RootsChat.Com
General => The Stay Safe Board => Topic started by: Caw1 on Saturday 04 July 20 23:08 BST (UK)
-
🎉🎉Independence Day!🎉🎉..... not ours though!
My day....😤😤says it all!
Woke quite early had a read.. had a plan for today... it all turned to custard and has given me a stressful time...
After breakfast thought I'd quickly sort by online shopping out.... guess what internet all over the place and two hours later I managed to complete it.... by this time I was seriously hacked off I can tell you... phone not working either...
Thought I'd try and relax and attempt to do a Yogalates class from teachers session from yesterday on FB... would you believe 40 mins online and no interruptions.... great felt more relaxed after that... shower hair wash, now lunch time in fact quite late!
OH busy trying to do his near impossible still life jigsaw!
Sat in the conservatory and had a good read...
He's playing golf in the morning at 7.50 am 😱😱good luck with that... first completion since before lockdown and they have to download an app to do scores on....
His phone is iphone4 so old ... he's no idea how to do it so asks me... took me all the rest of the afternoon to log in set up Apple ID for him go through internet dropping out every other minute... to finally discover his phones to old and IOS only 7 so can't support the app....
Asks if he can borrow my phone... you must be joking he's nor messing up mine and with no landline I'd be non contactable... he'll have to find another way...
After all that we had a game is scrabble... he starts uses all tiles on first go gets extra 50 points! .... needless to say I never caught up so got beaten...
He cooked dinner... usual Saturday night steak & chips!
Watched some rubbish tv... come to bed for a read...
If tomorrow is the same sort of day I'm going to leave home and find somewhere that has constant internet connection.... not really!
Sadly friends sons place in Hunstanton fully booked so daughter will have to sort something else out... pity would have been great for them!
So my friends that's my day hope yours was better!
Caroline
-
Oh dear Caroline, what a lot of trouble your phone and broadband are causing you, I think I'd be telling Sky where to stick it. It's bad enough having all that trouble but even worse during times like this when we rely so much on it. What a shame about the holiday for your daughter's family, hope they find something else suitable. Sounds like a frustrating day all round, hope tomorrow is better.
Diary:
Woke this morning feeling very depressed then lots of totally random unhappy memories started crowding in on my mind, no idea why. Of course the current situation added to it. The Pillar 2 data has increased the confirmed cases in my area by about another sixty percent which really concerns me, particularly in light of the further relaxation of the lockdown. I don't have any strong political inclinations and I think that whichever government was in power they would have a really difficult time but I just feel like we've been deceived by the previous absence of these figures.
Spent a long time reading, including the news. The local newspaper seemed to focus on the reopening of the pubs. No idea when I'll be going to the pub again but it won't be any time soon, I just wouldn't feel safe.
Eventually got myself ready to go for my walk. It had been raining earlier this morning but was now dry but overcast, reasonably warm. The field had been cut yesterday, or rather two thirds of it had been, don't know why the middle bit had been missed. Still lots of clover growing there among the grass. Pleasant walk.
The doormat outside my back door had disintegrated and I'd decided to put the one from my hallway in its place and replace that one with a spare. Cleaned the floor, got rid of the junk mail and moved the recyclable shopping bags into the car boot, they'd been reclining in the umbrella stand since last going shopping in March! It's a very small hallway, I should be ashamed of myself for not doing it sooner.
After lunch I did a bit of gardening. The garden was quite wet but I took a couple of cuttings from my perennial wallflower and planted them in small pots. I remember my mother telling me that eventually they die off so it's best to keep taking cuttings, I've taken her words seriously, she was a good gardener. And she was right! It started raining, only lightly but enough to drive me back indoors. Updated my supermarket order for next week, a bit of Rootschatting. Then I sorted out some paperwork that was taking up room in the upstairs cupboard, managed to get rid of some of it. Did a bit more to my painting after having received advice from art teacher. Sent her the photos for my paintings that will be going in our online exhibition. It's only for the classes themselves but it's good to see everyone's work, there are some very talented students.
The other night there was a film on channel 4 called Touching the Void. I wasn't really watching it, just listening to bits while I was doing something else but then thought I should have watched it. I watched it tonight on catchup. I don't watch many films, this was a true story about two men who climbed a previously unclimbed mountain in Peru, it was an account of the shocking events that took place. Excellent film.
