#JusJoJan - 19/1/21 - I lost a day!

 

Yep it's Tuesday and I didn't post yesterday.  I sat and thought about it at one point in the evening then I started watching TV and then I went to bed!

It's been a tough few days.  This lock down game is getting old.  I'm trying to be positive but it's hard.

We did have a short Facetime with our eldest son and his family yesterday but poor Noah was tired and not very talkative.  Miles was smily though so that was good.

I did also manage to do a walk so it wasn't a completely wasted day.

Today we've been at my daughter's as usual so a busy long day helping out with their two little ones.

No idea what the prompts were for the challenge for either day but at least I've posted today.  And had lots of cuddles with this little one.

Life's not all bad.
 

#JusJoJan / #SoCS - 16/1/21 - First thing!

 

Your prompt for #JusJoJan and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “first thing.” Start your post with the words, “first thing” and go from there. Bonus points if you end your post with the last thing. Have fun!

(If you want to join in with the challenges go here.)

The first thing I'm going to say is that for the Just Jot it January challenge a post can be anything, including just a jot.

Well this post is just going to be a jot.  We've had a really lazy day.  Didn't get moving very quickly this morning at all.  Then this afternoon we headed over to my daughter's and we had a meal with them.  It was provided by a chef that's taken to preparing meals that are delivered ready to just finish off and serve.  You literally just heat things in the oven or the stove and then just plate them up.  Delicious.

It was nice being there and just enjoying the children rather than trying to get jobs done for them but even so I'm tired.

So that's my jot.  Now it's time for bed and this is the last thing I'm doing!

Friday's Fave Five - 15/1/21

 

Thanks to Susanne at Living to tell the Story for this reminder every week to sit back and think about our 5 favourite things from the week.

Here are mine:

1.  Online shopping & deliveries.  Under a "Stay at home" lockdown means shopping can be a challenge so I'm very grateful for being able to order all our food shopping online and get it delivered.

2.  Our regular visits to my daughter and her family.  It really breaks our week up a bit and stops me going totally stir crazy.

3.  Exercise videos and podcasts.  It's been a very wet week here so getting out to walk hasn't happened much but I've managed to keep my step count respectable.

4.  A video chat with my cousins.  Hopefully that will be a more regular thing now we've all got our head around the technology lol.

5.  Post deliveries.  The local postal service has been struggling due to staff either being sick with Covid or isolating because of contact with it so we haven't been getting our post very regularly.  We've had deliveries the past two days though so hopefully things are beginning to improve.

So another week in lockdown is almost over.  It looks like this lockdown is going to last for a while but with the vaccine being rolled out hopefully things will start to get better.

Have a good weekend all.

#JusJoJan - 10/1/21 - Cheese

 

For full details of the Just Jot it January challenge go here.

We have a lot of cheese in the house at the moment -  left overs from the Christmas order which was made when we thought there would be more people to eat it.  And a new batch this week - my hubby was gifted a subscription to a cheese company - they send samples out each month.  This month there were 5 english cheeses we hadn't had before.  Fortunately we like cheese so it was a good gift idea.

Of course one of the best versions of cheese is in this pic:

 Nice cheesy grin from grandson Noah lol.

Friday's Fave Five - 8/1/21

 

Thanks to Susanne at Living to tell the Story for this reminder every week to sit back and think about our 5 favourite things from the week.

Well it's been a quiet week but there are always things to be thankful for and here are mine:

1)  A surprise invite to see Rory and Vinny last Sunday (and my son and DIL of course) including dinner.  Rory was very excited to see us and Vinny is really smiling and cooing now.  This was just before our lockdown started and Rory went back to nursery.  Not sure when we'll see them again.

2) A good week for blogging.  I've managed to blog every day so far in January.

3) Despite being in a national lockdown we are still able to be in a support bubble with our daughter and her family.  This means we can still see them in their home (or ours) and help out and were there twice this week.

4)  Back to a more normal routine.  The Christmas decorations are down and there's no pressure to get stuff done.

5)  We're well and healthy. The Covid situation in the UK has gone from bad to worse this week and we're now locked down again.  The NHS  is under severe pressure and is struggling to cope.  

And when things feel really hard there is always this:

Nearby open space to walk and clear my head.

 

 

#JusJoJan - 7/1/21 - Caught

 

Well time has caught up with me today - we spent the day at my daughter's helping out with the kids and the house.  It's a full on day for both of us and we were a bit later home than usual.

Fortunately hubby cooked our Hello Fresh meal (Lamb & Aubergine curry) and then I finished my online shopping order ready for tomorrow and then we just chilled in front of the TV.

Now I'm off to bed so this is my jot of the day! 

