Happy Halloween

Day 227...

Happy Halloween!!

Now over the past ten years or more we have held numerous Halloween parties and this year with Halloween falling on a Saturday it would have been a given that a Halloween party was in order.

Usually this means a gathering of friends, plenty of ghoulish attire, a selection of yummy treats, a few drinks of an alcoholic nature and the inevitable turning on of the karaoke machine.

We have had some great parties, hosted by either ourselves or by friends, over the years and that makes not having one this year such a sad time. So I thought rather than my usual blog piece I would share some photos of our various parties from years gone by!

Back in 2005

2010 with a Disney vibe

Karaoke with my bestie!

2011

Catwoman & Joker - 2012

Artwork by Simon - this was done as our party invitation

2013

And one more from the vault which is very appropriate as last night we started watching season two of The Mandalorian - which was amazing!

2015

It was fun looking back on all of these and I am sure I've missed a few, but great to have the memories to share and remember what being with people was all about.

And as we get ready for a second nationwide lockdown starting this coming Thursday it is good to remember the times that we have had and will have once again. Let's hope this will do some good but I'm really not sure. As far as I can make out lockdowns will not make the virus disappear all they do is buy us some time so that hospitals are not overwhelmed and that systems can be put in place to help us when we get out the other side of said lockdown. Let's hope that something actually gets done this time as it would appear that that didn't happen very effectively the last time.

So all we can do is keep safe, wash our hands, keep our distance, wear a mask and stay home as much as possible.

xx

Day 226

Day 226...

Another relatively quiet and straight forward sort of day again today.

And it turned out to be a day of tidying, hoovering and sorting...so nothing very exciting just stuff that needed to get done...stuff I had been putting off getting done but a lovely feeling of accomplishment once it was all done.

So life carries on as we await to see whether we move up a tier of restrictions, as is the speculation at the moment, or whether our government decides on a nationwide lockdown. Whether either of these will make any difference who knows?

We continue to carry-on in a state of restrictions and confusion, not only are different parts of the country in different tiers of restrictions but even the different tiers are specific to the different areas. For example the county next door to where I am is now in Tier 3 and have said that tattoo and beauty parlours must shut and that alcohol cannot be sold after 9pm which is completely different to other areas in Tier 3...is it any wonder we are all confused as to what we should be doing?!

But my day is done and I must get on with the main event of today...to sit down with Simon and watch the first episode of season two of The Mandalorian. We have just re-watched season one over the past few evenings ready for the new season starting today; such a fabulous series so we have high expectations for the second one. We have really enjoyed this new Star Wars adventure and the skills of Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau in producing are second to none, I could not recommend watching this series highly enough! This is the way!

Take care, whatever you are up to wherever you may be. Wash your hands, keep your distance and wear a mask.
xx

Day 225

Day 225...

Another relatively quiet day today.

Started with a trip to my supermarket of choice to collect a grocery order as we've decided to have a few treats over the weekend in lieu of a Halloween party.

Next job of the day was to tackle the mountain of ironing that seemed to have accumulated, so while not very exciting there was a sense of accomplishment when it was all done.

Just after lunchtime I jumped online to chat with my good friend and fellow Disney Dream Girl, Michelle. It was, as always, just nice to catch-up with Michelle but we also managed to record two shows; one to come out this coming Sunday and another for our Patreon subscribers.

While I was busy recording Molly had taken over the kitchen and made a start on this years pumpkin carvings; and I think she's done an amazing job!

Later on Molly and I took another little trip out, I had a few items that I needed to drop off at pre-school ahead of our return next week and Molly had a USB drive to take to my sister-in-law's full of photos from her photoshoot at the weekend...think she had whittled it down to 130 photos!!

Then I indulged a little this afternoon with some 'me time', just sat watching a bit of TV, which I very rarely do but am trying to do more of.

As the evening drew in it was time to see Molly's pumpkin carvings in full effect; how awesome do these look?!

Stay safe out there, wash your hands, keep your distance and wear a mask.

xx

Day 224

Day 224...

Well today turned out to be a fairly quiet and ordinary sort of day.