After that I watched Gardeners' World, the woman called Carol was taking cuttings from some climbing plants including honeysuckle. There's a honeysuckle growing over my fence that NN has always insisted was mine. I know it isn't because I've lived here since the houses were built and I didn't plant it. There were two lots of previous occupants in her house, I think perhaps the first ones planted it. However, after seeing the programme I've decided to take some cuttings from it and will grow it over the fence where it's been left bare due to her actions. Touché !
Feeling lonely today, I haven't spoken to anyone. Will see what tomorrow brings.
Hope everyone else has had a positive day.
-
Dog’s body clock is set to 6:30am despite it being a bit dark and cool here that early. Sometimes it would be nice to have a lie in. Took her out for sniffs and toilet.
Having daughters and boyfriends over for dinner so after breakfast set off to the shops to try to avoid the crowds. Went to Aldi and quite busy in the fruit and veg aisle, so I rushed through grabbing things from my list. As usual, a wait to get through checkout.
Of course I couldn’t get everything I needed, so dropped my Aldi groceries home then headed straight out to my local supermarket. Not so busy. Pleased to see trolley wipes available again - they’ve been absent for many of my recent shopping trips. I notice some of the things I had just bought at Aldi just as cheap and more suited to my cooking plans, so I really needn’t have bought anything else from Aldi apart from basmati rice (I much prefer Aldi’s basmati). Annoyed because they did not have the frozen tart base I wanted, so I decided to compromise and buy frozen short crust pastry sheets.
Whenever I do family dinners my timing is way out and dinner is always late so I decided to start preparation early to avoid that. I was making a very simple dinner with a South African influence - chutney mayonnaise chicken with yellow rice and tomato and onion salad. Banoffee pie for desert - another easy one, which would have been even easier if I had been able to buy a pie base.
I cooked the pastry sheets as per the instructions - looked a bit like cardboard. (I found out later that it also tasted like cardboard - horrible stuff. As I suspected the bananas I bought weren’t ripe either, so a bit of a disaster all round.)
Took dog for her usual walk in the afternoon - always a chore and a bit boring as she always wants take the same route presumably sniffing out the areas she is familiar with to see what’s been going on since the previous day. Lots of dog poo on the footpaths - amounts have been increasing over the past few months - makes me wonder why I bother picking hers up as no one else does. >:(
The main part of the meal turned out well, and I served up only fifteen minutes later than I had hoped to. I think this is a record. ;D Drank a few beers, had a few laughs, so generally a pleasant evening.
Things here are more or less back to normal though some restrictions still in place for restaurants etc. Recennt new outbreaksin Victoria with people in some postcodes told to stay home. A number of breaches have led to this. I think the UK is opening up too soon but time will tell how that affects infection numbers. It is sad that your lives have been disrupted so much and really admire how you are coping, trying to keep busy and trying to stay positive despite what you are dealing with.
-
I know Sky are a pain in the proverbial! We have been with them for 20 yrs..phone, tv and broadband so bit of a pain to change to be honest so we'll wait to see what tge wonder technician can do on Monday!
So sorry you had such a poor start to your day, it must be hard living on your own too... certainly not a good sign that confirmed cases have increased in your area and I agree which ever party was in power there would be aspects they'd all get wrong!
Touching the Void is an excellent film, we saw it some time ago. Our Son was a climber and has a signed copy of Joe Simpsons book. Quite incredible how he survived ... glad our son wasn't doing sort of climbing Joe did! Hes written several others too. Strong single minded person as most climbers of that calibre are...
You're obviously green fingered p, a lovely talent to have... I can kill off most plants.! Not holding out much hope for my mango seed 😬.
Hope tomorrow is a better day all round
Caroline
-
Another wet and windy start to the day. Failed to make contact with family in Oz.
Sat and did some research about the refugee ghetto in Shanghai, and ordered a relevant book on-line so I might learn something. Shocking to find myself so ignorant on so many subjects!
Walked into town for some birthday cards. As it was quite drizzly and windy I thought people might have stayed away and was surprised to find everywhere really busy, the fast food outlets doing a marvellous trade.
Ventured into a charity shop briefly. Someone on the door counting people in and out. I had a very quick look round, didn't touch anything and departed swiftly. I used to love browsing in charity shops, books of course, didn't even glance at them - fabrics for craft making, didn't wish to touch them and bric-a-brac, well at least I could see what I was looking at. But happy to say other people were buying.
Made a get well card to be sent from group to sick friend. Quite pleased with how it turned out although it can't be as good as Caroline's creations because it is not articulated.
