LIFE IN LOCK DOWN - 10 WEEKS IN LOCK DOWN

By tomorrow we will have spent 10 weeks in lock down and even though the lock down restrictions are gradually being lifted, life is no where near getting back to normal. At least for me it isn't. Because I'm 61 years old, self employed in the hospitality industry as a 'meeter & greeter' for visitors to my city who are staying in short term lets, and my main source of income comes from a property that I let out in a so called 'tourist hotspot', I have had no income coming in for the last 10 weeks. I haven't been able to claim any of these so called Government handouts. The property I own in a holiday hotspot is listed as a 'second home' so throughout this whole lock down thing I haven't been able to claim anything. However, if I'd registered it as a 'business' I wouldn't have had to pay council tax and I also would have been able to claim government grants of up to £10,000. But I didn't. So I can't. I'm paying more than £180 every month in council tax and water rates. And for what? I'm not putting any rubbish out in the bins, I'm not using any water, nobody should be going out at night so we shouldn't need to be paying for street lighting, the public toilets aren't open, etc. etc. etc. Are any of us going to get a refund on our council tax? I very much doubt it.

Anyway I must stop ranting. The only thing that has kept me sane during this whole lock down thing is........................... the fact that I am very grateful for the life that I have. Ie, I'm not a single unemployed mother, living on the breadline, with six kids in a high rise flat.

However, when I set out on the 1^st May 2020, to record my thoughts on this blog (every day for 31 days) about random things during the coronavirus lock down, I never actually realised how easy it would be. I like to have little challenges to work towards every month but I actually thought that posting something everyday about my thoughts and feelings, as a 61 year old single female, in lock down for one month might not actually happen because I didn't think that I would have enough to write about. Writing every day has actually made me realise that I have loads to write about. It doesn't matter to me if one person reads what I write or a million people read what I write. I write for ME. I write because that's what I like doing. And if it's online then I'm guessing it's out there forever. A little bit of history in the making.

I'd really love to be 'techy' enough to add photos and links etc etc etc into my writing but at the moment I can't. Perhaps I should use this lock down phase to learn how to do it. But actually, I'm pretty lazy and the weather has been fab recently so I'm quite happy to sit in the sun with trashy magazines.

Anyway I've just found this bit of blurb that I wrote on the 9^th March 2020. (See below). It's not even 3 months later. Who would have thought our lives would have changed so much in such a short space of time? And who would have thought that only two weeks before we went into lock down that I would have thought that Coronavirus wasn't a threat?

Written on the 9^th March 2020

Coronavirus

I seriously have to have a RANT!

This Coronavirus thing is driving me nuts. What is it about everyone that is making them 'panic buy'? What's the toilet roll thing all about? The Coronavirus doesn't affect the bowels. Or the pasta thing? If people are stock piling pasta are they also stockpiling jars of pasta sauce or are they thinking they'll still be able to go out to the shops to buy fresh stuff to go with their pasta. ….........After all who on earth wants to eat plain pasta??!!

I can understand the anti-bacterial hand-wash thing. ….............Actually I don't really understand that either. What's wrong with good old fashioned soap and water?

The media has hyped up this so much it's driving me crazy. Would everyone have gone so mad if we didn't have Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and all the other social media outlets that are encouraging people to go into 'scared mode'?

The world has gone mad!

We live in a very mobile society. Fact! I live in a big city where people from all over the world visit. I work as a 'Meet & Greeter'. Ie, I meet people at short term lets, shake hands with them, give them the keys to the property, show them how stuff works and then off I go. I'm very rarely with them for more than about 5 mins.

However, 0n the 13^th January 2020 I met a very nice Chinese girl. I don't think I'd actually heard about the Coronavirus then. But if I had, I certainly wasn't too bothered about it. Anyway, I helped 'very nice young Chinese girl' up 86 stairs to a top floor flat, because she had the biggest, heaviest, suitcase in the world and I am a very nice meet & greeter there was no way she would have been able to take it up that many stairs by herself. So we huffed and puffed our way up all the stairs. Obviously my hands were all over her suitcase and I also shook hands with her and I was probably in contact with her for more than 15 mins. And did I use the anti-bacterial hand-wash that had been rolling around in the bottom of my handbag for more than a year, after I left? I did not!

Fast forward almost 2 months...................... She could have had Coronavirus and I could now have it. Because 2 months ago no special measures were in place.

To be honest, I don't read a lot of stuff. And I absolutely HATE politics. And for a 60 year old, I'm very fit & healthy so am not in a 'high risk' group. Well I am because apparently anyone 60+ is high risk?? BUT, what I have read and what I have heard is........................ FLU has killed more people than the Coronavirus.

I personally think its the fact that everyone these days has access to 'media scaremongering' and that is what is responsible for blowing this whole thing out of proportion. Yes the Coronavirus is scary, but that's because it's an unknown virus which as yet doesn't have a cure. And yes, it probably will kill a lot of people before a cure is found. But there again so did measles and chicken pox and mumps and scarlet fever and numerous other diseases. And did all this panic buying and stock piling of stuff go on in the first half of the 20^th century, when people were dying of the above diseases? It did not! Because it was just accepted as a way of life and actually there was no way of knowing how much of an epidemic the country was facing. Until one read a newspaper. We might be in the 21^st century but 'natural' disasters will still win every time.

All this 'lock down' stuff and 'self isolating' stuff is not going to work. Coronavirus has spread too much for any of this to be effective. The whole world is in the grip of a contagious disease which, as yet, we don't seem to have a cure for. FACT!

Soooooo........................ in my opinion we should just STOP all this stock piling of toilet rolls and pasta and paracetamol and hand sanitizer and whatever else people seem to think they should be stocking up on.

In my opinion, the people who are doing this are being really selfish. The people who are 'stock piling' aren't the ones who are at risk. The one's who are at risk are the elderly and ill and they don't have the privilege to go out and buy 72 toilet rolls at one time. Only quoting 72 toilet rolls because it popped up on my FB feed that a woman had been spotted coming out of Pound-stretcher with 4 x 18 packs of toilet rolls. WHY?????

I personally, will carry on with my daily life. I will continue working as a 'Meet & Greeter' and I will continue to shake hands with people. Though I have to say I used my hand sanitzer after I shook hands with an Italian the other day. Media hype is driving everyone crazy.

Coronavirus is worrying. Of course it is. But seriously.................. Let's just all get on with our lives.........................

