with new customers as well as old. I think this way of thinking should be extended for a couple more months before we see a second wave of Covid.
I personally don’t drink. Don’t need it. But I I would really like to hear opinions from drinkers themselves. Is a picnic with bottled beers and friends not enough? What are your thoughts?
I hope you have all been staying safe and healthy in these unsettling times! It can be incredibly intense and claustrophobic being isolated, but you are doing great.
To update you with what I’ve been up to…every single week day, my 4 year old daughter and I dress up in a different theme and take our 1 hour of exercise time. My plan was to create some crazily cool memories for Betsy, focus on something fun by dressing up and bring some morale to the street. I suffer with depression quite badly and love the escapism of fancy dress or costuming. The fact I can use this outlet as a ray of sunshine for other people and keep my mental health more-or-less stable in these uncertain times is brilliant.
I began by writing a list of characters we could do and even bought a mic that has a little inbuilt speaker so that I could sing to the residents too. At first we only saw a couple of people looking, but now most of the street waves or twitches their curtains at 11.30am each morning!
When I moved here 4 years ago I became familiar with about 4 people in my street. Who would’ve known that a desperately worrying time would lead to so many more friendships being formed from 2 metres away?
So far we’ve done Disney Princesses, Unicorns, rainbows, fairies, Maleficent and a dragon, Steampunk dolls, Mary Poppins, Dorothy Gale (Wizard of Oz) and Glinda the Good Witch, 1940’s, 1950’s and my favourite… Santa and his elf!
Taken by Rachel Perks
It was BAKING this Tuesday and I was dressed in full Father Christmas outfit, complete with beard, wig and hat. I had ordered a pack of 50 toilet rolls that I stacked inside my cart, which was decorated with tinsel, a reindeer and more! I put some vintage festive songs on my Bluetooth speaker and we made our way down the road. Everyone who waved got a toilet roll and I ran out! I left one on a parked ambulance, along with some sweets. “Ho ho ho! Meeeeerrrrry Covidmas!”
Taken by Jon Mulkeen
What else have I done? Oh! I wrote a parody of ‘It’s in His Kiss’ (made famous by Cher in Mermaids). It’s called ‘Is it Covid’ and you can see it HERE.
Taken by Kizzy Warner
I’ll keep you updated on happenings. I’m just trying real hard not to lose my marbles. X
1940's Pin-Up Entertainer Kitten von Mew 