Isolation Journal 98

We ended up not going to bed properly until around 3am so we woke up about 10am, and just had a lazy morning in bed and got up around 11am, mostly prompted by Maya bringing up a mouse that she'd eaten like an apple with the just a "core" remaining.  I put some washing on and Alan started to make some lunch.  We had a delicious aubergine and okra taco recipe that we'd previously had from Hello Fresh and it was really lovely.   I also hoovered and mopped most of the floors.

We watched Friends and then more Storage Hunters whilst we ate and then we went out for a cycle up to Fairburn Ings and back home via Ledsham.  Annoyingly as my heart rate was low for the 52 mins of cycling it didn't even register as points on my Vitality!  It did change my garmin training status to "peaking" that was positive.

We had hot cross buns and a cup of tea and watched some more Storage Hunters.

When we got back I did some more tidying up and Alan went up for a bath and I went to take the compost out, remembered that I'd not planted my pansies that arrived earlier in the week and so I quickly planted them out in any place I could fit them after doing some weeding, hacking back the artichokes (I needed to saw the stems with a bread knife!) and then removing the old tent greenhouse frame that had gone rusty.

I then cooked the Hello Fresh BBQ and had to swap the chicken as it went out of date on the 28th, the beef was the 29th, but was ok and I made the 2 salads and chicken korma and koftes.  I also made some rice with beans for my lunch so that I'm all safe tomorrow with my own food.  Alan made us a JD and ginger. 

We ate and started to watch Zoolander, but Qubit turned it off by accident and so we watched some John Oliver and Modern Life is Goodish and then I finished off cleaning up the kitchen and changed both sheets on the bed.  I listened to more of "The Wind Up Bird Chronicles" as I was doing the chores.

It's now nearly midnight and I'm feeling pretty anxious aboutt getting enough sleep for work tomorrow, hopefully it should all be ok.

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 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 55

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Isolation Journal 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.