Details of the Just Jot it January challenge can be found here.

#JusJoJan/Wednesday Hodgepodge - 6/1/21

 

One size fits all today - taking part in the Wednesday Hodgepodge, kindly hosted by Joyce at From this Side of the Pond

and using it as my Just Jot it January post as hosted by Linda here. 

1. What advice would you give yourself as we begin this new year? 

Try not to stress too much about the pandemic, take each day at a time and ditch the guilt.

2. If you could throw a themed party for yourself what would the theme be? 

I have absolutely no idea, especially as I hate being the centre of attention.  That brought to mind an idea that everyone should be masked then no-one would recognise me but wait, we're all wearing masks at the moment anyway!

3. Tell us where you were and something about what life was like when you were 20- 21.

Still living at home (in London's East End) but engaged to be married.  That wedding never actually happened thankfully!

4. What's on the menu at your house this week? 

Well we've got 3 days of Hello Fresh meals so haven't had to think too hard about the menu.  Plenty of food in my new fridge and freezer so the other days will take care of themselves - especially as hubby does most of the cooking here.

5. What should you do more of this year? Less of? 

More of? Staying in touch with family and friends.  When we had our first lockdown in 2020 I made a point of phoning family and close friends so that I spoke to someone most days.  As time went on I got really lazy at that.  

Less of?  Eating chocolate.  Again we started off well by trying to make sure we got out for a walk each day during lockdown and if we did the reward was chocolate.  Now I'm just eating chocolate anyway.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

These questions are good reminders right now as we've just started our 3rd national lockdown and are having to "Stay at home!"  Of course this will be tougher as the weather is not so good for getting out for walks and we know that this will last at least until mid February.  

In keeping with one of my intentions for the year and being positive, at least two vaccines are now being rolled out. And I keep getting lovely photos of these little ones to brighten my day:

How can I not keep smiling?
 

#JusJoJan - 5/1/20 - Lockdown 3

 

Well the rumours were right.  We are now in our 3rd national lockdown here in England as of last night.  All non-essential shops are closed, we have all been told to stay at home, work from home unless we can't and all schools have moved to online learning except for vulnerable children and those of key workers.  We can only exercise with our own household or 1:1 with someone outside our household.

These circumstances will be reviewed in February.

Thankfully we can maintain our support bubble with my daughter and her family.  And staying at home is no real hardship.

We will get through this.  

Another bonus?  My hair is completely back to its natural colour so no worries about roots  coming through!  Not sure how good the short cut will look after a few more weeks though.  But then who is going to see it?

#JusJoJan - 4/1/21 - Fingertips

 Go here for details of the Just Jot it January challenge.

This pandemic has caused so much grief and upset but honestly, Hubby and I've come off lightly so far.  Yes we aren't able to see family members as we would like and our social lives have been severely curtailed but we're well and working family members still have jobs.

I'm lucky in that I'm no longer working.  If I was I think I would be hanging on by my fingertips.

As a school business manager I had responsibility for the health and safety of the school.  During this pandemic that would have been a nightmare.

Teachers (and the wider school staff) have come in for some (in my opinion) very unfair criticism during the pandemic.  Very often schools have been referred to as closed but in actual fact they have remained open the whole time providing on site teaching for vulnerable children and children of key workers while having to grapple with new technology etc to enable them to remotely teach pupils who have been "home schooled".

The suggestion that with schools "closed" teachers have had an easy time of things is farcical.

What is even more farcical, not to mention dangerous, is that they have been expected to put theirselves in danger by continuing to work without the benefit of PPE, social distancing or other measures being put in place to protect them.

As an employer there is a duty of care to your staff to provide a safe working environment for them.  That's why we've seen screens going up in shops etc, PPE being provided and distance markings appearing on the ground.

I'm not sure  I could have signed off on a risk assessment that left school staff inadequately protected.  I probably wouldn't still have my job because of that.

As I'm preparing this post there are rumours beginning to circulate that our Government is meeting today to consider a national lockdown until possibly April.

If the science backs up that this is needed then we have to accept it.  Yes it will be hard but with vaccines being rolled out there is light at the end of the tunnel.  

Most of us have no life experience that compares to this situation.  We're too young to have lived through a war that directly impacted our lives.  Maybe anyone who's been imprisioned might have known what the loss of liberty would feel like.

I think my fingertips will be getting a lot of exercise on my computer keyboard and on my phone.  I'm very glad of the touch typing course I did way back when life was simpler.

The priority has to be staying safe and virus free until the vaccine programme does its job and we can defeat this invisible enemy.  Let's hope 2021 is the year that it will happen.

