Today, for the first time, the day stretches out ahead of me and, despite the soft roar of the airconditioner, it seems uncomfortably quiet.

Today’s main event will be my Day 5 PCR test. This one is not self-adminstered. Some people from the Health Department will appear at my door some time between 10.00 and 18.00 and I have to be ready for them. I place a chair by the door, with a wastebin and tissues, as instructed. I get out my Hong Kong ID card and check, again, that I have memorised my ID number. I do this shortly after 8.00.

So, OBVIOUSLY I’m still sitting behind the door at 11am, waiting for the Health Department to arrive because I’m worried that I won’t hear the doorbell over the podcast in my EarPods on my walk. A quick check with Twitter confirms that my fear is unfounded which, of course I knew. If they can’t get in touch with me, they’ll hammer on the door. So I download the Time to Walk podcast from Dolly Parton, which is sweet and interesting and only confirms my view of her as a Jolly Good Person. (Not Egg. I don’t like eggs.)

The Health Department (or whoever it is who carries out the swab tests) arrives just before 3 together with their famous “air purifier” that looks like the Teletubbies’ Naughty Noo-noo grew up and became an office manager in Burnley, which they point at me, presumably so I may be purified. Two nice young people in full hazmat gear, who, after being here for 5 minutes, tops, insist on putting their used PPE in my bin which seems to me to present a contamination hazard, but mine is not to question. I must obey.

I have finished my Vitamin C Serum capsules from BeautyPie. I’m a bit weird about this sort of thing. I never like to run out of necessities so I always keep spares. Finishing one packet of something and moving onto another is like a ceremonial ritual for me. I suppose it’s another way of marking time as it passes.

I ponder what Gabriella told me last night about Paying It Forward. I’ve been aware of the concept for many years, of course, but never really thought about it too deeply. Giving to charity is part of my upbringing and I’m very aware of my good fortune in life but Paying it Forward is something else. With a charity donation you just give. The pleasure, the fulfilment, is in the kindness of the giving. Which is, of course, great.

But paying it forward involves engaging other people outside of your own giving project. Gabriella was paying forward my care package and asked me to do the same for the next person I hear of coming into quarantine here. Which involves engaging them, involving them and creating a chain of goodwill, as long as everyone joins in with the spirit of the thing.

I’m not a naturally sociable and outgoing person – truly I’m not – and the next person I can think of who’ll be returning to a HK DQH (Designated Quarantine Hotel) is The Husband in January, so that’s not quite the same thing, is it? I don’t want to cheat with this so I resolve to pull together a basic care package based on what I’ve received from Gabriella and keep it in the house just in case I hear of someone I don’t know well who needs a bit of comfort in their quarantine. I’ll add some little bits and pieces based on what I know about the person it’s for, just like Gabriella did for me.  I’ll make sure I free a half day to come from DB to the DQH to deliver the package. It’s about considering the needs of the next person rather than what makes one feel good and therefore a whole different level of engagement from just pinging some cash over to the bank account of a charity, and I like the idea very much indeed. It chimes in quite neatly with Dolly’s podcast mention of her Imagination Library. Much, much better to give than receive.

I have decided not to post any more pictures of my food in the gallery. It’s unappetising to me and you get the idea, but at least I have the privilege of using Foodpanda and Deliveroo to buy in healthy salads and breakfast pastries from Pret and Kayser. Plenty of people don’t have that choice. Best not to sneer.