Day 54

Day 54...

So Monday has rolled around again and actually for Simon and I Monday is the day that we are not contracted to work which means that the only person 'going to work' in this house today was Ethan.

But me and Molls had jobs to do; the first being the weekly grocery shop. Down to our local supermarket of choice to collect my online order and once again we were met by the lovely Marky Mark who was having to 'man' the lockers as they had 'gone down'! Back home, anti-bac everything down, get rid of as much packaging as possible before putting it all away; we are now quite skilled at this routine!

Next job was to assist Molly with the baking of her birthday cake (big day is tomorrow) so although we are a keto/low carb house we do make allowances for special occasions and each year Molly loves to make her own cake. This year she has made a lemon & poppy seed cake as well as a cappuccino cake. As I type the cakes have cooled and are awaiting the application of buttercream!!

Simon has cast a resin helmet in his brand new mold and we now have to wait 24 hours for it to 'set' before we can de-mold tomorrow and see how the new castings will look. I think Simon will be making a few casts while he has some time so that he can have an odd few held as stock.

We had a walk out just after lunch and stuck to one of our usual routes and it was rather chilly and a tad windy at times. We did see a few people out and about and most observed the social distancing guidelines although we did pass a group of four men who obviously don't know what 2 metres looks like and nor did they look like they came from the same household...

I have done a little pre-school work as the day has gone on, just keeping my eye on email in case any information came through about the expectations on early years after the government announcement yesterday evening and the subsequent briefings today. And although emails have been received they all basically say 'we are awaiting further information'! There is a definite feeling of left hand not knowing what right hand is doing. All I can do is wait and see what we get told before I can begin to figure out how it affects my pre-school. I just hope to goodness that the government have got things right because I do not want to be re-opening and putting anyone - me, staff, children, parents and all our families at any risk whatsoever!

And so today the government has attempted to explain what they were talking about last night and I'm really not sure whether I'm any clearer or in fact whether they understand what they are talking about. The reaction on social media has, in typical British humour, made us laugh out loud quite a few times today but it's sad that that has been the reaction. As a public we should be confident in what we are being told; it should be clear and concise without any room for interpretation; it should be comforting and reassuring; we should feel that our jobs are protected and that no-one is going to be forced to work against their will; there should be clear boundaries for where we can go, with whom, how often and whether we can see any of our loved ones we may not have seen for weeks. But all of these statements are still left unclear and let's be honest a little confusing - so I can go to work and mix with my work colleagues (and in my case young children) but I can't get that close to my dad or my brother?!!

So for the time being I'm staying home, I will go out and exercise close to home and perhaps see my dad through his living room window. I will start planning for a possible return to work but to be honest I do wonder whether the dates that are being talked about now will actually come to fruition and in what form, but only time will tell.

Stay home, take care
xx

Day 53

Day 53...

OK so today has, surprise surprise, been another quiet day. Simon has been heads down working on his latest art commission piece as he is determined to get it finished sooner rather than later.

We had a little interlude this afternoon with another online version of Dr Sketchy's Nottingham. Once again hosted by the lovely Scarlett Daggers and with poses and a performance from Coco Deville. Here are a few of my attempts!

 

And then this evening we had Boris Johnson unveil the UK's plan for coming out of the lockdown...I think...maybe...perhaps. It really was as clear as a pint of mud! Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (who last time I checked were still part of the UK) have all said let's keep staying at home, let's review again in about 3 weeks, let's not speculate on schools just yet but we will let you go out to exercise more than once a day - I think that's all very sensible.

And then we get Boris saying that in England we have to 'stay alert' - WTF does that mean? How can I stay alert for something that is invisible! And for some reason Wednesday is the day we can go out and exercise more...we can sit in a park or drive somewhere to exercise...err I think I'll stick to my local walks and sitting on my patio thank you very much. Oh and then tomorrow if you aren't working you can go back but only if you don't use public transport...so you're telling us this at 7pm before we should be back working in what 12 hours tops?! Really? How is that supposed to work? What have employers done to make it safe to go back to work? Did employers even know that was going to be announced? What do the employees feel about it all? So many questions!

