Isolation Journal 66

Had nearly 9 hours of sleep, but was pretty groggy when I woke up.  I got up and logged on for a kick off call, then a meeting about some adminstrative stuff we need to do and then another all regional meeting.  I had some banana bread and yoghurt for breakfast and 2 coffees and Maya spent a lot of time cleaning herself on the call and had one girl email me about her.  The update was useful, but didn't really tell me much of what I didn't know.  I decided that her scabby bits on her feet, belly and ears needed looking at and booked a vets appointment and managed to get an appointment the same day for 3.30pm.

I wasn't as productive today as I'd hoped at work, but I managed to get a few bits of work done.  I had salad and a spring roll for lunch and then headed out to take Maya to the vets at 3pm, we'd had to round her up after she'd gone out at lunchtime.  She hated getting in the cat box and cried and cried in the car, I had to keep chatting to her.  When I got to the vets I called from the car and took her in the box and waited outside wearing a mask until I was called in.  The vet was operating behind a screen and Maya tried to get behind the computer.  The vet checked her over and seemed to think that she might have harvest mites that were harmless, but itchy and causing overgrooming and so she gave her a steroid injection and hopefully that will help.  It cost £67 and I was there and back in an hour.

The rest of the afternoon was ok, I got a bit confused by an instruction from a client to put interviews arranged for next week "on hold" which they meant cancel and put other candidates in.  I picked up a new job with one of my favourite clients for Rachel.

I had been debating going to see my friends Hayley and Sam at Sams house so I popped over around 7pm to see them and chatted to my mum and dad on the way.

We sat in the garden for a couple of hours and chatted for ages and then I headed home as it got dark.  I had some pasta and egg that Alan had cooked and added some mushrooms and brocolli and had a couple of ice lollies and watched Catfish.  I had to jog on the spot to up my step count to 7000 as I need my Vitality points.

Isolation Journal 65

A decent night of sleep, nearly 8 hours, but a very groggy morning.  No one logged onto the team call and I always find that makes the day a bit disjointed and makes me feel a bit disconnected to work.

I grabbed cornflakes for breakfast and two coffees and Maya kept lying on my hand to distract me, she's got a skin condition at the moment where her belly and some of her feet is a bit scabby.  I popped a bit of olive oil on to help her.  

Work was mostly unproductive and sorting out issues and admin today.  At lunch I had a break and had some of the leftover pizza and fed the chicken leftovers to the cats.

I did manage to get hold of a useful contact who might be able to help me engage a senior NHS person as a speaker for a webinar so it wasn't a day of total loss.

Alan went out for a cycle at around 5pm and had spent the day studying and came back and made tea and by the time I'd realised it was past 7pm and tea was ready (lebanese flat bread from Hello Fresh and I ate and watched the end of Harry Potter Chamber of Secrets and let my food go down before going for a run.

I decided as I'd eaten I'd try and run within the "easy" heartrate zone for Garmin which was harder than I'd imagined. I ended up running 8.3K in just over 50 mins and made up for the day of no running yesterday in my running 1000 miles in 2020 goal.

I spent a good bit of lunch researching potential venues for a holiday in the UK, but couldn't really find much as everything seems to be booked!

I then came up and type this on my computer in the office, rather than sitting in front of the telly.

Isolation Journal 64

Tuesdays remain a challenging day for me.  I woke up and got logged on fine, although was certainly groggier than yesterday.  I had a coffee and a kick off meeting with Katie and then had a load of emails and calls to sort out as well as a candidate who has been panicking a bit even though we have a role for him and going for interviews for jobs he doesn't really want.

I had the same breakfast as yesterday yoghurt, lemon curd, granola and apple and a total of 2 coffees.  

The rest of the day until around 2pm I was quite distracted, but we had a temp BD session that went quite well and gave me some useful focus.  Alan made potato waffles and sausages for lunch and we had a launch call at 1pm.

At lunch I read quite a thought provoking article Guardian article that one of my friends had shared on facebook and it was very interesting considering different people's views about diet culture based on the suggestion that the government will be potentially getting GPs to prescribe Weightwatchers.  

The afternoon at work was a bit more successful and Alan had an appointment to go and get his macbook repaired at the apple store in Sheffield so at 6.30pm we headed off to Sheffield and I went with him as I know he was a bit anxious about it in terms of going into the shop and how much it would cost.  The drive was ok, but the A1 was pretty busy and we parked up and put our masks on and went into Meadowhall.  There were a lot of people not really wearing masks or adhering to social distancing, but it wasn't too bad.  We walked past Yo Sushi! and it occured me that it was very likely that the concept of dining like that would be extremely difficult in the "new normal" of Covid dining and that made me sad.  I went to the bathroom and then we queued outside the Apple store.  We went in and had our temperature checked by the security guard and after a conversation with one of the guys, we found out that Alan's Macbook will be expensive to fix, but within the level he'd expected.  He left it at the store and we headed back to the car hoping we might be able to grab some dinner at one of the Pizza Expresses on the way home, but they are all still closed until next week.

Instead I looked on my Just Eat App as Alan was interested in getting pizza from a place in the neighbouring village called Marios, but I accidentally ordered from a completely different Marios which was 11 miles away!  The minimum order was £35 with a £5 delivery charge and we managed to hit this criteria and it was late, they forgot dressing for the salad and a can of pepsi, but other than that it was good quality food and we ate it in front of the tv watching Peep Show and then I watched a bit of Catfish again.

Isolation Journal 63

My plan was to wake up a bit early to prep for my charity pitch meeting, so I woke up annoyingly at 7.50am and had a snooze until 8.10am and then my alarm went off.  I got up and brought the milk in and it was pouring with rain and so then I made my breakfast and coffee.  I had yoghurt, apple and granola, but I put some of the homemade lemon curd that my friend had given me on Saturday - it was delicious, really lemony.

I logged on and did the team call with Katie and then prepped for my meeting.  I think it went ok, it was 4 trustees on MS teams, and one of them had to turn off her camera because her audio wasn't working.  I made the classic error of forgetting to ask how long I had (turns out 30 mins rather than the hour I'd assumed) and I spent more time asking them questions than "selling", but hopefully that's not a bad thing.  

I then had *alot* of emails to try and get through along with some admin and was full on until Alan heated up some lunch from the dinner that we'd had yesterday.  I snatched a few moments to order a hamper of gluten free treats for my brother as it's his birthday tomorrow.  It was hard as some of the stuff looked gluten free, but wasn't obvious.  I also found a few bits and pieces as suggestions for Alan's brother's wife and he ordered something for her birthday which is later this week.

I then had an interview with a very senior candidate from the private sector who wants to make a move to the charity sector and she was good, but I think it's going to be slow at the level that she's looking at for a little while.  

The rest of the afternoon was sorting out admin mostly for the placement I have starting tomorrow and one for Rachel starting later on in the week.  

