Isolation Journal 89 & 90

Two in one entry today as I was away for the first time since March yesterday evening.

I woke up yesterday and checked my phone and had a negative Covid result from my test on Friday so I decided to go with my plan of visiting my parents and my brother.  I'd packed my stuff mostly the night before so I had some cornflakes, packed up the rest of the bits and pieces and set off just before 10am.

The roads weren't too bad, I had only planned to stop once for a toilet break and I always aim to get to at least Leicester Forest East Services on the way down and if I get to Watford Gap or further I'm over halfway and feel happy.  I got out at Watford Gap, tried to charge my car, but it wasn't working so I headed to the toilet.  I had no interest in stopping for food really as it was too busy and I felt uncomfortable and social distancing wasn't great.  I got back to the car, texted my brother and my parents and then carried on.  I had been listening to the Archers and then I swapped to some more of the Wind Up Bird Chronicles.

I ended up driving only for 3hrs 40 and ended up at my brothers around 2pm.  I had a protein bar and a banana for lunch on the go and he did offer me some lunch, but he'd already eaten.  When I arrived at my brothers it was just the 2 oldest girls Beatrice and Florence and they were very hyper and excited to see me.  My brother's wife came back shortly after with the two youngest boys Lenny and Winston.  They were also quite excited and Winston was doing ok after a couple of trips to hospital this week as he'd cut his hand and they weren't sure if he'd need it stitching, but fortunately he didn't.  They drew some pictures on the patio in chalk and then I headed over to see my parents in the garden.  I managed to curb my alloy wheels when I was parking the car and I really need to sort out my insurance claim to get them fixed up.

They've done a lot of gardening during lockdown including planting melons, aubergines, courgettes, tomatoes, cauliflowers, nasteriums, cucumber, lettuces and sweetcorn.   We sat outside and chatted and I gave them some malbec and some prosecco as well as a rag wreath I finished off under lockdown.

We went for a walk around the recreation field at the back of the house, it was a nice walk, but it's sad that at the back of the garages people have just dumped mattresses, fridges and other rubbish.  I used to think that the street was a really nice area, but some of it with my eyes these days just looks a bit tatty.

I texted my brother to find out what to do for food that evening and suggested I bought them a takeaway and he suggested I come back for around 7pm to read a story for the girls.  By the time I'd moved a few things around in my car it was five past seven and Beatrice told me off for being late.  

I read them Andy Pandy and Hansel and Gretel and made up a story about some cats stealing  a fish, they were very excited and out of routine and I felt a bit guilty as it took them a while to fall asleep and they tried hard to convince me that I should sleep in their room!

I went downstairs and we chatted whilst Steph fed Winston and he fell asleep and then we ordered a curry from the Raj using the Uber Eats app with a code that gave me £20 off and my brother a £15 off voucher.  By the time we'd faffed around the food was ordered around 9.30pm and I ordered some poppodoms with dips, Tom Yum seafood soup and a vegetable thalia and a portion of lemon rice which was way bigger than I'd expected so there were a lot of leftovers.  

We ended up chatting until around 1.30am discussing holidays and indeed lack of holidays as kids, something that seemed to bother my brother more than me, the fact that they still have a Range Rover in the garage and my brother worked out it was last taxed in 1995 and could be worth a lot these days - I said that when the time comes, he can deal with it.

I eventually fell asleep around 2am and woke up a few times, as I was quite warm and there were a few odd noises, but I was fairly comfortable on my sleeping bag on the sofa.  The kids initially woke up about 6.30am and came downstairs around 7.30am and I had cornflakes for breakfast and a couple of coffees as I was knackered!  The kids did some more chalk drawing in the garden and played with the bubble machine when it turned 9am and screamed a fair bit!  I had a shower which I desperately needed and then headed over to my parents for around 11am and we chatted in the garden some more and then had lunch of ham, cheese and salad sandwiches including home grown yellow tomatoes.  I went to the toilet in their house in my mask and sanitised before I went in and sprayed down the toilet after I left.  We went for another walk aound the field and I tracked it and it was just under 1K - they could make a parkrun there!  I managed to find a green parakeet feather by my parents house as they hang out there, there was also a nest in their kiwi bush and I couldn't work out what bird lived in it.

I set off home about 1.30pm and my Mum gave me fabric for some masks, some soap and some lemon drizzle cake Naked bars and an aubergine and nasterium.  The satnav gave an ETA of 6pm and it was a bit slow on the M25 and then there were some slow sections on the M1 with roadworks, but nothing stationary fortunately.  I chatted away to Alan for a big chunk of the journey and really missed him when I was away.  I then listened to more Wind Up Bird Chronicles - it's a very very long audio book!  I got to Leicester Forest East services just over half way and went to the toilet and it was a lot less busy than Watford Gap yesterday and so I braved the Waitrose and bought sushi as I'd been craving it as not had any for ages as well as some pepsi max and kefir.