#JusJoJan - 3/1/21 - Servant

Wasn't sure where to go with this prompt but then I thought I'd share my recent experience with Royal Mail - they're a servant of the Queen after all.

If you've been following me you'll know that we were hoping to have a family Christmas together with all our kids.  The plans got scuppered which left me with presents here for my son and his family in Nottingham.

I also had his wellies!

My son and DIL were sensible in that they ordered presents for their Secret Santa recipients to be delivered here.  So far so good.

But he also ordered a pair of wellies in anticipation of being here for muddy forest walks.

Wellies are heavy!  But he might need them.  And who knows when he'll be able to get down here next or we'll be able to visit them?

Anyway, like a good Mother, I have parcelled up their gifts and the wellies.  The parcel is, understandably, heavy!

Now the one thing I do like about Royal Mail is that you can buy and print off postage labels online.  Great for letters and small packets that will fit in the post box that's 50 yards up the road.  Or even the priority posting box that's 1/2 a mile away.

But parcels.  They need to be taken to a post office, or in some cases a delivery centre.

Except, oh wait, they now do collections from as little as 72p.  Yes that's right prices start at 72p.  Well I thought that was at least worth checking out.  Of course I expected it to be more than that given the cost of sending the parcel but it actually cost me 72p! 

They're supposed to collect it on Monday.  Phew, another job ticked off my to do list!

Now where's the servant to take down the Christmas tree and decorations?

#JusJoJan / #SoCS - In the corner.

Well it's been a while since I did a SoCS post and today I'm combining it with Just Jot it January. 

Check out Linda's site here for full details of how these work.

Ok so SoCS means I just write about the prompt without any planning etc.  The prompt for today is "in the corner".

Well I did have my Christmas tree in the corner of my living room.  But then while we were still anticipating being able to have all the family here for Christmas we decided to work out how we would seat 8 adults and 3 toddlers down for dinner.   This involved putting up the folding tables we'd borrowed and playing musical tables and chairs.  It also involved moving the Christmas tree!

Yep we moved the whole thing.  You're probably thinking how mad was that?  But actually it was quite easy.  We have wooden floors.  I'd had the foresight to put a cloth under the christmas tree stand.  (We're talking artificial tree here - I've had it for years but it still looks good and trying to be eco friendly it's not going anywhere until it really needs replacing which is not yet!)  Anyway we managed to slide the Christmas tree across the floor and park it next to one of the sofas.

It wasn't an ideal location but it allowed for the best seating arrangement.

But then everything changed.  We went from Tier 2 to Tier 4 of restrictions in less than 2 weeks and were essentially locked down.  "Stay at home" we were told.

Of course it was a huge disappointment but we made the best of it and bent the rules slightly but nothing went in the corner!  I was not moving that tree again! 

Personally I'd like to put Boris Johnson in the corner and keep him there so he can't make any more mistakes.  Not my corner of course but I'm sure 10 Downing Street must have some nice dark corners tucked away somewhere that he could be hidden in.  Although I expect most days he'd like to find his own little corner to get away from dealing with this horrible situation.

Speaking of corners.  Why is that spiders always seem to  hide in corners making it hard to trap them with a glass and piece of card so that you can catch them and then release them outside?

Right I'm waffling.  Time to stop!

JusJoJan #1 - Speech

 

The Just Jot it January challenge is hosted by Linda here.

Each day Linda will post a prompt and then the idea is you jot something down.  It can be whatever you like but for more guidance on how this works you can check out the rules by following the link above.

In previous years we've had the prompts a bit in advance but 2020 had us all reeling a bit (or a lot) so we're going day by day this time around.  That makes it a bit more of a challenge to get posts done on time if there are events coming up that might interfere with blogging.

Ha events coming up?  Who am I kidding?  I'm in London where the Covid rates are rising alarmingly and we're all on a Stay at Home order.  Not much change there from most of 2020. (It wasn't quite that bad but it's beginning to feel like it was.)

Anyway of course I have time for blogging.  What else am I going to do?  Well if you check out my 21 in 21 you'll see I do have some ideas.

But I'm starting to waffle which is the nature of this blog and today's prompt is "speech" so let's get back to that.  Another thing I'm trying to do in January is to follow a literary calendar that was published by The Guardian/Observer newspaper (and online of course).  The idea is to feed your brain.  The calendar will "take you into magical realms of poetry and prose, argument and imagination.  It will transport you to some places you always wanted to explore, but couldn't find the time, and to others you never knew existed, where you will find strange and wnderful things."

Still with me? Well today's link was to Maya Angelou reading her poem "And Still I Rise" (see I got to speech eventually).

You can listen to it here and if you're interested you can check out the calendar here.