Not so Isolation Journal 103

I'd not got to bed at a very good time and so I was quite tired when I woke up at 9am and needed to be out the house for around 9.30am to get to my writing class at 10.30am.  I didn't end up eating breakfast, but I made a couple of coffees and drank one before I left and took one for the journey.  I packed the last rice and beans and a couple of slices of pizza from the night before.

The traffic was good and so it only took me around 35 minutes to get there and I tried to park behind The Bowery, but it was a bit tricky and tight in the car park, so I drove down to where the art deco houses are and walked around 5 minutes to get to the class, I was just on time fortunately.

I wore my mask to enter the class and then the whole way through other than to drink my water bottle and then to eat lunch outside.  The course I was doing was How to Write that Novel and it was the first writing workshop that I'd booked this year for my 20 things in 2020 and was due to be the weekend after I'd got back from honeymoon in March, but it got delayed to June and then September so it feels like I've been waiting a while and have done a lot of online zoom in the meantime.  It was definitely worth the wait.  

The Bowery made me feel comfortable as there were only 10 of us in the room and we all wore masks apart from the tutor Mark Connors who work a visor so that we could hear and see him speaking properly.  There were masks available, but I'd brought my own and they had lovely lavendar hand santiser available around the tutor room.  

I really enjoyed the course, we started off by reading aloud the first page and the blurb of a selection of books including one by the tutor because he'd run out of books Tom Tit and the Maniacs.  We noticed various things about both especially the hook and intrigue and then we all had a go at writing our own as well as coming up with titles.  I've now got a lot more books on my "I want to read list".  We read aloud our blurbs and also our first pages and there were some really interesting outlines for novels and starting points within the class, some were fantasy, one was a romance, one about a lady's grandmothers journey from India to Africa to England and one about an aging rockstar getting together with someone who looked like his younger self, one about a Dunkirk Solider and one about dragons and another about a fantasy dream world.  I later felt sad for the fantasy dreamworld guy as he didn't get a chance to read out one of the exercises.  We also discussed how to always try and avoid cliches.

We had a break for lunch and I sat outside in the little garden area.  

After lunch we did work around scene setting and wrote and read aloud some descriptive scenes and then talked about character before having a question and answer session with Mark.  Finishing at 4.30pm I bought a copy of Tom Tit and the Maniacs and then some of the hand santiser spray, but they only had a peppermint flavour, but I bought a couple for £5.50 each.

After I'd walked back to the car I texted my friend Jenny as I've not seen her for months and she's been being very cautious.  I popped into the house briefly and she signed off a guide planning zoom call with my old guide group and I waved to Fran and some of the other leaders which was lovely.  She then showed me her homemade kombucha which was delicious!  I had some of the plain kombucha as well as some strawberry flavoured stuff with actual strawberries.  And told me about how to make it and asked me if I wanted some of her scoby to make my own and I said yes please! 

We then took Luna the King Charles Spaniel for a walk around the Meanwood woods and she was very excited and running around and it was really good to have a good chat.  When we got back to her house she boxed up the scoby and gave me some instructions and then I headed back to find Alan in the bath after a run and so I went out for a quick run too to get my (not) parkrun fix in.  I'd noticed a pain in my left big toe joint yesterday and I could run, but I could definitely still notice it today.  I listended to With Me Now podcast as I ran and they read out my Facebook comment about doing Temple Newsam parkrun with Alex last weekend.

I fed Fudge and Smudge and Fudge ran out as soon as I opened the door and they had been sick 3 times and I had to clean the litter trays, but they were more friendly than usual which was cute.

The coffee beans, chai tea and pistachio tea I'd ordered from Coffee on the Crescent had arrived as well as the Vitality free and discounted coffee from Cafe Nerro.  My mum had also texted me to tell me that the big tub of marmite I'd ordered months ago had finally arrived.