#Lifeisnotadressrehearsal

And now we've almost completed 10 weeks of lock down and the death rate in the UK is the highest in Europe. More than 40,000 DEATHS. That is seriously scary. When this whole thing started we were told that the UK could be facing up to 20,000 deaths??!!  BUT that was more than 3 months ago and  I obviously didn't have a clue how serious this deadly virus was. That's why I love writing things down and looking back to see how I actually felt at the time of writing.

My challenge for the month of May was to write something about my life during the Coronavirus pandemic. I've done that but I actually still have quite a lot to say so I may continue to post my views and opinions whenever I feel I've got something worth saying. Who knows. Watch this space!

LIFE IN LOCK DOWN - WEATHER

One of the major positives about being in lock down for 68 days has been the weather. Apart from the odd few days here & there the weather in the UK has been absolutely fabulous for the last couple of months. And this has definitely been a huge 'positive' in the way we have all lived our lives since we went into lock down.

As you all know, I have a dog, so I have to go out whatever the weather. However as the weather has mostly been really good, I have been walking for miles and miles and miles.

I don't feel guilty about this because I live in a 4^th floor flat and my dog needs to go out for toileting purposes. She obviously doesn't need to go out for a 14 mile walk but actually on my 14 mile walks I very rarely pass anyone closer than 2m (which I would do in a supermarket or in a takeaway queue) and we always start the walk from our front door and end up at our front door.

However, this fabulous weather has good and bad points from the point of view of the nation being in lock down.

The good points are............................. we've all been able to get out in the sunshine for our daily walks. The good weather has encouraged everyone to go out and walk or cycle or jog or do whatever.

The bad points are.......................... people want to sit outside and disregard all the rules. We've all seen the photos of crowded beaches or countryside beauty hotspots that have been filled with picnicking people long before we even moved into the first stage of lock down.

Personally I think that we're all really, really lucky that Coronavirus struck the UK when it did. Can you imagine what it would have been like if we'd entered this lock down phase at the beginning of November. Can you imagine 6 months of lock down pretty much in the dark? At least we entered it at the start of summer and the weather from first thing in the morning until last thing at night has been fab.

Looking back to when we did the first clap at the end of March, it was dark. I remember standing out on my balcony, in the dark, and hearing everyone clapping but not being able to see anyone because it was so dark. And yet by the following week the clocks had gone forward and ever since it's just got lighter and lighter. However, it's less than a month until the 21^st June when we will experience the longest day of the year and then the nights will start getting darker again.

Even though the weather is absolutely fabulous at the moment its almost like the seasons are passing us by. I haven't a clue what happened to April and now we're at the end of May. Will June pass us by in the same way. Who knows.

The weather forecast for the next few days is superb. However this good weather seems to be encouraging everyone to leave their brains at home. When I walked my dog through the park today there were zillions of people sitting around having picnics with zillions of kids who were most definitely not social distancing.

I guess it's hard. I'm a single person. I live by myself. I go shopping once a week. I'm very self sufficient and don't feel the need to go around hugging people at the best of times. I'm not a 'huggy' person. However, today I went to see a friend in her garden. We had a 'social distancing' chat and it was lovely. And I am so grateful that the weather was lovely enough for us to do that.

As I've said above.............................. we are all sooooo, soooooo lucky that the weather has been this fabulous during lock down.

See you all tomorrow.

Toodles.

LIFE IN LOCK DOWN - SOCIAL MEDIA & THE INTERNET

About a week into lock down I had conversation with my sister, who lives about 300 miles away from me and has three kids in their early 20s, all back at home with their mummy & daddy for one reason or another. I said that we were really lucky to have the internet and social media to keep in touch with each other. She said that it was a very negative medium because people/teenagers/children would view the 'so called positive posts' as the norm and would feel that they weren't living up to them.

My sister was concerned that because the internet and social media were posting all these positive posts of mummies doing spectacular things with their kids and making the rest of the world feel inferior, it would impact on the rest of the world who didn't have the same privileges. My reaction was; 'that's life'. There's always going to be people in the world that are richer, happier, live in bigger houses, have a more so called perfect life than you.

However, although social media and the internet may highlight these issues more, they've always been there. There's always been bullying and people who feel they're more important than others. Its just that the internet and social media can do it in a more 'anonymous' way. 'Keyboard warriors'?? Don't you just hate them?

Personally I think that the positives of social media and the internet outweigh the negatives.

In 1987 when I lived in Canada for a year, I had absolutely no form of communication with any friends or family back home, apart from writing letters. The only time that my parents phoned me was on Christmas Day. And to be honest I haven't a clue how much that cost. International phone calls were really, really expensive at that time so to make a phone call to somewhere abroad was only ever used in an emergency or for a special occasion.  

Fast forward to 2020.  My 20 year old neice did one of these 'camp America' placements last year for 3 months.  3 months?!  It's hardly a life time is it? In fact it wasn't even three months because my sister paid about £300 for her to change her flight and come home a couple of weeks early.  Another 3 weeks and we'll have been in lock down for 3 months.  My sister & neice were communicating almost on a daily basis, via whatsapp & Face Book etc, and when my neice told her mummy she wanted a 'care package' (apparently that's a box containing all the stuff from home that she was missing like chocolate) my sister obliged and sent one out.  FFS?!  Kids these days just haven't a clue.  I can just imagine if I'd written a letter to my parents back in 1987 and asked for a 'care package'...............  Firstly, the letter wouldn't have got to them for about 10 days.  And secondly, my parents would have told me not to be so stupid.  There is absolutely no way that they would have 'wasted money' and sent me a 'care box'  containing bars of chocolate.  I was in my 20s and I'd made the decision to live in Canada for a year so once I'd said goodbye to them, that was pretty much it for a year.  Not so today.  And I'm certainly not blaming the kids of today.  They don't know any different.  I got my first mobile phone and email address in 1999 which was the year my neice was born so she's obviously grown up with modern day technology.  But, it does annoy me that kids in their 20s (& even their 30s) don't seem to be able to exsist these days without consulting mummy & daddy on every aspect of their life.  And looking further back in history 14/15 year olds left school and got jobs and were responsible human beings.  Not so today.  Everyone seems to think they're a victim of one thing or the other.  Oh dear, I'm going a bit off topic here.  Sorry.