Another walk after tea. There was a group of musicians jamming in the bandstand, with admirers who were waving bottles and large glasses. Also a very large and noisy group under a covered area. On the news we were told there was miles of traffic jams full of caravans stuck in the South West.
-
Have now read all other posts, and basically I feel the problem for us is that we are trying to make a novel out of a one line joke!
Roobarb you had a productive day, doing odd jobs, getting out for a walk despite iffy weather, and being creative with your art work and accumulated gardening knowledge. Lots of "well done" and high fives there, though it may not seem much. It must be tough not having spoken to anyone all day, though truly I can't think of anything I can be bothered to say to my companion in this travail.
Caroline I can't begin to imagine how you thought you would be tranquil enough to suffer a game of scrabble, and with that start I would have used the board to batter my H, :P .... so I feel congratulations are in order for you too.
As for Ruskie, throwing a dinner party is one of my worst nightmares but it sounds like you all had a good time so it was definitely worth it.
I agree with everyone, that whichever government was in power, this global pandemic would have been difficult, but I do think that if I was given the facts without lies being exposed every few days, it would all be better.
Hope everyone has a pleasant day, or at least feels proud of achievements even if they seem small.
-
Was really lazy today, just put pizza in the over for dinner, hope it doesn't count against me.
broadband kept dropping out today. Tried to talk the kids into watching Star Wars but they weren't for having it. The wee one wanted to watch Power Rangers.
-
Thanks Caroline and Mowsehowse for supportive comments. It's not unusual in everyday life for me to not speak to anyone for a few days but in normal times I can just go off out to do some shopping, and have a bit of chat with the assistant, or to the gym. Or even call round to see a friend!
Those were the days ....
Ruskie, I'm with Mowsehowse that a dinner party would be my worst nightmare but I do admire people who can do that. I always used to shop at Aldi before all this, I bought the basmati rice too. I also sometimes bought the pouches of microwave rice, they're very good. Not for a crowd of people but when you're just cooking for one they come in very handy. Less economical but I wonder how much the gas costs for me to boil up one portion of ordinary rice.
The reason you pick up after the dog is because you're a better person than those who don't. I don't know who they think is going to clear up after them, along with discarded face masks etc, disgusting. I wasn't sure when Oz had the first coronavirus, I see it was at the end of January, so about five months ago and now you're almost back to normal. That's about the same time as the first two cases were identified here but there's quite a difference in where we're at now.
Mowsehowse, well done on making the get well card. The time will come when you can go and browse the charity shops again, I suppose it's a question of when you'll feel comfortable doing that.
PharmaT, good to have a lazy day, nothing wrong with some pizza.
-
Mowsehowse
I agree with you, whoever was in the Gov't would have had the same problems as Boris, I think it took everyone by complete surprise that it took hold so quickly, it did cross my mind at one time about a coalition but I don't know,I am no political person at all, Boris has his advisors who " advise" to their best I assume so let them get on and sort it out for us
Louisa Maud
-
Mine was a lazy day I'm afraid so won't bore you with all the details. A dark cloudy day, no real rain, and consequently no motivation to do anything constructive. I hadn't realised until the lockdown how much the weather influences my feelings. When it's nice and bright I feel motivated to do things but if it's dull and dreary outside it seems to seep inside and any 'get up and go' I had vanishes!
Two jigsaws arrived courtesy of GPO so something new to get stuck into. My neighbours seemed to be in the same frame of mind as myself as all ensconced indoors for the day.
Had fish and chips courtesy of ASDA (chilled) and, as always, really tasty so a bright spot in an otherwise dreary day.
Take care everyone.
Annette
-
Mowsehowse
I agree with you, whoever was in the Gov't would have had the same problems as Boris, I think it took everyone by complete surprise that it took hold so quickly, it did cross my mind at one time about a coalition but I don't know,I am no political person at all, Boris has his advisors who " advise" to their best I assume so let them get on and sort it out for us. Louisa Maud
Without wishing to get political, I do hope my post did not suggest that I feel the current power in Westminster is doing the best job keeping England safe from Covid 19.
I believe the Foreign Office MUST have had some inkling about the virus before Christmas, and even if that is not so, we had plenty of warning from Italy and Spain, but we were told we should just take it on the chin.
While I do feel that it is a difficult situation for every Government on the planet, personally, I doubt that England could have had a worse captain to steer our ship, and as for his advisor, (the one who felt it was fine to drive 360 miles during lockdown,) words fail me!
