Probably one of the last times I drove the car. Sigh 😔
Caroline spring cleaned the kitchen and has at last managed to finish the book she’s been hating. Perhaps this will unlock her reader’s block.
Anyway, on with the working at home thing, though it should be called living in a crisis and trying to work at home. I seem to be doing as much union work as music.
Caroline and Oscar joined me for the Beep test this afternoon.
I got into the 8s and Caroline the late 7s. She’s going to be better than me for sure. Oscar got 1.0! And he was exhausted.
It’s now the small things that have given us most satisfaction like being able to update tomorrow’s Tesco order without it disappearing completely. This was done with trepidation. And being able to order a dozen bottles of wine online was totally thrilling and made me feel we will survive this. 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷
More gardening obviously. Here’s some nice pictures.
Exercise continues and Mrs Henderson has joined me doing the bleep test.
Can you guess who is who?
This is going to play havoc with this strip of grass. By the time we can get out it will look like a WW1 trench.
I’ll post updates, obviously. And yes Sarah those stones do need edging in. 😀
Today’s album. A classic that nobody can possibly object to. If you own it, go put on…
A much better day today. I suppose that’s how this will go. Nicely set up I suppose by a really nice pub quiz with the Blowers, Browns and Lyons last night.
Thanks Keith for setting it up.
We couldn’t have been more surprised to be woken at 6.50 am by a furious ringing knocking and banging on the front door. I thought it was the bailiffs come to repossess the tele. But no…
It was our emergency food package from Boris.
I was shocked and somewhat embarrassed. No cat food though.
Onto the business of the day. School work; setting work, answering emails, union meeting.
We would like to say big thanks to Jane, Sheila, Nick and Sally who came to pick up and deliver essential provisions. We are overwhelmed by your kindness.
Did a bit of exercise.
Better than last time. I’ll be able to take part in the Olympics at this rate. That is if I can climb out of the trench that will have been worn into the back garden by the time this all ends.
Clocks going forward has never meant less. Mrs Henderson suggested that we do this every day and that would make the time pass quicker!
Hello from the cats.
Today has been a more difficult day. It’s been so cold and windy, we tried walking round the garden but it was too unpleasant.
The whole day has felt pointless as we adjust to inactivity. Mrs Henderson can’t read and we won’t allow ourselves to give in to the call of the box set during daytime.
The cats felt the same and took to the sofa.
So it had to be a CD today.
Looking forward to an online pub quiz with friends this evening. I wonder what the prize is?!
Hi, it’s Oscar, the house cat and I’ll be curating today’s blog.
I believe we start with a song…
First, I was disturbed by mum recording a poem at the request of her friend Anna in St Louis (like the virus, we’re so global!😹)
I left the house for my exercise as prescribed by Boris. A little sip of water first.
I returned to do my cat duties in what mum and dad call “doing front of house”. 😸
I have felt very ignored as dad retired to read and mum engaged in endless phone calls to and from friends and relations. which is good as I have been rushed off my feet. 😻
After lunch mum retired to the garden and seemed to destroy a perfectly nice buddleia. Still it probably makes her feel better to be able to do something as she seems to have done nothing but talk all morning. 😽
Dad and I did some exercises, including the bleep and booster test. Though he messed up and turned the App off before he had finished!😿
Regrettably dad has decided to improve his piano playing. 😾
Something a bit more philosophical to start today courtesy of Mrs Henderson .
Today I put away my coat, hat, gloves and scarf. I don’t know when I will need them again. It also occurred to me that I haven’t worn shoes since Monday.
The usual things today. Work, gardening advice for Sarah. Here are some flowers that are coming in.
I have decided that I really need to take the exercise thing more seriously and downloaded a bleep test app. I haven’t got a very long garden and if I keep this up will wear out the grass but here goes.
Sal thought this good until I owned up that was over 10 metres not 20!
