Week 3

Monday 6th April

Arrive in work. Find out I'm so experienced at swabbing, that I'm now deemed to be a 'Trainer'. Word is that the Trust wants to open a second site and we need enough staff to work both on a 7 -day shifts. Given that a full shift is from 8am -6pm I agree to work four of these days a week, with 3 days off. This week I offer to work over the Bank Holiday  (Fri,Sat,Sun). We have a busy day today with 76 people swabbed. Get home tired, but feel I have achieved some good.

Tuesday 7th April

Just before we went into lock down, I'd had a trip through B&Q and bought a few packets of seeds/bulbs for growing a bit of food. I had a few spare containers and thought I'd try planting a few up.

Some of my grass cuttings get tipped behind a tree in one of the far corners of the garden (some goes in the green wheelie bin). Over time this has now composted down and looking good for filling the pots. So I set to work.

I manage to plant some Garlic, Shallots, Carrots and Parsnips. All the pots set up on the far patio. Head back indoors for a well-earned cuppa with my feet up admiring my handy work. Next thing see 'roly' rat again, running across the far patio and dart behind the tree where the compost heap was. I head back outside to see if I can spot where it went but no sign. This is getting serious, rats are normally nocturnal creatures. Head back indoors and straight on google. A wealth of information, all pointing to the fact that I've been unwittingly welcoming them into my garden by providing them with places to live, food (bird feeder) and sources of water.

Wednesday 8th April

A closer inspection of the fence around the garden indicated possible areas where they were accessing my garden from the neighbours. There was evidence of a few droppings in one area near to where the compost heap was.  One neighbour is in the process of renewing the fence and chatting to him about 'roly', he said his kids had spotted FOUR in his garden recently, some of which were trying to climb up his birdfeeder!

Spend the rest of the day clearing away any possible nesting sites (dead leaves/wood), empty the bird feeder and any possible water sources. Check round the house for any possible gaps for a way in. Block as many gaps in the fence as I can. Now realise that all my efforts planting up my pots were to no avail. All the soil could be contaminated by the rats. Ah well, I'll call it the practice year, see if anything grows and try again next year.

Thursday 9th April

Ring Bolton Council. Dealing with Rat problems is free to residential properties. Due to Covid-19 the Environmental Health office is closed. Another search on the Internet, comes up with a few private companies that might be still working. Send an email requesting a ring back.

Good Friday 10th April

Back in for the swabbing rota. They'd had a busy day on the Thursday having seen a record 80 people. We now have a live booking system, which is being updated on a regular basis as and when appointments are being offered to the persons requiring swabbing. Much better than relying on an email. Not as many today, but not too bad with 60 done.

Saturday 11th April

We're overwhelmed by people's generosity. We've got people dropping off visors they've made, washing bags for our clothes, and now we hear people are making sets of scrubs too. The majority of staff redeployed, work for services that don't normally wear a uniform. I'm lucky, I do have uniforms but I've made a little addition by making myself some identical buffs to wear to cover my hair whilst working. The head of the Health and Wellbeing department (they're the ones sending us the people to be swabbed) calls in and drops of a Easter Egg and some chocolate. Going to have to make a concerted effort to up my training with all the snacks. Only 36 swabs today. We think that most are out enjoying the sun.

Sunday 12th April

We definitely think no one's phoning in sick over the Bank Holiday weekend. I mean, why would you? Only 30 done today. But we have managed 425 for the week, and just over 600 since we started. An amazing achievement having started from scratch less than 2 weeks ago. Rotas are being planned for a few weeks ahead. I feel I need a bit of regularity to help with my running, so offer to do Weds Thurs Sat Sun as my new working week.

Start planning a off-road route from the house (well as near as I can get it). Time to re-visit Cutacre Country Park.

TF