These days, whatever you think of social media, the ability to easily keep in touch with friends and family all around the world couldn't be simpler. Can you imagine what the last couple of months would have been like for single people if they hadn't had wifi as a form of communication. We can talk to one person online or a group of people. We can instantly see photos and videos of our friends and family. We know immediately what everyone is up to.

However the ability to connect to wifi does not come without it's problems. Over the last couple of months, keyboard warriors as mentioned above, seem to have become a lot more prevalent on certain Face Book pages. I don't know what makes some people behave in such a nasty way when commenting on various posts. I follow a few pages that have been set up in tourist hot spots both at the beach and in the countryside and to be honest some of the comments on these pages are disgusting. Would people really behave in that way if they were faced with making comments to people in real life. I suspect not. We've all read the posts from locals who live in these tourist hot spots telling tourists to stay home and not to visit their areas due to the hospitals not being able to cope with an influx of ill people. And then we get the visitors responding by saying that these communities wouldn't survive without the tourists and because the locals have been so horrible, once this is all over then they won't be visiting ever again. And so it goes on and on and on.

And it's not only these sort of posts that create bad feeling. Because everything these days is done on line it's very, very, easy just to post something in the heat of the moment without actually thinking it through. Indeed I know of one elderly couple who had a visit from the police because one of their neighbours had reported them for having a family member to visit. As it happened, the family member was just dropping shopping off on the doorstep because 'elderly couple' are in the vulnerable group and not allowed out. If the so called nosey neighbour had actually bothered to watch the whole interaction they would have seen this. But no, they see a car drive up, the couples daughter gets out and goes up the path to the house so nosey neighbours just assumed she was going in. And immediately goes on line to report them. And the upsetting thing about all this is that the police are not allowed to tell the couple who it was that reported them, so after living for more than 20 years in what they thought was a friendly neighbourhood, they now don't know who they can trust. If people hadn't had wifi, perhaps they might have taken a step back and actually asked these people why their daughter was visiting.

However I personally see social media and the internet as a positive addition to my life. I for one, would be lost without it, and for me it has been in godsend in these days of social isolation. I guess it all comes down to how you use it. After all, if you're on a social media site and you don't like what's been written, then you don't have to read it.

See you all tomorrow.

Toodles.

LIFE IN LOCK DOWN - CYCLISTS

So how many of you have been for a walk in a park or along a canal path or on a shared walkway with cyclists? I would hazard a guess that a lot of you have.

What is it with cyclists? Why do they think that they can creep up behind you, crash into you and then zoom off without so much as a sorry? And yes I am talking from personal experience. 3 months ago, I really, really wish I had taken a photo of the bruise on my arm made by a cyclists handlebars crashing into me because she hadn't bothered to ring a bell to warn me of the fact that she was about to overtake me on a bike in very close proximity to me.

There I was, walking on a path in the park with my dog. My dog was running around on the grass but I was walking on a path (that was probably wide enough for 3 walkers) when a cyclist just whizzed past me, clipping my arm and leaving a HUGE bruise. ….......And was miles away before I even had time to react?!

Seriously??!! What is wrong with these people?

And since lock down this problem has become much, much worse. It seems like the minute that lock down was announced, the whole world decided to take up cycling and go riding about in places that cyclists in normal times wouldn't even have considered cycling on. Ie, golf courses. Are cyclists even allowed to cycle on golf courses.

This is only my opinion, but as far as I am concerned the majority of cyclists that I come into contact with are very inconsiderate and show absolutely no regard for the other people who may be using the same path. Joggers are a similar. I might rant about them at a later date! If someone is out walking, one has absolutely no idea who is behind you. Bikes on the whole are silent modes of transport so one doesn't know that a bike is behind one unless the cyclist has the decency to ring a bell to warn a pedestrian of their imminent approach.

Apparently during these times of Coronavirus, social distancing should be 5m apart for joggers and 10m for cyclists because of the amount of sweat they generate and the fact that they have a cloud of virus around them and in their slipstream?! Hmmmmmm................. I don't think any jogger or cyclist that has passed me is aware of this information.

I just wish that they would show a bit of consideration and put a bell on their bike. Bells are not expensive. You can buy one on Amazon for less than £1. The bikes these people are riding probably cost thousands of pounds. And if not thousands, definitely hundreds. And yet they don't think it's worth spending £1 on a bell for their bike?

To be honest, I have spoken to 'cyclist friends' about this problem. Their view about 'bells on bikes' is completely different from mine. My 'cyclist friends' say that it is rude to ring a bell on a bike. They say that ringing a bell on a bike is like saying, 'I'm more important than you so get out of my way.' My reply to that would be............................. 'You're going to zoom past me anyway so it would be nice if I could have a bit of warning that you're actually behind me. After all, bikes are pretty silent. They don't make a noise. And also I don't always walk in a straight line (and my dog certainly doesn't). So far all I've had is a bruised arm. If a bike is 'overtaking' me on a narrow path, ie the canal path, it's only a matter of time before either I fall in the canal, the cyclist falls in the canal, or my dog falls in the canal.

I'm all for 'shared amenities' and I think that the cycle routes/walkways are amazing. There's so many fabulous places for me to walk with my dog. But there's got to be 'give and take'??? The cyclists don't own the parks and walkways. They' really do need to understand that a 'shared pathway' means just that??!! SHARED!!

A 'shared pathway' is for everybody. A shared pathway does not mean that cyclists can zoom along it without any regard for anyone else. On a shared pathway there will probably be dog walkers, kids, wheelchair users, mums with buggy's, teenagers not paying attention to anything because they're too busy checking their phones, old people out for an afternoon stroll. And quite a few other members of the community that I can't even think of.

But to get back to 'cyclists'.................. which was what this original post was about. For less than £1 a cyclist could just buy a bell for their bike, and give one little ring when they want to overtake a walker. And then we'd all be a lot happier.

#Whyisthatsohard

See you all tomorrow.

Toodles.

LIFE IN LOCK DOWN - MENTAL HEALTH

Just wondering how you all feel about your mental health in these days of lock down? Mental health seems to be the 'in thing' these days. And by that I mean that since the 1^st & 2^nd World Wars, (when mental health was never, ever an issue, or at least never an issue that was talked about publicly), in today's world, mental health seems to be as important, if not more so, than physical health.

And let me just be clear here. I think that one's mental health is really important. However, I can't help thinking that sometimes 'mental health' issues are just an excuse to allow people to do whatever they want.