The morning was taken up with a few household chores followed by packing some more of my Ebay sales. I had one small parcel to take to my local post office and then another to deliver locally. It turned out that an item I was selling was wanted by someone who lived only a couple of miles away and they asked if I could deliver for them, which I duly did.

Once home it was time for Simon's lunchbreak so we took a brisk walk through our village, managing just over a mile and a half in 30 minutes and got home just as the rain started.

The afternoon was then taken up with the pre-school work that I hadn't been able to complete yesterday. Just a case of completing the accounts for the first term of the year and only a couple of minor errors stopped me from balancing first time; although it was still rather annoying that I hadn't been able to balance them first time.

Molly had another kickboxing class this evening followed by her first 'strength and conditioning' class, deadlifts and the like!

And that was today. As the county next door to where we are prepares to head into Tier 3 restrictions from Friday and France announce another nationwide lockdown and the inevitable sad news that Disneyland Paris will have to close again for who knows how long. This follows announcements from Disney in the US overnight that lots of their equity employees, so all those who perform in a multitude of shows will be laid off by the end of the year. Very sad times indeed...fair to say I am rather fed up of 2020, think we need a 'do-over'.

Stay safe out there, wash your hands, keep your distance and wear a mask.
xx

Day 223

Day 223...

Today has been a fairly quiet sort of day. No rush to be out and about this morning so everything proceeded at a fairly relaxed pace.

First half of the day was spent sorting some bits and pieces out online; updating some online stuff, ordering our Hotel Chocolat advent calendars, placing a butchers order for delivery later in the week and just generally getting on top of a list of jobs.

At lunchtime Simon and I took a walk out despite the rain. Thankfully we timed it right as although it rained off and on it was never too bad. Just a couple of miles today which gave us the chance to put the world to rights.

Second half of my day was spent doing a little preschool work as it was payday today so needed to get the pay-slips issued. I still have a little admin work to complete but hopefully that will be a fairly straightforward job for tomorrow morning.

We had a little gym workout this evening; Molly and Simon braved the 'garage gym' and despite the dark and wet night it was surprisingly cosy...amazing what a small fan heater can achieve!

Lots of chatter on social media today around antibodies and t-cells. A few attention grabbing headlines were implying that because antibodies do not hang around after exposure to the dreaded virus that it was all doom and gloom. Thankfully there are enough scientists out there able to shout about t-cells and explain that there is more to immunity than just antibodies. Lots of interesting discussion that I hope will get the investigation and coverage that is needed as I fear too often when dealing with this virus that only those who shout the loudest, or who have the best connections, get to have their ideas heard. I think now more than ever we need to be open to all opinions and thought processes even if that means admitting that previous theories were wrong or have changed because what we are dealing with is new and our understanding must therefore be ever evolving as we get to grips with it all and find out more.

Where all of this leaves us I don't know, we can only hope that those with the know-how and brains are looking into all of the above to find the best way forward for all of us.

Stay safe, wash your hands, keep your distance and wear a mask.

xx

Monday - Day 222

Day 222...

Here's another Monday and it started as most of my Mondays start with a trip to my supermarket of choice to collect our weekly grocery shopping. 

After the groceries had been put away we decided to go out for a walk over the fields. Although the weather was dry the ground was definitely not and was decidedly squelchy at times! But we plodded on and managed about three miles in about an hour.

We have decided that if we are going to continue on our walks around where we live through the Autumn and Winter we will probably need to invest in some decent walking shoes or boots. Thankfully I currently wear an old pair of trainers so it doesn't matter what state they get in to, but as of this evening they are still drying out from todays little adventure!

After lunch Simon looked at a couple of art commissions that had come his way over the weekend before nipping out for his annual eye-test. He swapped to contact lenses last year and prefers them to glasses but this was just a check to see if his prescription needed changing. Thankfully no real change needed but two hours spent in a busy opticians didn't sound like a great experience. He commented that the staff were doing the best they could but trying to keep socially distanced in a busy shop was by all accounts rather stressful.