I eventually finished up around 6.45pm and after much persuading managed to get Alan to agree to a run.  To try and make it easier to run together I'd suggested exploring the woods I went in yesterday, but he wasn't keen to run that far, so I suggested driving and parking closer, but he also wasn't keen on where I'd suggested to park so he suggested we drove to Towton Battlefield and we went for a run around the battlefield trail.  The sunlight was beautiful and there were some lovely views and we ran and looked at some of the different info boards.  At one point we encountered a 14 week old black lab puppy that was excited and jumped up and down at us and scratched my legs by accident.  We explored down a path to Cock's Bridge and then went in a loop past the pub.  We did 5K in 48.56.

When we got back I made tea and scoffed the leftover chips from Friday evening's takeaway whilst I listened to the archers.  We had the Hello Fresh Pork Penne Caponata and then after I'd spilled it all down my run kit I had some lemon tart with cream.  

We watched Peep Show and I then went up for a shower and worked out that the shower head is broken, Alan also worked out the cat flap was broken and managed to change the batteries and fix it on top of fixing the shelf in the fridge with Milliput.  

I watched a bit of Catfish and looked for showerheads.

Isolation Journal 62

Alan woke up and got straight out of bed at 8.50am and then went to fix the TV/Upgrade it and I snoozed until he rang me and wanted feedback on what the tv picture was doing.

I stayed in my PJs and slobbed around and then when he'd finished I made scrambled eggs, black pudding and toasted left over bread from yesterday.  I wrote "I love you" in sriracha on Alan's plate, but he wasn't as impressed as I'd hoped.

We put on a film and watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them although half way through Alan got interupted to go and help our nextdoor neighbour with her IPhone upgrade, so I got dressed into my run kit and then I tidied, hoovered, cleaned the kitchen and watered the plants and one of the neighbours further down Donna asked what Alan liked to drink as she wanted to thank him for his work on the TV.  Alan managed to turn on the TV to play Tina Turner from next door which was a bit of a surprise when "Simply the Best" started blasting out.

I watched Catfish whilst waiting for him to come back and we finished the film which was quite good and I enjoyed even if I was playing on my phone for a lot of it.  We had a pre-pared pizza and some coleslaw that Alan made for lunch.  Alan had a nap as he was really tired.  The nextdoor neighbours popped around with a bottle of Gentleman Jack to say thanks for his help.

I read through a piece of Flash Fiction for my friend Lauren and gave some thoughts (it was good!) and then finally got organised and went out for a run in a nice sunny evening and did about 7 miles which was more than I was planning.  I turned on the Strava app as it's still not working for Garmin to sync to Garmin Connect or to Strava.  I went with a planned route, but spotted a different turning that I'd not explored and went into the woods and found a burned out car.  I was a bit nervous as I was by myself, but it was a fun route and I must take Alan back.

I had a quick shower when I got back and Alan prepped some veg and made Ketjap Manis and cooked some mince and then I finished off the stir fry and we watched Peep Show.  We drank Lynchberg Lemonades and a Knob Creek and ginger beer.  

I then spoke to my brother as he'd rung whilst I was running, he was mostly worried about my Dad who had been wearing a back brace the last time that he saw him and was worried about what he could do to help.  We talked about it and his 3rd oldest was running around naked looking at the caterpillar he'd rescued from the garden and put in a pot.   I mopped down the house as I'm keen to keep it clean on a weekly basis if I am able to.

I then had to prep for a meeting tomorrow to pitch for some work with trustees of a charity for a senior role.   

Isolation Journal 61

I had set my alarm for 9.30am as I was heading over to see my friend Lauren in Chorley and I wanted to be able to set off at a decent time.

I woke up around 8.30am, but managed to snooze for a bit more and then got up and set off the breadmaker to make some bread and made some coleslaw with Sriracha and some smoked Wensleydale and some Yorkshire Red cheese as well as packing some chutney, butter and picnic plates and cutlery. 

I had banana bread and yoghurt for breakfast and had a coffee that Alan had kindly made for me and then got in the shower and got dressed, it's the first time I've been out to really meet someone for ages so I actually put a bit of make up on.  I wa a bit groggy and I checked my temparature before I went and it was 37.2.

I got in the car around 11.30am with an ETA of 1pm and set off.  I spoke to my Mum and Dad on the way and listened to a bit of Catch 22 and it took about an hour and a half to get over to Chorley and I managed to find the house ok.  It's the furthest that I've driven in months.

I had a cup of Earl Grey tea in the garden and a chat with Lauren and then we cut up the bread and headed up for a walk and a picnic.  We walked up White Coppice which was really pretty, after mostly being in the Vale of York for months now for my walks and runs, going up steep hills was really good!  We had a really good chat and catch up together and I reminded her that it's about 3 years since we last met up and hopefully we won't leave it as long next time.  She also made me a lovely fimo beaded necklace which I'm wearing now.

We had a picnic next to a waterfall and I got to try some of her very tasty miso mushroom rolls and had a diet coke and a fizzy water.  

We then walked back a different way and got really stuck in deep puddles and mud, but it was fun and lovely to look at the beautiful views.  We walked back past a house that Lauren's Mum and her husband are building and it was amazing - huge windows, underfloor heating a nice big garden and some decking.  

I had another cup of tea and then headed home and took about 70 mins to drive and by the time I was back Alan had made dinner which was Aubergine Curry and I made some lynchberg lemonades for dessert had a Gu pudding and an ice lolly as well.

I've got a bit of a sore throat which worries me, but hopefully it's nothing.  We watched 2 episodes of Spooks, a couple of Mock the Week and then I put on Catfish.

Isolation Journal 60

I was quite tired when I woke up this morning and I knew that no one else was in today so I didn't have the morning call, but I did have plenty of work to do.  I dropped some fabric off to my neighbour Anna who makes mask for a cat charity and she made a couple for me and Alan and also for my friend Hannah's boys.

I had an interview with a candidate at 10am who is moving to Whitby next year and then the rest of the day was spent on managing offers for candidates and coordinating the 14 jobs.  There was a delivery whilst I was doing the interview and it was a lucky dip of bedding plants from gardening direct.

Alan also looked afte r aguy from Sky who was installing Sky Q, apparently this is better than the other TV that we already had.

I had yoghurt, apple and granola for breakfast and 2 coffees and then at lunchtime around 1.30pm I walked down to the pharmacist to pick up a prescription and popped my mask on and an older lady was ranting about how it had to be the way now in terms of wearing masks (whilst not wearing a mask).  I though to myself "I'm wearing a mask specifically to protect people like you!".  

It was really warm today and nice to walk and get some sunshine.  When I got back I was straight back into lots of work after a super quick lunch of cucumber, tomatoes, smoked cheese, blue cheese, chutney and mortadella and milano I had to prep for sending CVs for the 14 jobs.  I knew that the system was going down at 8pm so needed to be swift and I finally got the 65 CVs across for both me and 2 of my colleagues at 6.30pm and I think there are still some new roless to look at.