Oh so it's now okay to exercise some more, play sports (but only with members of my household) and to go to work BUT I can't go see my dad or my brother...it really does not make any logical sense.

And then apparently schools will partially re-open in June to certain year groups, now I see a lot of government emails from the education department and this has not been mentioned. I know some schools are open for keyworkers children but these are small numbers and working safely with small numbers is totally different to opening for  various year groups which in some schools could be 100+ pupils - ridiculous. Again, have they even thought whether parents feel comfortable sending their children back to school, never mind what the teaching staff and unions think? And how exactly did they determine which year groups should go back and what was the thinking behind sending back very young primary school children when social distancing still needs to be adhered to - have you seen children when they get together?

Why, oh why, can't we just keep staying home, keep our heads down and hope that we get the infection rate as low as we can. Why risk all the good work achieved over the last 7 weeks or so? It will be interesting (and that doesn't feel the right word to use) to see whether we get an increase in cases in about two weeks time in reaction to the stupidity seen over the weekend in some areas along with the easing of these 'restrictions'. It will unfortunately be a matter of only time will tell and that, to be frank, makes me extremely angry, annoyed, disappointed and very sad.

STAY HOME, TAKE CARE

xx

Day 52

Day 52...

Well today has been another quiet day with really not very much happening.

Simon has devoted the day to getting a rather complex retro game inspired art commission piece completed. It's an involved piece involving around 20 or more old arcade games depicting their arcade cabinets as well as the characters from the games.

I have been doing some drawing myself...can't reveal what just yet as it's a bit of a secret that will get revealed next week...don't get too excited though it's just me trying to get crafty! It's also been a bit of a warm-up as tomorrow we have another online Dr Sketchy's event to join in with.

Me and Molly spruced up the patio area a little. We moved a set of solar lights from the bottom of the garden that we don't really get to see into the patio area. We also dug out some of Molly's 18th birthday party decorations from last year, the theme had a tiki/luau kind of vibe so we have dressed up the patio accordingly...thought we might as well make use of them and brighten things up!

Lights in their new position

Tiki Bar is open!

Mason jar, originally decorated for Halloween but should look good with a candle in

And that was today...I have tried to stay away from news and social media today as I am fed up hearing about people gathering together whether to celebrate VE day yesterday or flocking to parks and beaches today because the weather is nice. I know getting good weather in the UK is not the norm (by the way the forecast for tomorrow is back to rain, grey and cold) but you can enjoy it at home or by going out for a walk, it is not a green light to go off gathering en masse. It really defies me how people can just throw out the last 7 weeks of lockdown; let's see if we get a spike in cases in a couple of weeks time!

We all want out, but I'd rather it be when it's safe to do so.
Stay home, stay safe.
xx

Day 51

Day 51...

So today is a bank holiday (moved from Monday) to celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE day, which means we get an extra long weekend!

Simon's first job of the day was to see whether the Mandalorian helmet mold that he has been working on had been successful...and thankfully the answer was yes! All that remains now is to cast a new helmet, but Simon is very happy with how the mold has turned out, it is super clean and came apart beautifully. I wonder how many helmets this one will produce?

Fibre glass outer shell complete

Silicone mold inside

And the silicone mold emerges!!

We took our usual walk out early this afternoon and had one of those walks where all we seemed to be doing was avoiding people. I guess the sunshine, and it being a bank holiday, had encouraged a lot of people out today. Thankfully most were obeying social distancing and smiled or said hello.

This afternoon has been very quiet and has mainly involved me sitting outside, drinking coffee and reading. I came across an article while perusing Instagram called 'The Biggest Myth of Modern Nutrition; healthy plant-based diets' - a fascinating read, some of which I already knew but it was great to read a very balanced article. But really does highlight how people with their own agendas and religious beliefs can have such an impact on something like dietary information with absolutely no science to back up their claims. It is then so sad to see big corporate companies involved with supporting diet and health agencies and organisations where their own profit margins are holding court and forcing guidelines in directions to suit their own means.