During these times of lock down and isolation we're all experiencing feelings that I don't think any of us ever expected to experience in the whole of our lives. (Except for Dominic Cummings of course, who seems to think that he is above the whole lock down and isolation thing. I cannot believe how that slimy little snake thinks that he can do what he wants. Anyway this rant is not about him. I don't even want to give him the time of day.)

Mental health in the UK was a HUGE issue even before lock down started. But now it seems to have multiplied enormously. It's almost like the physical health of the nation has been pushed to one side and the mental health of everybody is more important. Statistics have shown that in the last couple of months the admissions to A&E and to GPs have fallen drastically. I don't know the exact statistics because I haven't bothered to research them and as this is my blog and I'm only writing from my point of view, I don't really feel I need to.

This is not a 'factual' blog. It's a, 'my blog from my point of view', type blog. I'm not looking to make a load of money out of it or attract a load of followers. I'm just trying to record stuff that I feel is worth writing about during my life in lock down. I think it helps my mental health to write stuff down or to have a rant every now and again.

I've googled, 'what is the definition of mental health' and the reply that popped up is: 'a persons condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well being'. Hmmmm............. well that covers a multiple of sins doesn't it?

I personally feel that people's mental health is somehow taking precedence over their physical health, so much so that the TV is now full of adverts urging people to go to hospital or their GP if they have a physical ailment. It would seem that people are too scared to go to their doctor or hospital through fear of catching Coronavirus or fear of being a burden on the NHS because they fear that their ailment may not be important. This lack of visiting a doctor appears to have got so bad that now the latest slogan is; 'if it's urgent, it's urgent.'

Not so with people's mental health. I don't know about you but my Face Book page is full of posts saying that just because a person seems to look OK on the outside, doesn't mean to say that they are not suffering on the inside. There's all sorts of posts popping up about why it may be 'essential' for someone to go out and buy some plants or a tin of paint. Or go out to get a takeaway or a coffee.

And there's loads of stuff popping up saying how lonely and depressed and isolated people are becoming. Apparently suicidal thoughts and self harming are on the increase. Coronavirus is being compared to life during the war. Which in one way it is, but in another it isn't. During the war, mental health (although obviously an issue) was never, ever discussed. It was just swept under the carpet and the soldiers returning from the battlefields with post traumatic stress disorder weren't really given any support. And as for the families that they left behind....................... having to cope home alone with no knowledge of what their husbands/fathers/brothers/sons were experiencing......................... well they just didn't know. They just had to maintain a stiff upper lip and get on with it.

Today we all have to be mindful about other people's feelings and understand that mental health is as important as physical health. Whilst I appreciate all this, I can't help feeling that mental health is being used as an 'excuse' for a whole host of 'rule breaking' during lock down. As far as I'm concerned; we're in lock down. And even though we're now coming out of lock down there shouldn't really be any exceptions to the rules. People shouldn't really be breaking the rules for any reason. Mental health or do. The rules have been made for the good of the nation and as such we should all follow them to the very best of our ability. None of us should be making excuses to go out more than is absolutely essential or to visit relatives/friends because our mental health is at risk. If people can put their 'physical health' on the back burner for a while then surely one should be able to do the same with their mental health.

I have to admit all of this is very hard for me to understand. But that's probably because I grew up in an environment where one didn't talk about one's feelings. I guess that's because I grew up in the aftermath of World War 2 when everybody just had to assume a 'stiff upper lip' and 'get on with it'. As children/teenagers we were never allowed to outwardly show any signs of weakness or insecurity or anxiety, because that would reflect on the family as a whole and how we had been brought up. In the 1960/70s any form of mental health was seen as a real weakness that brought disgrace upon the family. I remember in my late teens going through a very traumatic experience. When my parents found out about it, it was almost like, if it wasn't discussed then it hadn't happened. As far as my parents were concerned it was a subject that I was banned from telling anyone about, because if it had it been openly discussed, in my fathers words, 'the police will get involved and then all the neighbours will know.' I don't blame my parents for this. It was just the way things were back then. And I have to admit this outlook on life only served to make me tougher, and in more than 40 years since this incident, I have always just got on with things by myself and learnt to deal with things by myself.

These days though, everybody seems to think that they're a victim. You get bullied at school/work/on-line; you're a victim. To me everyone's been bullied at some point in their life. Get over it.

An ex-boyfriend or someone else is stalking you; you're a victim. Get over it.

And at this point I will actually say that I had a new bathroom fitted in my house 3 years ago and one of the plumbers started 'on-line stalking' me. Yes me, a middle aged woman. Ie, he started sending me 'inappropriate' texts & messages. I just ignored them and didn't respond to any of them. Why would I? I thought he'd gone away because I hadn't had any communication from him for over a year, but then 3 days ago I received another one asking how I was??? Obviously like all the others I ignored it. I'm not interested in him so why would I even respond to any of his messages. Unfortunately I fear that had I been a teenage girl, I would have answered when he asked, 'If you want me to stop contacting you just let me know and you'll never hear from me again.' As a middle aged woman I just ignored that message as well. As far as I'm concerned if you don't want to communicate with people then don't communicate with them under any circumstances.

I don't feel traumatised by this experience. It's annoying, yes, especially as it's been going on for more than 3 years now. But do I feel like I need counselling to get over it? No I don't. I personally feel that growing up in the 1960/70s has taught me to be resilient and just look after myself. Mental Health wasn't an issue then and it's not an issue for me now.

Oh and just to finish........................ a friends car was broken into overnight a couple of weeks ago. She phoned the police to report it, mainly I think to get a crime reference number for insurance purposes; and was asked if she would like counselling. Seriously??!! Counselling because someone has smashed a window in your car?

#theworldhasgonemad

See you all tomorrow.

Toodles.

LIFE IN LOCK DOWN - THREE WEEKS TO BREAK A HABIT – REMINISCING

Apparently it takes three weeks to break a habit, an addiction, a routine?! I haven't a clue where I read that. But I did. But I don't actually think it's true.

I drink far too much wine. And the 'three week' thing just doesn't do it for me. I constantly regularly drink more than the recommended 14 units of alcohol per week and I would say that about once a year I go without alcohol for a whole month. Just to prove to myself that I can. I do it so that I can tell myself I'm not an alcoholic?!!