I finished work and then went to plant out the bedding plants and ran out of planter space, so I might need to work out what to do with the spare plants.  Before I went to plant the plants we ordered a Chinese takeaway, I had my usual hot and sour soup that I put chips in and then a Thai seafood dish and some salt and pepper crispy squid.  Alan made a delicious lynchberg lemonnade and I also drank the last drop of white wine from the other night.

Again I didn't run because I think I jarred my right leg yesterday and it's really sore.  Garmin still isn't working which is kinda sad as I wanted to see all the stats.  I sat on the sofa and as we watched an episode of Spooks I had the back massage machine on bits of me.  I did a load of washing and hung it out and made plans to see my friend Lauren tomorrow who is over near Preston so I should probably go to bed soon.

Isolation Journal 59

It was an apple, granola and yoghurt breakfast day with 2 coffees to perk me up.  I had a quick chat with Matt in the team and then made a few calls before logging on for a MS Teams meet with our MD about the new system.

I had decided to auction off my old Garmin Forerunner 920 to try and raise some money for the Trussel Trust, so I posted an update on Facebook for my running group, I feel slightly nostalgic about it as it was the first present that Alan ever bought for me for Christmas, although I've changed straps about 12 times over the past 4.5 years.

I did pilates online at 12pm and it was only me and one other and the other person got lost off the call late on so in the end it was just me.

We then made some waffles and bratwurst for lunch and Alan fried a couple of eggs.  

I then had a busy afternoon trying to catch up on work and get some candidates ready for the roles I'm recruiting at the moment whilst Rachel is on holiday.  I also had one candidate today who refused to go forward for a job that was going to be working from home, I'm not sure how many office based roles are around at the moment that wouldn't be from home at least a proportion of the time currently - very frustrating.

I ended up finishing work around 7pm and went to cook dinner and was frustrated to find out that the spinach in the dish had gone off, I'm a "noticer" and I tend to spend far more time putting things away and tidying things up and sometimes it pisses me off and I don't know how to express this in a powerful way that doesn't sound like nagging.  Alan didn't take my comments very well and so I continued to cook dinner, but he didn't want to eat it and ended up going for a walk.  He'd pointed out that I'd left all the post from my flat on the floor and that was messy, so I ended up re-addressing all of it as return to sender and walking down to post it.  He was still out for a walk when I got back so I ended up driving around looking for him.  He was walking around in the dark and was clearly still angry so I drove home and walked back to check he was coming home.  It was about half ten and pitch black at this point - he had managed to see a couple of barn owls.  I also saw a baby frog when I was out looking for Alan.

We've not yet managed to have a more constructive conversation and he's still not eaten dinner, but I did make him a horlicks to drink.

I also swapped messages with my brother who had a job interview today and it was his youngest's birthday and he sent me a video of him opening the present that i'd got him.

I had thought about going for a run, but my perifirmis is sore and Garmin  is down - apparently hacked and so I just walked around a lot instead.

Isolation Journal 58

Today should be my day off, but it's our new system day so I had to log onto a training call at 9am.  I got up and dressed made a coffee and prepped a mango which I had with granola and yoghurt and left some mango for Alan.

The training call was ok, but I find training where they just show things moving around on a screen isn't really a way that I learn.  We had other bits and pieces throughout the day to learn and watch, but in truth a lot of my day was taken up with the day job as I'm covering for Rachel on holiday.  

By lunchtime I had a major stress tension headache and today took both paracetamol and ibuprofen, but it didn't really shift.  

After a 48 minute call with a client I managed to come downstairs and make some lunch, Alan chopped up some chorizo and black pudding and I fried with no oil in a pan and added to a chopped little gem lettuce, some chopped heritage tomatoes and then some apple cider vinegar and salt.  We had a slice of olive bread with anchor spreadable and then I had another coffee (3 in total today) and went up to finish more work.

I had a busy afternoon sending out testing for candidates, fielding multiple emails and did some of the training modules towards the end of the day.  I had been supposed to go for a run with a friend after doing some more errands in town, but I set off about 30 minutes later than I'd planned at 5.35pm and then had to turn back as I'd forgotten my keys, but I managed to chat to my parents on the way, I grabbed the keys and carried onto work and parked my car underneath the office building and went up to the flat with the table (again!) and I couldn't even get the keys in the lock after being reassured the old lock had been put back in.  I called the number for a guy who came to sort out the lock who said "20 minutes" and so I went back to my office to collect things from my desk as they are implementing a clear desk policy at work.  I also moved Rachel's things into a drawer and took some stuff home for safe keeping like a picture of her with her Dad.  

I went back to the flat and after waiting for about 20 minutes the guy arrived and changed the lock.  I put the table in the flat and had a look around and then wasn't sure whether to leave both tables or just one as there's not much space.  I left both in the end.  I wore my mask the whole way around being in town both in the office where I saw two of the cleaners I'd not seen for months as well as in the apartment building even though the lock guy was "i don't have it you don't have to wear that".

I cancelled going for a run with my friend Sam even though I probably had enough time, but she didn't call me back, I drove back via Temple Newsam thinking that I could go for a run somewhere different, but there seemed to be a lot of travellers and people around the car park and I felt a bit unsure so drove home and went for a run from my front door again.  Alan called me whilst we were both driving home as he'd been catching up with his old boss in Bradford at Starbucks.  I ran past him driving home in the car.

I ran about 36 minutes and just over 4 miles and I'm still getting used to, but enjoying my new watch.  I listened to more of "How to Stop Time" by Matt Haig and I'm getting towards the end of the book now.

I spoke to my brother who'd rung me just at the end of my run to help him prepare for a promotion interview tomorrow.  He was very hung up thinking about all the other candidates, but I pointed out that it was far better to worry about what he was doing to prepare as that was the only thing that he could controls.

I then came down for tea that Alan had made which was Hello Fresh hot dogs and was nearly 1200 calories!!! I'm glad I'd not eaten loads earlier and had had a decent run.  We watched a couple of episodes of early Peep Show.

I then showered after dinner and started a bath for Alan and came down to finish off my system training which I'm nearly finished up on thankfully.  

I also have just remembered again that it's my youngest nephew Winston's birthday (he's 1) so I need to order a present for him even though I've not actually had a chance to meet him yet.

Isolation Journal 57

I woke up and made crumpets for breakfast for me and Alan and also a coffee.  

I had a major issue getting logged on this morning, I had to turn my laptop on and off again about 3 or 4 times, in the meantime Alan kindly leant me his old macbook which actually displays our main system much better and so I might try and use that if I can get MS Teams to install.

Today was insanely manic, I advertised a few jobs last night and had over 100 applications and my phone was ringing solid so much so I had to update my voicemail to say "please don't leave a message as I'm slightly overwhelmed" 

I had one training course at 10am for the new system, a get back to the office session, goal setting for Katie and then a roundtable seminar on top of all the other day to day stuff - Alan kindly made a bratwurst, fried egg and potato waffles with mayo and sriracha for lunch and I didn't even have a break away for lunch.  I had a note about my old bike that I'd posted on FB village group and a lady who turned out to be a candidate came to pick it up - what an odd coincidence.  I had a pink lady apple as a snack.

