Day 277

Day 277...

So here we are on the run up to Christmas that has effectively been cancelled for the vast majority of people and to be honest I am more than fed up now.

I have little to no faith in what we are being told and how this whole mess is being handled. We have had numerous lockdowns over the last 9 months yet nothing seems to have had an affect on 'cases'. And today I find out that my best buddy and podcast co-host Michelle has tested positive for the second time.

Today I have felt very despondent; I am concerned for Michelle, I feel a sense of loss for all those who have had plans for Christmas just ruined completely and I can see no way out of the mess that we find ourselves in. The businesses that have struggled all year have now had Christmas pulled out from underneath them and it is hard to see how, or when, they will recover from this.

I will do all that I can, and follow the guidance as best as I can but I am struggling to understand what is happening and why. Why have we not got a handle on this by now? Why are the strategies of the past nine months not being effective? Why are we all suffering in our own ways?

We have all carried on as best we can; we have all dealt with birthdays in lockdown, with cancelled events and holidays, we have put on hold plans, we have stayed at home and now cabin fever is taking its toll.

What about the costs to businesses, to relationships, to poverty, to children's education, to the vulnerable, to those dealing with abusive relationships, to the missed doctors appointments, to the missed or delayed diagnosis of cancers, heart disease and more, to being separated from loved ones and to our civil liberties being taken away from us. What will all this cost in the long term? What will we have lost?

Like I said today has not been a great day for me. The more I read or hear the more despondent I have felt. It was great to get out the house this afternoon for a 4 mile walk to blow away the cobwebs and for Simon and I to put the world to rights!

Once home I tackled balancing the accounts for work and within 30 minutes all was sorted - phew! And then it was time for our weekly Disney quiz hosted by our Disney Dream Girls podcast; this week Molly had set the questions all about the Disney film, Noelle. These Sunday evening quizzes have been a little bright spot each week since we started doing them a fair few months ago now. The chance to put faces and voices to names and to make friends from around the world and just chat about our lives and of course Disney. In a world where everything has been turned upside down it is nice to have a bit of 'normal' once a week.

Whatever you are doing, wherever you are, take care.
xx

Treerific Saturday

Day 276...

It's Saturday and the first day of my Christmas break...and what a break this is going to be...not!

Okay so let's go through the day. The morning was spent catching up on a few minor jobs as well as doing a little research for podcast recording later in the day. Next we took Molly for her usual guitar lesson while we went for our now usual drive thru' coffee - whoop!

Once home I jumped online with Michelle to record a couple of Disney Dream Girls podcast shows; one for our Patreon supporters and the other for our regular weekly release.

Next we had a new outdoor decoration to sort. Finally after having ordered it in November my new light up tree had arrived...how splendid does this look?!

It's only 2.4 metres tall and has crazy flashing lights...well you can't have too many Christmas lights now can you?!

Simon has spent the day 'tinkering' with his R2D2 build; we have multiple painted pieces drying in the house and Simon has been assembling other pieces and fixing mechanisms to ensure easy access to the body!!

And then today we hear that part of the UK will be going into a new 'Tier 4' because of a new strain of COVID-19. They will also no longer be allowed any sort of meeting of households over Christmas as had been promised and for the rest of us we can now only meet up on Christmas Day and not the five days we were originally told.

Okay so 2020 is officially doing my head in now. A new strain? A new more infectious strain? A strain that we have only heard about here in the UK...mmm...but one that isn't causing more deaths or a more severe infection but just gets spread more easily. What? Or is this just a convenient way to explain rising numbers in some areas after it would appear that a lockdown and then tier system had no affect. Could that be because we are dealing with an airborne virus that is now endemic in our society and a virus will do what a virus will do? 

I am no scientist but I try to read and learn and move forward. And the more I read and the more I learn the more I question what we are being told. The more I question the validity behind the decision making. The more I fear we are being led down a path that is destroying lives, businesses, families and relationships that could have been avoided and may not even be necessary.

Are we too far down the rabbit hole now for government to do anything different? Are the powers that be simply too afraid to be honest with the public, to admit that they may have been wrong or that as more information becomes available we may have to change our approach? Or is there some bigger thing at play, do 'people' have vested interests in dragging this out? Why does it feel that all the 'fun stuff' is being penalised all the time?

Like I said I am no scientist, just a concerned member of the public who wants all this to be over with like everyone else does. I just hope that those in power know what they are doing, but I guess only time will tell.

Take care,

xx

Mandalorian Friday!!!!

Day 275...