Must admit I've been feeling pretty low today. I've been disheartened to see news reports of people gathering together to celebrate VE day but not adhering to social distancing all while we still had another 626 people die in the UK. The reports are flying around over what our government will announce on Sunday regarding the lockdown and the plan to get out of it and quite frankly I think the press are just fueling the fire and not asking responsible, sound questions. Rather than ask pertinent, well thought out questions they just seem to want to put ideas in peoples heads and speculate...not helpful.

We need the government to be honest and tell us what is likely to happen and when and what will happen if we don't all do as we are told. So for all those that have 'gathered together' today and not kept socially distanced I wonder if we will see a spike in cases in a few days time? It is hard enough having to stick to this lockdown without people blatantly acting against it...yet again the acts of the minority spoiling it for the majority.

I can't do much but I can stay home and keep my distance and if we all do that perhaps we will get out of this sooner rather than later...who knows?!

xx

Day 50

Day 50...

The day started with a little work followed by an hour or so chatting with my fellow Disney Dream Girl, Michelle, as we recorded this weeks podcast ready for release on Sunday.

It was then back to work as I'd decided to take the time to go through and review all our policies and procedures. I'd figured it was probably a good idea to get these all up to date before tackling any new ones that I need to bring in when, or if, we return anytime soon. Plus I know that I will have tons of risk assessment paperwork to complete as and when a re-open is on the cards.

Chatting today though with Michelle, who also works in education, and we both commented that we and fellow colleagues are all fearful of returning to work too soon. We can't understand why schools don't simply remain closed until September, when the next academic year starts, and when we will have a better idea of what this virus is doing and what part children have to play in all of this. Whilst we know that the majority of children that do get the virus have either very mild or no symptoms we also know that for a rare few they have been known to develop some quite nasty and scary symptoms. There is also evidence now coming out to suggest that whilst children may have no symptoms they can still carry the virus and may carry just as heavy a load of the virus as adults and possibly even more so. Again, should we not be letting the scientists do their thing and gather as much evidence as possible so that more informed and pertinent decisions can be made?!

Really felt quite despondent at times today and have tried to stay away from social media and the news as much as possible because it was just getting to me too much. There is so much speculation going on, so many papers reporting what the easing of lockdown will be and when but as the government hasn't had its three week review (happening today) and has said that a plan will be announced on Sunday I don't know how they can 'report' on it. Then add into that everyone's differing take and opinion on social media and it just becomes all the more confusing and, quite frankly, scary.

So an afternoon that started with our usual lunchtime walk was a much needed distraction. We decided to do one of our usual routes but in reverse which meant half way around we had a pretty steep hill to go up (rather than down) which I really felt in my glutes!

Beautiful views, if a little hazy today

I then did a little more work followed by some time sitting outside with a coffee or two reading my Dr Ted Naiman book - really starting to make sense now!

I had my weekly delivery from a local dairy farm called Bluebells who have expanded their delivery service out to personal customers rather than just wholesale as they did prior. They produce their own milk and artisan ice-cream but you can also visit their farm where they have a cafe and play area for  kids. So it's been nice to think I can help support a local small business during this time plus Molly and Ethan are happy because being the soft parent that I am I keep letting them have ice-cream...this week it's Cookies & Cream and Biscoff flavours!

The day was rounded out with a spot of bodyweight exercises for me while Simon and Molly went down 'the gym'. So that's another day done, another day keeping safe. While it is a very strange time that we are living through, and one that seems to have no clear outcome, I hope that the powers that be take on the advice of the scientists, that they make rational and sound decisions. That they recognise that this is a marathon and not a sprint and perhaps taking things slow and steady will enable us to learn more about this virus, to learn from other countries and come out of this without causing anymore unnecessary pain and suffering.

Take care, stay safe.
xx

Day 49

Day 49...

Well today has been another mix of work and chill. A few emails checked and dealt with, some interesting links followed, articles read and information gleaned and stored.