I finished work around 6.30pm and asked my boss how to go back to full time hours again and she told me to fill out a form, but I just don't know what form!  

I cooked a Hello Fresh burger recipe for dinner and then logged onto Zoom for a HPH session about leading and returning to club sessions that will be more intervals sessions in no more than 6 in a group and we'll be using a booking system called Spond to get people book on.  I asked if it would be ok to auction my old Garmin watch and donate the money to a food bank, I then felt bad when I realised that it was the first thing that Alan bought me for Christmas and should I keep hold of it, but I'd like someone to do something good with it.

I then went out for a run to try out my new watch a bit more and I pushed myself as I was enjoying the fact it annouced strava segments and I got a stitch a few times as I'd obviously only eaten a bit beforehand.  It then told me my training status was "unproductive" which was a bit disappointing.  

I got back and had a shower and then had an ice lolly and turned on Peep Show.  Alan unfortunately managed to crack the screen of his new macbook when a USB got stuck in it.

Isolation Journal 56

I work up at about 5am and felt really groggy and ended up falling back asleep and getting up for a shower at about 8.30am.  I got the milk in and had cornflakes and coffee for breakfast, today was a 3 coffee day.  I woke up with a headache and it lasted all day, I think it was distrupted sleep, stress and dehydration - even paracetamol didn't fully clear it.

We had to have a conversation at work about going back into the office, it makes me nervous, but it sounds as though it's going to be from September that we'll be going back in.  I'm hoping it will all work out ok.

I had an appraisal at 10am and had lots of jobs to pass over to people this morning.  I got through a fair chunk of work and then signed on to do my Pilates class online as I knew I felt stiff from gardening yesterday.  

During my class I saw that Hermes had managed to deliver my new Garmin Watch to my work and had not told me a signature "due to Covid" I eventually managed to work out that it was reception that had signed for it and that they were open 24/7 so I could pick it up whenever.  This stressed me out.  I had some of the couscous from last night for lunch.

I then had a training course for the new computer system at work which also stressed me out as it generated more questions than it answered for me.  

I got some more work done, but not as much as I wanted as I'm really busy, but I did manage to at least get some coverage on some of the roles that we are recruiting.

I had a call about my flat and some sort of certificate that I needed for the electrics which costs more money, I confirmed that it was fine to go ahead with this, I then decided the best thing to do was to drive to get my new garmin watch from work and at the same time go and put the replacement coffee table in my flat.  Alan very kindly had assembled the little Ikea table and so I put it in my car and headed off to the office around 6pm and it only took about 27 mins to get to work.  I managed to get my parcel no problem and I'd parked in the carpark under the building and so I then headed out to the flat with my table.  The fob still worked, but when I put the key in the lock it wouldn't turn, I know they had a problem getting the keys back from my tenant so I'm thinking that the locks have been changed?  It was really frustrating.  I'd also asked the agents to help me out by collecting some of the post, but they had clearly done nothing about it as it was bulging and full to the brim with flyers, TV Licence and Council tax demands.  I cleared them into a full shopping bag and headed back to my car and then back home.

When I got back Alan cooked some Hello Fresh Bacon Rigatoni for tea and I managed to charge up and start off my watch and persuaded him to go out for a run to try it out after sorting through all the post from my flat.  

It seems that Alan really hates running with me at the moment.  I'm trying hard to encourage him as I know that he's going through a down patch with his running and his fitness, but he is showing so much resentment if I make any comments or suggestions about it.  I don't really know what to do, I try to encourage him, distract him, but he got really upset when I said I wanted to try running up and down the hill segment on the driveway to really try out my watch as it made him feel bad.  He then would only walk and didn't really want to engage with what I can do to help.  I feel as though all I can do is go out running by myself so that I can't make anyone feel bad.  He can't tell me what to do to make him feel like he wants to run with me, and I worry if I don't ask him to come with me he just won't go at all and I want him to be healthy.  He seems to blame his decline on fitness on when I broke my shoulder and couldn't run as much (I still went running an awful lot and we ran the Yorkshire 3 peaks with my arm in a sling), the fact he doesn't have as much time to cook food (we definitely share the load in cooking evening meals), the fact that I have been finishing work later, the fact that we have moved out of Leeds and probably other things.  I'm not really sure what I can do and it makes me feel that I should just do my own thing, but it makes me sad when we met running and it was something that we enjoyed.  We walked back and watched the bats and I didn't really get a chance to try out my watch at all.  As a qualified coach in running fitness who has written plans to get people back to running and runs the #runandtalk group I feel lost as to what to suggest.  It's like he's given up on running.

I logged on and did a bit more work and then had a glass of wine whilst Scrubs was playing.

Today has been quite frankly and annoyingly shit day.

Isolation Journal 55

We woke up at a vaguely reasonable time to say that we were up late again.  We got up and I made crumpets for breakfast, I made mine with honey and marmite (one of each, not mixed together!) 

We ate breakfast outside and I suggested where I could locate the pallet collars from Hayley and Flower next to the compost heap and so we moved them around and had a think and I set about digging up the grass underneath and moving compost from the compost heap into the first one.  Alan and I then relocated the potato plants across and then we had a break for lunch and had gnocchi with chorizo, spring onions and home made pesto and we had a mild disagreement with what to have and how to cook it.  Alan also made us some iced lattes.

I then did some more gardening and Alan was studying for his MBA and also watching the cricket in his office.  I watched a bit of Catfish during m break, but in the meantime I was listening to a good chunk of "How to Stop Time" by Matt Haig on Audible.

We needed some more compost/top soil and so headed over to Lumby Garden Centre and picked up 3 bags of top soil and then went to look for some flowers for the pots in the front garden and picked up 2 yellow perennials, a larger yellow one and a red one.  We also picked up some gardening gloves and a stretchy hose.  We wore masks inside, but only saw one other person with one which was disappointing, but they had installed screens at the till and had some hand sanitiser.  

I finished off the gardening and then had a brief rest to watch the end of one of the episodes of Catfish.  I then took all the recycling out, did 2 loads of washing, cleaned the kitchen, tidied the downstairs, hoovered and mopped the house.  

I then made couscous with roasted vegetables (aubergine, yellow courgette and red pepper) and haloumi for tea which was really delicious and decided to have a glass of white wine with dinner.  It was from Naked Wines and a lovely sauvignon blanc that was so delicious I logged on to review it.  

We watched some more Spooks and I did lots of coding of candidates for work as we go live on our new system in only 2 weeks.

I had thought I'd go for a run, but I was pretty active gardening all day and my back was killing by the end of it.

Isolation Journal 54

Not quite sure why we woke up earlier than expected, but I think possibly the neighbours were doing the hoovering.  It was good as we had to wake up for Delifresh delivery and also it meant that for once I could sign on for the virtual Opposite Zoom call.  Alan was also up after a coffee and headed to the neighbours garage again to fix up things to make it able for us to get Sky Q (I don't know what this is, but apparently it's "better" and Alan definitely knows more about this sort of thing)

The Delifresh delivery times are very precise - yesterday it was suggested it would be 10.07am, it was then revised to 10.04am and arrived pretty bang on.  It took a while to unload as it was all plastic free and so I had about 7 crates to unload with tasty treats including 900g of smoked Wensleydale cheese, mortadella ham and milano salami.  