I had a soak in the bath for far too long when I got back and Alan wasn't sure what we should do for tea and eventually I made some wraps with the left over kebab meat from last night and reheated the curly fries and cut up some lettuce.  

We watched a variety of random comedy from Dave and I started to make Kombucha and ran a load of washing through.  

To make kombucha you make 2 litres of tea with 6 - 8 teabags and 160 - 200g of sugar, let it cool to a warm tepid temperature.  You then pour into a plastic jar and add the scoby to it and the scoby juices and cover with cotton and leave for 7 - 30 days - fingers crossed that it works well!

Not so Isolation Journal 99

I woke up this morning before my alarm to a horrible bad dream, someone was attempting suicide in a most horribly graphic way, it was like something out of a film, but not a film that I've ever seen.

I then got up with my alarm at 6.50am and quietly went downstairs, emptied the and refilled the dishwasher, collected up all my food for the day and drank a coffee, ate some cornflakes and fed the cats (letting them out the back door as they were confused by me being up so early).  I then made another coffee and put it in a mug to take on the journey and put make up on and got dressed - I'd laid out my clothes the night before to make it less stressful this morning.

Alan was confused as I'd planned to get to the office for 8.30am and so I planned to leave at 7.30 and ended up leaving about 7.50am as I dropped my eyebrow shadow on the floor and had to clear it up as it was all black and manky.  The traffic was super quiet and so I ended up getting in for 8.20am and it was really quiet in the car park as well.

I put my mask on and walked across to the office carrying my run club stuff as well as my hand bag, Alan's Macbook and Rachel's bag of stuff that I'd been looking after for her.

The office smelt really clean and it did seem quite spacious, but it was weird walking back in and not chatting in close proximity to everyone.

We logged on and started to fire up the new Salesforce system and had a kick off call as normal and then I cracked on with trying to work out how to use the new system.  I had a new job to match as well as CVs to send (the system wouldn't let me do this) and I think it will be good, but will take me a while to get back to the normal speed of doing things.

At lunch the team went out for a meal, but I'd brought my wild rice and black bean salad so I ate that instead with left over cucumber salad and Nic was too busy as well so we went out for a walk at lunch.  I wore my mask to go to the bathroom and the rest of the time I was at my desk.  The one thing that threw me was when my boss threw my mobile at me to answer which I was super uncomfortable doing.  I held it at a distance and then sanitised my hands.

Today was definitely more productive that it has been, even though I was cross at the system and constantly on the phone to work out what to do.

I finished my last call at around 7pm and then went to get changed into my run kit and drove over to Woodhouse Moor for run club at 7.30pm.  I was nearly late and had to run fast across to meet at the end of parkrun (Queen Victoria Statute) and it was really nice that I knew everyone in the group - Zeni leading, Clare E, Lizzie and Emily.  We had a lovely chatty run and some effort on my intervals and my "peaking" on garmin went down to "recovery"  I ran around 6K in about 35 minutes including running back to my car at the end and I drove home which took around 40 minutes in total.

I called Alan on the way and then spoke to my parents briefly and got in and put on a load of washing and had a shower whilst Alan finished off the Hello Fresh for tea which was Pork burgers with wedges and coleslaw.

We watched an episode of Spooks and he went up for a bath and had been for a run earlier.  I then I tidied the kitchen, loaded the dishwasher and made banana bread which finished cooking at midnight and turned out terribly, the edges were burnt and the insides uncooked and fell out.  I'm a total idiot and should leave these baking things to Alan sometimes!

Isolation 96 & 97

I set the alarm on Saturday for 9am to make sure that I was up in time to go for a run and do "adult" parkrun with Alex at around 10am at Temple Newsam.  I woke up a bit before and then woke Alan up to see if he fancied doing it too and he did join me.  We drove over and saw Han's house for the first time since the fire damage repairs had been completed. It was looking really good and we had a coffee and then took Alex to run a "not" parkrun.  There was a socially distanced race going on and so we ended up being cheered on by the marshals!  

