Isolation Journal 20

Alan got up earlier today to go to his office and was running around as he'd also agreed to take the go pro back to our his work colleague Danielle who leant it to us when we went snorkling in Barbados (we didn't expect to have it so long)  Qubit came running up the stairs and had caught a baby rabbit.  The rabbit was unharmed (although surely scared) and we managed to catch it (well Alan did, even gave it a little stroke) and put it in the laundry basket and set it free in one of the neighby fields.

I had 2 black coffees and a bowl of cornflakes for breakfast and another day of a lot of teams meetings, 3 lots of internal meetings including one quite detailed one coming up with ideas.  

I managed to place a candidate today which was good news, it's been a bit busier over the last 2 weeks, but since lockdown it's been much quieter than usual.  At least organisations are becoming more comfortable with the prospect of recruiting and onboarding remotely.

I had a couple of small potatoes for lunch with cheese, marmite and butter for lunch and a salad of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber with cider apple vinegar, olive oil and salt dressing.  I had a couple of chocolate digestives and a tunnocks tea cake as a snack.

Alan got back after meeting up with Danielle and opened a small package that was from his Uncle Dez and had some old currency that he'd found in his Mum (Alan's Grandma's) belongings.  I'd watched a bit of the Daily Briefing and it seems really odd that there are no scientists around these days.  I also responded to my Mum's face book post that she'd shared of Boris Johnson writing a whole essay about statues, I really genuinely think that people are more important than things (even if the things are made to look like people) I commented that perhaps it would be better if our "prime minister" spent more time on things like looking at the fact that many children will be going hungry over the summer holidays.  I'm very touched by Marcus Rashford who has donated many meals to kids and is campaigning to get some government policy change on this.  I shared these thoughts in response to the Boris Johnson post and got told by her friend Pauline (who I remember as a child being the kind mum of my friend Peter) "So typical of you and you ilk?" although hasn't clarified what she means by this, but given her previous pro brexit anti social justice replies I'm guessing she is all about the statues..

I tweeted This world is confusing, apparently children are important when they are an excuse to drive 260 miles during lockdown, but not as important when they are hungry needing meals throughout school holidays.  Neither are as important as bits of metal and stone made to look like people

Work finished up late around 7pm as I had a few longer calls this evening and a lot of emails to sort through.  Another win on the day was that I'd picked up a role to refer to our sister company which felt like good news.

Alan had prepped the Hello Fresh for Chicken Tikka Masala from last week, accidentally we'd not checked the best before date on the chicken so I swapped it for some we'd got delivered with the Amazon Prime at the end of last week.  

I ate dinner and we watched Scrubs and then after I'd let the food go down I went for a run, I went a little way along towards Newthorpe and as it started to get dark came closer to home and the last 5 minutes I ran up and down the road up to the gateway.  I did just over 5.6K in just over 30 mins.  I listened to the audio book of Suble Art of Not Giving a... quite useful giving all the social media rage going on.

I had a shower in the bath and then had some cherry crumble from last night.

Isolation Journal 19

Another late rising, I think it was probably around midday before the time I got out of bed.  I had a coffee and some granny smith, granola and yoghurt and then watched some TV before getting up and cleaning the house.

I hoovered the whole house and tidied up my office/bedroom and put up some nails to hang up some art work/paintings.  I cleaned surfaces and the bathroom and did 2 loads of laundry.  I listened to the Archers, the High Low Podcast and With Me Now podcast as I cleaned.

I then got ready to go running and went out for about 7.5 miles in about an hour and 8 minutes.  The heavy rain a few days ago meant that it was almost tropical feeling with everything feeling really steamed up.  I ran an out and back route down to Fairburn Ings RSPB Reserve which was very pretty in the sunshine.  I also saw lots of lovely red poppies along the way.  I was feeling quite heavy and wasn't particularly fast.  I'd not taken water with me and managed to survive by eating 2 shotbloks at the turnaround point.  I listened to the end of "I am not your baby Mother" by Candice Brathwaite which was really powerful.  The final few sentences mentioned about how it's not all about social media sharing, but it's mostly about what you do when no one is looking which really struck a chord with me.  It made me think very much that I need to make sure that I am doing the right things at work to be a part of positive action and change.  I got back in and necked 2 pints of orange squash and ice with a dash of salt.