I chatted on Zoom to parkrun people which was really nice, and as I was putting away the shopping they were asking for a tour of the house, so I obliged.  I also had to help Alan check TV signal.  

I had to sign off early as we had visitors including Winston Dog.  I'm still getting used to a bit more social interaction, we were very careful and we shared a picnic of olives, salad, beetroot, cheese, meats and chutney along with some pork pie and scotch egg that our guests had kindly brought us.  We also had caramel short bread.  It was nice to see the kids who are very funny and chattted away and wanted to sit next to me to eat lunch.

I was pretty tired so watched some Spooks and messed around on my phone and then had a nap, but set my phone to wake me up in time for the last online dance class at 5pm. 

I then listened to some Hay Festival recordings about young adult literature and researched MAs in Creative Writing as I'm wondering if I should do some further study to help make me hold myself to account.  I also read some of "It's not the end of the World" by Judy Blume to remind me of the sort of stuff I used to read when I was a teenager.

I then persuaded Alan to go out for a run with me and we saw some amazing sunsets and I asked him for suggestions about idea for something that I could write for young adult fiction and I had a potentially workable idea byt tthe time we'd got back home.

I made some cheese on toast on the olive loaf and some mortadella and salami and the left over salad.  Then watched more Spooks.

Isolation Journal 53

I felt a bit better today, not quite so unproductive and a bit more energy.  I logged on first thing to a briefing from the Internal Audit and Tax team about what they do.  I had a coffee and then I went downstairs and made some yoghurt, apple and granola for breakfast.  I then had a few calls and was pretty busy until I realised by 1.40pm I'd not had lunch.  I had a scone and defrosted some vegetable soup I'd made about 2 months ago and had been in the freezer.

I then had a meeting that I wasn't sure what my contribution was going to be, we were talking about national strategy and I pointed out that I hadn't been given anything to do/volunteered for anything and so asked what I could do.  I was offered the task of taking notes (which I'd not been doing as I didn't arrange the meeting.)  I challenged back that as the only woman in the room it felt inappropriate for me to be asked to take the notes.  I then had an email back from one of the other guys on the call who had said that his partner had heard me challenge and given a thumbs up.  I still feel anxious thinking about it, but I think it's still a good thing to call out as I was more senior than 3 of the other people in the meeting and so there wasn't a reason for me to do the notes rather than anyone else.

I then had a busy and productive afternoon that was finished by finally picking up 12 new jobs from a client which was a positive way to end the week.  None for me unfortunately, but still good news.

It was late when I finished as I decided the best way to start finding candidates for the role was to record a quick video and share onto LinkedIn.  

I also got distracted by the fact I had an email for Hermes about my new watch that I was excited about, but then I realised even though I'd put the right address on my paypal payment, the wiggle order address was my work address and there is no human to talk to be able to ask them to change it to my home address.  It's really frustrating and nerve wracking as it could delay me receiving it by up to a month.

Alan made tea which was the last Hello Fresh meal of the week and a very tasty, but calorific Halloumi wrap dish with around 1000 calories, so I made sure I got myself into my run kit and went out for a 5K run.

The sun set was beautiful light and there was a rainbow, I wanted to run hard, but I kept stopping to look at it all.  I even stalked a couple of hares and tried to video them, but they were a bit too quick.  I listened to more of "How to Stop Time" by Matt Haig.

I had a shower and a fruit pastill lolly when I got in and watched 2 episodes of Spooks and Alan was amused that they referenced the "National Rail Enquires" as a thing that used to exist.  

Isolation Journal 52

Today felt really hard, I'm not exactly sure why.  I woke up not too tired and had enough time to get up and make coffee and yoghurt, apple and granola for breakfirst.

I logged on for our team call and got stuck into work, but really struggled to be as productive as I'd hoped.  I'd booked onto an Arvon course with Hisham Matar and listened in the background for the first section and then participated for the second, he was really interesting and the writing exercises were really interesting - write a description of the room you are in, past tense and in the third person and then 3 people including my friend Lauren and a lady that Lauren googled and found online and then they had to rewrite the same piece and task but without stating it, having in mind that the main character had found out that they were to become a parent.  I found it challenging, but a good exercise to complete.  It made me feel like I should definitely be doing more writing.  I think it's one of the things from a very young age that I've wanted to do is to be a published writer, and so I should really try and make it happen.

Our bathroom sink is really smelly, I tried to clean some of the gunk underneath the plug hole and I managed to drop the stick in there, it's been a clumsy day.

Alan made some scones for lunch and we had them with clotted cream, jam and strawberries - they were delicious!  It did cheer me up a little as did the subscription flowers that arrived, more eucalyptus foliage and some white/yellow snapdragons.  I was busy so  I popped them in a few vases of water and then later on in the evening I tidied them up and moved the hydrageas from last time into one vase for the fresher looking ones and one for the older ones.  I now have 4 vases of flowers around the house.

I did some more work and still struggled to be as productive, did a handover with Rachel who is now on annual leave for 2 weeks - I'm going to be super busy!

I then started cooking dinner, but the chicken in the Hello Fresh mango chicken and bulgar wheat took too long to cook so I had to hand over to Alan to finish up and start my end of term guide meeting which was an online Harry Potter Escape room that I'd done with my friend's son.

After guides I sat down with Alan for a bit and he wanted to go for a run and so we went and did 5K up to Sherburn on an out and back route, we went past our local pub that looked pretty busy, but socially distanced and safe. 

I then tidied the kitchen, did a load of washing and set off the dishwasher.  I had a shower in the bath and then listened to the High Low Podcast and put the washing away switching to the Archers.

I then came down and watched some Catfish and updated this blog...

Isolation Journal 51

Alan had a day off today to study and I was also off, but I did have a call at 11am, so we woke up quite late at 9.30am and snoozed for a bit and had around 7 hours of sleep.  I started reading a book at last that my neighbour Kirsty leant me about 4 months ago Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

I got up and let the cats out as I'd messed up the app and then got dressed and Alan brought me a coffee.  After the call I ended up getting into some work and then finishing off a few bits and came down and remembered I wanted to chase my estate agents for my flat, I left a message and by the end of the day I still hadn't heard back.  I think I might have to bite the bullet and actually change agents.  Qubit brought in a tiny shrew that escaped and managed to get under the skirting board in the kitchen and I tried to get it out, first I used a cheese cutter, but it squeaked so I used some straws and I hope it survived when I'd let it go outside.

I made some lunch after another coffee when I realised I'd not had anything for breakfast and I made some noodles cooked in miso soup, some salad with gem lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumber and some dry fried courgette as well as some prosciuttio ham to finish it up before it went bad.  I listended to PMQs as I was cooking and heard some ridiculous comments from BoJo comparing Keir Starmer having "more briefs than Calvin Klein".