Today's main job was to be in work to facilitate the building work outside as they needed power and water. This wasn't a problem as I had plenty of admin work to be getting on with that I would have been doing had I been at home anyway.

When I arrived at work the contractors were already there digging out a new pavement. They had been surprised with a much earlier than had been expected delivery of materials so had started work before I had even arrived.

So while they digged and mixed concrete I cracked on with sorting wages and bill payments and attempting to balance the end of term accounts. Well by the end of the day the accounts haven't balanced so that will be a task for over the weekend at some point.

But during the day I had a visit from one of my committee members who stopped by to pick up their Christmas present and then mid-afternoon it was time to call in the troops; by which I mean Simon and Molly.

So the laying of the pavement was taking longer than expected and we still had one more flat packed container unit to assemble as all we had managed yesterday was to get the base into place. So as Simon and Molly had very ably assisted with putting the roof on the first unit they were given the okay to get on with assembling unit number two.

So between myself, Molly, Simon and our contractor Doug we assembled the second unit in about an hour and a half. Thankfully the rain from earlier in the day had subsided and the wind had also died down a bit too. Although we all commentated that while the instructions say that assembly can be managed by just two people we strongly disagreed and were thankful of an extra pair of hands. I will admit to not doing too much; more of a director role, holding of screws and bolts and leaning into a wall panel to hold it in place!

But by 6.30pm we had two container units all sorted and a new pavement laid which will enable us to move items in and out hopefully with ease. I can't thank Doug and Sarah enough for battling through, wind, rain and failing light to get this work all completed for us this week.

Upon arrival at home it was time for a coffee, with a red wine chaser, and to sit and watch the last episode this series of The Mandalorian...we didn't want to chance leaving watching it to later in the evening in case of spoilers on social media and oh boy was that the right decision to make.

The episode was AMAZING! It had all the feels, it was Star Wars in it's finest and yes I cried. I cried at the interaction between a puppet and a man in a helmet, when a show can do that to you it must be doing something right. And then I cried some more!

I won't give anything away but this episode gave us so much more than I was expecting. Simon and I had talked about what we thought we might see in this episode but it exceeded those expectations ten fold. And just when you thought you'd seen it all they gave us a post credit scene that left us wanting to know more.

How they have managed to keep the details for this episode quiet is beyond me and is an amazing feat in it's own right. The team of Dave Filoni (have I mentioned that I've met him?! Check out my earlier post) and Jon Favreau have throughout the two seasons so far encapsulated the ethos of Star Wars and have kept true to all that we love about the franchise and have brought so much joy and life back to something that had not always delivered as well as it could have in recent years. I think these two individuals should be given the freedom and control over everything Star Wars because in their hands it will be handled with the care and love it truly deserves.

Oh and yet again watching this series, and this episode tonight, I have surprised myself with just how much Star Wars knowledge I actually have and can even make educated guesses at which planet they are visiting...what has happened to me!!

Anyway, stay safe out there...and may the force be with you!
xx

Last Day of School

Day 274...

Today was our last day of school for this term and for 2020. We should have been open tomorrow but our government advised that today should be the last day and to take tomorrow as what we refer to as an inset day.

So I had a slightly better nights sleep last night only waking at 4am and dropping back off about half an hour before the alarm went off! But up and into work for the last day.

The day was taken up with the end of term admin, amendments to registers, updating banking and just generally tidying things ready for a new term in the new year.

We (and when I saw we I mean my amazing team) had the job of clearing our room ready for a fresh start in January. We needed to take down and pack away the Christmas decorations as well as organise all our equipment so that when we return we are in a position to move everything into our new storage units. 

And talking of new storage units we have today successfully erected the first of our flat packed container units. Our contractor has done a great job so far and after grabbing a couple of us this morning to move a rather heavy base section he commented that he may attempt putting the roof on today. Now we were expecting the installation of roofs to happen tomorrow and were anticipating the need of extra help in order to lift the section up and onto the part built body of the unit.

I contacted Simon to see if he would be available at all today and thankfully he was happy to oblige. I also chatted with Molly to see if she could help as well as I know how strong she is and she just loves getting her hands dirty. By mid-afternoon we were ready for a roof to go into place so Simon and Molly were called to pop down and lend a hand or two. Well I was blown away as no sooner than they had arrived the roof was on...to the great surprise of us all...it definitely was a case of an extra couple of pair of hands made the job so much easier. We are now all set to hopefully get the second unit erected tomorrow and hopefully a path laid as well.

