Would I have Covid or not? My test results are in | Matt Mohan-Hickson

In case you missed last week’s column, I had symptoms of Covid-19 and got myself tested.

After four long days of waiting, during which time I felt absolutely rotten, I finally received the text I had been hoping for. My results had come back negative, no coronavirus in this body.

If you missed Matt’s column last week, here it is

In the moments after getting the all-clear I felt a huge sense of relief, like a pandemic-sized weight had been lifted from my chest.

Not just because it meant I did not have a killer virus, but more that I was no longer inconveniencing my housemates and keeping them all locked up in our home.

Never had I been happier to step outside and take in the city air while strolling up and down Fratton Road.

But after this brief stroll, I found myself completely knackered and feeling weak. I was also left with unanswered questions about exactly what had been making me so ill for the previous few days.

Was it flu? The aches I had been suffering certainly seemed to be a sign that it could have been. I guess I will never know for sure. Just another of life’s unanswered mysteries.

But despite that initial wave of relief at not having Covid-19, I was soon left with an overwhelming feeling of frustration.

I could feel I was close to being well again but I was still so weak and exhausted, the toll from my body fighting the sickness I assume.

Simple things like walking up a flight of stairs, or going for a short walk, left me out of breath and feeling weary, needing a lie down.

It was just so frustrating – normality was in sight but it was just out of my grasp.

A week before I was going for a 40-minute run, now I could barely stand without feeling exhausted.

It was like some monstrous creature had crept into my room and was draining the life out of me slowly, until I was nothing but a bag of bones.

Lead singer’s death gave me my first experience of grief

I’m not sure if I’ve ever truly experienced grief. In one of my early columns I touched on how I’d never really had grandparents.

So I’ve never had to reckon with the sudden shock of death and I have no idea what it will feel like or how to cope with it.

In lieu of it, I’ve projected pop culture through a lens of what I think it might be. None more so than with Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington who died in 2017.

They were the first band I discovered. Every time I listen to them, I’m left with a sense of absence.

The band has just gone and all that’s left is a feeling something is missing. A feeling I’ve long associated with my lack of grandparents.

I have a theory this hybrid genre set the tone for today

Much music I grew up with has not aged well. But going back to Hybrid Theory in the run-up to its 20th anniversary, it still feels fresh.

Yes, Linkin Park are one of my foundation bands. I stumbled across them on music channels about 2006. So while I am biased and process Linkin Park with plenty of nostalgia, looking back on their first album 20 years later it feels like a harbinger for today’s music.

Given the name Hybrid Theory it’s no surprise the album covers a range of genres – hip hop, rock, metal and electronica. It still feels vital, especially in an age of genreless artists who cherry-pick motifs across the spectrum to release them on Soundcloud.

A message from the editor, Mark Waldron. The News is more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism. You can subscribe here for unlimited access to Portsmouth news online - as well as our new Puzzles section.