LIFE IN LOCK DOWN - ESSENTIAL TRAVEL

So what would you consider to be 'essential travel'?

I consider 'essential travel' to be; going somewhere that you need to go that you aren't able to walk to. Ie, I actually don't need to go out in the car to do anything for myself. I have lots of local shops where I can buy food. And anything else I need, isn't actually essential.

However I am now doing a weekly shop for a couple of old people who live by themselves and have no local shops nearby. So once a week I go out in my car to a supermarket. I buy groceries for my two old people and at the same time I buy groceries for myself.

For more than six weeks that is the only place I have been in the car. Petrol is at an all time low but the last time I filled up my petrol tank was on 15^th March and it's not even at the half way mark yet.

But more than 6 weeks into lock down and there are definitely more cars on the roads. Are more people going back to work or are more people driving to places. Or is it because places like B&Q are open, so more people just going out?

Personally after 6 weeks in lock down, I still feel that people should not be going out in their cars unless it is absolutely necessary. And from my point of view, 'absolutely necessary', means going out to get food or medical prescriptions. Or going to work if one is a key worker.

It's only my opinion, but I don't actually think that going out to buy plants and paint and other DIY stuff is ESSENTIAL. Yes we all want to make our houses look beautiful and as we're all at home we have the time to do it, but peoples lives are at risk, and will be for quite a while yet. So why risk going out in a car, just to buy a tin of paint and in the process potentially infect, or become infected, by someone else?

This lock down thing is driving us all mad. We all want to get back to normal and do our normal things.

BUT......................... after 6 weeks in lock down.................... a lot of people seem to be living an almost a normal life. And it is sooooooo annoying for the rest of us who are trying to stick by the rules.

Even the buses are busier now than they were six weeks ago. Six weeks ago there was hardly any one waiting at bus stops and all the buses that passed by only seemed to have one or two people in them. Today I walked past a bus stop and there were 7 people waiting. And you can't tell me they were all key workers on their way to work. Two of them were definitely in their 70s, if not their 80s, and I'm sure they were just going to get on the bus and go out for the day for a little jolly. Yes this is happening because I know a couple of bus drivers and they have told me that older people are still boarding buses and sitting on them for a couple of hours or more at a time and not actually getting off or going anywhere. It shouldn't be allowed!

Oh and I walked my dog past one of my favourite dog walking places the other day but didn't go walking there because there were 16 cars parked at the entrance to where I wanted to go walking. It was like nothing had changed. People were driving less than 2 miles to walk their dogs or walk with their families or go jogging. WHY???

THAT IS NOT ESSENTIAL TRAVEL.

If you want to walk your dog or go for a bike ride or a jog or go for a little jolly with your kids; just do it from your home. Go out your front door, do a circular walk and then go home. Seriously.................... every single time you are going out in your car you risk having an accident and putting even more pressure on the already stretched NHS.

FFS just don't go out in your car unless you absolutely have to. Essential travel means just that........................ ESSENTIAL – what part of ESSENTIAL do some people not get??!!

See you all tomorrow.

Toodles xxxx

LIFE IN LOCK DOWN - BOOKS

In these times of lock-down one has to try to experience things that one wouldn't normally do. Like reading books. I've never actually seen the point of reading books. I've never seen the point in joining a book club. Apart from the wine & nibbles of course. Loads of people have tried telling me that reading books can transport you into another life. Or give you an experience that you wouldn't normally be able to experience. Or give you an insight to someone else's life.

Duh.................. I just don't get it?!!

Anyway one day last week I thought, 'It's a lovely sunny day; I'm going to sit on my balcony and read a book.

The only book I had was a booked called, 'Woman to Woman'. …......A No 1 bestseller, written by someone called Cathy Kelly. A friend gave me this book about 6 months ago when I said I was going to start reading books. I always seem to have better things to do than read books, so obviously I never got round to reading this book.

…..........But lock-down does strange things to us. So I sat outside on my balcony and started reading this book. The following day I sat outside on my balcony and read some more of this book. The day after that the weather was still good so I was still out on the balcony reading this book.

After 3 days I was hoping it was going to rain so that I didn't have to sit outside and read this book. No such luck. Day 4 was again a lovely day so I sat outside and read.

