Day 769

Day 769...

After the strangeness of the weekend we are back into the normality of the working week.

I think the build up to the farewell for my dad yesterday had perhaps affected us more than we had realised. The weekend had been focused around my dad, his house and then getting ready for yesterday. As we had opted for a direct cremation we did not have a formal service yesterday but simply had a gathering of friends and family to say goodbye. We do know that my dad has been cremated today and by the end of the week my brother will be able to collect his ashes. We will then have the final scattering to arrange so that he can be placed where mum was seven years ago.

So today was a standard sort of Tuesday. I was in work for the full day and spent the day assisting my deputy manager and others as they take on more and more of my role. We are working towards my last official working day being the 27th May with a view to keeping me on as consultant should they need me (they won't as they know what they are doing!) until the end of July.

On my way home from work I stopped by my dads house to check on post and make sure all was well...very aware that with the house being empty we need to keep an eye on it. Back home and I had a couple of work related tasks before Simon finished for the day and we headed down our gym!

Another day done and I will see you tomorrow.

xx

Day 571

Day 571...

And we have a Sunday and a relatively quiet Sunday.

It started with our usual trip to collect our weekly grocery shop which took us a little longer than normal due to a triathlon taking place around the town where we fetch our shopping from! 

Back home and shopping put away we headed back out the house so that Molly could get some more driving practice completed. She has her test first thing tomorrow morning and so we have everything crossed that she passes; she so deserves to pass as her driving is great and she has put in so many hours practicing her driving. She has driven around areas that I know when I was a learner driver I would have never contemplated. Just last night she drove Ethan into Nottingham, a very busy city, while following Sat Nav directions, she drove around areas of the city that even now I would actively avoid driving through!

On our way back home we stopped by my dads to make sure he was okay and to pick up a parcel that we had had delivered there. He's doing really well; after struggling with his skin following his second vaccine he has finally reached a point where his skin is back to how it should be...it's only taken almost five months and two lots of intensive steroids. I asked if he'd been approached to have his vaccine booster which I thought at age 77 (almost 78) that he would have been but he hasn't and he was adamant that he won't be accepting it should it be offered because of all the problems he has experienced so far. But he has had notification that he's eligible for his flu shot but as he hasn't bothered with that for the last 17 years he won't be bothering this year either!

Home once more and we decided to head out for a walk over the fields next to where we live and in an hour and 19 minutes we completed 3.8 miles. It is very noticeable that our walks are no longer as busy with other walkers as they were this time last year or even six months ago, but at least everyone we did see was happy and polite enough to say 'hello'!

We then enjoyed a coffee sat outside in the garden as the day has been dry and sunny and relatively warm for the time of year. We chatted about the possibility of replacing our garden shed with more of a 'garden room' so that we can get 'out' in the garden all year round. It would also mean Simon could sit 'outside' and draw with his digital tablet without having to cope with the glare of the sun on the screen.

The day was rounded out with a new meal for dinner as I made a keto chicken garam masala which was very tasty and will now be added to my repertoire of keto and low carb meals. 

And that is it for today so I will see you tomorrow.
xx

Day 533...In Court

Day 533...

Well today has been a bit of a different day...

Today should have seen me back in work with my colleagues planning and getting ready for re-opening our doors to children on Monday but instead I found myself in court.

But not to worry I was in court for a very good reason, to serve as a member of a jury. I had been due to start my jury service next week and had received notice that my service might have to extend to three weeks rather than the usual two. Because of the possible time extension I had been asked to complete a questionnaire to determine whether I was able to complete a full three weeks. I had returned the questionnaire stating that I would rather avoid three weeks as it would be detrimental to my work; I was already not looking forward to missing the first two weeks of the academic year as it was.

Well, yesterday afternoon I received a phone call from my local crown court asking if I could attend court today in lieu of my scheduled jury service and in doing so I would avoid the possible three week stint. So I agreed to attend on the basis that the case I might have to sit on would last today and possibly tomorrow but that that would be my jury service completed.

This meant an early start to my day, well early compared to the last few weeks, and I found myself checking into the court just before 9am along with my fellow jurors. After running through a few bits of paperwork we sat waiting our call...we sat and we sat and about three hours later the jury was picked and I was 'lucky' enough to be one of those picked. We were sworn in and then broke for lunch! But then the afternoon was taken up with the case which turned out to be a little different from the norm; we were to assess whether the defendant had committed the act they were accused of rather than deliver a guilty or not guilty verdict.

Thankfully, we were able to come to a verdict resolution today and so my jury service ended around 4.15pm this afternoon, with the juror officer commenting that we were discharged and had 'completed the quickest jury service ever'! 

This means that not only have I been able to execute my civic duty, for which the judge and court officers present all thanked us for, but it also means that returning to work next week is no longer disrupted. 

But as my team were in work today I will have a day of work tomorrow to catch up on what I have missed today and complete some necessary administration bits and pieces.

My first job when I arrived back home this afternoon was to grab a big cup of coffee as the court was not able to provide any access to food or hot drinks as they would have done ordinarily because of 'covid'...really not sure how that works as cafes etc are open?!! I had the foresight to take a flask of coffee with me but it was lacking in volume to the amount I would usually drink (decaf though!).

And whilst I've been out all day we have had delivery of some of the items for our bathroom revamp that is due to start next week. We now have a garage full of boxes although all are strategically placed so that we still have room to complete our gym workouts. Which is exactly what we did when Simon finished work for the day.

And while we were out in the garage I just happened to hear a van pull up and upon investigation found it was a delivery for me of some clothes that I'd ordered at the beginning of the week - yay!

So whilst today was not the day that I'd originally had planned it turned out to be pretty good and extremely fortuitous.

See you all tomorrow.
xx