A - Z Challenge 2020 - Reflections!

Well it's taken me a week to get around to doing this but here goes.

I completed all the letters and on time!  I think that's a first for me.  I've always managed to do a post for every letter (even when they didn't work too well with my theme) but sometimes I've been playing catch up for a day or two.  This year all my posts went up on time even though I wasn't particularly well prepared.

I chose my theme (Moving House) a while back and started preparing some of the posts and at least thinking about what I could write about.  Then Covid-19 reared it's head and our whole situation changed.

Here in London it's been particularly bad and my borough (Newham) is the worst for deaths.  It's been pretty scary and we've been staying home for nearly 7 weeks now.  Moving house is not going to happen anytime soon.

However I stuck to my theme and just added bits and pieces here and there to reflect the current situation.

Overall I'm pleased with how things went but I did notice that traffic levels seemed much lower this year.  I did manage to visit the main A-Z blog site most days and I did have a few new visitors to my blog.  I returned the favour and visited back.  Maybe everyone was feeling a bit like me - I found it very hard to concentrate on much during this time.  The first couple of weeks weren't too bad but after that even reading didn't hold my attention for very long.   Consequently I didn't get around to visiting other blogs as much as I normally would.  I feel bad about that but maybe I'll do better on the roadtrip this year.

Z is for Zapper (A-Z Challenge 2020)

In January of this year my hubby and I decided that it was time to move on to the next stage of our lives and move house.  I deliberated long and hard about whether it was a good move to take part in the A-Z Challenge this year (pun intended) given that we could be very busy, but decided on balance that having something to focus on might not be a bad idea.  Of course the decision on a theme was much easier to make – Moving House!  

Then Covid-19 put a stop to any ideas of moving so I’ve had to regroup and rethink my posts.  Which means I’m not as prepared as I’d liked to have been but here goes:

Z is for Zapper

(informal term for a remote control)

Ok yes I admit it, I trolled the dictionary for my X Y & Z words to come up with ones I could relate to moving.

But keeping control of your zappers when you move is very important.  Nothing worse than getting in, deciding to flop down in front of the TV with a take away after the stresses and strains of moving day and then not being able to find the zapper!

Come on, how many of you would be able to control your TV without it?

Especially when you’re so exhausted you feel like a zombie.

I wrote this before we’d even got to the stage of packing but it made me aware I’d need to know where the zappers went although hopefully our removal men would be as careful as those my daughter used recently – they bubbled wrapped things like the TV having first attached and secured the remotes to the TV.   

Note to self.  Keep an eye on the removal staff.

Actually at the moment (early April) all I'm keeping an eye on is the TV and social media.  That's keeping me busy and there won't be any removal men coming into the house anytime soon!

 

Y is for Yak (A-Z Challenge 2020)

In January of this year my hubby and I decided that it was time to move on to the next stage of our lives and move house.  I deliberated long and hard about whether it was a good move to take part in the A-Z Challenge this year (pun intended) given that we could be very busy, but decided on balance that having something to focus on might not be a bad idea.  Of course the decision on a theme was much easier to make – Moving House!  

Then Covid-19 put a stop to any ideas of moving so I’ve had to regroup and rethink my posts.  Which means I’m not as prepared as I’d liked to have been but here goes:

Y is for Yak

No I’m not talking about a domesticated (?) ox of Tibet but the art of yakking!  As in talking persistently, usually trivially and irritatingly.  I’m an expert at it.  I found myself doing a lot of it during the moving process, particularly when we had viewers in the house.

If I told the story of how we ended up moving to our house once, I must have told it to nearly every person who viewed our house and probably to many of the estate agents we had to deal with.

And of course I’m going to tell it again now.

By early 1993 we had been married and living together in our first home for 10 years and had 3 children.  They were 3, 5 & 7 but the house we were living in was perfectly adequate for our family.  We hadn’t even discussed moving although I suppose it was something we’d thought about as we were beginning to feel a bit cramped.

Anyway one morning an acquaintance of mine, who I knew through the playgroup both our youngest children attended, arrived at the group looking rather down.  We got into conversation and it turned out that her family were set to move but the buyer had just pulled out.  Upon further discussion (her describing her house, me not getting the layout) she extended an invitation for a coffee.  I was intrigued so I accepted.

I went to the house and fell in love with it.  The rest is history.  Although there was of course the slight hurdle of persuading my hubby that yes we did need to move and yes it had to be this house!  Sensibly he did make me go and view other houses in the area but eventually he had to admit this house was the one.

At the time of writing this post (early April) we're at a standstill with the moving process and, thanks to Lockdown, I'm not doing as much yakking.  Probably a double bonus for hubby!

X is for Xerophytes (A-Z Challenge 2020)

In January of this year my hubby and I decided that it was time to move on to the next stage of our lives and move house.  I deliberated long and hard about whether it was a good move to take part in the A-Z Challenge this year (pun intended) given that we could be very busy, but decided on balance that having something to focus on might not be a bad idea.  Of course the decision on a theme was much easier to make – Moving House!  

Then Covid-19 put a stop to any ideas of moving so I’ve had to regroup and rethink my posts.  Which means I’m not as prepared as I’d liked to have been but here goes:

X is for Xerophytes

a plant e.g. a cactus, structurally adapted for life and growth with a limited water supply.

