Oh, it’s really not been the best of weeks and my holiday seems an era ago. As I am writing this diary, I am absolutely bloody furious – mainly with myself rather than others – but I’ve inadvertently broken the lockdown rules over the weekend when visiting family.
I am mortified that I didn’t know the guidelines as well as I ought to so I could have stopped it happening but I’m really surprised that some of the family knew but just didn’t bother to mention it. After a sleepless night looking up the information on the various government websites, to be fair, they are a bit confusing and ambiguous but the spirit is clear.
For me, it just reinforced there is a reason why I am a control freak and this is a prime example as I can’t trust other people to keep me on the straight and narrow. That responsibility is 100% mine but I need everyone else to play their part too.
Right now, I am sick of people putting me in a position where I have to say no and, being British, all this social awkwardness makes it even more uncomfortable. Just a few examples are: “It will be ok if you hold the [not from your bubble] child’s hand as you cross the road as you can just use hand sanitizer later” – NO!; “If we can’t sit outside in the garden at 2 metres distance as the weather is not very good, we will just have dinner inside the house.” – NO!; & “I know I shouldn’t hug you, but I’m going to hug you anyway!” – and THRICE NO!
The agreement I now have with Dave is that we are going to sod everyone else and just stick to the government guidelines to the best of our interpreting skills. If people don’t like it, they are really not worth worrying about as they are most likely not “our sort”. By this, I mean people who may have inadvertently broken the rules then, realising the errors of their ways, vowed not to break them again – definitely “our sort’. Seeing most people in shops wearing masks is helping me to remember and hopefully it will help everyone else too.
It wasn’t all bad this week as the interview for the next round of that job went as well as it could have and I did my very best. I might actually be back at the grindstone before I know it and so much for having 6 months off. I know it is only a fixed term contract but it’s better than a big fat zero. It did strike me that this was the first face-to-face meeting I have had since lockdown – scary!
Mum & dad happened to mention the doctors are worried about dad’s liver. They just dropped this into the conversation as if I was supposed to know all about it but it is just another one to line up in his battery of tests. It is not so much the tests but the lack of car as dad’s not allowed to drive until they get to the bottom of everything. Mum is of the generation that she can drive but, that’s a man’s job to drive so she is out of practice by about 35 years and her confidence levels will be around the minus 10 mark. It has really made me think about some of the practicalities of getting older and the challenges people in wheelchairs of all ages face even just to cross a road safely.
The thing that has kept them happy, occupied and intrigued is the surprise
arrival of “George & Stephen Seagull” into their avenue in a leafy Liverpool suburb. They are not the actors, obviously, but a pair of seagull chicks that have literally appeared out of nowhere. Stephen was last seen walking down the middle of the road so the chances are he is toast but George, by some miracle, landed in their next-door neighbour’s garden. He cannot fly but is trying very hard and the adult seagulls come to visit him morning, noon and night bringing food and lots of incredibly noisy jibber jabber chitchat. I’m usually completely underwhelmed by nature but this behaviour has absolutely blown me away. It’s like a budget version of a David Attenborough documentary and I ask for a running commentary every time I talk to my parents.
We asked the magic machine- also known as Google – and we are expecting George to fly away at the end of July/beginning of August but there’s a part of me that is hoping he will stay for much longer.
I’m not sure if my Covid anxiety is coming back but I simply cannot relax and am constantly tidying coconuts. It has been made even worse as I can’t easily go to the tip or charity shop as Dave’s in most of the time so it’s virtually impossible to sneak everything out of the house. It is the downside of living with a hoarder but the upside is that his memory is so awful, he very quickly forgets. We’d have to have a 20 bedroomed mansion to store all the stuff I’ve told him is in the loft over the years!
I decided to put my surplus energy to good use and, probably instigated by a few sleepless nights and noticing the nights are definitely drawing in, have started Christmas shopping. It is a standing joke in my circle of friends that I have to dust my presents before they are given out but this is even early for me!
My list: Sky Q is on order but we finished the first season of Ozark squashed into Dave’s study. I jumped out of my seat and screamed at one of the last main twists – it really is that good.
My lowlight: Oh, dear. I plucked up the courage to get on the scales after holiday and I have put on half a stone in 2 weeks. Any dieting woman will tell you that it is ok as this is just jelly fat so will come off very easily but it’s going to be hard going back to being good. I am absolutely determined not to go backwards too much but just wish there was a magic pill.
My highlight: Last week’s lowlight is this week’s highlight as I popped in to see my Down’s friend Sarah in her garden at a social distance. Her mum hadn’t told her I was coming just in case there were any last minute hiccoughs with the weather and the sheer delight on her face when she first saw me through the window was heart lifting. If Carlsberg could do socially distanced welcomes, it would be that. We’ve come up with a plan for us to replicate the cinema experience next week in her house making sure all the rules are followed. I’m not exactly sure how it will work but we’ll give it a go.