Alex hasn't run much and so there was a good amount of walking and we got around in about 51.51 and had a good chat about a lot of things.  We had an ice lolly at the end and Alan finally got to enjoy a feast - I had a cider refresher and Alex had a screwball.

We spent a bit more time at Han's and went for a walk with her as James was desperate to ride his little car around the block.  His behaviour was quite challenging and we think in part because he'd not seen us for a few weeks.

We headed home and then I made some pizza for lunch on tortilla bases and some salad.  We watched some tv and then Alan went up for a bath and a nap and I cleaned the cat litter trays at last and did the recycling as well as loading the dishwasher and cleaning the kitchen and doing a load of washing.  I then had a bath and got ready for Cyberfest 3 by Beer 52 an online beer festival which had a 4 hour live stream with commentary on the beers provided, comedians, music and interviews with the brewers.  There were 12 beers and a special glass, but we only managed to get through 6 during the time we were drinking.  They were the ones in bold:

• Northern Monk **England** - Patrons Project 18.03 TDH Pale Ale 5% **440ml**
• De Leite **Belgium** - Cuvee Uncle Pol Flanders Red 7% - very weird, but interesting blended concept, very strong lambic flavour.
• Vocation x Brew York **England** - Sweet Temptation Stout 6% **440ml** - I had this at the end, I perhaps shouldn't have done as I was quite full, but it was a really tasty sweet stout.
• By the River (Wylam Tap) **England** - Heedhunter DDH Pale Ale 4.5% **440ml** - Our first beer, really hoppy and fresh to start off with.
• Ale Browar **Poland** - Hazy Rooster DIPA 8.9%
• Mothership **UK** - Hazy Peach Pale 5.5%
• Funky Fluid **Poland** - Gelato Pastry Sour 5.6% **500ml** - A crazy combination of flavours, but delicious, as the presenters suggested, you'd likely only have one as it's quite sweet.
• Round Corner **England** - Drovers Hazy Session IPA 4.3% - Alan loved this one, I thought it was good, but didn't stand out as much as the others did for me - the challenge of having lots of strong flavours together.
• Glen Affric **England** - Rutting Stag American Red 5% - Another very drinkable and nice beer.
• Heaney Farmhouse **NI** - Pale Ale 5%
• Sori Brewing **Estonia** - Madonna of Sori 5.3%

The rest we get to look forward to trying later!  I think we'd have been really smashed if we'd attempted all 12 let alone getting 2 boxes so we had one beer each!  The comedy, quizzes and music helped the evening along and I concluded that it was a lovely day.  Qubit was a big fan of hiding in the Beer 52 box!

We'd ordered a takeaway from a new place Fire it up! for tea as Alan was craving a kebab and I had one too, but it was INSANELY spicey I think they basically coated it in just red chilli sauce, I had 2 attempts at eating it, but couldn't complete it.  I had chips and some strawberry cheesecake as well.

We went to bed and I was ridiculously full and fortunately fell asleep quite quickly.  

We woke up quite late and I don't think that Alan had a great night of sleep so we dozed and napped and I snuck downstairs to feed the cats and put a loaf of bread on in the breadmaker.  I felt very full of anxiety, which I'm assuming will be the drinking as it tends to affect me if I've had a few drinks the morning after.   Eventually I got up and made scrambled eggs, sausages, toast (with marmite for me) and coffee and orange juice.  The bread was a bit too doughy, but everything else was ok.  We watched the end of the Addams Family movie and then I watched some Storage Hunters whilst Alan went up to watch Formula 1.  

I did a load of washing and then got ready to go for a run and did 8K fairly steadily as I woke up with a sore stomach which is likely a combination of beer and far too spicey food.  It took around 45 minutes and then I got back home later than I'd thought as it was 6.30pm and we were booked for our first post covid meal out at Pizza Express at 7pm.  I managed to get showered and changed and to Pizza Express by 7pm. 

