However isolated I may feel, I am one of more than 10 million people in the UK who have tested positive… so I am not alone!

I suppose it was almost bound to happen at some point and on the plus side I am getting it out of the way before Christmas. I am also feeling thankful that I’ve picked it up after having two vaccines and the symptoms have not been much worse than a bad cold. Only one thing took me by surprise – the complete loss of taste and smell which descended after a few days. It seems that was my early Christmas gift from Covid-19.

A bit like running water or flushing toilets, our senses are something we can take for granted while they’re working fine. Overnight the world became a different place and so many wonderful smells that fired the imagination or stimulated the taste buds had vanished. A cup of tea tasted more like dishwater and the roast ham being carved in the kitchen, might as well have been dolls house food. I’ve never experienced such a complete loss of taste and smell, and it was devastating.

What is the point of preparing a meal, when you can’t look forward to the taste driven by the delicious scents from herbs and spices? The only sensation in each meal was that textures varied, but everything tasted pretty much like cardboard. Flavours had become a distant memory, which I was desperate to rediscover.

I hadn’t realised how much my own well-being was influenced by food and how much sitting down to a lovely meal could affect my mood. When the food on your plate might as well be straw, what’s the point of cooking or eating? It just becomes about getting energy into your body and allaying the empty feeling in your stomach. 

I hoped it wouldn’t last long, but two or three days in I found myself inhaling fresh coffee in the hope of catching a whiff of something… However, it smelt just the same as the sleeve of my jumper. The only plus side was that bad smells had also disappeared – but that meant sniffing the milk to see if it was still OK didn’t work anymore.

A week in and there was a tantalising glimpse of hope, when I cut a slice of lemon and tasted the sharp tang – a flavour at last! Gradually little hints of scent are developing and with it the faintest flavours are being rediscovered. 

This afternoon I stuffed my face against the branches of the Christmas tree and dreamed of piney aromas. Was there a hint of pinecones somewhere, or is that just my imagination?

It looks like Christmas now – the tree is glittering with lights – but I can’t smell it yet! 

However, I live in hope that by Christmas Day I may be able to smell those mouth-watering dishes and the scent of fresh pine will be more than a distant memory!