Isolation Journal 88

I read some more of the Matt Haig "The Midnight Library" last night - it's such a good book.

I got up early as I needed to go to the Covid Test centre and so I was awake at 7.15am and left the house 20 mins later.  I got to the site around 8.10am and was done with a self test really quickly, it was the same as last time and I defintely gagged and so I hope I did it properly.  

I then got home and made breakfast and emptied the dishwasher and made breakfast granola, Skyr and coffee, today was a 3 coffee day.  I also had a worry message from a friend on Facebook to say that the block my flat is in was flooded, so I rang the letting agents, although they couldn't get hold of my tenant they seem to think it's ok.  

I had a quick call with Matt as everyone else was on holiday and then cracked on with work and had a reasonably productive day, arranging interviews for Rachel, sorting out a few nigglying things and hopefully picking up an exclusive process with a charity.

For lunch we cooked sausages and I made some salad with some of the kohl rabi from the veg box and I also used carrot, cabbage, coriander, red cabbage and tomato and the leftover potato wedges.  

I worked through until around 7.30pm as I had a lot of emails to shift and a proposal to write and a few linkedin searches to do.

I made tea and chatted to my brother and the kids who were getting into bed and discussed going back tomorrow.  I didn't have my test result, but I'm pretty sure I don't have Covid as my only symptoms into the app were a sore throat and my temperature is only 36.8.  I didn't feel like running though so I've only run twice this week!

We had pork and apple burgers with salad and wedges from Hello Fresh for tea, I had my gu cheesecake for pudding.

We watched Peep Show and Alan went for a bath and so I watched Catfish.

Isolation Journal 87

Today has felt hard, I woke up ok and got signed on for work and went straight into a public sector meeting.  We were also doing a BD day so lots of things to organise, calls to complete.   I had coffee and then I had skyr and granola for breakfast.  Seeing my Mum sharing an ignorant post on facebook set me up for a day of feeling frustrated basically "I don't care if you're gay, but don't rub my face in it" I pointed out that if it wasn't for suffagettes protesting quite violently we wouldn't have the vote as women - she's not replied.

I had a morning of sorting out lots of issues rather than being able to be hugely productive, but then I had a meeting with the other Mental Health Champions and discussed some of the things that we were seeing people experience and discussed concerns about going back to the office.

I made burgers and salad for lunch and Alan had ordered an Amazon Echo Dot clock to entertain us.  I then headed out shortly afterwards to have a smear test at the doctors, I ended up there 10 minutes early and so I had to wait in the car and took a call about rolling out some MH Champions stuff specifically in the North.  

I went into reception at my appointment time and had to then wait outside, the smear was a standard test, I just made sure that I'd worn my mask.  When I got back the veg box order from the Organic Pantry had arrived with carrots, kohl rabi, cabbage, potatoes, yellow courgettes, apples, potatoes, satsumas and bananas.

I had an ice lolly when I got back and then worked through until around 7.30pm and Alan made aubergine tacos from Hello Fresh for tea and we ate at the dining room table.

We went for a walk of about 2K and 30 mins and then I watered the plants and was a bit sad that the potato plants had slightly swamped the carrot seedlings and I'm not sure if they will have survived it.  The tomatoes I planted from 1 cherry tomato at the start of lockdown are now doing really well.  

I came inside and tidied the kitchen and sat down to watch some TV - South Park and Storage Hunters.  My throat is feeling sore, I feel a bit naseous and tired and so I booked myself a Covid test for 8am tomorrow.  I realised today I have 15.5 days of annual leave I need to take still, but Alan only has about 8.

Isolation Journal 86

I had a reasonable night of sleep and woke up and faffed around on my phone so only had a chance to grab a coffee before logging onto the morning call.

It feels like a bit of an unproductive day, but I did manage to book and complete 2 meetings with clients and get through some calls with people I've not spoken to for a long time.

I had the first of the client meetings at 12pm and I'd only picked up breakfast around 11am which was yoghurt, granola, lemon curd and apple and so I made a ham sandwich with salad for lunch and finally finished eating it around 2.30pm.

Maya was insistent on sitting on my keyboard an awful lot today and stole my water at one point.  I had to make sure that I'd locked her out of the room for one of the meetings with the clients.

I caught up with a friend who I'd placed previously to see how she was getting on and it was good to catch up with her.