I spent the afternoon re-organising the pile of items I am trying to sell online along with all the boxes we have held onto to re-use as packaging. I was fed up of falling over everything so had a good sort through and can now reach a cupboard that had been blocked before!

Molly has been creative today, not only has she been sorting through all the photos that she took yesterday but she found a few minutes to have a go at making chocolate covered Mickey apples...

The day was rounded out with playing taxi service for Molly as she had her kickboxing class early evening before settling down with a nice glass of red.

So we have heard today that the city eight miles away will be going into Tier 3 lockdown restrictions later this week but for the time being where we are will stay in Tier 2. Not really sure what that means, I think Tier 3 means that you can't mix with anyone else outside of your household and pubs can only open if they serve 'substantial' meals...whatever that means. Like I've said numerous times before I think we all have to proceed through life as best we can, risk assessing what we want to do, how to do it and whether we feel comfortable doing it. 

Take care out there, stay safe, wash your hands, keep your distance and wear a mask.

xx

A Photoshoot by Shutter Studios

Day 221...

So as we turned back the clocks one hour last night and can now fully embrace the autumnal season I thought I would change my little icon at the top of these posts to something more appropriate.

The day started with the usual Sunday online grocery shop ready for collection tomorrow, and then we got ready for an afternoon out!

Molly had been asked by my sister-in-law if she could take some photos for her and so our afternoon out was to help Molly with this photoshoot. My sister-in-law runs a small business called China Petals where she makes mosiacs from fine china. She has a small studio space and had asked Molly if she could take some photographs to be used in publicity; some shots of the studio, of her at work and some headshots.

So armed with camera and lightboxes we spent a few hours this afternoon as photographers assistant and driver. Molly did a great job and took over 350 photos which she now needs to go through and edit

Once home we had time for a coffee before jumping online to join in with the weekly Disney Dream Girls podcast Disney quiz. This week I had come up with questions all about the movie Hocus Pocus and my partner in crime, Michelle, had done the same all about the film The Nightmare Before Christmas. Another fun hour chatting with Disney loving friends from around the world.

Simon has been working on an art commission for a contact in the US and some digital drawing for himself as well as a little VR time travelling around an art gallery! All in all, today has turned out to be quite a creative sort of day.

Until tomorrow, take care out there; wash your hands, keep your distance and wear a mask.

xx

It's Saturday!

Day 220...

Welcome to the weekend and the first day of my week off work.

A relaxed start to the day followed by taking Molly to her guitar lesson which meant we took advantage of a drive thru coffee while we waited. In more normal times we would have gone inside the aforementioned coffee shop but for now we will stick to the drive thru. But the lovely thing was that the staff there still remember us; the knock-on effect of visiting the same establishment at the same time week after week for a good number of years!

By the time we got home the weather had turned quite grey and wet so any thoughts of getting out for an afternoon walk were quashed. But in true gentlemanly style when I mentioned that I needed something from our garage which meant going outside in the pouring rain Simon grabbed an umbrella and braved the elements just as it decided to rain even heavier...must be true love 💘 

I then did something that I never normally do which was to stop, sit down and watch a film in the middle of the afternoon. Well I did have a reason for this; it was all done in the name of research. Tomorrow is our regular Disney Dream Girls weekly Disney quiz and I had been tasked with coming up with questions about the movie Hocus Pocus. I could have just googled it, or read about it on Wikipedia, but instead I decided to refresh my memory and come up with questions myself. 

Literally feet up and movie time!

It was great fun to revisit the film and I am pretty happy with the seventeen questions that I have come up with. Let's hope they are a good mixture of tricky and straight forward!

I had another Disney brown box arrive mid-afternoon with some more Christmassy bits and pieces.

And I couldn't resist getting some Disney Christmas earrings as well...

...and I am in love with the artwork that's on the back of the box of baubles...

The remainder of the afternoon was spent getting a few more Halloween decorations scattered around the house while Simon completed his Star Wars, MSE droid project; this has been on the go for about a year and has not only included 3D printing, metalwork, resin casting but also electronics. You can see more on Simons art page over on Facebook.

There we have Saturday done and dusted, and now it's time for red wine and dark chocolate - I know how to live it up on a Saturday night!!