Yes I know this is a stretch for my theme but actually these are the sort of plants I need.  I am rubbish at keeping house plants alive.  The only plants in my house that seem to survive (and actually multiply) are spider plants.  I do remember to water them occasionally and I have managed to successfully plant their “babies” so I now have quite a few around the house.

This was useful when it came to showing the house to prospective buyers.  You know the drill: the house needs to be clean & tidy, looking its best.  Smelling nice helps too (where’s the coffee?) and of course fresh flowers add a nice touch.  I spent quite a bit over the few weeks we were “showing” our house.  Fortunately it was daffodil time, which are cheap but look good, but I also bought a few others.  That’s the problem with having a big house with lots of rooms, you need more than one vase of flowers.  And keeping them looking fresh is another chore to fit into the day. 

I’ve decided, if anyone asks me about a house warming gift I will reply with buy me a xerophyte!

(Actually I’ll probably be in more need of red wine and chocolates, just so you know.)

This post was prepared pre Covid-19 and now I'm definitely in need of red wine and chocolates, not to mention a haircut!

W is for Windows (A-Z Challenge 2020)

In January of this year my hubby and I decided that it was time to move on to the next stage of our lives and move house.  I deliberated long and hard about whether it was a good move to take part in the A-Z Challenge this year (pun intended) given that we could be very busy, but decided on balance that having something to focus on might not be a bad idea.  Of course the decision on a theme was much easier to make – Moving House!  

Then Covid-19 put a stop to any ideas of moving so I’ve had to regroup and rethink my posts.  Which means I’m not as prepared as I’d liked to have been but here goes:

W is for Windows

When I drafted my list of posts for this challenge this was going to be a post about all the different types of windows you find in houses.  That was of course pre Coronavirus and pre lockdown.

Now we just look longingly from our windows, wishing we could go outside safely.  People put rainbows on them and messages for all our key workers who are keeping the vital services going and, of course, saving lives.

Now it's warmer we can start flinging the windows open, letting in the sun and warm air, but hopefully not this dreaded virus.

I count myself lucky in so many ways right now.  The views from our windows are lovely.  To the front we have a vast open space, to the rear we have a nice garden.  We are not stuck in a housing development where the windows might give a great view but feel just as enclosing as prison bars would do. Our window cleaner even came recently and cleaned the front windows as usual.  Social distancing was of course observed - payment was put down for her to pick up.  No physical contact occurred.

I seem to spend a lot of time looking out the window. 

V is for Valuation (A-Z Challenge 2020)

In January of this year my hubby and I decided that it was time to move on to the next stage of our lives and move house.  I deliberated long and hard about whether it was a good move to take part in the A-Z Challenge this year (pun intended) given that we could be very busy, but decided on balance that having something to focus on might not be a bad idea.  Of course the decision on a theme was much easier to make – Moving House!  

Then Covid-19 put a stop to any ideas of moving so I’ve had to regroup and rethink my posts.  Which means I’m not as prepared as I’d liked to have been but here goes:

V is for Valuation

Well I think I'll have to revert to a Plan B again for today's post.  Under lockdown it's impossible to get a valuation done on a property be it by an estate agent for a property listing or in connection with a mortgage offer to the prospective buyer.  Although interestingly we did have an approach from another estate agent today wanting to know why we were still on the market and how they could help us sell our house.  Now I know the "For Sale" sign outside hasn't been updated to show we are under offer but really?  Wasting time and postage on a futile letter?  I mean, even if we hadn't sold yet we wouldn't be considering doing anything at the moment.

I think our views on value may be completely changed once we get through this lockdown phase and start picking up the pieces of our lives.  Lives that for many will be changed forever.  "Things" will be less important.  Our families will be the thing that we value and appreciate more.  

We might find we decide not to move if we lose our buyer.  Not immediately anyway.  At least we are fortunate in that we can make that choice.  Hubby apparently is considered a key worker (he's a Civil Servant) so we could arrange for a Covid-19 test now if we needed it.  Fortunately we are both keeping well so there's no need at present, plus he's working from home.  (He's even managed to address the issue with his laptop charger and hopefully the IT department will arrange for a new one to be sent out to him.)

We have only been out of the house to do our daily walks since lockdown started.  We've been fortunate to get HelloFresh deliveries every week and an online delivery.  We've got another online delivery coming and a click and collect booked for a week after that.

The only thing we've needed to buy was milk and we managed to get that while on our walks, from local shops that had either nobody in them or just a couple of other people.  We did start our car yesterday and took it for a short run just so the battery doesn't go flat.  Didn't want to have that problem when we have to collect groceries.

And later today we have a wine delivery coming so we're definitely sorted! lol

Listening to the Government daily news conference yesterday, it's hard to imagine how life will be able to go back to any sort of normality any time soon, at least until a successful treatment or vaccine is found.  I'm sure many people will want to continue to work from home rather than risk travelling on public transport.  Driving to work in London is really impossible.  Even venturing out to more crowded shops will feel scary.  

I do look forward to being able to visit family members though.  Those first contacts after such a long time will be priceless.  We won't be able to put a value on that.