I then drove over to Hayley's as she'd found some pallet collars that needed a new home and we figured we could use them in the garden to make some raised beds.  She had said she had a window only 2 - 3pm and I arrived about ten past 2pm after driving into Leeds properly for the first time since the 13th March and chatting to my Mum on the way.  

We ended up chatting for about 4 hours remaining distanced at all time and I had a lapsang souchon tea and I had debated going on a recce of the St Aidan's 10K, but I was feeling tired and I'd taken paracetamol for a headache earlier (I think a tiredness headache) and so then I drove home again about 6.30pm and Alan was cooking tea.  He made the Hello Fresh Lamb pilauf which was really nice and then we watched Spooks.  Alan also made a Knob Creek and Ginger.

I ordered a load of food including a 5 litre container of olive oil from Deli Fresh and after much debating, ordered a Garmin 945 as the heart rate monitor strap for mine had broken and would cost around £100 to replace and I'd already replaced it once as well as the strap several times, I will maybe sell or auction and donate to charity for my old one.  

Isolation Journal 50

So 50 days in lockdown and journaling about it.  It's been interesting blogging again after not doing a daily blog since early 2000s.  I managed to read the last bit of Where the Crawdads Sing and it was great, I'm not always satisfied by the endings, but It was really interesting and thought provoking.

I was quite slow starting this morning, I find Tuesdays way harder than Mondays at the moment and am quite often lacking in concentration.  I had greek yoghurt, raspberries from the garden and some granola and 2 coffees for breakfast.  I have had a TikTok song stuck in my head for days - I really shouldn't look at these things at night, I found the "original" song which is crude and rude and to the soundtrack of Doop...you can listen here, but it's rude and crude and I warned you...and it's still stuck in my head!

I managed to upload some CVs and had a few teams calls and ended up being really late for eating any lunch until 2pm and so I had a lettuce and cucumber salad and a jacket potato with butter and marmite.  

I then had a call from my friend Hannah who needed some help, she had to go to a visit to a school with her youngest son, but her husband was away sorting funeral arrangements for his mum and wasn't allowed to take her oldest into the school, so I met them at 4pm and went for a walk whilst they had the meeting.  I took a couple of hours back from work, but I logged on when I got home and managed to get 4 candidates uploaded for a job.  I also had a quick chat to my Mum driving over to my friend and then felt bad as I didn't speak to my Dad on the way back that I'd said I would.

Alan had a migraine all day and so felt poorly and spent a lot of time napping on the sofa and in the bed with Maya who did a better job of looking after him than I did.  I cooked dinner at 6.30pm and made a pork ragu Hello Fresh, but Alan wasn't hungry.  I then ate dinner and signed on for my Zoom #runandtalk and caught up with Paul and Ben for an hour and then I logged off and check in on Alan and made him a cup of tea and went out for a run.  I ran about 5.6K and wasn't fast and encountered the reason that one of the nearby roads is closed.  I had a rocket lolly when I got in and ran and had a bath with a bathbomb from my birthday.  I then had another orange juice lolly and ran a bath for Alan and he watched some aircrash investigation.  I then shopped for some fabric for my neighbour to make some masks for Hannah's children with Harry Potter Fabric, but I accidentally ordered it for delivery to my office, I messaged them and hopefully they'll send it here instead!

I also ordered some interesting cat fabric and watched some more catfish.  My Boots order arrived today and also the coffee I'd ordered from Bottega Millanese.

Isolation Journal 49

I got into bed at a reasonablish time, but wasted at least 30 minutes watching TikTok on my phone and then read a big chunk more of Where the Crawdads sing and texted Alan to suggest it would be good for him to come to bed, but even so I think we only got about 6 hours of sleep. 

After hitting my heaviest weight in over 5 years yesterday at 76.8kg I made the decision to take action and address this, which is hard as whilst I can exercise more with a bit of extra time that I don't spend commuting and a bit of extra time off, if I don't do exercise then I only cover about 3000 steps when I work from home.  

I weighed out my cornflakes and milk and had 2 coffees.   I fed the cats after Qubit appeared with a dying mammal and ate half of it.

We kicked off with a morning call at 9am and then I had a few quick calls to make before I had Rach's appraisal at 10am which went well and then I had a few more calls to make before Pilates at 12pm for an hour.  Of course Hello Fresh arrived as it started, but I managed to grab it and return to the class without too much interruption.  

For lunch I defrosted some leek and potato soup and finished up the salad that I'd made yesterday.  

We had a team meeting for the public sector team at 2pm and then I had a meeting with a client at 3.30pm which went well.

I then had a productive day until finishing work around 6.20pm when I went and started cooking dinner as we had In Conversation with Louis Theroux with Guardian Live booked to watch at 7pm.  I made a vegetable curry with naan bread and Alan went on his bike to drop off the tetra packs that have been living in my car at the recycling centre.  

It was fun watching Louis, he spends so much time interviewing and meeting other people so it was interesting to see him being interviewed and talking about his book, we'd posted a question, but it didn't get asked.  Alan had used his Ipad to log on and casted it to the tv.  We heated up some rhubarb crumble from yesterday and had some cream with it and watched an episode of Scrubs.  I added up all calories I'd consumed on myfitnesspal and realised I was over by about 568 and so decided to go out for a run.  Alan was doing some filming and I went upstairs to read some more "Where the Crawdads Sing" and realised it was getting quite dark so I went out and ran up and down the drive about 24 times and burned up over 600 calories in 45 minutes and covered about 7.5K and as Alan had been recording he wanted me to go out the back and as I was heading back I found a very noisy Qubit having a heated debate with one of the neighbourhood cats and so I brought him back in after I managed to entice him back through the gates to the cottage.  He struggled, but I managed to get him back in the house.

I had a very quick shower in the bath and got into my pjs and went downstairs and watched a bit more scrubs with Alan.

I had a shower

Isolation Journal 48

I got into bed quite late and then read and got really hooked into Where the Crawdads Sing and read for at least an hour when I started to fall asleep and kept dropping the book on my face.  

Alan wasn't in bed by the time I fell asleep which was around 2am, but he was there when I woke up at 10.30am so I read for another 2 hours until he woke up naturally.  This turned out to the right thing to do as he wasn't in bed until around 5am.

We got up and I made food - I made a mini ploughman type lunch with wensleydale, chutney, serano ham, yellow pepper, a granny smith, a salad and some pasta tossed with olive oil, black pepper and garlic.  I had 3 coffees today and I'm not sure that was necessarily the best idea, I also weighed myself and I'm officially the heaviest I've been in 5 years, so it's definitely time to sort that out now!

Alan watched the cricket and I logged onto work and wrote an appraisal only being interrupted slightly when Qubit came covered in ants and we had a call from our neighbour at exactly the same time to say that we had an ants nest at the back door.  We went out and sorted out the ants and then also Alan picked some rhubarb from the garden to make into a crumble for tea.