Take care out there, wash your hands, keep your distance and wear a mask.

xx

End of Term

Day 219...

Today was the last day of the first term of our academic school year. We have made it through seven weeks and four days relatively unscathed and now have one week to relax and recharge.

But the day was pretty uneventful with just the usual type of admin tasks to complete. I, thankfully, remembered to bring some paperwork home with me so that I can update the accounts over the next week.

We spent the afternoon removing all the Halloween decorations, although we kept on finding small plastic spiders after we had cleared everything away. As the decorations mostly belong to me I have the pleasure of looking after them at home and will admit to giving myself a bit of a start when unpacking a bag and thinking there was a spider in the bottom only to realise that it was plastic, of course!

As the pre-school is a registered charity we rely very heavily on fundraising so this week, as part of our Halloween Fun Week, we had been selling some 'Treat Cups', as well as asking parents to make a small contribution to the festivities. By the end of today we had raised £125, which was amazing, and will help go a long way with some new purchases that we are in desperate need of for our role play kitchen area.

This did mean that once home I had to first unpack my car of Halloween decorations before then counting the money that we had collected over the week. But with those jobs out the way I can now enjoy some downtime away from work. Well I say that but there will be a couple of jobs that will need doing but I am hoping these will only take up a small amount of my time this coming week.

I think now, more than ever, it is important to distinquish between work time and non-work time so that you get to enjoy the time away from work and switch off for a while. There may not be much happening, or places to go, or people to see but it is still important to take the time for yourself and find the space to simply chill.

So I have a glass of red...well my second glass of red...and it's time to put my feet up and embrace the coming week or rest and relaxation.

Stay safe out there, wash your hands, keep your distance and wear a mask.
xx

Work & Podcast

Day 218...

Another day is done and another fairly straight forward sort of day.

Work was the usual lot of admin and banking as we had our penultimate day at pre-school before we break for a weeks holiday. We have been having our Halloween Fun Week and as a result should have raised a little bit of extra cash by the time we get to the end of tomorrow.

Once home it was time to grab a coffee and jump online with my fellow Disney Dream Girl Michelle as we recorded another podcast to be released this coming Sunday. Lots of chat about new merchandise released ready for Christmas as well as which Disney Halloween movies we should, or should not, be watching.

I always enjoy hooking up with Michelle we love chatting all things Disney, plus we are great friends so it's great to have an excuse to natter away and set the world to rights. Michelle is due to have an operation next week and so has had to 'self isolate' for the last fourteen days but she has still been able to organise a little surprise parcel for me that arrived today.

How cute is this little knitted pumpkin? This certainly brightened up my day and was really appreciated, thanks Michelle xx

And while I've been writing this post Simon has been driving his mouse droid around my feet making beep and boop noises! The accelerometer is working and is being tweaked for sensitivity as I type!

And that's where I shall leave it for today.

Take care, wash your hands, keep your distance and wear a mask.

xx

Middle of the Week

 

Day 217...

So the midweek point of the working week.

And I think this will be another short post today. As the day has been pretty quiet.

I was in work today, covering for another member of staff on holiday, and once I got home I had some data input to complete. I'd realised late on today that I had a deadline approaching for some data input and thought it was for next week but then discovered it is actually tomorrow. Oops! But thankfully all very easily done and quickly input once home.

It was then mum and dad taxi service tonight as Molls had her kickboxing class.

And that was pretty much it for the day. Life rolls on and the news continues to reverberate around lockdowns and tiers of lockdown and restrictions and financial support, or lack thereof, and more confusion. And while I think the majority of us want to do our 'bit' to get us through whatever it is we are going through I think it becomes harder to see exactly what that 'bit' needs to be.

Take care, wash your hands, keep your distance and wear a mask.
xx

Day 216

 

Day 216...

It's been a quiet sort of day...work...home...post office and home again.

So I think this will be a surprisingly short post, in fact I'm really not sure what to write about tonight.

Where I live is still in Tier 2 restrictions and there is much talk about how long that is going to last for. There is still speculation as to whether we will, as a country, end up in some sort of mini-lockdown or circuit breaker as it seems to be called. But who knows?

