22-06-03 - Friday I - Sunny Afternoons

Well, that was a good start, wasn't it? I didn't get to write yesterday because we were at Level 1, enjoying the sunshine and a few beers. It was a glorious day, and it was lovely that it was a bank holiday. I don't know quite what is going on, I think the last few bank holidays we've had have been full of good weather; maybe it's global warming? Anyway, TW went out for a bike ride with Ty and when she got back we went out en famille and had a few bar snacks while we drank. We couldn't quite decide where to eat; we had kind of agreed on going to Woods Burger Kitchen, but when we got there the place was closed! 

We did go to Macmillans for a pint on the way home, and then when we got home we ordered kebabs from Worthing Kebab House. I had a falafel wrap and some fries, which was nice. I probably overdid it on the beers, I was feeling a little fragile today. I am trying to get back into staying dry and building up a yellow streak in my Try Dry app, but I am not being very successful. Still, there's time... 

Today we're off to see some friends who are having a Platinum Jubilee party, we are expecting crustless cucumber sandwiches and scones, and then there are a couple of street parties on Sunday, which will keep us busy. So lots to do before getting back to work on Monday. 

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.

20-04-05 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.

20-03-27 Friday - Covid-19 Day #11 - Marvel Films Will Save Us

Things have settled into a routine now. I am working downstairs in the dining room, along with TW. Occasionally we are joined by TE, but TMO works up in her bedroom. She’s on Facetime with a group of girls as they do their work, so that’s okay. TY doesn’t really have much to do; she’s in Year 6 and would normally be doing SATS now, which means revising what they’ve already learned and practising for the exams, so they don’t really learn much new stuff. She’s got a few bits to do, but not as much as the older two.

In effect, the girls are busy for the morning, but less so in the afternoon. That can be a bit distracting, but I think I’ve got a bit of rhythm going. It’s a shame it’s the weekend; now I’ll have to start again on Monday. At least the weather has been good – we made the right decision (or TW did) when she mowed the lawn last weekend.

It occurs to me occasionally that these really are unprecedented times that we’re living through. I’ve never before been told to stay at home as much as possible, and never before has the government had to pay the workforce in the way they have decided to now. TW & I are both in good positions, as we are employed by larger companies and we can both perform our roles at home. I don’t know how I’d cope if I’d been furloughed, and all I had to keep me busy was watching the news. I’m anxious enough as it is, and I’ve got work stuff to focus on. Not that the news doesn’t get in the way.

Luckily though, Disney+ has launched this week, and so we have agreed as a family that we are going to watch all the Marvel films in chronological order. We started with Captain America on Tuesday night, then Captain Marvel, then Iron Man I & II. We saw Avengers Assemble last weekend, but TE didn’t, so I’m not quite sure how we’ll navigate that, but we’ll find a way…

TW did say the other night that she couldn’t think of anyone she’d rather be in lockdown with, which I thought was rather sweet, and I feel the same way about her. Not bad for 16 years of marriage. We make a pretty good team. Probably not as awesome as The Avengers, but up there somewhere.

TTFN.

20-03-23 Monday I - Covid-19 Day #7 - All At Home

Today was the first day of the new regime, with the children at home as well. We all set up in the dining room, and were quite busy for the morning. TW had a conference call at 10am, so she booked the living room and closed the door.

Email traffic for my job was much reduced compared to normal, and my expectation is that it will slow even further. I personally think that things will slowly grind to a halt. The next thing I expect to see is more stringent conditions on leaving the house, and we will virtually -if not actually- be on lockdown. On occasion in the past I have suggested that Nature is self-correcting, and possibly we could be hit with an epidemic that would affect us so quickly that we wouldn’t be able to react to it. When the news programmes first started discussing the novel coronavirus, they advised a vaccine wouldn’t be available for 12 to 18 months, and that fits with a doomsday scenario like the one I’ve outlined. With the fast infection rates and exponential growth in the number of those affected, I don’t think we can wait that long, but if we were to go on virtually total lockdown, we could break the chain of transmission. And then maybe, just maybe, it could die out.

I’ve read a few descriptions of how the severely affected have suffered or could suffer, and I’m more than happy to stay at home. The issue is supplies. We need to get food. I went out twice today; both times to the Post Office to post some comics I’d sold and one of those times I visited the Co-Op. I was able to get humus and butter, but not able to get pasta, tomatoes or ketchup. TW will have to brave the supermarket tomorrow to get a bigger haul of food. Hopefully the shelves may be back to some semblance of normal. I don’t think that most people are stockpiling; as others have pointed out, now that most of us are housebound, we’re eating at home rather than snacking out. In addition, if we are going to have to quarantine, we need food in the house. It seems that we’ve all changed our shopping patterns at the same time, and it’s just screwed the supermarkets; although they might be the only winners out of this whole sorry episode – especially if they get their supply issues resolved.

TTFN.

Our home office, previously known as the dining room.

20-03-22 Sunday I - Covid-19 Day #6 The Weekend

Another day under lockdown. We’re not under lockdown as such, but that has to be the approach we take. We’ve only left the house when necessary. Having said that, we did go into town first thing because TY needed to pick up her new glasses, and we wanted to buy some hair dye from Superdrug. Now that the girls aren’t going to school for the foreseeable, we thought it would be fun to dye their hair.

The weirdest thing I saw was a queue outside Savers; TY’s appointment at Specsavers was at 10:10, and Savers wasn’t due to open until 11am, but there was already a queue outside Savers. God knows what they were queuing for.

We visited our local butchers yesterday morning; we don’t normally except at Christmas, to get ham and a turkey, but it seems that local shops are the ones which currently have stock. We got sausages and eggs, and then went to another local shop where they had bread and veg. So we had what we needed.

Last night we watched Avengers Assemble together, except TMO fell asleep at the climax. It was a nice evening.

Things are very weird at the moment. I think we’re all waiting for things to get worse; currently the virus is something that is happening to other people and we’ve not been affected by it personally yet – other than working from home and staying away from others, of course. We’ve battened down the hatches, but the storm hasn’t arrived yet. Let’s see how things pan out over the next few days and weeks, and if there are more announcements making life more restrictive.

TTFN.

19-12-30 Monday - Oreo Brownies

TY was given an Oreo Brownies skillet for Christmas, which was a lovely thoughtful present. All our girls like cooking – TMO especially likes making banana bread, but TY turns her hand to most things. Unfortunately we lost the packaging which had the instructions and the recipe, but I was able to find a picture of the recipe on the web, so we were good to go. TY washed and dried the skillet, as per the instructions, and then oiled it. Then she mixed the batter with an egg, some oil and a little water.

She poured the smooth mixture into the skillet, then broke the Oreo biscuits over the top, and dunked some of the bigger bits into the mixture. Then we cooked it in the oven for about 15 minutes.

The end result was quite nice, if a little rubbery. I think that may have been due to too much oil in the mixture. She (we) ate the end product directly out of the skillet with a teaspoon, but we did have to be careful because the skillet was oven hot. I did suggest we leave the brownie until after lunch, but TY was having none of that. Now we’re going to have to find a recipe so that we (she) can make brownies from scratch – that'll be something to look forward to!
TTFN.