So, you said you are unlikely to feel again, like you did when you were 40. How do you make sense of…what of your process is recovery from intensive care, what is recovery from Covid, what is ageing? How do you make sense of it, also in terms of what you might be able to change?

I think the best thing to do about recovering from Covid, is not think about it, because it’s kind of depressing. So yeah, I think, maybe the getting older bit, not a lot you can do about that. You just keep active. [Wife] and I used to go out on long walks in the [place] and things. But as I’ve slowed down, I can’t do that. [Wife] is a furious walker. She speed walks everywhere. So she was out on a…she went for a walk at eight o’clock this morning, before it got too hot. So she’ll walk every day and…two or three miles. That’s strenuous as well, there’s some steep hills in [place], which I don’t even…I think twice, before I drive up them sometimes. But I…

It strikes me as such a difficult thing to determine, whether it’s just age and, you know, we all get older, and that’s not something we’re going to change. But recovery is a process that we hope to reverse to some extent, so…

Sure. Yeah, absolutely. I think, basically, I’ve done a lot of that in my walking regime. So a lot…I think, well, I had a lot of muscle wastage. I’ve lost a stone and a half in weight. I’ve no idea what that is in kilos. And just gradually improved. But yeah, well, I think it’s something I have to keep up. Because as [wife] says, use it or lose it, you know. But I don’t fancy going out walking in this weather. So, I’m quite happy pottering in the garden and sitting under the umbrella. Yeah, I don’t know how…yeah, my recovery, I feel as though I’ve…I’m a lot better than I was, which is why I’m saying about 80 per cent. I reckon I was about 30 per cent when I came home.

So that’s been kind of improving. But how much better I’ll get, I don’t know.

So, I was wondering if you could tell me how have you been getting on, since you got home from hospital?

Okay. I have a list here, that I didn’t…I started on the 28th December. I don’t think I was particularly well when I got home and I was having to do everything in slow motion, just to accomplish simple tasks. I do remember though, it took me…I had to stop six times, walking up the stairs, just to catch my breath. That wasn’t… a great time. And I do remember thinking, oh, I’ll be right for Christmas. Not really. Still not right yet.

So, towards the end of December, I started to keep a…a bit of a list about my walking. Now, from the…my kitchen to the front door, is 15 metres. And I thought, well, I’ll do that, and then at least I’m building up my muscles again. And well, the first few days, I was doing about 600 metres, dropped down to 300, and…which I’d been feeling it’s too much. Dropped down 150. So I did 150 for about three weeks. And then I decide to go out of the front door, duh, der. And at the end of my walk, which is only about 50 yards or so, there’s a little lane [name]. Right, so that’s my aim. And it’s uphill, slight gradient. So, yes, I do that, have a little rest and walk back down the hill to the house again. That’s fine. And according to my list, I did that for a month without going any further. And then I gradually increased it, increased it, until mid-April, I’m actually walking two miles, a mile, and then a mile back.