All I do know is that we seem to go from one uncertainty to another and after seven months or more of this I think we are probably all getting a bit tired of it all. There is now this great conflict between the virus and the economy and an effort to get the balance right between the two, as well as the emotional and social impact that we are all feeling on our well-being.

So as I have a glass of red wine waiting for me I think I will stop there for the day and see you all tomorrow.

Take care out there, wash your hands, keep your distance and wear a mask.
xx

Shopping, Walk and a Disney Box

Day 215...

A pretty standard sort of Monday today.

First job of the day was to fetch the weekly grocery shop with a quick stop-off on the way home to put petrol in the car. Once home it was get everything packed away before enjoying a coffee.

I had a couple of completed Ebay sales so need to find packaging and get them all sorted for posting out. I also had a couple more items to add to my selling list which means that I have almost everything that I need to sell listed. I'm just left with a load of glassware and I have no idea what I've got; just lots of bowls and a few vases none of which are my style and probably date back to anywhere between the 1960's and 1980's! I'm sure somebody out there will appreciate them so it seems a shame to throw them away so if I can't sell them I think they'll get donated to a local charity shop.

We had a small moment of panic this morning when I realised that the washing machine had stopped working but when I realised that the tumble dryer was also not working we knew that the problem was with the electrics and not the appliances. After swapping over a couple of plugs we were able to get them back up and running - phew!

Then it was time for another decent walk, taking advantage of the dry weather and a little sunshine. We managed 3.8 miles in an hour and 19 minutes.

By the time we had arrived home I had had a delivery...always love a Disney brown box day!

Just love the festive detail on the inside!

And yes there were Christmas decorations inside...here's just a couple of them...

How cute are these 'ears'?!

And a classic Disney character getting in a festive tangle

...and I ordered some more yesterday so should have another box arriving in a weeks time - oops!

The rest of the day has been very relaxed and chilled out, with coffee outside, some online browsing and Simon has been exercising his artistic talents with some more digital painting. Check out his Instagram or Twitter to see what he has been up to.

And on the dreaded virus front we have Wales announcing a two week lockdown from Friday, we have Ireland going into a four to six week lockdown and so speculation is rife that we will be heading the same way. We are due to break for a week on Friday from pre-school for what is called our 'Autumn half term break' so there is lots of chatter about this being turned into a longer break to relieve any pressures there could be on the health service. So watch this space to see what actually ends up happening.

All we can do is stay safe, take care and wash our hands, keep our distance and wear a mask.

xx

Sunday again...

Day 214...

Well it was a slow start to the day but after all it was Sunday and we didn't really have anything planned.

Once up and about I had what is the now usual Sunday morning job of updating my online grocery shopping order ready for collection tomorrow. And while I did that Simon was tinkering with the mouse droid he is building as he is working towards getting the electronics working so that it 'beeps and boops'!

We then got on our walking shoes and set off for a little Sunday afternoon stroll...well we managed 3.5 miles in about and hour and 15 minutes. We took a walk that we haven't done for a while and it was interesting to notice the change in the scenery. We commented that when we first started walking back in March everywhere was just starting to bud and come to life. We have then seen everywhere blossom, get very green and very overgrown and now we are seeing it all start to die back, change colour and are seeing a whole new range of colours emerge. We really are getting to see the circle of life in full effect.

Once home we decided to enjoy a coffee, and a small piece of dark chocolate, outside in the garden. The only downside to this was a few wasps that thought we were fair game! So a little internet research ensued to find out whether there was any particular way to ward off wasps. Well, apparently they don't like the colour red and they are also very territorial. So one way is to make a fake wasps nest as then they won't approach...so thanks to the power of Amazon we have, for £3.00, ordered a fake wasp nest to see whether that will actually work!! I will let you know!

The rest of the afternoon was spent with a little more Ebaying, some online shopping and some more mouse droid tinkering for Simon....and here is said droid...

An MSE droid to name it correctly

So we have working sounds but, as I understand it, Simon wants the sounds to be linked to it's movement and that is what he is currently working on...apparently it involves accelerometers!