I drove for another hour, but ended up stopping at Woodall as I started to feel too tired, so I went to the loo and emptied some rubbish to get a bit of a walk in and some fresh air.  Then my sat nav said an hour to do 35 miles, but it included a bit diversion through some South Yorkshire villages and so I was quite slow.

I was home for 5.45pm and about 3 hours 45 driving time and 20 - 25 mins stopping and break times.

I unpacked the car and said hello to Qubit who was hiding in a box and then had a cuddle with Alan and then a quick tea and sit down watching some cricket.

I decided to go for a run around 7.30pm and do about 8K and take it steady.  I listened to more Wind Up Bird Chronicles and did my Lumby Loop circuit and then as I got towards the end my stomach felt really odd and I had to run in and go straight to the toilet.  I then had a shower and Alan finished making tea of Carribean beef and courgette rice, I quick hung some washing out and we ate and watched Storage Hunters UK.  I prepped some strawberries and cream and then cleaned up the kitchen.

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 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 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.

Isolation Journal 81

Alan was up until around 4am doing his exam, so sleep was a bit broken.  I had apple, granola, yoghurt and lemon curd for breakfast, but quite late and I also had 2 coffees.  I got the milk and orange juice in.

We had a kick off call at 9am and I also then had a handover call with Katie who is off on holiday, so I will need to work out how to recruit marketing people for the next 2 weeks.

Today was very much a sort out of admin and emails day, but I did also have some good conversations with candidates and clients and will be more organised for next week.

The game that I ordered for Alan arrived and we thought about playing it today, but we were both a bit too tired.

I made some pasta, mushrooms, garlic, onion and courgette with cream for a fairly late lunch at around 1.30pm.  I set off the dishwasher after lunch.  I chatted to my brother as I'd been debating going to see him and my parents this weekend.  It's a really long drive, but I'm not likely to see them all that easily for a while and I'd feel uncomfortable going after I'm back in the office again.  It seems easier to stay with my brother than a hotel or indeed my parents and at least I know he's had Covid, so it's less likely he'll have it.  I'm slightly worried about the flash floods forecast for down towards the south, so I'll have to check the weather warnings before I set off.  

I sorted out some purchase order issues and more admin and got my emails down to a more sensible number, re-wrote a spreadsheet and went through around 30 job applications for a remote working job that had over 139 applications.  I had to sort through them before I could delete them.  

I managed to speak to the letting agents of my flat to find out whether the key had gone missing as they had not got back to 3 emails.  Apparently the tenant had moved in ok and there was some works I'd paid out for, but now that it's been done I should receive a statement update soon.  

I finished work at around 7.30pm and we ordered a Chinese - I had hot and sour soup, chips, crispy beef in peking sauce and some waterchesnuts and bamboo shoots, Alan had a spring roll, chicken in ginger and garlic and singapore noodles and banana fritters.  I am very full now!  

I went out for a run and again was fairly fast, even though my legs ache from yesterday and I did 6K in just over 30 mins including a PR on a segment and came 7th overall.  The takeaway was delivered about 1.5 hours later, but was good, I had to ring up and make sure it was on it's way.

I spoke to my parents who seem worried about me coming, but happy to see me in the garden.  It will be a long drive, so I should really go to bed at a sensible time.

I managed to do a bit more linked in work whilst watching TV, mostly Dave and Taskmaster, 8 out of 10 cats does Countdown and QI and a bit of CSI New York.

I also stopped my anxiety, but finally booking the virtual escape room ready for Monday - we're going to try this one Out of Hours

Isolation Journal 77

I didn't sleep very well at all, I kept waking up just as I was drifting off and I think it was only about 6 hours or so in the end.  I had cornflakes and 2 coffees for breakfast and I picked up the milk, orange juice and eggs and brought them in.

I logged on and had a catch up call with both Rachel and Katie and then had a morning of sorting out emails and then I signed on for Pilates and at the end had a chat with David about the weird nerve thing that is happening to my left leg - basically when I was shaving my legs the other day I noticed the nerves all over my foot tingling like mad.  He didn't think that it was anything to be too worried about, but recommended roll downs and prayer stretches.

I had reheated pasta bake for lunch and then also lots of water!   I arranged a team meeting for our team and the colleagues who look after the more junior end of the market.  We then had a client meeting and then I interview prepped a candidate.  I finished the day by placing a candidate into a job, I was especially pleased as we've been tryinig to help her since I found her a role about a year ago and she couldn't start as she'd had a stroke.  I was really pleased to hep her.  I even managed to send out a LinkedIn search for Rachel.