I came back and had a bath with some lush lavendar bubble bar and then whilst Alan was on Zwift I mopped the lounge and the dining room.

I then had left over Chinese not realising how late it was and so Alan had to have a snack crumpet and cheese for his tea and made cherry crumble for our "tea" which was delicious.  He also made a lovely rum punch for us both.

I watched some more catfish and then we watched The Night Tonight and some Scrubs.  I also ordered a card on moonpig and a meatbox for my Dad for Father's day.

I also finally sent over the pictures that the guides had drawn for our local Self Isolation Support group and booked in my virtual marathon training sessions.

Isolation Journal 18

I woke up initially with Maya nudging me and trying to get me to wake up and feed her, somehow I managed to get back to sleep and ended up waking up at 10.45am.  I did some morning pages for 5 minutes Alan asked "What are you doing?" and I tried to explain I was trying to write for 5 minutes without distractions...

He got up and went down to make breakfast and had to deal with another rabbit casulty that Qubit had caught, eaten and then been sick.  Luckily not on the carpet this time.  

Alan made me a coffee and crumpets with scrambled eggs and black pudding (I added some marmite to the crumpets and some sriracha to the eggs).

We watched some Scrubs and I messed around on the laptop for a bit.  I then put a couple of episodes of Catfish on.  Last night I was organised enough to order some birthday presents for my niece and some plants for the garden (lavendar, herbs and some verbena).

I made some crumpets (mine with marmite) and cheese, ham and a granny smith in chunks for a late lunch and then tidied up a bit ready for the dance class which was fun!  After 5 I apparently get a badge!

I then tidied up the kitchen, cleaned the litter tray, took out the compost and all the recycling and had a chat with my neighbour Kirsty.  She'd been to the garden centre and bought lots of plants and moved the stones out of the old overgrown rockery - it made me think that I really should do more with the garden.

I went back inside and mopped and cleaned the kitchen floor as well as attempting to make the floor near the litter tray in the dining room not smell of cat wee, it seems to be an impossible battle.

Reflecting on the news is interesting, the BLM march called off and lots of "protestors" protecting statues by fighting with the police and making nazi salutes.  It's really clear how wrong they are, I hope that these people themselves can have a realisation of this and that we can continue to build a better and more just world for everyone.

The Virgin rep from Barbados called me to process the refund for the catamaran trip that we didn't get a chance to go on because we had to cut our honeymoon short.  She was lovely and helpful and said that she hoped we could return.  I hope we can too as we really enjoyed our break, but being overly aware of everything unfolding pre lock down did make it stressful.

Alan and I then went out for a walk at around 8pm and the sun was slowly starting to set.  I managed to grab a last bunch of wild garlic and we wandered around the puddly and muddy Whin Lane before walking a bit of Westfield Lane getting beeped at by an overly aggressive car (we'd moved out of the way and off the road!) and we saw some root vegetable crops and tried to work out what they were.  

We bumped into the neighbours Chris and Kirsty who had just got a Chinese and so we decided to order our own - I got hot and sour soup (which I eat with chips poured in), prawn toast, dumplings, crispy chicken in peking sauce, singapore noodles and mixed vegetables and a bit of Alan's King Prawn and ginger sauce.  I also had a glass of malbec.

We watched more Scrubs and I resolved that tomorrow will hopefully be a bit more productive...Although I did order 600g giant tubs of Marmite for both my Mum and Me as there is a pending Marmite shortage...

Isolation Journal 17

I slept terribly last night, Alan was in the other room and so I read until very late and then as I was drifting asleep at around 2am my laptop started narrating things.  I was feeling really angry and kicked my legs up and down on the bed.   I also felt really lonely as even the cats both decided to sleep in the other room.

I managed to get mysefl awake and logged on for work, I'd hoped to get up a bit early and do some morning pages, but I was too tired, so instead I had coffee and cornflakes.  I brought the milk in from the pouring rain outside - 1 full fat, 2 semi skimmed and 1 orange.  I watched a video from our CEO that revealed some positive news, I had a chat with my director about it and then cracked on with a lot of work.  I managed to arrange 4 interviews as well as sort out a few other ad hoc things and catch up with people.  I also managed to refer 5 - 7 jobs.

Lunchtime Alan made some saffron rice and mixed it with the pork mince from yesterday and I didn't have an allergic reaction...the only difference was the lack of rice noodles.  I can't imagine I'm allergic to rice noodles.