The day was rounded out with our regular Sunday evening Disney quiz, hosted by the podcast I co-host, the Disney Dream Girls. Today the quiz was all about the animated classic The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr Toad and we need pretty well...in fact we won! Which means we get to set the questions for next week and I think we have agreed to set them around the movie Hocus Pocus which means I will need to re-watch it this week I think.

While me and Molly were quizzing Simon has been immersing himself in more of his VR games, getting to grips with Vadar Immortal...a Star Wars game...and he's loving it by all accounts.

Another Sunday done and another day where we have managed to stay clear of real world antics...

Stay safe, take care out there...wash your hands, keep your distance and wear a mask.

xx

Here's the Weekend

Day 213...

And welcome to the weekend and our first day in Tier 2 restrictions...lockdown or whatever we are calling it. But to be fair we just carried on as we have been doing because what we have been doing is what Tier 2 is all about anyway!

First job of the day was to meet one of my pre-school committee members at pre-school to take delivery of some special treats ready for our Halloween Fun Week next week. A couple of our committee have taken all the goodies donated to us from our local ASDA and made up some treat bags and sweet cups that we are going to sell next week to raise some extra pennies.

Once that was sorted we then had a little furniture delivery to make as one of the items from our other house that we had tried unsuccessfully to sell was actually needed by our new tenants, they had changed their mind about needing it so we popped by to drop it off. 

Then it was back home to stop for five minutes with a coffee sat outside in the garden. Not a bad day today, a little chilly but it was dry so we took advantage and enjoyed the time and the coffee. And while we were outside we decided to have a quick tidy in the garage so that we can now fit the car back in there as well as sweep up a bin full of leaves.

This afternoon was spent sorting out candles to go with some of the Halloween decorations that I got out yesterday, posting a few more items for sale on Ebay, another coffee sat outside and Simon was finally able to assemble the mouse droid he has been making. This did mean I had a droid moving around the house for most of the afternoon...but just a few more final tweaks and then it will all be done!

Love this decoration, the candle inside makes the ghost in the chimney spin around!

One advantage of today has been that we have kept away from the news and social media and it has been quite nice not to be bombarded with the latest figures and rules and to just 'have a day'. I look forward to when we can have more 'just days' and life can resume and be embraced once again.

But until then please take care, stay safe, wash your hands, keep your distance and wear a mask.
xx

Yay it's Friday!

Day 212...

Last day of the working week has come around once again.

A pretty standard sort of day with the usual admin to complete. This afternoon pre-school got dressed ready for our Halloween fun week next week and the team did a great job of making the room look suitably festive!

Once home I had a couple of emails to send and a few bits to sort out but then found out our prime minister was giving a televised press conference. So, with all the rumours and speculations going about at the moment  I thought it may be worth tuning into.

Well...did I learn anything new? Did I understand anything better? Am I any clearer on what their plan may be?...Err....No. All I learnt was that it was a chance to attack one region of our country who are wanting greater clarity and control before entering into the highest level of current restrictions. We were told about amazing new and quick tests that will be ground breaking and enable us to function so much better but that we don't know when they will be available and probably not for a while yet - oh!

And then, as it always is with these briefings, the finger was pointed at us, the great British public, to pull together and do our bit because that's the only way we will get through this...oh really? So being locked down for 12 weeks from March wasn't enough then? People losing their jobs and their businesses wasn't enough then? Not being able to see friends and family hasn't been enough then? And I could go on.

As a family I think we have been pretty good. All the way through lockdown we stayed home, Simon and I would go out for a walk each day and once a week I would collect my grocery shopping and that was it. When lockdown started to ease I went back to work while everyone else continued to work from home. We continued collecting our shopping and stayed pretty close to home. I have been in a supermarket once to complete a shop and a couple of times to collect something on behalf of pre-school. I have been to my local post office off and on to drop off pre-paid parcels. I have been non-grocery shopping once and only went in one specific shop. I have visited a coffee shop twice indoors but for take-away only. I have visited outdoor cafe's just three times and have visited drive thru' coffee shops perhaps four or five times. We have visited large DIY shops about four times. I have met only two friends, and just one time for each. We haven't been out for a meal anywhere and have had a take-away meal just three times. If I can recall all of this since March then I think that shows that we have been doing exactly what we have been told to do to the very best of our ability and where has that gotten us? Have we made any progress? I really don't know.

