20-04-13 - Monday I - Covid-19 Day #28 - A Walk Along The Beach

Today we were up early(-ish) and took the dog down to the beach for a longer stretch of exercise. She’s been to the park, which is closer, a few times, but it’s a bit dull there, to be fair, and the tide was out, so it was ideal.

The weather had completely changed from yesterday; where it was sunny and warm yesterday – to the extent that we were out in the garden playing Yahtzee – today it was cold and grey and windy. I was wrapped up in a hoodie, a gilet and a woolly hat, and that still wasn’t really enough.

Anyway, the dog enjoyed it, and it was good to get some fresh air - literally. She was all wet and sandy by the time we were done, and she had performed her role as Chief Ball Retriever with aplomb. We stopped at the Co-Op on the way home for some essential supplies (sugar, milk, no hot cross buns!) and then had a cup of tea when we got home.

Since then, I’ve not done much. I’ve read a few pages of The Secret Barrister’s book: Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken, which I’ve been meaning to continue with for a few days / weeks now. I really am enjoying it, but it’s so easy to get distracted with other crap. I’ve got three issues of Private Eye to plough through, as well as a bookcase full of comics which I’ve accumulated over a period of years, and over 100 hours of podcasts to listen to. And that’s before I get to my Netflix playlist and whatever I’ve got recorded on the Sky box (Madam Secretary, mostly, if I’m honest).

I’m trying out a new bluetooth keyboard I bought off of eBay, and to be fair, I’m not that impressed. It certainly looks nice but I think maybe I prefer my previous no-brand keyboard. This is my current set-up:



I do like to miniaturise things where it makes sense, and a keyboard / tablet combo is a good example of that. The keyboard is USB rechargeable, so it doesn’t use AA batteries for example. The keys on this Sandstrom keyboard are a bit soft and sticky, but it might just be the case that I need to get used to it. Let’s see.

Anyway, here are some pics of Worthing beach from earlier this morning – enjoy.

TTFN.

20-04-12 Sunday - Covid-19 Day #27 - Happy Easter

So, Happy Easter. I’ve celebrated by not doing very much. SimCity Buildit on my tablet is keeping me occupied – to the extent that I’m not reading books or comics. But a challenge that I’m involved in draws to a conclusion tomorrow, and so I am hoping to get more concentration time then. We’ve played Scrabble today, and of course TW won again, mostly by getting a seven-letter word on her first go. Never mind.

I’ve been thinking about how we get out of this scenario, and currently I’m not sure there is a way. Of course, we will have to wait for the number of new cases, hospitalisations and deaths to decrease, but once that happens, do we go back to our previous ways of life? Surely if we did that with no protection, the number of cases of Covid-19 would start ramping up again. I wouldn’t want to jump on a busy train into Brighton if there weren’t a vaccine or some protection from this virus. Even if the current restrictions are relaxed somewhat, I may continue to work from home, or maybe look to get a lift with someone and shadow their work pattern, i.e., if they work from home, I would work from home...? That might work, I would be able to reduce my exposure to potential risk.

Of course, that is all stuff to be worked out in the future. Who knows what things might look like when restrictions are lifted. I guess decisions will have to be made then. We’ll see.

TTFN.

20-04-07 Tuesday - Covid-19 Day #22 - Johnson in Hospital

Well, this is weird. Boris Johnson has been admitted to hospital and in Intensive Care, “just in case”. We heard the news on Sunday evening, halfway through the film we were watching (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2). I didn’t sleep well at all on Sunday night, I think the news affected me more than I expected. I’m no fan of Boris Johnson, but no-one should be in hospital suffering from this awful disease.

The prior event which drove home what a big event this is was the news that U.S. comics weren’t going to be imported into the UK for a while. That impressed on me the scale of the issue at the time. Now this is another instance which has thrown me off-balance.

It can sometimes be difficult to separate the man from the politics, but if you asked me if I wanted anyone to be in hospital suffering from Covid-19 and finding it hard to breathe, I would say no immediately. No-one deserves that. Hopefully he’ll recover, but it may take some time – possibly weeks.

Time to pivot to another leader, Donald Trump. I did see he averred that he wouldn’t wear a mask, despite the fact that this was now recommended. Trump is well-known to be a germophobe and I reckon he would be the first to wear a mask, given the chance. It’s not like he’s going to be meeting other heads of state either; surely they’re all in lockdown as well?

Anyway, that’s enough for now.

TTFN.

20-04-05 Sunday - Covid-19 Day #20 - Days Blur

We really are living through unprecedented times. It’s worth reminding ourselves of that every once in a while. We have never been restricted to our homes before in such a way, and never have people’s livelihoods been so disrupted as they have been over the last few weeks.

I’ve worked from home for three weeks now. The week before that I worked two days from home and was ill for a day and a half. Monday to Friday are okay, because they have a semblance of order. I attempt to work between 9am – 5pm; my laptop is on and I’m monitoring emails. But to be honest, email traffic is dwindling to a non-existent trickle. So work is much quieter than it would have been if we’d been in the office under normal conditions.

The weekends are a bit more difficult. Luckily there are five of us, so we have to get dressed and eat at normal times, and converse with each other. If I were self-employed and living on my own, I’d have fallen into a completely different rhythm by now, I’m sure.

One thing that is becoming a mainstay is a Marvel film in the evening. We’ve elected to watch the films in chronological order and last night we watched Guardians of The Galaxy Vol 2. They really are quite well done, all of them. We’ve watched 12 of the 23 which have been released so far. Black Widow was supposed to be released in May but that has been pushed back to November, which is probably a sensible move.

I spent today reordering my CD shelves, with the help of TMO. It’s been a job that needed to be done since TW moved them into the living room without paying attention to the order they were in – that was a while ago. And TMO’s help was much appreciated.



Tonight we’re looking forward to Avengers: Age of Ultron.

TTFN.