I finished The Doll Factory by Elizabeth MacNeal. Quite a good read. A Victoriana, Pre Raphaelite tale of obsession and poverty. A bit Dickensian without the endless descriptive prose. Rather predictable but kept me interested to the end.
Today’s LP.
A prog rock classic!
Have a good weekend. Will we be able to tell the difference?
I fear for how tedious this blog may get in weeks to come. I did some school work, though if I’m honest (and I promise I always will be) not much. More gardening. No pictures because no new flowers have come out. Obviously less fewer weeds. There was a bee and a butterfly in the garden. Bit of phoning and messaging. And some reading. I am half way through The Doll Factory by Elizabeth MacNeal. I’ll post a review when I finish it.
We were very fortunate to get two deliveries; a prescription (local volunteers) and some shopping (thank you Angela). I could get used to this or not, though I fear I will have to. And think of poor Charles and Camilla isolated in Balmoral with probably only a wing each. Do you think Charles is working from home by talking to the plants saying, “and what do you do?”
The cats are not social distancing – there was a cat fight in the road. 🙀😹
I did watch Joker.
This is a good film. Joaquin Phoenix’s performance was excellent. His whole physical performance is wonderful and that laugh. More Heath Ledger than Jack Nicholson. The cinematography and whole look of the film was suitably dark and dystopian. Favourite quote, “The worst part of having a mental illness is people expect you to behave as if you don’t.” I give it 7/10 and would recommend it to most of my friends.
A week passes, a long week, a lot has happened and yet nothing has happened, for us in (not so splendid) isolation nothing has changed and yet so much has changed.
I received the dreaded message and am now confined to barracks for at least 12 weeks. Mrs Henderson and I are living separately in the same house = at least 2 metres apart at all times. I will have to get a very long stick.
Here we are at breakfast, lunch and tea.
So a pretty miserable day. Did a bit of skool work and then some exercise.
Nice to do a video call with Sebastian and Jonah. And mum’s much more cheerful now she’s got the new Hilary Mantel.
Luckily, I’m allowed in the garden. And a lovely sunny day too. Here are some of the flowers.
Glorious! Great to see the fritillaries out and the magnolia nearly there.
Today’s LP. Mrs Henderson’s choice. Can’t get near enough for close up on LP. Anybody know it?
What have we learned today? Things can get very boring. Ask the cat – you’ll need to enlarge the picture above. 😾
I was heartened by the number of people who complained about the absence of Day 6.
The thing was I had a bad day yesterday. Suddenly everything seemed so miserable; the statistics were looking worse and this with imploring us not see our mothers on Mother’s Day. To be fair I was never going to see my mother – we’ve never gone for the Mother’s Day thing, it’s a kind of agreement, that’s how we are. But I had planned on going to see her later in the week and then realised that this simply shouldn’t happen for everybody’s health. We’ll probably be in lockdown by then anyway. Which leads me to the other reason for my miserable state.
People! Why can’t people be sensible and selfless? The panic buying, the hoarding and the refusal to socially distance. It really beggars belief.
“On hearing ill rumour that Londoners may soon be urged into their lodgings by Her Majesty’s Men, I looked upon the street to see a gaggle of striplings making fair merry, and no doubt spreading the plague well about. Not a care had these rogues for the health of their elders!” Samuel Pepys Diary, London 1664.
Plus ça change. Just like outside the Co-op!
And I thought what’s the point?
Luckily, I have pulled out of it. Thanks to Caroline (always), Sebastian (so nice to see him on a video call), to Keith (for listening to me moan on the phone), to Sally (for Keith’s haircut) and everyone who said “where’s the blog?”
So, here’s Day 7. And please no sympathetic comments – “are you alright hun?”…
Actually picking up from Keith’s haircut, what will we all look like when this all finishes? This could be me, I fear.
Anyway, it was also a lovely day today. I spent the morning putting the finishing touches to my school work for the week and seeing to school correspondence. Then some gardening.
Current car album.
There are two footballers on the cover. Can you name them? And who is the third footballer? On the vinyl artwork only.