As far as I can tell we are now being told that if we don't do as we are told that things are going to be as bad as they were back in March. But is that right? Some would argue that is not the case while others would agree that it's getting bad again. Some would argue that a full lockdown for a few weeks would buy us the time to ease the pressure off the health service and come up with a better working test and trace system as our current one really is not working as promised. But others would argue that a lockdown only pauses things and that once lifted the numbers will rise again and that actually hospital admissions are no different to what you would expect to see at this time of year.

So where does that leave us, the general public? Who should we believe and what should we be doing? I think over the course of the next few days or weeks we will be moved from one set of guidelines to another which will only cause yet more confusion and annoyance. We want, we need, our lives back. We need to be living, to be enjoying, to be experiencing life rather than just going from one day to another not knowing when we will see the light at the end of the tunnel.

And because of all of the above I have decided to embrace Halloween this year and have made a start on decorating around the house. Now this won't be a big affair (unlike Christmas) but I just felt the need to say fuck it lets have a little fun. We don't tend to go overboard on Halloween here in the UK but I have a few bits and so will do my best to invoke a little Halloween fun.

To set the right tone the music had to be right!

Outdoor pumpkin lights

A few decorative pieces

Outdoors....as one of my friends said....one way system must mean it's COVID safe!!

There has been more VR madness in the house tonight as Molly has had her turn and proven to be pretty good on the dance games! Me on the other hand has yet to have a go...I am sure I'll get there...at some point...maybe!

Anyway, just take care out there, whatever you may be doing and wherever you may be. Wash you hands, keep your distance and wear a mask.
xx

More restrictions...

Day 211...

And it was back in work day today. And pretty much a standard sort of work day.

Once home I had a short amount of time to catch up on a few bits, take delivery of my weekly local dairy order before sitting down to record a podcast for the show I co-host, the Disney Dream Girls.

In podcast recording mode

Today we were very fortunate to chat with the lovely Terri Hardin. Terri is a sculptor, puppeteer, artist and Disney Imagineer and is a delight to chat with. She has some amazing stories to tell and I could listen to her chatter away for hours. It was, as it always is, nice to catch up with my co-host Michelle who is having to self isolate at the moment prior to having a knee operation in a couple of weeks time.

While dinner was cooking I sorted through my Halloween decorations to see which bits would be suitable to take into pre-school for our Halloween fun week next week; I have two boxes worth of stuff to take in so hopefully we will be able to make everywhere look suitably Halloween themed.

We heard at lunchtime today that the area that we live and work in will be going into Tier 2 restrictions as from Saturday. So what does that mean exactly? Well apparently we can no longer meet friends or family inside our own homes (we could only have up to 6 anyway) but we can meet them outdoors and we can still go to a pub or restaurant but only as our household group and the pub must close by 10pm.

It really boggles my mind as to what those restrictions will actually achieve. As far as I understand it a lockdown will not get rid of the virus it will simply help to ease the pressure on our health services; which I am all in support of should they need it. But what I don't understand is how us, as a family of four, cannot invite one or two people of our choosing into our house, but yet they can come and sit in our garden. But at the same time I can go and sit in a pub or restaurant for a couple of hours, indoors, with people that I have never met before and have no idea where they have been or who they have seen. At least at home I will only let into my space someone that I know where they have been, what they have been up to and who I feel comfortable letting in. So yes, I really don't 'get it' and that is the phrase that I am hearing a lot of. We all want to do our bit but we just don't 'get it'; where is the logic? Somebody please explain it to me...in plain English!

So like we have been doing all along, I will do what I consider to be safe and responsible, I will risk assess my movements and the movements of those around me while trying my best to adhere to whatever new 'rules' come into play.

Take care out there, wash your hands, keep your distance and wear a mask.
xx