I finished the appraisal and went for a run and did 5 miles to catch up on my running target and I did a "mile for Karen" as one of the ladies that I know in the running community I'd discovered yesterday was hit by a car on Friday when she was out for a run which is awful.  It's an area that I know me and Alan will have run at least once when he lived in Middleton.

I listened to How to Stop Time by Matt Haig as I was running and it's an interesting book, I like books about the concept of time whether time travel or deeper and more philosophical things.  I also love Matt Haig!

I got back and had a shower in the bath and spoke to my Mum to let her know that the masks I'd ordered for her were showing as dispatched so should arrive soon.  Alan then served tea which was a pasta dish and he'd made a delicious lynchberg lemondate and we let it go down watching Spooks and then had crumble with cream.  I found loads of my emails had ended up in my "spam" folder which is separate to my "junk" folder and I'd got emails from more distant family members who I'd not replied to for nearly a year!  I'd recollected seeing them, but they vanished from my inbox, I feel bad!

I suggested putting Scrubs on at 11.30pm so we didn't get too involved in another episode of Spooks.

Isolation Journal 47

Alan didn't sleep well, I think I slept ok which was surprising as I felt last night as I was getting into bed that I'd got cystisis, but I did manage to fall asleep and slept through until around 9am, so just around 7 hours, but I didn't feel too tired, but I did still feel in a bit of pain.  I made sure I drank lots of water and also some bicarb of soda - disgusting!

I ordered a Cystitis testing kit from Boots and also booked an appointment with Vitality GP for Tuesday which I can cancel if I need to.

For breakfast we had chorizo and black pudding with maple syrup and scrambled eggs in wraps and I had 2 coffees.  We watched some Scrubs and I felt bad that I again didn't log onto the zoom call for parkrun.  I miss people, but I'm finding zoom intimidating a bit at the moment which is weird as many other circumstances I'm really comfortable with it.

We'd gotten straight into our running gear this morning and I'd managed to spill some oil down my front, but I headed out with Alan and we went for a run to do a (not)parkrun and went down to Newthorpe and then across the railway line and through a field of wheat, we had to go up a muddy lane for 500m to get the right distance and we noticed when we got back the same Flogas truck was parked out the front that was there when we left and when Alan took out some boxes for recycling he chatted to him and realised he'd had a breakdown, Alan made him a coffee.

I busied myself for about 2 hours tidying and cleaning, I vacuumed the whole house and mopped all the floors, I cleaned the kitchen, cleaned and changed the cat litter, changed the sheets on both the beds, took out all the other recyling, cleaned the bathroom and filled up a bath whilst I polished the table and I also did 2 lots of washing.  I listened to the "With me Now" podcast whilst I cleaned and finished off whilst I was in the bath.

I then got stuck in the bath and messed around on my phone and got cleaned up and then Alan made tea and I tried to catch up on my reading for the book club on Where the Crawdads Sing which I'm reallly enjoying, I even read some whilst eating tea and Alan watched the end of the cricket.  

Amazon Prime delivery arrived and I put the shopping away and we had ice lollies and then some salted caramel Ice Cream and cream.  We watched lots of Spooks and I caught up on my step goal as my Vitality points for earlier for our run was 5 out of a possible 8 so I had to get my step count over 12500 to get the maximum points for the day.  

I wanted a bit of a curry snack and so I got it out the fridge, realised it had leaked everywhere and needed to clean the shelf, I then broke the corner bit of plastic and so Alan suggested I superglued it back together again.  I got superglue all over my hands and now can't get it off again and I have crispy hands.  I had the cake that Kirstie dropped off earlier in the week and instantly feel regretful as I'm so heavy at the moment.

Isolation Journal 46

I updated the settings so instead of getting woken up by a dying animal being brought in by the cats, Qubit work me up at 8am to ask for food and no dead animals after a day of being out and about we are murder free!

Alan brought the milk in and groggily stumbled about and got logged on and called one of my candidates who had an interview today to prep her.  I grabbed cornflakes and 2 coffees for breakfast.  I also had a proposal to write for a client and a call with my MD at 11am.  It was a busy morning.  The feedback from the interviews this morning were good and I had an offer that was accepted and so it's my first placement for this month.  I then had some more interviews to arrange for one job for me and one for a colleague.  I'm not sure where the rest of the day went, but finally after giving a reference for someone who worked for me years ago who has applied for a job in New York I finished around 6.50pm.

I had about 15 minutes for lunch and reheated the pasta from yesterday.  I ate it outside in the sunshire.

When I finished work Alan got me to grab some bits and pieces to fix the terrestrial TV for the street.  We spent around 2 hours in the garage of number 9 where the aerial lives and I had to pass him things.  My back was hurting from standing up for so long.  I watched a bit of telly and a bit of instagram live whilst I was waiting including Jack Whitehall interviewing Mo Farah.

We ordered a curry from Saffron poppadoms, a peshwari naan, pickle tray, brijal bhindi, saag paneer, mint and coriander lamb and zeera rice.  I am so full!  I am frustrated I didn't get to run as I'll now not get my 40 points for Vitality this week.  Alan made a tasty rum punch and I later made whisky and lemonade with squeezed lemon.

Isolation Journal 45

Today was a day off that I'd taken for holiday, using up one of the two days when we came back early from honeymoon.

I had set an alarm for 9.30am, but of course Qubit woke me up again killing a bird, this time it was definitely dead, but I did put it in a box to be sure, although he also managed to get in the box and get it out!

I got up just before 10am and made some cornflakes and some coffee and logged on to return the call of a client who wanted to catch up with me yesterday and she wants me to help with a senior role, so it was a useful call to return.  I helped Rachel with a spreadsheet query and then I made a quick coffee and dialled into my Arvon Masterclass with Jay Griffiths it was more of a lecture than a participation class like the last one and I am not as familiar with Jay Griffiths, but she's very into nature and is a firm supporter of Extinction Rebellion.  

Her principals of writing were to write and make notes on a small notebook that she takes everywhere, read for feeding the mind, research for a topic you either know lots or nothing about, a blank page to play on and a bin for editing.

We did a couple of exercises that were useful like writing the blurb for a book we are writing to think about what we are aiming for and also writing about something from nature and not mentioning who you are, but how you perceive the world.  Jay also explained about scene and narrative.  I wrote a story about a bumblebee that Alan actually enjoyed - I think it's the first thing I've written that he liked.  I also wrote out a few ideas for a book of flash fiction I'm writing with Lauren and reminded myself of some flash fictions that I want to get written.

I then made orzotto with some vegetable that was on the turn - aubergine, courgette, mushrooms and spring onion with chorizo, garlic and mossarella.  I was going to take Gem's little one for another walk, but it was really wet and she'd not been down for her usual nap.

I then did a bit of work and then went for a run at around 4pm, I'd hoped to do around 10K, but I was feeling really lethargic so I ended up doing 9K and it was muddy and wet so I came in and had a quick shower (even though Alan was going to get me to help him with the aerial).  I listened to the High Low podcast earlier and for my run I listened How to Stop Time I also prepped for the guide meeting and made Hello Fresh for tea - pork with potato and cavola nero mash and apple sauce glaze.  