We got to the entrance wearing our masks and waited for about 10 minutes before anyone came to show us in, but once we'd sat down we looked at the online menu, but ordered from a waiter.  We sat in the middle of 3 x 2 seater tables and there was one table allocated for social distancing and to put used dishes on for collection.  I had an elderflower drink and Alan had still lemonade and I shared olives and I had some calamari and Alan had dough balls.  For my main I had a vegan Giardiniera and a side salad and Alan had a Calabrese.  The food was much as I remembered and tasted nice, although it was disappointing that some of our favourites like the Dolcetti desserts and the arancini starters were not on the menu, but I completely understand how restaurants have had to change the way they work.  

We headed back and I plugged in Lauren's friend Lorraine's live Instagram where she was practicing some of her comedy and then I finished watching this and Alan watched Ricky Gervais Animal and made us hot apple brandy and then I grabbed us some ice lollies and ibuprofen as we both had aches and pains.

Isolation Journal 79

Alan's alarm went off at 7.30am this morning and he seemed in a much better mood and had a much better night of sleep and his grogginess seemed better too.  I wasn't too bad and got up and had cornflakes for breakfast because the milk had leaked.

I had a set up call with Katie and chatted a bit about her being on holiday for 2 weeks.  We then had a BD day set up call at 10am and I didn't make many BD calls, but I found a new contact and picked up 2 jobs...for the property team!  I'm just not picking anything up for myself at the moment.  

I was at least pleased that one of the other girls has filled 5 of the roles I'd passed her and one of the guys in Manchester filled one as well so overall it's like me placing 1 role!  We ate outside which was very warm, Alan made waffles and sausages and some mayo and sriracha and we had a lolly.  

We had a meeting to share permanent candidates with the wider team and then I had a busy afternoon trying to sort out some issues and get up to date with emails, candidate applications and coaching people on their career choices.

Hayley and Flower were coming over to visit and Alan made dinner and I ate a lovely Hello Fresh haloumi curry and we watched the Peep Show Christmas episode.  

The second accidental book that I'd ordered arrived and so I gave it to Flower to have a read and also made him a cappucino and gave Hayley a rocket lolly.

After they had left I tidied and cleaned the kitchen and the rest of the downstairs and earlier Alan had discovered that the Apple TV remote had got smashed.  

Maya kept sneaking out onto the roof during the day and this evening as we were getting ready to come upstairs she managed to get onto the adjacent flat roof of Ally and Pete next door, I had to shake the treats to encourage her to come back in the window!  I listened to more of the "Windup Bird Chronicles"

I didn't run, but it's the first time I've had a day off since last Wednesday.

Late last night I saw on my time hop that it was a year since my hen day and so I was reminded that I wanted to borrow a game from Jenny and Jonny that I thought Alan would like based on the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, but Jenny said no as Jonny was quite particular and didn't lend out games, but I searched and found it at an independent game sellar/cafe and ordered it and I told him about it earlier to try and cheer him up from his anxiety.

Isolation Journal 68

Alan really didn't sleep well last night, I finally must have fallen asleep after messing around on my phone and trying to read a bit of "Little Fires Everywhere" and was woken up by him comign to bed at around 5am, it was starting to get light.  He tossed and turned for a bit and then went into the spare room and he woke up about 8.30am and got up even though he'd had no sleep.  I messed around on my phone some more and got up at about 10am and made some breakfast - yoghurt, granola, apple and some of my friend's homemade lemon curd.  I tidied the kitchen and had a coffee.

I looked at my phone as late last night I'd emailed my friend Lauren's writing group leader Ardella who leads a creative writing company Chalk the Sun to see if it was possible for me to join in the class today.  She got back to me about 11.30am and the class started at 1pm so I paid the £30 taster fee and started to plan what I was going to do.

I decided to log on briefly to the parkrun call on Zoom and it was nice to see friendly faces and catch up with people for around 45 minutes.  Maya came and sat next to me which was amusing as I wasn't trying to type and work.  I got to see Curtis's bees and Anne & Noel's tomatoes.