I ended up getting a bit distracted at the end of the day and wanted to make sure I reduced my emails down below 300 to set me up well for next week and so I finally logged off at about 7.30pm.  Alan had already been on Zwift and also had a bath and started cooking.  I still wanted to go for a run so I made sure I got into my run kit and had dinner which was wedges with mince and beans and cheese and waited an hour before going out for my run.  

I got a reminder email on crowdcast about a flash fiction reading and listened to a bit and Lauren and I discussed it and think that we might have a go at entering next week.

It was past 9pm and pretty overcast so again I did lots of hill reps and did just over 6K up and down the driveway.  I listened again to more of I'm not your Baby Mother by Candice Brathwaite and the birth story makes me grateful I'm unlikely to experience this.  I also gifted a copy to my friend Hannah as I thought she'd find it interesting.

I came back in cleaned the kitchen and helped Alan unload the Amazon pantry order than had arrived and had a bath with a lush lavendar bubble bar and then had some malbec that Alan had had with dinner, but I'd saved for after my run.  

I put Scrubs on the TV because my brain is still better with familiar content at the moment.

Isolation Journal 16

Again another day with quite a lot of meetings, a kick off, a sector, another sector, a client and a candidate and then guides on zoom.  Lots of time spent looking at my face.

I managed to squeeze in pilates at 12pm with West Point Practice which was challenging, but good for my core strength - important when we're all a lot less active at the moment.  Qubit meowed really loudly at the start of the lesson.

Alan made a very tasty pork mince, Chinese five spice noodle dish for lunch and I ate it upstairs catching up on more work.  

For some reason ever since perhaps the first breakfast we had in Barbados I've had random allergic reactions shortly after I eat or drink, not every time and not for weeks at a time sometimes, but today my face felt like it was on fire and my knees, arms, chest and face went bright red.  It died down after about 20 minutes, but made me feel odd.  There doesn't seem to be a consistent obvious cause, but worth tracking I suppose?

I finished work at 6.30pm and dashed downstairs to cook Hello Fresh for tea - duck with plum sauce and mashed potato.  I finished just in time to be able to dial into the guide meeting.  I think Alan was irritated by me rushing around to get it finished, I was irritated that I had to cook before guides and that it was cold by the time I got to eat.  

Guides we did a UMA on privaledge using examples of animals and whether they always had food, a safe place to sleep etc, they seemed to enjoy it and have also discovered the chat function on zoom which was interesting!  We used the whiteboard function which was new and seemed to work quite well.

After Guides I ate my food and then messed around on social media before getting changed and going for a run at 9.20pm.  I also had a call from Ally my neighbour who wanted to borrow some red wine vinegar, I managed to find 1 single sachet and posted it through her door although I think she needed 4 tablespoons.

It was wet and starting to get dark so I did a hills session running up and down the slope that leads up to the gatehouse as it started to get darker and darker.  I really do appreciate this time of year for the extra long nights to give me time to do more activities outside.  I ran just over 6K and was able to tick off enough "activity" for 8 vitality points (I hope!)  I listened to more of "I'm not your baby mother" by Candice Brathwaite whilst I ran and made the monotony less frustrating.

I came back in and washed my hands before cleaning up the kitchen surfaces and was delighted to see that Alan had emptied and refilled the dishwasher.  I put a little bleach and water in the half sink with the clothes and covered with a chopping board to soak overnight.

I'm now running and bath and hopefully will help me get a good night of sleep.

Isolation Journal 15

Today was my "day off" and I felt totally exhausted so I ended up waking up when Alan got up to go to work and then falling asleep until about 10.30am and not getting out of bed until 11am.  I wasn't sure what to do with the day, I knew I needed to do a bit of tidying and wanted to go for a run of at least 7 miles, but that was about it.  I got into my run kit to make sure that I would get myself out for a run and wanted to make it easier for myself.  

I had granola, a granny smith and somee yoghurt for breakfast and a couple of coffees and then watched a bit of catfish after setting off the washing machine and emptying the dishwasher.  I then listened to the Archers whilst I cleaned out the baking cupboard - Alan was less impressed with my accomplishment when he got home. I also took the dead flowers that were from my birthday out to the green waste bins and also some weeds from the garden.  I took some compost food waste to the compost bin.  

Maya brought in a dead bird and it made me sad.  