I brought the laptop into the kitchen for guides and we made mug cakes which was quite quick and successful and delicious even if mine did slightly explode, we played a few games and voted on what Skills Builder they want to do next term.  It was really lovely and the parents posted lots of positive feedback on our online meetings so it's good to know that we are still doing things right for them.  We're doing the escape room next week as their end of term "trip" and hopefully will do a virtual camp as well.

I then watched a load of Spooks with Alan and chatted on whatsapp to my friend Alison who I've not seen since I visited my parents in February.  I really miss the idea that I can see people and not feel nervous - hopefully I'll start to feel more comfortable soon.  I also ordered some flowers for my friend Kate as it's her birthday next week.

Isolation Journal 44

Today was my day off...in theory...I knew I had a call and I had a few other things to do, I'm so busy at the moment and it's feeling hard to switch off.  I got woken up by Qubit making his "I've caught a creature" noise and so I went down and found him with a dead bird.  I put the bird in a plastic bag and by the front door and went back to bed.  I then heard him rustling around the milk bottles by the front door, so went down again and moved Alan's bike so that I could shut the door to the hall.  Maya then came upstairs and was sick twice next to the bed onto the beige carpet that we definitely wouldn't have chosen if we had carpeted it!

I stayed in bed mooching around for a bit watching videos and read a bit of Where the Crawdads Sing (I'm way behind in my reading schedule for my Uni of Leeds Alumni bookclub) and Alan brought me a coffe and then I got dressed and went down to make breakfast at around 11am and I made scrambled eggs on toast for brunch and listened to The Archers and the High Low podcast.  I did some work and prepped for a call that I had at 2pm with a client.  We heard a noise and Alan thought there was some post, he said "Lucy did you just leave that bird out?" and the little sparrow I thought that Qubit had killed was still alive, I'd put it in a bag and it had pooed into the bag, but fortunately managed to peck it's way out and Alan opened the front door and it flew away.  I weirdly felt more sad that I nearly killed it by accident and it survived than potentially if it was just dead.  At least he got to fly away.

We watched PMQs and it was mostly Bojo chanting 3 word slogans "build build, build" and "jobs, jobs, jobs" it's frustrating.  I wish they would be kinder and more strategic with their solutions.  It was later announced that if you go and eat out you'll get 50% up to £10 off a meal Monday to Wednesday.  I love eating out and I feel really conflicted as I want to do everything I can to support good restaurants, pubs and even good chain restaurants, but I am worried that this is too soon to be piling back into public spaces.  

I had my client call at 2pm and it went well, and I managed to do some work on the role that I'd picked up which was positive.  I then ate some left over orzotto from Saturday for a late lunch at walked to my friend Gemma's house to take her 1 year old out for a walk in the buggy.  Gem is finding balancing her return from mat leave in lockdown really hard as her husband's role is really busy and her little one is lively.  I've been meaning to help out for ages, but this was probably the first time it felt safe and within the guidelines to do so.  I took little one in the buggy for a walk and santised my hands and Gem put her in so I didn't have to touch her and she was in front of me all the time other than when I'd stop and check in from a safe distance.  We walked a good 5K together and I realised that my watch wasn't registering my steps on the buggy!  She seemed happy with me, no tears, she pulled her socks off and kicked her legs and fortunately the weather held and I've said that I'd take her out again tomorrow.

I got in and faffed around a bit more doing some work as I had interviews to arrange and I messaged a lot of people about the job.  

It was my friend Han's birthday today and she got the art equipment that I'd sent her from The Works and she did 2 drawings - I said it was a DIY birthday card.  I hope that she's had a good day.

Alan kindly cooked tea which was delicious a Hello Fresh recipe of pulled chicken burgers wtih salad and chips (he added liquid smoke which made it delicious) and I didn't run and I felt bad about not going for a run, but I'm very tired - so tomorrow I'll go twice as far.  We watched some Spooks which is really great!  I also booked my online course for tomorrow at Arvon. Alan then went up to bed so I watched some more Catfish.

Isolation Journal 43

A disjointed waking up today, I took ages to fall asleep and woke Alan up making odd noises that I think was met trying to speak in a dream and consequently I took ages to wake up again.  Qubit brought in a bird and woke me up at 7am, I managed to take it off him and move it so he couldn't put feathers everywhere, sadly it was already dead.

I dialled into my call and caught up with Katie and Rachel and then had a busy morning and finally got breakfast around 10am (I had yoghurt, raspberries and granola) and had 2 coffees.  I had a quick temp meeting and helped Rachel to write a proposal for a confidential client brief.

At lunch I was feeling a bit like I had cabin fever from being in all day yesterday so I suggested that we went out for a walk and so Alan and I walked along the muddy country lane near us and it spitted a bit with rain.  I took a few pictures with my Inaturalist app and  we probably walked for around 25 mins and then I made a ploughmans lunch when I got back which had granny smith, raddicchio, wensleydale, ham from Friday night, Serrano ham, a slice of homemade bread and butter, English mustard, 3 cherry tomatoes, chutney and I had some beetroot.  Sadly the iceberg lettuce was actual ice as it had been pushed to the back of the fridge so I couldn't use it.

I then went upstairs and had a very busy afternoon as I had a new role come in and picked up a role for Katie.  Frustratingly the briefing call for the new role is tomorrow at 2pm...on my day off so I need to login.  I do feel that the past 2 days have been really productive for me and I am on top of my emails much better now which clears my head.  We also had a training call on our new system which I'm really excited about and Maya kept coming on camera during the training call.

It should have been #runandtalk tonight, but I hadn't remember and no one else seemed to either so I scheduled it for next week.  

Again I felt that a run would be a good idea for me and Alan so I managed to convince him it was a good idea and we left the house at 7pm and did a 5K - he was aiming for sub 30 mins and we managed it which was pleasing.  Whilst he was in the bath I managed to fix the Garmin scales so they upload your weight details directly to the garmin app - Alan was pleased with me for not pestering him about it.  I also finished cooking tea whilst he was in the bath and managed to smash a jar of biscoff when it fell out of the cupboard, it wasn't as full as I'd expected at least.  We had Hello Fresh beef stirfry for tea and Alan had done the prep.

I managed to persuade him to use Easyfundraising to make a purchase this evening so I'm hoping we'll get some more cashback for guides that way as we aren't charging any subs at the moment.

We watched some Spaced and then he went to call his Mum and I did some emails for work and watched Catfish.  I also had a shower and got "stuck" in the bath, even without it filled up to be a bath - it happens, I can spend over an hour messing around on my phone if I'm not careful.  I also put a load of washing on and cleaned the kitchen whilst listening tot the Archers on the BBC Sounds app.

Tomorrow is my day off and for the first time I have no call with friends scheduled for 5pm and no Zumba at 7pm, so I have one work call at 2pm, but for the rest of the time I can read or do creative writing or run!