I'm a 61 year old single female who has been drinking alcohol pretty much every single evening since lock down began. That's more than 2 months now. But actually that is normal for me.

Apparently the sale of alcohol in the UK has increased by more than a third since lock down. Hmmmmm.......... I think that's only to be expected because after all, all the pubs are closed so everyone is now drinking at home. It's obvious that supermarkets and off licenses are going to be benefiting from all the home drinking that is going on.

BUT does it really only take three weeks to break a habit? Perhaps it does. Perhaps it doesn't. Where do these statistics come from?

I personally, drink far too much wine. I've drunk far too much wine for about the last 25 years of my life. I know I drink far too much wine so every now and again I go for a month without drinking any alcohol at all. As I mentioned above, I do this just so that I can prove to myself that I can. I actually like wine. It's part of my daily life. I love it. But is it an 'essential' part of my life that I should be embracing during lock down? Probably not. But still I add a lot of bottles of wine into my weekly supermarket shop.

But it's not just alcohol. It's cigarettes and gambling and people gorging on cakes and chocolate and takeaways. Apparently the on line gambling sites have seen a massive surge of people registering over the last couple of months. And I have loads of friends, who for some reason, feel the need to go out to get a takeaway coffee from Costa or a doughnut or cake from the local bakery. Is any of this really 'essential'?

Everyone has some sort of an addiction.....................

35 years ago I think I was addicted to coffee. In the early to mid 80s when the most sought after item for a 'yuppie' to have was a 'filter coffee machine'; I had one. And I wasn't even a yuppie. Lol! I was a very low paid primary teacher. I remember my grandparents coming to visit me in my very first flat in 1984 and immediately reporting back to my mother that I was addicted to coffee because I'd been showing off and had had my coffee machine switched on for the duration of their visit. Perhaps I thought it was some sort of status symbol. Perhaps I thought that they would report back to my parents that because I had a coffee machine they would maybe view me as someone who had actually reached the ranks of the professional elite that they always wanted me to aspire to. Who knows??

30 years ago I was addicted to 'aerobics'. I used to attend at least 7 classes a week, sometimes more, and I taught 3 classes a week, (after having trained as an aerobic instructor in the late 80s.) If I missed even one of these classes I was distraught. Looking back I was most definitely addicted to exercise. Obviously at the time I didn't think I was. I just thought I was keeping fit.

20 years ago I was the manager of a hotel and I couldn't wait until the latest edition of 'Hotel & Caterer' came out. I used to devour it for all things relating to my latest choice of career. I was obsessed with the 'hospitality industry' and couldn't really understand how 'my staff' (most of which were youngsters in very low paid jobs) didn't understand my passion.

15 years ago I'd just acquired my first 'rescue' dog and my obsession was 'all things dog related'. Dog magazines, dog training courses, etc. etc.

And now............................. at 61 years of age I just want a quiet life but I know that I am drinking far too much wine. …..............But I don't eat cakes or chocolate or smoke or gamble so I reckon that a few bottles glasses of wine a night isn't really going to do me that much harm is it????

Hmmmm.................... I've just read through what I've written here. Has it got anything to do with 'Life in Lockdown'? Not sure. But there again as I stated on 1^st May 2020, when I decided to post something everything for the month of May; I actually didn't have a clue where this would take me.

Tonight it's taken me on a bit of a trip down memory lane. 'Three weeks to break a habit'? ….........Perhaps today's title is wrong. Perhaps not. I thought about changing the title to 'Reminiscing' because that's what this post seems to have turned into. However even though I've gone off on a bit of a tangent here, I'm going to keep the title as, 'three weeks to break a habit' because I believe that, that is what I have talked about in this post!!!

Actually re-reading it and re-reading it and re-reading it. It has absolutely nothing to do with three weeks to break a habit so I'm going to re-name it.

'Three weeks to break a habit – Reminiscing'

I seem to have broken my 'habit' of drinking coffee and going to aerobic classes and being obsessed with a career in the hospitality industry and training rescue dogs. These 'habits' just seemed to have died a natural death when I moved onto the next obsession/habit to engulf my life.

All I need now is a new habit/obsession to focus on instead of drinking wine?!!

See you all tomorrow.

Toodles.

LIFE IN LOCK DOWN - HAIRDRESSERS

About a month ago it seemed like every news report was reporting that hairdressers wouldn't re-open for at least 6 months. ….........And then all the 'undercover' reports of barbers still working seemed to pop up. Undercover journalists all over the country seemed to be visiting barbers who were still operating and who were apparently charging more than double for their services. These Barbers weren't using PPE or even face masks and apparently didn't have any extra cleaning procedures in place. But still people were flocking to these illicit hair cutting places. Though I have to admit that all the reports that I saw were only about 'barbers'. I've never seen any reports of ladies hairdressers operating illegally.

I guess there could be two reasons for that, in my opinion.

Firstly it probably only takes about 15 mins max to cut a man's hair. Generally speaking they are in and out of a barbers before they even have time to drink a cup of coffee. So................... if barbers are operating illegally the chances of them being caught out are very slim. Let's face it................... If they see PC Plod wandering along the street towards them they can always just ask their client to leave straight away and would anyone in the street be any the wiser? If a man was in the middle of a hair cut and walked out into the street would anyone even notice what his hair looked like?

Not so a lady.

So secondly......................... I think that ladies hairdressers can't operate undercover in the same way as barbers can because ladies spend an awful lot more time at the hairdressers than men do.

Can you imagine going to an illegal operating hairdressers to get your roots done and two hours into your treatment you have to leave because someone has spotted PC Plod strolling along the High Street??!! I think it would be pretty obvious to all concerned,if all of a sudden, a lady walked out of a shop with her hair in foils or wisps of hair sticking out of a cap covered in some sort of hair dye.

Personally I don't really understand why men feel the need to go to Barbers during lock down anyway. Most of the men I know, just shave their heads themselves or get their wives/partners to do it. And I'm not sure that I believe all these reports about Barbers doubling their prices and charging more than £30 for cutting a man's hair in secret. But there again I'm sure these journalists must have done their research. Certainly during the first TV report I saw about this, there was a video (albeit with the faces of all concerned not visible) showing a Barber cutting a clients hair. Hmmmmm.................. can one believe everything that one reads in the news?

For me personally, I think my hair is growing faster than anyone else I know, so much so that I'm actually taking a photo of my hair every week to show everyone how it's growing. And I have to say that it's growing very fast. It's getting longer and greyer by the day.

