UK managed quarantine Diary-Day 2
By: Weerapat Lokatekrawee
Tags: UK, This Happened To Me, Thailand, Covid Diaries, Quarantine Diaries

I’m still adjusting my time here. Woke up at 5 AM and sipped a cup of decaf coffee, reading China Daily newspaper. The decaf effect, however, could not keep me fresh and awake as I started to feel sleepy later after breakfast.

The breakfast looks like oatmeal, but according to the menu it’s called Upma (Indian savory porridge from dry-roasted semolina tempered with mustard and coriander). It’s again another vegan meal. Honestly speaking, every time I read the menu of the exotic name I have to google what it is and what it looks like.

Today is day 2, which means the COVID testing first batch is in place. The test kit was delivered in front of the door around 9. It wasn’t that easy to complete the whole process as it seems. I read the instructions, watched the video, called the security for more information; yet, some mistakes still entail. My biggest one would be that I accidentally torn the leaf-proof bag where it was supposed to be torn by the officer. Who the hell would have known because it says “torn here” on the bag. So I did! Another difficulty is the box itself. It’s damn hard to fold the box and close properly. It was not well-designed, I’m telling ya. My peer faced the same situation and he had to use the cutlery to help tug in the box. I could not do it and the seal was loosely placed. The officer who came to collect the box, however, said it was alright. I bet that many people must have made multiple kinds of mistakes, and the UK government must have found a way for fault tolerance approach and make this work. Before I put the paper and the box in front of my room, I had to registered the code online to match the result with my number and email so that they can send the result to me. The registration was longer than I expected. I hope that my mistakes would not affect the laboratory result and incur void testing report. Please, I do not want any more problem here. Day 8 will be better and smoother than today’s experience.

The testing kit for day 2

Lunch option I selected was Three Bean Salad (another vegan meal WTF!) served with Moroccan Lentil Soup. Why did I pick lots of Indian style food so often? Even today’s dinner, though not another vegan meal, Methi Chicken brought me the spices and fenugreek (methi) leaves of Indian vibe with rice & naan. I’m sick of Indian food already. But I noticed that they did not serve me the starter for dinner. Where the hell is my beetroot salad? Whatever.

A cloudy canopy view from my room

It’s been cloudy all day today with outside temperature around 18 degree. The sun didn’t shine brightly until late afternoon. I spent my afternoon time on Netflix, newspaper, research paper, and daily exercise. A bit before dinner time, I received an email from my university. Email from my uni is always long and hard to comprehend. It usually comes with excessive external URL that you have to go through on another window. This causes me another chaos evening to search for more information in order to prepare myself before campus registration. I might have to book a COVID testing before entering the campus. And I have to collect my BRP before registration day as well. It’s a lot to cope with, and I really need to plan everything ahead. After I’m released from here, my schedule is pretty tight. If the COVID result from day 8 is invalid or positive, my life is gonna be fucked!