I finished off at 6.45pm and went for an easy run of 6.5K and then cooked Hello Fresh for dinner which was potato wedges with steak strips and mushroom and red wine sauce with green beans.  I took all the recycling out and the flowers were past their best and put them in the green bins.  I listened to Wind Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami whilst out on my run and cooking - I'd listened to a good few hours whilst commuting, but not for about 6 months, so I'd started from the beginning again.  We watched Peep Show and ate dinner and 

I then had a shower in the bath and I called my Mum back and suggested I could try and visit them although she sounded uncomfortable.  We ended up down the odd conversation topic that she was saying she is 94% English DNA, and no African DNA, I pointed out all of us are likely to be from the same, very likely African DNA, but then she started saying we are all descended from Adam and Eve, very odd.  My brother texted to say that he'd ended up getting the job he'd applied for as the external candidate had turned it down.  We then chatted for about 45 minutes and.  He was suggesting I might be better to stay at his and I think that should be fairly safe as he's very careful and has definitely already had Covid even though he tested negative for the antibodies 4 months later.

I followed up on twitter as I was due to have a flash fiction prompt from Tania Hershman but it hadn't arrived via stupid hotmail, so I had to follow up and she kindly resent it for me.  

Isolation Journal 40

Today was a bit of a lazy day, it must have been around 11am at least before I peeled myself out of bed, the late night and booze made me feel slightly hungover.  

I had yoghurt, granola and blueberries for breakfast and picked some raspberries and blackcurrants on the way back from visiting the compost heap.  I chatted to my friend Lauren on messenger.

We watched a bit of The Office (UK version) and then I got ready to do a virtual escape room with my friend Hannah's son who is 10.   It was a free Harry Potter themed one and done by someone from Peters Township Public Library Page and I specifically gave myself a Great Hall background on Zoom.  I chatted to Alex for a bit afterwards and then played with the whiteboard function and shared some of the wedding photos with him.

I then ended up chatting to my brother for about an hour and a half as he's applying for a promotion in the NHS so I was giving him some advice as he's not had an interview for about 17 years!  He also did some video chat with his 4 kids which was busy and noisy!

Alan made an orzotto with chorizo and courgette and I ate it whilst on the phone to my brother.  

I came back in to watch some tv and tried to start a film - uncut gems, but I kept falling asleep and so Alan put something else on and then I woke up and got up and made the Hello Fresh receipe for tea that should have been Prawn and chorizo soft tacos, but had chicken subsituted for the prawn.  It was a tasty dish.  We watched some more of The Office and then when our food had gone down (and after the Amazon Prime had arrived) we then went out for a run and got ourselves up to 5K and so I could add it to my Not parkrun table, my running this past two weeks has bee far more sluggish.

I then tidied the kitchen and managed to spill the giant bag of sugar everywhere!  Alan made Lynberg Lemonade cocktails that were great and we watched the end of the UK Office and I had a shower and watched some Celebrity Masterchef.

Burglary

So this week has not been an easy one for me.  I've always had a fairly major OCD fear of being burgled to the point that when I was particularly stressed it took me 20 - 30 minutes to leave my house about 8 years ago as I had to do so many checks to make sure it was secure.  

2 years ago I came back from a work conference and my husband told me that he thought we'd had an attempted break in and sure enough someone had tried to jemmy off the back door and had "snapped" our Yale lock - I'm not going to put up a link, but if you google "lock snapping" it's quite scary.  Fortunately my Dad had spotted that our patio doors needed additional security and had fitted two top and bottom lockable bolts and so they didn't manage to get in thankfully.  It was enough of a scare though that I invested in replacing the patio doors and the old tired side door with brand new UPVC double glazed doors with special ABS locks that are anti-snap.  

Anyway, I returned from a busy day at work on Thursday at 8.30pm with Lebanese takeaway in hand and tried to open my front door.  It wouldn't open so I assumed the cats had maybe knocked something down in front of the door, so I went around the back in the dark and saw some weird white stuff which I then realised was glass, I gasped as I wasn't sure what it was and when I realised it was a break in, I had no idea if the burglars were still there.  I ran to my next door neighbour (Who moved in during the summer, but the extend of our conversation had been to swap names and shake hands and I'd not really seen him since) and knocked on the door as my husband was down in Devon and so I was staying by myself that night.  I explained that I'd been burgled and he handed me the phone and I called the police.  I initially dialled 101 as I wasn't sure if it was an emergency, but when I though that actually there might still be people in my house, I changed to 999 and they sent 2 police cars around.  

Whilst we were waiting, my neighbour and his house mate put on shoes and helped me try and spot the cats - I was most worried about Marla who doesn't go outside as she gets lost, but we waited until the Police arrived and went into the house.  I looked through the lounge window and could see straight away that the TV had been taken.  The police arrived within about 5 minutes and got out their hitting sticks or probably as I think they're professional known to be - asps.  3 of the officers went through the house and came out of the front door. Whilst I was waiting outside I mentioned that my husband was down in Devon visiting his brother and they asked if he might have been involved - which of course wasn't true!