Finished work around 7.20pm and then cooked dinner which was a really complicated Hello Fresh recipe of Chicken Katsu burgers, salad and wedges and had 3 different sauces to mix in 3 different bowls and breadcrumbs, it was really tasty, but I should have saved half for tomorrow as it had 1275 calories in!

We watched Peep Show and then I went out to run up and down the driveway at 10pm and did just over 5K in about 31 minutes and at least managed to burn some calories back.  

I'm now in a boring bit of "The Windup Bird Chronicles" the main character is talking about a story of war with the Mongols and it's very long and involved.  I cleaned the kitchen and had a bath and my heart rate went up to "high stress" in the bath. 

I also found out my youngest nephew needs stitches under general anasthetic tomorrow as he'd cut his hand on a jar of olives that he managed to break, I hope that he's ok.

Alan seemed a bit better today thankfully, so I hope he is on the mend at last.

Isolation Journal 85

12 weeks and one day of journaling every day, I wonder how long I'll keep this going for?  Today I woke up early again as we'd made it to bed at a reasonable time and had read a bit of Matt Haig's - The Midnight Library - it's really good!  I had nearly 8 hours of sleep and I went back to sleep for an hour and then got up for a quick shower.

Breakfast was cornflakes and it was a two coffee day.

Kicked off at 9am and then had a meeting with some other colleagues at 9.30am and then a client meeting/interview with a really great candidate at 10am that went on for an hour and twenty minutes.  I had calls and emails from my boss whilst this was going on with "are you in today?" but obviously I couldn't respond. 

I then had to prep 2 candidates for interviews that afternoon and prep for a national meeting, I was glad I prepped as they asked for my update first and I'm not sure I did a very good job, I hope I did ok.

I realised at 3pm I'd not had lunch so quickly made a sausage sandwich with lettuce, tomato and some cucumber with mayo and sriacha.  Alan is still feeling poorly and so he just had some toast.

I finished work eventually at 7pm, it was a long day and I really wanted to try out my new trainers that arrived and they were great - I ran my first KM in 4 minutes 19 and my first mile in 7.08 and they felt so good on my feet!  I did 5k in 24.34 which is my fastest for a very long time.  I listened to more of the Wind Up Bird Chronicles.

Alan made Hello Fresh for tea and it was a pasta bake and there was enough to save a portion for tomorrow lunch.   I tidied up the kitchen, lounge and dining room and set off a load of washing.

We watched Peep Show and then I had a shower and filled the bath for Alan and then got distracted when he came into my office looking at beds as he wants a more comfy bed and so we tried to find a good storage bed that is Super King Size.

We then started to have ideas about loft beds in the spare room that would give us more storage space so we wouldn't need a bed with storage space...

Isolation Journal 84

Alan woke up at least an hour earlier than we needed to be up and so he went downstairs and I snoozed for another hour and listened to headspace to get back to sleep.  I had two slices of toast and marmite for breakfast and 2 coffees.  Alan is still feeling bad with his ear and lack of sleep, but the GPs are being really careful with who they'll see.

We had a kick off meeting and it was quite productive and then I caught up with Rachel as she was in the office today, but couldn't get logged onto the call.  Alan was on a call and Qubit brought in a mouse and put it in his shoe, so I had to rescue it for him.

I booked a good candidate meeting for tomorrow morning and then I dealt with some of the work for Katie who is off on holiday.  It was a busy day and I made a few calls for myself and then got downstairs and did pilates online.  I've still got the leg nerve issue and so I was taking it easy, but it wasn't too painful.

We had reheated Chinese leftovers from Friday evening for lunch and then I had a peach as a snack a bit later on.

I had a few more MS Teams meetings and managed to land an offer for Katie which was good news.  It got sunnier later on in the day so I opened the window and Maya got out on the flat roof and then climbed next door and tried to get in Ally's window, I managed to encourage her back with some more treats.

As I finished my last MS Teams meeting I then realised I'd picked up another 16 jobs, although none for me, it seems to be a trend.

Good news is that the government has u-turned on the A'level results and so hopefully a lot of the affected students will still be able to go to their chosen University.

I worked through until 6.30pm when I loaded up Zoom and we logged on for a team building activity of a virtual escape room.  I'd chosen one with a rogue CEO who was being investigated, I'd selected "Advanced" and it was really hard!  It took about 2 hours and I had a glass of fizz and Alan cooked dinner which was a hello fresh meanball sub.  