Today we received an order from an online butchers that I had placed at the beginning of the lockdown when I was struggling to get some items on my normal grocery shop. So I took the plunge and placed an order even though the delivery was at that point about 5 weeks away. Well today it arrived and I had to get Molly to move the box from the front door to the kitchen for me because I couldn't lift it...12kg of meat...think we might be ok for a while...although being the carnivore family that we are...

Simon and I took our usual walk out at lunchtime in the glorious sunshine and decided to walk over the fields today.

I then enjoyed a relaxed afternoon of sitting outside drinking coffee, topping up my vitamin D and reading my current book by Dr Ted Naiman called The P:E Diet...

...along with completing my current jigsaw...

...looks like I'll have to start a new one tomorrow so I may have to place another order so I have one ready and waiting for when I complete it!

Simon has spent an hour or so out in the garage this evening as the resin he needed for fibre glassing arrived today which has meant he has been able to complete the other half of the outer shell of his Mandalorian helmet mold.

Molly has spent her day sorting through all her photography work and is just in the process of re-organising the digital files which sounds like a mammoth job and one where she will probably need yet another hard disk. You can see some of her work on her website for Shutter Studios.This evening she took over the living room to complete her karate class online via Zoom!

So all in all a pretty decent day in our house.

Stay safe xx

Day 48

Day 48...

So decided to try and get some work done today, and having seen an article on the breakfast news discussing the potential reopening of schools I decided to start drafting a document for pre-school. I think I just needed to do a bit of a brain dump to get all the thoughts and questions out of my head and onto paper!

There are lots on unanswered questions at the moment about this virus in general, never mind the relaxing of the lockdown and the potential reopening of schools. The media seems to like mentioning the 1st June which would coincide with when the second half of the Summer term would start. This would give us a 7 week term before we broke for the Summer holidays...assuming that the holidays still take place. This just means lots of speculation about when schools will open, who will they open for and how will they open and still observe social distancing. As the UK has the worst death rate in all of Europe would it not make sense to just take things really slowly? The Scottish government have today said that opening schools if not handled correctly could cause infection rates to rise again and put undue pressure of the health service. Let's just hold off...give things time to take effect and then make a decision. Let's look at other countries and see how they are handling their lockdowns and learn from them, like we should have done back in February! Perhaps if we had gone into lockdown sooner we would not have such a high death rate and we would be in a position to relax our lockdown in a manner in which everyone feels comfortable and safe.

One of the side effects of this extended lockdown is, I think, going to be the public's confidence to get back out into society. When we've been told for months that there is this deadly virus out there and you need to stay home what is going to compel us to go out into the big wide world? Are we going to see people suffering from agoraphobia? Are we going to be a nation of germaphobes? Will we like the new world we will have to live in? Will we want to 'just go back' to what we used to do? Will we have the confidence in what the powers that be tell us when it is more and more apparent that their slow reaction has made the situation worse than it could have been? Do we have confidence that they will learn from their mistakes and be better prepared for either the 'second wave' or the next pandemic to raise its ugly head?

I want nothing more than for life to resume, to be able to see the people I love and care about and to give them a hug. To be able to meet up with someone for a coffee, a walk, a drink in the pub or go out shopping. To be able to travel again to all the places that I would love to visit. To be able to enjoy my life in the way in which I want to enjoy it, at the pace at which I want to enjoy it and do all that when I want to. But I want to do all of that in a world that is safe for all of us and if that means a bit longer living the way we are now then I would rather do that than put myself, family, friends and colleagues at risk.

I think one thing I will definitely be taking from all of this, and coupled with my own personal events of the last 12 months and the preceding few years, is to make sure I live my life the way I want to in the time that I have left. I fear that I have spent too much time doing the 'right thing' at the 'right time' whether I wanted to or not. Time is now of the essence and I need to figure out how best to use the time that I have to do the things that I want, when I want! Time for me and those I love the most.

Stay safe, stay home, take care.

xx