Don't you just hate all those friends & family that still seem to be able to look immaculate at all times. As far as I'm concerned they all must have very slow growing hair. Or they all have the ability to cut one's own hair because they've watched the many Youtube videos that seem to be popping up all over place telling one how to cut ones own hair. I've watched a couple of these but no way would I feel confident enough to take the scissors to my long greying locks. Maybe I just lack in confidence. Lol!

Oh and just wondering................. has anyone else noticed how 'Nicola Sturgeon' always seems to look perfectly groomed during her daily briefings. Hair immaculate and I'm sure it's a different colour from what it was when lock down first started. I'm pretty certain that she is not stupid enough to visit an 'illegal' hairdressers so she must be colouring and cutting it herself. …...........Or perhaps she's got Frank, her husband helping out.

Not so Boris. His hair is even more of a mess than it normally is. But there again he's so eccentric and talks so much rubbish than I'm guessing that what his hair looks like is the least of his worries.

PS – Does anyone have any reliable up-to-date information as to when the hairdressers will actually open? Don't know about any of you lot, but my hair is certainly getting longer and getting greyer.

See you all tomorrow.

Toodles.

LIFE IN LOCK DOWN - FEELINGS OF INADEQUACY

Does anyone else feel like they're not living up to being a 'perfect person' in these times of lock down?

I am so glad that I'm not a mother because to be a mother in 'lock down' must be the hardest thing in the world.

I have two friends on FB who are mothers. Actually I have a lot of friends on FB who are mothers, but the two who I admire the most are the ones who just seem to be embracing this whole thing and are spending their time creating wonderful memories for their children. I actually saw a post on FB today of one of my friends reading with her child. And in the background she had a white board in the kitchen which contained the family meals for the week. Very nutritionally balanced well thought out meals I have to add. She's obviously talked to her two kids and discussed what they were going to have to eat and no doubt the children get involved in the cooking of these meals. And even though they're very young, they can check the white board (with their mummy's help obv) and know what they're having for tea each day.

Ditto my sister who has her three kids (all in their 20s) back at home living with her. Apparently my sister still plans the weeks meals but my 23 year old nephew has drawn up a timetable for who cooks them. Just how organised is that?

Don't you just hate people who are that organised? I find it hard to organise myself and there's only one of me. However I have to admit to only doing one shop a week. And if I find that there's something that I've forgotten to buy then I just go without. Unless it's alcohol. I can do that because there's only one of me.

But it's not just cooking........................

…...............It's everything. I'm getting a bit fed up with seeing posts on FB/Instagram/Twitter of people who have managed to cut their own hair and are looking immaculate. Or people who are posting that they have lost loads of weight because they have been doing on line fitness classes, and people who have given up alcohol for the duration of lock down and have never felt better, and people who are baking their own bread and cakes and devising new recipes. And people who say, 'Isn't this great, we're making new memories every day.'

Hmmmmmm............We're all making new memories every day. It's just mine aren't actually ones that I want to remember. 2020 for me, so far, is the year, when I spent more than 60 days just talking to myself. It's the year when after just one week in lock down I started to experience the most overwhelming feelings of isolation and despondency. It's the year that I stopped even bothering to put on mascara to go to the shops. It's the year that my hair grew very long and very grey and I didn't actually care because I just tied it up and carried on because after all, who cares what colour or length my hair is.

And when I have a video call with friends, I'm the one who doesn't bother getting dressed up or who doesn't bother putting make up on, because actually just what is the point? You're in your own house. It all just seems to be a bit of an effort. And for what? Just to chat with friends, who should actually love you just the way you are, if they are proper friends.

Being in lock down alone is certainly not a position that I would ever advocate to anyone. Overnight my 'so called choice' of living alone was taken away from me and I was 'trapped' home alone.

I wouldn't say that in these days of lock down that I feel particularly inadequate because I'm actually quite a strong character who has never gone with the flow. I've always just done my 'own thing' and so in some ways life just carries on.

However what I do feel is; unmotivated. I'm annoyed with myself that I haven't actually got the motivation to do more in these times of lock down. But there again I guess everyone is different and we all just have to embrace these differences and get on with our lives. Lock down or no lock down.

See you all tomorrow.

Toodles xxxx

LIFE IN LOCK DOWN - POLITICIANS BREAKING THE RULES

What is it with all these politician who think that it's OK for them to break the lock down rules?

First we had Dr Catherine Calderwood, (the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland) visiting her second home in Fife. How she thought she wouldn't be spotted walking her dog on the beach I don't know. At the beginning of lock down she was on every single advert telling people to stay home. And then she blatantly breaks the very rules that she had been telling the country to abide by. I just don't understand what possessed her to even think that she could go to her second home. Or how she thought she could actually manage to visit her second home without someone spotting her when her face had been plastered across every TV in the country. Unfortunately for her, her position became untenable and she quit on 5^th April. I know she said in a public statement that she deeply regretted her actions, but do you think she really did? As the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland we have to assume that she is a very intelligent person. May be so intelligent that she actually hasn't got any common sense. Or did she just think she was above the general advice that she was dishing out to the nation? Who knows.

And now we've got Dominic Cummings (the top aide to the Prime Minister) thinking that he is above the rules that the rest of the country has to follow. Apparently he drove more than 260 miles from his home in London at the end of March, with his wife and son, to go and visit his parents in Durham. And this is even after he had Coronavirus type symptoms. Unbelievable. And these are the people who are leading our country and setting out the lock down rules of what we can and cannot do.

Apparently they're not the only ones. It has been reported that Nigel Farage (Brexit party leader) travelled more than 100 miles to Dover to film a video about immigration. Reportedly two police officers knocked on his door to talk to him about essential travel as someone had reported him. If the news reports are to be believed this WAS essential travel as he was reporting on the illegal migrant scandal that was taking place. Was this really essential? I don't know. I don't seem to have seen anything much in the news in the last two months except for news about Covid-19. How many people have got the virus, how many people have died from it, etc, etc. I'm not saying that immigration isn't important, I'm just saying that like all other important things that are happening in the world right now, nothing much is actually getting reported.

Then we have Robert Jenrick (the housing, communities and local government secretary) who travelled 150 miles from his London home to his Herefordshire home after lock down had begun. And then travelled a further 40 miles to visit his parents in Shropshire. And yet he was the one telling families cooped up in high-rise flats to stay home!