I didn't really have time to make lunch and had a slightly heated debate with Alan about what *we* were doing for lunch.  He'd been to pick up the click and collect from Tescos and so I'd guessed he had planned some lunch in amongst that, but it turns out that this wasn't the case.

I prepped for my class and started the first exercise which was:

Write a short scene in a busy high street you know well (or other busy scene of your choice).  Describe the actions of the shoppers, moving from the place, to the crowd, then to individuals.  (200 words)

I'd chosen to write about a memory of crossing the road in Delhi on a trip to India 5 years ago (maybe it was the facebook memories that had reminded me?)  

I signed onto the Zoom call at 1pm and got to meet Ardella who was lovely and funny and reminded me ever so slightly of Jo Brand.  There was a schedule that we loosly stuck to - intros, what we'd been doing in the way of writing, and one of the group of our 9 read out a story that she'd been writing about slavery and slave ships that was really good.  Lauren also read out the short story and poem that she'd shared with me earlier in the week.  During a quick break I had a maple & pecan plait and a packet of skips - I really must be more organised with food.

We read a couple of passages of Bonfire of the Vanities and used them as spring boards for discussion and as a way of writing a couple of exercises.  I refined my busy scene and although I couldn't get to 200 words (218 was as low as I managed) I went first at reading out my piece which seemed well received generally and I enjoyed hearing others.  Lauren's was great and about getting on the tube and really moved me along with her on the story.

The class overran slightly past 4pm and then I went downstairs to see Alan and we planned to drop the masks made my neighbour Anna to my friend Hannah for her two boys and then go for a walk at St Aidan's.  We sat outside and chatted with Hannah and her husband Chris - they are about to go on holiday to Dorset and do some camping and it's the first time they've been away in years.  James was jumping in and out of the car and beeping the horn and Alex was in his Karate kit and being generally well behaved apart from climbing on the car.  Whilst we were there, Alan got a call from Apple to say his Macbook had been repaired and was in the Apple store in Sheffield ready to be collected, so instead of going for a walk we headed to Sheffield and went to get his Macbook.  

I needed the toilet when I got there and most people seemed to be properly wearing masks, although a lot with them around their chins.  We picked up the Macbook and then looked for something to snack on and I opted for a quick Subway sandwich which confused Alan as he didn't think it would be something that I would eat.  He also ordered a couple of Starbucks drinks and we picked them up and headed back to the car.

Alan drove back so that I could eat my sandwich and then when I got home I started to cook tea which was a cod and rice Hello Fresh dish.  We ate in front of the TV and watched Peep Show and Alan made us Ginger Beer and Gentleman Jacks to drink.  He had ice cream and cream for dessert, but I was going to run to get my Vitality points, so I plugged in the end of the High Low Podcast and then some of With Me Now and ran up and down the driveway for just over 30 mins and 5K.

When I got in I had a Rowntrees Ice Lolly and then ran a cool bath that I stayed in for far too long messing around on my phone.  I did manage to change the bed sheets, but the house is a mess and so tomorrow will be another weekend clean up and tidy up day.

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 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 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 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.

20 things in 2020 update at the nearly half year point!

I've finally (at nearly halfway through the year!) had a look at how I'm tracking on my 20 things in 2020 goal... some are slightly more challenging given the substantial issue of a global pandemic which I'd not really considered when I wrote my list, but interestingly some of them I've completed more easily given our lockdown situation.  I've now made a spreadsheet to track things a bit more closely...

1 - Complete 20 parkruns - an "easy" one as I've averaged more like 40 per year since I discovered parkrun in 2014. This seemed like an easy one when I set the target as I did 49 last year...20 as a number was purely arbitrary to fit in with my theme, how wrong I was!  I'm currently sat on 10 (I missed two on New Year's day because I was too hungover and one on the day we flew to Barbados), I'm not sure that it will actually be possible as parkrun is only just restarting again in New Zealand.  I have just started logging "not parkruns" so maybe that will be my workaround if I need it...I really hope parkrun starts again soon (as long as it's safe!)