I suspect our esteemed PM would get better advise from Larry the Cat!!
-
Good to catch up on everyone's thoughts!
Mowsehowse- you're right I did feel like battering OH over the head with the board.... love your comments about Boris coukd be advised by Larry the Cat! I was quite insenced when I read on BBC news app that Boris's father was at his pad in Greece.... how did he get there then.... he appeared to be a little the worse for wear when trying to answer questions! One rule for some eh... not that I have any wish to go anywhere at the moment!
I'm sure you're card was beautiful... I'm no great expert just like to keep the boys enthralled if possible!
Ruskie - you are a marvel creating a dinner party even if it was for family... I don't think I could cope with that at the moment so good on you! At least you Aussies, mostly, are more sensible than some if the idiots in U.K. And your government is more decisive than ours!
Pharma - you deserve to have a rest on your annual leave and I'm sure the girls enjoy pizza just as much as your other culinary meals...
Annette - I know just what you mean about the weather... it does have a huge effect on our moods... sun out spring in your step and get on with things... dull dreary never did anything for anyones spirits so I'm with you on that one!
Well here goes with trying to post this with our wonderful internet!
Caroline
-
Annette, I know exactly what you mean about the weather influencing your feelings. When the nights start drawing in it also has a very big detrimental effect on me, thank goodness this didn't start at the beginning of autumn.
-
I had a lovely day yesterday as my Son, Grandson and their dog came to see me. Grandson is two almost three and is a real bundle of energy, funny, imaginative and a very good little chatterbox. My DiL was working all day.
We went for a walk along the River Tyne. We saw a docked trawler. Grandson thought this was a pirate ship with pirates hiding somewhere onboard and he was very pleased about this. We also saw two spaced out (distance-wise) fishermen casting their lines out. It did cross my mind to try to pass these two off to Grandson as 'pirates' but sadly they both looked so unpiratelike I thought it was too much of a stretch of imagination even for a two year old.
When my son drove me home we saw that a new cycle road has been created al ong the sea front. Son is very pleased about this as he hopes to have a cycle seat fitted on his bike so he can take my Grandson for bike rides. We passed my hairdressers which is still closed. Perhaps she is waiting until Monday to open. Son told me libraries are now open. Gosh! I got a rush of adrenaline when he said that. I do miss going to the library. We drove around just to have a look but it is still closed. There has not been anything on the local websites about any opening and I am not sure how they will go about things safely when they do get back to a bit of normality. I cannot help missing it though .. the books, the research I did there and the great events they used to put on.
I agree that we are fortunate this lockdown commenced when there was good weather. I think if it had started in Autumn with bleak weather and dark nights this would have made it so much harder for people to keep their spirits up.
I also agree that you deserve to have a rest PharmaT and no doubt your girls would have been very happy to have pizza. I don't know why you think serving this might count against you.
-
Sounds like you had a lovely day RTL which is excellent, and l'm glad for you. :D
-
Good to hear that you had such a great day RTL, what fantastic imaginations little children have. Hope your library is soon open, maybe its services will be limited at first but no doubt will all come in time.
-
Thank you both for these messages - it was a lovely day. Grandson is so funny it is lovely to listen to his imagination. When Grandson overheard me telling my Son that someone has stolen my glass recycling bin caddy he (Grandson) told me a monster in a cave had done it. He then pretended to ring Spiderman (his hero of the moment) and said in a very dramatic tone "Hello Spiderman a monster has stolen Gwanma's bin!". I asked what spiderman had said and he said that he was going to tie the monster up and get my bin back. Oh he does make me laugh! ;D
-
How lovely RTL for you to see your son and grandson... they certainly do lift your spirits don't they ....
He sounds a delightful little boy and so full of imagination so refreshing to see..
Im hoping our library will be open next week too as I still have a book from before lockdown and I'm keen to return it... not sure what their opening times will be though...
Hope you're having some well deserved time off to recouperate after all your hard work and with the bus changes you have you endure..
Caroline
-
Awwww...... Gwanma..... :D
-
Yes, Grandkids do certainly help raise the spirits .. and it always brings a smile to my face to hear myself referred to as "Gwanma". 😄
-
How many do you have RTL?
Hope you get to see a fair bit of them in normal circumstances. :D
-
Only the one Grandchild. Yes, in normal circumstances I would see him every week. Since lockdown has eased things are getting better and I have seen them several times since. Things are definitely getting better. :D
-
Grand. You certainly deserve it. :-*