And of course we've all read about Professor Neil Ferguson (the key government advisor and scientist whose research helped to draw up the lock down rules). He's the one who allowed his lover to come to his home. Like the others, did he really think that he was above the law?

Over in Wales there was Stephen Kinnock (the MP for Aberavon) who travelled from London to South Wales to celebrate his father's birthday. And not only was he stupid enough to do this, he then posted a photo of himself on Twitter with his parents outside their home. Seriously!!!

It really does seem like there's one rule for the politicians and one rule for the rest of us and it's so unfair. These are the people who are running the country and as far as I am concerned these are the people who should be setting a good example to the rest of us. There again what do I know. They make the rules and then seem to think that they can break them. They seem to think that the rules are for other people not them. Or perhaps they think that because they so important and powerful that they are somehow immune to Covid-19. Who know?!!

See you all tomorrow.

Toodles.

LIFE IN LOCK DOWN - ROUTINE

When lock down first begin I read an article that had been written by somebody who had spent a lot of time on a submarine. I can't for the life of me remember where I read this or even who had written it but it was really interesting. Basically it was saying that to survive being confined in isolation in a small space for a number of weeks one had to stick to a routine. Eg meal times at a certain time etc. I think this was because the days become very samey and if you have a routine then you work towards what is happening at a certain time. You just take one day at a time and focus on what is only a few hours ahead, not what is going to happen weeks or months in the future.

I didn't actually think I had any routine to my life until I started to think about what I was going to write in this post.

I own a dog and live in a flat and for that I am very lucky. It means that I have an essential reason to go out twice a day. Every morning after I've showered and dressed I take the dog for a walk and then return home and have breakfast. At some point during the afternoon I take the dog for another walk. And then just before bedtime I'll take her out again for a before bedtime wee. My whole life at the moment seems to be focused around my dog and I truly believe if I didn't have her there might be days that I didn't even bother to get dressed or even get out of bed.

Apart from the dog there is very little in my life that I actually need to do. I go shopping on a Wednesday morning for an old lady and do my own weekly shop at the same time. This has become the highlight of my week. I get to go to a supermarket in the car and then off I go to deliver the shopping to my old lady. I place the shopping bags on her doorstep and then stand back and have a social distancing chat with her. Who would have thought that chatting to a lady in her late 80s for 10 mins would have been the most exciting thing I have to look forward to every week. But it is and I know she likes chatting to me too. It's the only real life interaction both of us have had with anyone since lock down began.

The other thing that I do each week is go out to do the 'clap' at 8pm every Thursday evening. I've never missed a week because I feel it is important to show the NHS and frontline workers how important they are in this crisis. I remember the first time we did this. There I was standing on my balcony in the dark, thinking it was a one off show of solidarity and now we've been clapping for weeks. And it doesn't get dark until about 10pm.

And those things, are pretty much the only routine I have in my life at the moment.

When lock down first started I was full of good intentions to do online fitness classes and certainly for a week; every day at 10am I got changed into my fitness gear and danced around the living room. That came to an abrupt end when it was sunny one morning and I decided to sit outside on the balcony and make the most of the nice weather. Somehow I never got back into the routine of my 10am online fitness classes.

It's the same with all the jobs I was going to do. At the start of lock down I wrote myself a little time table which involved doing a 'job' after my fitness class. It might have been tidying out my wardrobe, or cleaning out the cupboard under the sink, etc. In all fairness to myself, after almost 8 weeks in lock down, I have completed most of these tasks but I certainly haven't stuck to my timetable of when I did them. I've just done them when I've managed to tear myself away from the daytime TV which I seem to be watching all the time.

Ditto the online course that I signed up to do. What better time to learn a new skill then when one is confined to isolation in lock down. Full of enthusiasm I thought I could spend 2-3 hours a day working on this. Hmmmm.................. having not studied for more years than I care to remember, I underestimated the amount of commitment this would take. And at the end of the day I don't actually need any more qualifications. It's not like I'm going to begin a new career at my age. So yes, I'm doing the course and I'm actually about two thirds of the way through it now. But, I'm certainly not studying for 2-3 hours a day and I'm not sticking to a set time when I do it. I just do it when I feel motivated, which actually isn't that often.

I'm sure that sticking to a routine is probably is a good thing to do. I have a single friend who is also 'home alone' and she has certain things that she does on certain days and she doesn't deviate from her routine. Ie, every Monday she does a shop, every Thursday she phones her friends for a catch up, every Wednesday she does her cleaning. She sticks to this routine and woe betide anyone who phones on her cleaning day. She hates not being able to work to her routine and to be honest she seems to be coping a lot better than I am.

However, as I stated above because I have a dog, I pretty much have some routine in my life every day. During the first two to three weeks of lock down I felt incredibly guilty that I wasn't achieving more. Now I don't really care. I've developed a new kind of normal and if that means sitting around watching about 50% more TV than I normally do then so be it.

Lock down isn't going to last for ever, though I do sometimes worry that once this is all over I won't have any motivation left. Will I want to go back to my fitness club? Will I want to go shopping when it really isn't essential? Will I want to put make up on? Apparently it takes three weeks to change a habit. We've now been in lock down for almost 8 weeks. Personally I don't think our lives are ever going to go back to how they were before Covid-19.

…...................And although I'm ashamed to say it...................... I'm getting a bit worried that by becoming a 'lazy slob' that doesn't really do very much all day, then this has become the norm in my life and once we do get back to normal (whatever normal may be) I won't be motivated enough to get out of my 'slobbish mode' and back into my so called normal routine.

See you all tomorrow.

Toodles

LIFE IN LOCK DOWN - GRATEFUL

I am so, so lucky.

Yesterday evening I sat out on my balcony with a glass of wine looking at the most fabulous view that I have from my flat. I don't live in a mansion. I don't have a garden. I don't have any family nearby. They're all hundreds of miles away. I haven't been able to do my normal 'have friends round for dinner & drinks'.

I'm alone.

I'm 61 years old and alone in my flat, by myself, with my dog. I am very grateful to have my dog because she gives me an essential reason to go out everyday.

However I also have a lot of other things to feel grateful for.

I am grateful that I have a lovely 2-bed flat, with a balcony that I can enjoy by myself.  It must be awful to be couped up in a flat this size with a family.