2 - Donate to charity / recycle 20 bags or boxes of stuff - living in a house with no storage is great in some ways as it forces this issue, but recently I've definitely accumulated too much and a sort out would be useful.  This is certainly one that I need to focus on more, although donating to charity in terms of stuff is hard at the moment because of charity shops being closed and things like shpock being harder to use with social distancing etc.  I'm currently on 2...I need to up my game!

3 - Go to 20 yoga or pilates sessions. - This has possibly become a little easier as I find it hard to leave work on time or do much in lunchtimes, but since we've been in lockdown I've been doing pilates 1 - 2 times per week online as well as doing one yoga session with people in a class (wild!) at the start of the year, I'm tracking well on 14 sessions at the moment.

4 - Write 20 letters or postcards - I probably should track this a bit better as I've probably made more progress, but I've done a few multiples and want to push myself to do more letter writing.  I'm on 7 different iterations, but with a few multiples.  

5 - Complete at least 20 crafting sessions - either alone or even better with friends - I was doing quite well with this at the start of the year, 2 Artnights and a sewing session with Sam, but it has got a bit harder, so I might need to do more independent or zoom sessions as I'm currently on only 4

6 - 20 sessions of creative writing / blogging entries - I didn't expect to, but lockdown and my friend Lauren has really inspired this in me, I've done online flash fiction classes, I've kept an Isolation blog, and a couple of mental health blogs and even this one - so this is completed with more than 20 done, but I'm enjoying it and will happily keep going!

7 - 20 sessions of mindfulness - Ideally I'd do this everyday, but I'm not great at always remembering, so this is a nice achievable target. - I'm only on 1 as I'm not counting using Headspace to get to sleep - I must do more of this as I think it would really help me.

8 - Today having a stunning walk around Fairburn Ings RSPB nature reserve I realised this is one thing that makes me really happy and so I want to do at least 20 walks or runs around beautiful nature locations. - This is a bit hard at the moment as I know we can travel further, but we are very cautious, so I could count all my lovely runs, but for now I'm just counting the ones that I've got as far as nature reserves and so I'm on 5.

9 - Leading or backmarking at least 20 run club sessions - Again a hard one at the moment, not sure when I'll be back to normal on this, but whilst we've been in lockdown I've written a few session plans for people and run zoom sessions for #runandtalk and so if I count those then I'm on 13.

10 - Volunteer at least 20 times - If I count Guides then I'm on 16 as we've kept the meetings going via Zoom which actually feels more important even though it's not quite the same as meeting in person.  I hope we get back to that soon.

11 - Meet friends for coffee/lunch/catch ups at least 20 times - Again another coronavirus impacted activity, but if I count some of the zoom catch ups then I'm on 11 and hopefully will meet people for some socially distanced walks soon.

12 - Read 20 books - I'm really struggling to read, even before Coronavirus, my attention span was terrible, I'm nearly at the end of my first proper book and I'm going to be easy on myself and count audio books too, but I am trying to improve my book reading as it is good for my brain and my mental health and I have a big stash of great books to get through.  I'm currently on only 2 audio books completed.

13 - Watch 20 new films - I'm sure I'm further along with this than I've tracked as from what I can recall I'm on only 6, but I'm not sure I've written them all, so I need to track it a bit better, I'm sure I can catch up well during lockdown though - this is what I've noted down so far.  I think I'd have hoped more would have been in a cinema setting...

• 1917
• Starter for 10
• Hunger Games
• The Voices
• Hidden Figures
• Arrival

14 - Spend 20 hours learning something new - I'm not sure how to best count this as I've got 2 hours so far from my flash fiction course, but I've listened to lots of lectures online and so I might give this a bit more thought.  I think I'd thought that it might be more hands on.