My first question when they came outside, was if they'd seen Marla or as I said "A white fluffy weird looking cat" and they had, I managed to catch her and locked her into my car so that she couldn't escape.  I saw Willow run down the stairs, but I couldn't see Pocky and was really worried as she needed medicine for her Thyroid problem.  

The police took me into the house so I could see what had been taken - strangely as well as the TV they'd taken our PS3, but left our PS2 and Nintendo Wii and not taken any DVDs or games.  They'd taken my Netbook - on which most of the blog was authored and then a chintzy piggy bank of 5ps and coppers.  They'd been upstairs and gone through all my clothes in my drawers and wardrobes, but hadn't found anything as I don't have any bling jewellery anyway and also the house is still a tip whilst the redecorating is finished, so I would have trouble myself finding anything of value as it's all boxed up and mixed together.   I was also pleased that they'd not discovered the external hard drive in a well hidden, on display place and had left my Tower PC alone.

One of the police officers stayed with me to take my statement and the others made "house to house" enquiries.  My neighbour remembered hearing voices during the evening, but hadn't seen anything and his housemate had been in all day as he was ill.  

The police asked if I minded being filmed - apparently the BBC and Rav Wilding were doing a special on burglaries in Leeds - I said that it would be fine - especially as I like Rav, but he never turned up, so there must have been more interesting or photogenic burglaries that evening I guess.

The police asked if I knew anyone who could secure my door and so I rang Gav - the guy who has been helping me re-plaster as he's really handy and knows pretty much everything - I work with his wife and she called to say that he was on his way and see how I was.   I also texted my cousin who lies in Leeds to ask if she knew anyone who could board the door in case I couldn't get hold of Gav and her partner replied to say that she was on her way around.  

The SOCO person arrived and it was like watching CSI as he used a torch to find footprints on my new lounge floor and lift them off with a special metallic dust.  Just from looking at them he knew that the burglars had been wearing Addidas and Nike Air trainers, unfortunately he was also able to establish they'd worn gloves so couldn't get any finger prints.  When he'd finished down by the back door Gav fitted a board to make it all secure and my cousin made everyone tea - I had some with sugar as I was in a bit of shock and hadn't eaten at all since 12pm.  The officer taking my statement was lovely and was really interested in the copy of God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens which was on the dining room table.  I explained that it was my husband's and we had an interesting conversation about religion - he was Muslim  but very interested in hearing about other people's beliefs, although mentioned that he was a lot less keen about the prospect of being on TV with Rav Wilding who he'd met earlier in the toilets.

After the Police had left and Gav had finished securing the door I tidied up my clothes and the drawers and my cousin cleared up the glass inside and I managed to coax Willow and Pocky back to the house who were terrified.  I managed to feed Pocky her thyroid medicine and then settled them in and then went back to my cousins's for the night as I was a bit too full of adrenaline to want to stay in the house by myself.  I did find it hard to leave the cats though.  As much as I am annoyed at the TV being taken etc.  I was most concerned that the cats were OK as they can't be replaced in PC World.  They are still taking time to calm back down, but are getting there.  

The next day I got up and had breakfast with my cousin and her kids who didn't even seem to think it strange or ask why I was there and then headed home to speak to the insurance company and finish tidying up.  Another SOCO officer arrived as he wanted a glass sample from the door - they'd found suspects with glass in their shoes so he said that there was a chance I could see my stuff again (not holding out much hope though it has to be said).  I also purchased a cheap TV so that I have something to watch whist insurance company sort out a replacement - I had a minor operation on Saturday under general anaesthetic (more about this later) so I wanted some access to entertainment whilst recovering.  I also wanted to create a timeframe for the police as I knew I had a lot of recordings on Sky+.  I was able to tell the police that the burglary occurred between 6.30pm and 7pm (Got to Dance recorded fine from 6 - 6.30pm) and 7pm (The Big Bang Theory at 7pm failed as they'd unplugged all of the electronic devices including the Sky Box when stealing the PS3 and TV).

So what have I learned or decided from all this?

• My friends, family and neighbours are all lovely people who have helped me more than I would have expected.
• I will be upgrading to a good burglar alarm which works well with a cat infested house.
• I will be recording the serial numbers of everything electrical of value and marking them all with UV pens (this I had already done for most things, but not my Netbook).
• I will get to know my neighbours a little better.
• I will get the fence at the back of my house repaired and get a lock fitted onto the side gate.
• The Police in Leeds were lovely to me and they also came back to patrol the next evening and check in that I was ok (Marla got on the officer's lap!)
• I will continue to be grateful that my cats are ok and that I'm ok - it does make you realise that material possessions are handy, but friends, family and pets are what matter most.