Once home I took some time to complete some work social media posts as well as update some of our internal records which leaves me in a good position for tomorrow and the completion of the end of term accounts! Although today was the last day of children being in pre-school I will be back there tomorrow to look after our chap doing the outdoor work as well as use the time to complete the accounts and sign off on our Autumn term and the end of schooling for 2020.

And then as I started to write today's post I came across the sad news that actor Jeremy Bulloch had passed way today. Jeremy played the Boba Fett character in the original Star Wars trilogy and we had the good fortune a few years back to meet him at a comic con where we were trooping with the Mandalorian Mercs.

He was a lovely, lovely gentleman who took the time to chat with us and insisted that we didn't pay for his autograph because we were Mandalorians just like him, instead he signed the inside of our helmets. It is a memory that we both cherish and I know that he was so loved within the Star Wars community and will be very sadly missed.

And that is where I will leave it today...tell those you love that you love them and hold them close.

Take care,
xx

Short & Sweet

Day 273...

Well I think today officially started at about 2am when I woke up (the joys of night sweats!) and then couldn't get back to sleep. In fact I think I dropped back off to sleep about 20 minutes before the alarm went off!

But then it was into a full day at work. Issuing invoices, drafting emails, updating banking and more. We have the groundwork happening for the installation of our new storage units and good progress is being made and then we finished the day with our Christmas party. Lots of dancing, balloons, party food and even snow!

So it was a later than normal finish to the work day and after a quick coffee it was back out the door again to take Molly over to her last karate session before Christmas...in fact her next time back at the karate gym will now be next year!

And that was today. Short and sweet as I think I need sleep!

Take care out there,
xx

Day 272

Day 272...

It's hard to believe that I have managed to write a post a day for 272 days, since the beginning of my first lockdown but I am determined to keep on writing if only to see just how long 'this' goes on for.

It was a pretty standard Tuesday of work and home. Work was getting the final jobs for the end of term completed whilst also getting ready for the new term after Christmas.

Once home I carried on with a little more admin work as well as catching up on some personal stuff too.

Molls and Simon headed off down the 'gym' while I carried on 'getting on top of stuff', before cooking dinner.

A short post today because there really isn't that much to report and I guess we are all in limbo a little as we wait and see what will happen with the current tier system and whether or not the rules around Christmas will be changed. Only time will tell!

Take care out there,
xx 

Whirlwind Monday

Day 271...

Well today has been a bit of a whirlwind kind of day.

Once up and out it was time to fetch this weeks grocery shopping as well as to nip in store to pick up some party food supplies for pre-school. We have a great relationship with Jon at our local Asda, who is their Community Champion, and they have supported pre-school for a number of years now. 

In 'normal' times Jon will come out to visit us at pre-school and conduct various activities and the children just love a visit by him. But that obviously can't happen at the moment but that hasn't stopped Jon and Asda supporting us whenever we have asked. So this month we asked if they could help with a few supplies for this weeks Christmas party and they have done us proud once again with lots of yummy goodness for the children later in the week.

With bags full of shopping we headed home via pre-school so that we could drop off the party supplies. A quick check-in with my deputy and I discovered that there maybe a problem with the delivery of our flat packed storage units as there was a problem with the lorry! Thankfully we found out later in the day that the delivery would happen today but not until about 5pm.

Once home and shopping unpacked and put away our next job was to sort out the few Christmas cards that we send along with some postage for a couple of other items. This was then followed by a trip to the post office to get said cards and parcels on their way.

After a quick coffee and bite for lunch we headed off for a two mile walk in just under 40 minutes, and despite some very dark clouds we managed to avoid any rain. Simon then had a few more R2D2 parts to spray paint before we headed over to pre-school.

We had said we would go over to pre-school to wait for the flat packed container units to be delivered rather than have my deputy wait on her own after a full day at work. True to their word the lorry turned up at 4.50pm and it then took about 40 minutes for the lorry to reverse into position, put down its stabilising legs and then off-load the two units. But this now means it's full speed ahead this week with getting them into position.

And then it was time to play taxi service for Molly, getting her to and from her kickboxing/karate class...well it's not a class at the moment...it's just a chance to practice using the gyms facilities.

And there we have Monday as other areas of the country prepare to join us in Tier 3 restrictions and the rest of the country await Wednesday to find out if we stay the same or change...oh and then we get told there's a new variant of the virus! Although they can't tell us what this means...good or bad. So yet again we have fear and confusion at the heart of all that we get told and we are left wondering just what is right and whether we are getting told the whole story or not!

Take care out there,
xx