I'm grateful that even though I'm not actually earning any money in these difficult times I have enough savings to survive on. I'm annoyed that because I have 'savings' I can't actually claim anything and everyone else seems to be getting 'handouts' left, right and centre.

I'm grateful I'm still alive.

I am really, really lucky.

I'm 61 years of age and I have no underlying health issues. I can't even remember when I last went to the doctors. I have so much to feel grateful for.

In these times of lock down I really, really, do feel so very grateful for everything that I have in life.

I have to admit that sometimes I struggle with this lock down thing. I struggle because I am alone. I've lived alone for years. BUT my whole life for the last 40 years has revolved around going out to pubs and clubs and restaurants and coffee shops and meeting up with my friends. And now I've been alone for more than 2 months........................

….....................BUT actually.......................... I've developed a new normal for myself. I walk my dog. I shop once a week. I watch a lot of TV. I study on-line. And for all of that I'm very grateful.

Who knows when this lock down thing will end. Will life ever return back to normal? I doubt it.

But there again what is normal? 'Normal' will probably not ever happen for a long time.

'Grateful' is another emotion though and I have to say that I am very grateful for being privileged enough to have a lovely home and enough money to spend lock down in a  comfortable way.

See you all tomorrow.

Toodles

LIFE IN LOCK DOWN - TECHNOLOGY

One of the positives that has come out of this lock down thing is the fact that I have been forced to learn how to use self service check outs. I've been forced to learn how to make video calls. And I've been forced to learn how to watch a live video streaming show that has popped up on my Face Book page.

Before lock down I had absolutely no interest in any of this. If I'm honest I still don't but I've been forced to move with the times.

My local little Tesco doesn't have any check out operators, operating at all. They are only using the self service check outs so I had no choice but to face my fears and do it anyway. In normal times I avoid self service check outs like the plague. Technology scares me. It's like venturing into the unknown and I feel like such a failure because I haven't a clue how it works. I worry that I might press a wrong button and cause the whole system to crash. Indeed on the very rare occasions when I've attempted to use a self service check out before I've failed dismally. I always seem to end up waiting ages for someone to come and rescue me. Or waiting for someone to check that I'm over 18 years old because I'm buying alcohol. So I just don't do it. I'd far rather wait in a queue to be served by a real live person than attempt to use a self check-out. As one of my older friends once said, 'I didn't go to university for three years to be a check out girl.' However as we all now know, it's these supermarket workers that are keeping the country running. It doesn't matter how many university degrees one has, it's the minimum wage key workers that are helping to save lives right now.

Buying self service petrol is another thing I don't do. I never opt for the 'pay at pump' option. I always go into the shop. I'm not quite sure what's happening in petrol stations these days because I haven't filled up my car since 15^th March and I'm not even at the half way mark yet. However having said that, I might always opt to go into the shop to pay for petrol but my 20 year old niece recently revealed that she didn't know how to buy petrol by going into the shop. I don't even think that she realised that that was an option.

Oh and while we're on the subject of buying stuff; I haven't actually paid for anything using cash since lock down began. In normal times I always used to carry cash with me. I used cash if I was out with my friends because we would have a 'kitty' for our drinks and food. And I certainly would never have dreamt of paying for anything less than £10 with a card. I remember once going into Waitrose for some cheese and the hand basket queue stretched for miles so I decided to use the self-service check-out. Scanned the cheese and then couldn't work out where to put the money so had to wait for someone to rescue me. Only to be told it was card only. Seriously??!! Just for a lump of cheese.

For the last 2 months I have used cards for everything. Even when I went into the newsagent to buy a TV mag which cost 65p I used my card. Which brings me to the next problem................. How do you keep track of what you're spending if you don't actually get a paper receipt? Nobody these days seems to want a receipt and the shop keepers certainly look at me as if I'm a bit mad if I ask for one but apart from checking my account on line every 2 mins, I just don't understand how you know what you've spent if you don't get a receipt. I asked my 24 year nephew this question and he said he gets alerts sent to his phone once a week. Hmmmmmm.............. I don't really understand that. I tend to check my accounts once a week but if I didn't have a paper receipt to check off against my statement how on earth could I remember what I'd spent? Especially if I'm using my card for silly little amounts like a 65p TV magazine.

Anyway, moving swiftly on to 'video chats' which is another aspect of technology which I think is very clever but I really don't want to participate in. Because of lock down I've been forced to join in with this craze but to be honest I really don't want to. I may feel differently if I had friends or family in a faraway country or if I'd just had my first grandchild etc but I'm a 61 year old woman who has managed to live for 61 years alone OK obv not the whole of my 61 years and I just don't see the obsession that everyone has with needing to see people while they're having a chat. I hate it. I do it because my friends seem to think it's a necessity but I certainly don't initiate the calls and I have absolutely no desire to learn how to. However, I am now techy enough to answer one of these calls and participate in it. But I'm hoping that once lock down is over and all the restrictions are lifted, I'll be able to go back to having normal phone conversations with friends and be able to meet them in real life.

Lastly........................ live online videos like classes from my fitness club or music gigs. I guess this type of technology is what interests me most because I can just watch it if I want or if I don't then I don't have to.

Having said that, the first time I attempted to do a live online fitness class................. all of a sudden all my friends on Facebook started liking my post and joining in a 'live party' that I had invited them all too. I have absolutely no idea how I'd done that but everyone was commenting on the party that I was hosting. But, I had no idea how I'd even ended up hosting a party. After two mins I shut down my laptop because I got really scared that I'd somehow set up a webcab thing and everyone could see me lying on my living room floor in my Primark leggings and Tshirt. I've been too scared to try any live on line fitness classes again.

However, what I do like, is the fact that one of my friends who is in a band does a live 'sundowners session' from his shed every week. It's fab! And I'm even techy enough to cast it onto my TV from either my phone or Ipad using my Google chrome-cast.

I may not be the most 'techy' person in the world but actually I'm a lot more techy than some of my friends. At least I've been doing online banking for years. I have at least three friends who have never, ever got to grips with the whole online banking thing so now they're finding it really difficult to check their accounts or work out what's going on with their money. In normal times they'd make a trip to the bank every couple of weeks. Until recently I didn't even realise that people still did that. I honestly cannot remember the last time I actually physically went into a bank.

So................. as you can see.................... I am pretty techy after all??!!

See you all tomorrow.

Toodles.