15 - Get at least 8 hours sleep 20 times (this is a challenge as my regular 11daytime sleep is only 6.5 hours) - before lockdown I only managed to do this 7 times, I'd be getting up at 6.20am and not in bed often before midnight, it was a challenge, post lockdown means that I'm now at 40 in total.  So this one is now complete.

16 - Visit 20 new places (not countries, just different places that I've not been before, whether a restaurant, or a nice place to walk) - a bit harder to do this one post lockdown, but I'm tracking well with 13 at the moment.

17 - Visit the gym at least 20 times (pretty sure I didn't manage this in 2019) - I was tracking ok....I'd managed 3 sessions I think before lockdown, I might count the online zumba sessions that I've been doing with my friend Gui which would add another 5 including a HIIT session and put me on 8.

18 - Plant 20 "things" whether seed bombs or vegetables. - I need to focus a bit more on this, but with seed bombs, lavender, mushrooms, potatoes and raspberry cuttings I'm on 8.

19 - Watch at least 20 live music acts (should be achievable as we are least going to Blue Dot festival again and hopefully might still get tickets to Glastonbury in the resales - fingers crossed!) - This is a tough one, we had one festival and one gig booked, but we're now postponed, I may have to have a rethink...i'm on 0!

20 - Get to work without driving at least 20 times (I'll cheat if needed and include working from home!) - this is complete as I've only driven my car about 4/5 times since March!  It is more than 20, but I've not counted!

So out of a possible 400 at the halfway point I'm on.... 182 so not doing too badly, I think I'm on track with most of them.

I also set myself a challenge of not buying any new clothes in 2020 other than underwear, lockdown has made this more achievable as I've not had to worry about outfits other than leisure wear, active wear and decent camera workwear.  I've so far only bought a swimming costume and a sports bra and a second hand coat to replace one that was broken.

Paris

I've lived in England my whole life and was 30 minutes away from Waterloo station and so therefore Eurostar until 1998, but I've never actually managed to visit Paris.  When my friend Sam mentioned she was going to book a solo trip "but I've always wanted to go to Paris" I whined, "So come with me!" she said and then we picked up my friend Zoe too who wanted to come and has also been able to act as a very useful tour guide.

Last week was mentally busy for me, I had Guides, drinks out on a work night, Robbie Williams in Manchester, WI and then visiting my cousin.  When people learned that I was flying to Paris on Saturday they all wanted to know - "is it a romantic weekend?"  Well actually no, but it's been extremely fun and actually really nice sans les garcons.

Sam was amazing and had booked all our tickets and accommodation and so after a very straightforward flight from Leeds Bradford Airport we took a train and a metro (all included within our "visite" card) and arrived at our apartment that Sam had booked through Air BnB 

The apartment is beautiful, if a little quirky and has amazing views including the Eiffel Tower!  I had to use a lot more of my A-Level French to speak to our host who doesn't speak any English and was giving us a guided tour of the facilities.   If there were negatives to be cast on this beautiful place it's that there is only one toilet with very thin walls off the living room/lounge and that there are no curtains (?!?!)

The lift is also pretty terrifying, it says that it can accomodate " 3 personnes..."

but unless you are a contortionist  or extremely thin, it feels like a horror film of claustrophobia about to happen.  Although it is also amusing like a cupboard that goes up and down!

After we had settled into the apartment, got changed and ready we headed out to look for a restaurant recommended to us by our host, after we couldn't find that particular one, we ended up at Marcel's and I had probably one of the best meals I've ever eaten! 

I started with Foie Gras which i've never had (appreciate it might be cruel in production at times, but it felt like a must have today - sorry!), I then went onto a blue steak with chips and a chocolate fondant pudding for dessert.  It was all melt in the mouth and amazingly tasty and the red wine went down extremely well also.

We wandered back to the hotel, put our PJs on and hung around and played on the piano and ate some funky pic n mix that we'd bought after dinner.

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.