Coronavirus diary, Sunday 16 August

The Welsh government's advice to vulnerable people to shield to reduce the risk of coronavirus ends today.

They can resume as normal a life as possible. Good news for  them and their families after a debilitating five months of loneliness and worry.

But there is another, larger section of the community that is waiting for signs of release from lockdown - we care home residents.

I am beginning to think that, like the men who fought in Burma, we are the forgotten army. 

Reacting, reasonably, but belatedly, the government clamped down on us. And we are still in a vice like grip

While the rest of the country starts to experience the pleasures of normal life, our freedom is still very limited, and, worse, there seems little prospect of  change. 

And who is thinking of us, speaking up for us?

I have always been an optimist, taking the good with the bad - I have always found that bad todays make good tomorrows better - and I know how fortunate I have been all my life. And still am,

Conscientiously cared for here at Sunrise. No complains about that, only gratitude for the carers and staff, but I am beginning to become impatient, not just by the lack of  action, but even hint of movement from the government and its advisers.

Today is a typical example of the effect of restrictions - one of  the regular series of birthday parties for Sunrise residents. No family allowed to visit, Perhaps a peep and a wave from outside.

It is 'deep clean' week after another fortnight of very restricted  visiting - one person for one hour, by appointment, muffled by masks, in a gazebo in the front garden.

I have been fortunate to have visits from my son and a grand daughter, but I sadly miss the regular happy times I had with my two young great-granddaughters.

My hopes of a family get-together here for my 94th birthday in three months' time are fading.  

I appreciate the need to safeguard our community and Sunrise have been meticulous in following the government's rules and guidelines but surely it is time for a rethink, for a sensible, cautious lessening of restrictions.

Dreaming of returning to Roath Park

It seems incongruous that I can drive my scooter around the grounds but dare not go out into the road, the few hundred yards to the local shops and lovely Roath Park. It is like being in the army again. Would I be punished for going AWOL?

One of the favourite pastimes here were the was regular trips in the Sunrise coach, now lying idle in the car park.

Young people are justifiably up in arms over the muddle and injustice of examination marking, with rigid rules suddenly scrapped; hundreds of thousands of people holidaying overseas are summarily ordered home by a government changing rules overnight. Action or overreaction? 

For us old people time is not on our side. We have, perhaps, a few more years to enjoy.

We have all lived through good and bad times - I could not have had a more favoured life - but I think we now deserve to be treated by our masters, the government, with more consideration and realism.

We want to be safe, we don't want to be pampered, but we need a semblance or at least a hope of freedom.

We should not be the forgotten army.