I then did another load of washing and got settled down in front of the laptop to write up a session plan for runclub.  I went for a pyramid session where you warm up and then run 1 minute at a high intensity 7 - 9 RPE and then have 30 secs of recovery and increase each minute by a minute up to 2, 3, 4 and then 5 before doing down 4, 3, 2, 1 and then cool down run.  

I then finally went out for my run and I'd planned to do around 7 miles and managed a little over this.  It was damp and so I wore long sleeves and leggings and I didn't push myself too hard and it felt quite comfortable.  I borrowed Alan's aftershoks headphones so I could hear well and listened to I am not your baby mother by Candice Brathwaite on audible, I heard her being interviewed on the High Low Podcast last week and I couldn't buy the book as it was sold out and actually I loved hearing her speak so I was keen to hear her narrate her own book.  It definitely made the run go a lot easier.  I also had an idea for a book I could write, something targetting siblings of kids with behavioural problems, I was that child and I read Superfudge by Judy Blume and found it really fun to read, but also really helpful.  No ideas of plots of anything yet, but a concept.

Alan rang me as I was running and I had to be quick as people were staring at me.  I then got back and he was sat drinking tea on the front step and watching the bumblebees.  I had a glass of orange squash and ice and an orange lolly and realised I'd forgotten to have any lunch.

We watched the Daily Briefing again and it's lovely that people who have been living alone can now form bubbles, but the rules around it did seem confusing and I'm still concerned that the death rate is high and that the back to school goals seem to have been abandoned rather than thought through in a considered fashion.

I then got a call from my boss who wanted to fill me in on a few things which was interesting and some food for thought.

Alan cooked hello fresh for tea and it was a really nice sweetcorn and chorizo creamy pasta and we had some naughty ice cream for dessert and then I went up for a bath and came down to watch more catfish and tidy up the dining room and the kitchen.

Isolation Journal 15

I was having a very strange dream when I woke up this morning, I was in the process of adopting 4 cats to add to 6 that I owned already in that dream.  The comedian Rob Beckett was driving a very expensive SUV that had crashed into a barrier - it was a very odd start to the day!

I had cornflakes and two black coffees again and started the day with the first team kick off meeting.  

Today was another busy day with MS teams meetings - a total of 6 which is pretty exhausting.  I had lunch around 1pm which was a jacket potato with cheese, butter and marmite and also iceberg lettuce salad.

I also had to run a BD incentive in the afternoon against a background of lots of meetings.  One that I dialled into was for our Unity work incentive prompted by the very recent events and black lives matters protests.  I wanted to dial in to find out more, see how people were feeling and also to know how I can better support people as an ally.  It was really sad to hear some of the stories of my colleagues that had clearly had an impact, but would be very easy for people to not be aware of, even down to a huge focus on how comfortable they felt with their hair.  It made me realise I definitely need to take notice.  I still feel really sad that it was only a matter of a few weeks into my first graduate job when I witnessed very direct racism in 2001.  I was in an office of about 7 people and there was a lady who was in her 50s and whenever a particular consultant from Birmingham called her she would answer the phone with "Hello my little brown friend" the first time I heard it I must have looked up in disgust/shock and I think that she said something along the lines of "she doesn't mind" and at 21 as a university graduate I didn't have the words to challenge even though I was "educated" and and was privaleged.  I would behave differently now, I would find the words and thankfully I would have a route to raise a grievance along the right channels and feel confident that it would be dealt with.  A few weeks later this person opened up a letter in the middle of the office from HR and the issue was addressed, but I always felt deeply uncomfortable and never felt that I'd done what I should have done in that situation.  I know that not having the words isn't an excuse, but what it does make me realise 19 years further on I might have to be the voice for someone in the room that doesn't have the words.

I worked until around 7.15pm to be able to get through what I needed to and to stay on top of emails.  I had a protein bar as a snack, but i'm thinking I might not bother as they taste awful!  Really dusty!

I contemplated going for a run, but I knew Alan was hungry and tired as was I so I cooked tea.  I made the Hello Fresh Sea bass with breadcrumbs, potato wedges, salad, sugar snap peas and tartare sauce.  I chatted to my Mum and Dad as I cooked tea and they were sounding happy having done some gardening and avoiding noisy green parakeets.  I then listened to a bit of the Archers in Lockdown.

We watched What's the matter with Tony Slattery and then some Catfish.