Diary - Tuesday, 12 May 2020

[River Tyne Lass]

I am just waiting at the bus station to get bus to go home.  It is quite deserted here.

I am on a block of days this week.  It is Mass Observation Diary day today.  I will write mine up and send it off later this week.  I can't write about work but I daresay I could write up a little about what I have done either side of work.

I do hope I will still be able to get to and from work okay from tomorrow when  more people will be returning to work.  I have heard they aren't increasing the skeleton service. I wonder if some of us won't be able to board due to distancing requirements if too many want to board at a time?

Hopefully, they will increase the buses if this might turn out to be a problem.

Keep safe everyone. 

[Caw1]

RTL - I quite forgot it was mass Obs day today.... I always do it every year but this year it's quite an exceptional one. I will have to write something up tomorrow, thanks for the reminder!
I hope you'll be ok on the buses tomorrow, it can be stressful I'm sure at the best of times!

Daily diary

Another chilly day, although the sun did come out...

I'm not really sure what I did this morning.... put out some washing and made a birthday card for a friends 70th on Sunday. Such a pity as he was having a BBQ in the garden last Saturday and it was such a lovely warm day ..oh well something to look forward to in the future.

Lunch usual sandwich...

Highlight of my day was a Zoom with my book club friends... we discussed our book.. The Tuths and Triumps of Grace Atgerton by Anstey Harris, we all enjoyed this debut novel and had a good discussion....
It was so nice to see other faces than our other halves and have a good natter too... we all decided we needed to visit the hairdressers some more than others!
Sadly one friends daughter has had to postpone her wedding until next year which is sad... another friend said she was going to be a grandma again in September which is exciting news...
We all came to the conclusion that none of us were keen to go out to theatres,cinemas,restaurants, pubs and as for going on holiday we decided our homes and back gardens would have to do for the foreseeable future.
It was interesting listening to them talk about the hospitals and medical services as two are retired doctors ( one GP other hospital) and three are married to doctors ( one retired GP, other working and one an anethietist  and another's son is a consultant in a hospital. They all said that they'd had the right PPE for their needs.

OH came in after mowing all the lawns to say the mower , a petrol mountfield, had finally after 30 years given up the ghost and died ... the handle had snapped again and mower had caught fire! Fortunately he'd managed to finish all but part of the top lawn round the raised veg beds.... last year when the chap mended the handle, which holds all the operating mechanism, he told OH he wasn't going to be able to fix it again!
So much muttering in his beard, he does have one!, and scouring the Internet sadly the model he wants seems to not be available currently so not sure what he's going to do!
Decided to do bit more sewing before dinner as got things out of the freezer... chicken, leek and ham pie for OH and I had portion of lamb curry with vegs.
Watched some tv did some knitting...
Another day passed without much to show for it.... seem to be getting less enthusiastic about doing things round the house... went bonkers first couple of weeks now the winds gone right out of my sails... have to buck myself up tomorrow...

Keep safe everyone

Caroline

[Mowsehowse]

Caroline, your book club zoom sounds great.

RTL, I do hope your transport has been satisfactory today.
As to Mass Obs Diary, it does say to add your thoughts about the past and future, so this speculation about transport is VERY apposite.
Also, I am sure you could write about your work in a non specific way.
Obviously you can't give names or the exact location, but you can write about the overall level of satisfaction with conditions etc.
And about your own emotions as your tackle your tasks.

Hope you have had a good (ish) day. 

I have written mine and will submit later after final editing.

[louisa maud]

Those who  missed birthday celebrations can have a second birthday celebration later. like the Queen although this year she won't be celebrating at the Trooping of the colour,  just a thought

Sitting waiting for my carpet to arrive ,room   completely empty apart from a sideboard,  I'm hoping the men will move, feel like singing the song " I'm just a  lonely boy" except I am female!

Louisa Maud

[Caw1]

This is true, we're looking forward to celebrations hopefully later in the year... my OH has a big birthday in October so would be nice to think we could get together with the family.

Hope your new carpet comes soon and your suite returned then you can have a luxurious evening of sitting comfortable and rubbing your feet on your new carpet... oh the joys of simple things....

Caroline

[Viktoria]

Woke up in the small hours,no idea why, tossed and turned so got a fiendish
crossword and struggled with that.
Went back to sleep and woke up at 9-30!,did pills and potion,eyes etc .
Just had breakfast two rounds from a small loaf of whole meal ,with peanut butter and Marmite,orange juice and a cuppa.
Will have another cuppa soon.
Making a Roman blind ,so measure measure measure etc .
Not ventured out to feed my three goldfish yet, they say fish have short memories but after the winter when I don’t feed them, the first time I do I knock on the side of the pond ( as I do every day during the feeding months)
and they come to the corner, so they have remembered .
My garden is strewn with tangerine peel in a kind attempt to discourage the many cats that use it !
A neighbour said it works ,does no harm to them so worth a try.
Don’t know which is worst ,unburied messages or buried ones you find when weeding or planting out!
Some big beauties, a tabby I think is a Maine Coon, a b/w and an all black,so
 healthy looking, sleek and shiny ,like a miniature panther.
My son and d in l are acting hosts to a lovely black cat who seemingly is chucked out each morning,he goes to their house and takes up residence for the day,so has two homes .
He nips in as soon as the door is opened ,but also likes to sit watching my son tinker in the garage.