I then watched more Storage Hunters, cleaned the kitchen and mopped the floors and had a bit of cheese and a chocolate ice lolly.

Isolation Journal 83

Again I woke up quite late, but Alan was still asleep so I went into the other room to mess around on my phone until Qubit demanded I fed him, so I did and then he was sick onto the table so I had to clean it up.

I managed to finish Little Fires Everywhere as Alan went to sleep in the other room and it was a great book - It grabbed me through from about 100 pages in and I really wanted to keep reading on.  It now means I can start my new Matt Haig book - hooray!

I decided to get up and go for a run to get it out the way and so I steadily did 9.1K through a Lumby Loop and a few different segments.  My left leg was quite stingy with the nerve thing that I've had for the last few days, but not really whilst I was running, but I took a fairly steady pace.  It was warm, but started to drizzle as I was running.

When I got back Alan had made pancake batter and so made us some pancakes with apple sauce with maple syrup.  We watched some UK Celebrity Storage Hunters and then I tidied and hoovered a bit before having a bath.

We then went over to see Alan's brother and the kids and had pizza cooked in the BBQ oven which was delicious.  The kids were quite hyper and excited to see us and did a lot of running around.  Winston dog was also excited to see us.  I had a glass of prosecco as Alan was driving us to and from.  I also gave some of the spare bedding plants to them as I'd run out of space to plant them.  I ordered some Amazon Prime Now whilst we were chatting as I figured I needed some ibuprofen gel and ibuprofen for my leg, hopefully it will help.

We got back just before 10pm and the order arrived about 30 minutes afterwards and so we watched more UK Celebrity Storage Hunters and cuddled the cats who were being particularly loving.  

I realised I've run about 1010K in my current trainers and I've not used my Vitality half price Runners Need discount yet for this year - my last pair were bought back in November 2019.  I decided to buy some next generation Asics Nimbus 22 and also a pair of Aftershokz headphones.  

Isolation Journal 82

Alan I think had a bit of a sleepless night and moved around a lot and I ended up waking up around 7.30am and then slept a bit more until 8.30am and then woke up and went in the spare room to mess around on my phone and read and I had a message from my Mum as she was worried that the weather would be poor and as we'd be meeting in the garden we worked out that it wouldn't be as much point.  So I decided to drive down next weekend instead.  My Dad also posted a highly irritating post on facebook about basically people not working shouldn't be getting benefits and that you can't tax the poor into prosperity - he's been retired for 23 years and worked for 33, my Mum probably only worked full time for about 7/8 years and then stopped to have children and didn't really work much other than a part time role when I was about 13 and another that went full time when I was at unin, but our generation are likely to have to work until around 70 years old and I don't feel this way.  As Alan pointed out, people can work extremely hard and earn less than millionnaires or indeed billionnaires as wealth isn't a clear indication of work ethic and especially not fairness.  

I stayed in the spare room messing around on my phone and reading "Little Fires Everywhere" until he woke up when the door bell went at around 11.30am and I suggested we should have breakfast or maybe brunch instead.  The door was Royal Mail who had delivered the cool mat to us that I'd ordered for him.

I decided to go to Berts Barrow and I bought some milk, cream, bread, sausages, burgers, lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries, cucumber, cold brew vanilla flavoured yoghurt, broccoli and it was about £25.  There was about the right number of people in the shop, I wore my mask and there was a queue outside when I finished.  

I made scrambled eggs on toast with sausages and coffees and orange juice.  I had marmite on my toast and some sriracha sauce.

Alan introduced me to the very addictive show of Storage Hunters and I watched far too much of this today!  We discussed going for a walk and thought about going to Malham Cove, but neither of us fancied driving too far and so we went to St Aiden's where we've run a race at before, but not walked around.  As RSPB members we get to take advantage of free parking which was good.  We walked about 5K in around an hour and a half and chatted and got rained on a bit which was actually quite nice.  Alan has been really tired and lethargic and I was feeling a bit low energy today as well.

It was Jenny's birthday today and I'd ordered her some flowers and also some craft stuff, I think she's finding things a bit challenging at the moment, so hopefully it helped to cheer her up.

We drove back and then watched more TV (more Storage Hunters), and I had some toast as a snack and more storage hunters and Alan went to cook the last Hello Fresh recipe which was fish, but the fish had massively gone off so he made a couple of burgers instead.

I'm sort of glad I didn't go today as I've been feeling tired and have a bit of a sore throat, not sure where I would have caught anything from.