Well folks, I am not going anywhere ,will phone the daughter of people with whom I lived as an evacuee ,she took me to school my first day.
I have never lost touch with them and am getting anxious I will not see her again,asthma etc and a very frail 92 years old this month.
I am phoning this morning ,well looked after by her son, carers do not go now as he was anxious they would bring some infection she could not withstand .
So cheerio ,off to make that phone call.
Look after yourselves everyone.
Viktoria.

[Roobarb]

RTL, hope your buses have worked out okay, they should have given you a loyalty card for sticking with them!
Caroline, I know what you mean about losing your mojo, hope you find it again.

Didn't get round to writing my diary entry on Tuesday, the same lack of mojo. So here it is now.

Woke up feeling very depressed, feeling down seems to be the default position on waking these days but it seems to increase each day and it takes longer to shake it off. Felt like crying for much of the day.

When I eventually got up I was going to go for my walk but as my Asda order was due in the afternoon I decided to postpone it till after the delivery, instead I got all of my 'sterilising' equipment ready. I later realised it had been a mistake, I should have gone for my walk as it does perk me up. The delivery wasn't even due till 2pm. It's great being able to order online but the whole process stresses me out at the moment.

Sorted out the drawers in the bedroom where I keep tshirts or sweaters, depending on the season. It was a bit of a mess because of the fluctuations in the weather and I was just putting things anywhere. I've always had a drawer for housework and gardening tshirts and one for smarter ones but as I don't wear anything smart these days I rearranged them. One good job done anyway.

Had lunch, not sure what else I did, then my delivery arrived at five to two. A lot of it was cleaning products and toiletries, I just put them in a large box in the garage as I couldn't be bothered to wash them. Even then, it took me ages washing the other stuff and transferring to other containers and disposing of the wrappings. I'd ordered easy peeler oranges, like clementines but they turned out to be the size of golf balls so it's a good job I bought more than one pack. Also ordered some fruit pies for a treat, they turned out to be mini pies, my own fault, I hadn't read the description properly. And the loaf I ordered was also a small one, everything child size! One item missing, my hair conditioner that I'd ordered two of as it was on offer but only got one. Phoned Asda thinking I'd be hanging on for ages but I wasn't, they're refunding it.

It was 3.30 by the time I went for my walk, the sun was shining and a number of people were sitting around on the grass, they'd taken Boris at his word. Faffed about when I got home then did some curry for tea.

Was really pleased when my brother rang me, he talks about other things than coronavirus, which is great. Really cheered me up having a chat with him.

Watched Who Wants to be a Millionaire, wow, exciting!

As I'm writing this on Wednesday I'm pleased to say I'm feeling better today.

[Viktoria]

That is good to hear Roobarb.
I am still doing the Roman blind ,got to be precise or won’t hang properly.
Not even been outside yet today except for feeding the goldfish.
Wish I could take them for a walk!
Just washed my hair and had a shower.
Got rollers in now  .
Then hot brush ,don’t know what it will look like but you feel better if you look half way civilised!
Pork chop for tea with potatoes and cabbage together like bubble and squeak.
Yogurt for afters.
Was going to bake as a couple of eggs just on date ,but it will wait until tomorrow.
My daughter is busy getting everything in place as part of her business can now open,PPE, screens, barriers, hand wipes , etc.
Opening Monday. Her staff are behind her and have accepted the precautions are being put in place, offered to help but she won’t risk it.
I have asked bluntly has she managed to get her B12 yet, I suspect not ,so that is extremely worrying, as she has not answered.
How she is functioning I don’t know.
The annoying thing is that to observe all the precautions costs a deal of money and the time taken in cleansing procedures before and after  is not paid for by clients ,so she will pay wages and yet fewer jobs done and all the safety products etc are a drain on any income they may engender.
But the staff are ready to go , and at least they can rest assured she is following guidelines to the letter.

Well folks, hope you are all O.K. Weather warming up a bit ,hope people aren’t silly over the weekend .
Salmon for tea tomorrow, might do creamy potato slices ,then again I have frozen spinach I chopped very finely in the whizzer, that will be nice with very creamy mash and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Cheerio,          Viktoria.

[louisa maud]

You are like me roobarb, for donkeys years I had perm but suddenly my hair started to break, so for 3 years my hair has been straight,  I   have to put rollers in every night, you don'toften hear about people using rollers nowadays, but thank goodness for them, years ago had a set of heated rollers, wish I had kept them as now my hair is longer I could have used them,  oh we do suffer us women!!!

Louisa Maud