I'm now on page 192 and so far all that's happened is; 'Aisling's husband has left her, she's got 10 year old twins to look after so has gone back to work after 12 years. And her friend Jo is pregnant and her boyfriend has left her'. #justnormallifethen

192 pages to say that? I've missed my vocation in life. I could be an author. I could have read all that in 'Take a Break' in 2000 words. …..................And I've still got another 279 pages to read. WTF is going to happen in the next 279 pages if it's taken 192 pages for a husband to walk out on a wife and a single person to get pregnant?

I'm determined to get to the end of this book, just so that I can say I've read a book in the last 50 years. (The last book I enjoyed was written by Enid Blyton??!)!

…........................But seriously? I reckon it's going to take me at least another 4-5 days to get to end of this book.

I know we're in lock-down and one has to experience new experiences, but at what point does one just give up and go back to their normal uncultured life???

I have absolutely no idea why I feel the need to read books when I haven't read a book in the last 50 years. There again I have absolutely no idea why I felt the need to buy chocolate cookie ice-cream two weeks ago when I never, ever buy ice cream.

And at the time of writing this post, I've actually not picked up the book for almost a week. I know we're in lock down but actually I don't care what happens in the next 279 pages. I know I said earlier that I was determined to get to the end of the book. But actually I'm not. What does it matter. Even though we are in lock down why on earth should I do something that I don't actually enjoy? And I don't actually enjoy reading books and I don't think I ever will!

Think I'll just stick to reading to magazines.

See you all tomorrow.

Toodles.

LIFE IN LOCK DOWN - BREAKING THE RULES

OK so we all know what the rules in LOCK DOWN are................

ONLY ESSENTIAL TRAVEL

ONLY GO OUT FOR FOOD/EXERCISE/TO PICK UP PRESCRIPTIONS

DO NOT MEET ANYONE OUTSIDE THE HOME

More than 6 weeks in and a lot of the rules are obviously being broken as far as I can see. This is going to be a very different kind of blog than the ones I've posted during the last few days.

All I'm going to do is post a list of everyone that I personally know who has been breaking the lock down rules in the last 6 weeks........................

1   ME – I own a dog and live in a flat so instead of going out for my one bit of exercise a day I have been going out for a walk twice a day. However I would argue with anyone, that an active little collie pup (or any dog for that matter)who lives in a flat, ….....needs to go to the toilet more than once a day?! And at least I do my shop at the same time and just tie her up outside.

2   FRIEND – Who during the last 6 weeks has been going out numerous times a week, in the car, to buy plants and paint.  Not to maintain anything you understand, just so that she has a little hobby to do during lock down.

3   ANOTHER FRIEND – Who lives alone but who regularly has her adult children around for a take-away at least once a week.

4   NEIGHBOUR – Who is over 70 years of age but still thinks it's OK to go out in her car to an M&S, 4 miles away to buy chicken, even though there's an M&S just across the road but she doesn't like that one. And actually she's in the vulnerable group and I've said I'll do shopping for her.

5    ANOTHER FRIEND – Who thinks that making a special trip to go out to pick up a 'Costa Coffee' is acceptable, even though her husband is in the 'vulnerable group'. And seriously?..................... what is wrong with just making a coffee at home?

6    AN AQUAINTANCE – Who is over 70, but has been to a 'party' in someone else's house 'because it was a birthday'.

7    ANOTHER FRIEND – Who got into a car twice, once with a friend and once with their son. Seriously?!!............

8    AN AQUAINTANCE – Who thinks that sitting in a very small garden with a load of other people less than 2m apart is perfectly OK because it's outside.

9    ANOTHER FRIEND – Who said it was OK for me to walk my dog for miles and then get the bus home 'because the buses aren't busy'. …...........What part of 'non-essential' travel do people not get? Is really jumping on a bus because you get a bit tired on the dog walk is  'essential travel'???

10    ANOTHER FRIEND – Who said, 'The takeaways are open because some people don't know how to cook'??!!  Seriously?????  A lot of us don't know how to cook, but everyone has the ability to shove a ready meal into an oven or a microwave.

............….And so it goes on............................. Everybody is breaking the rules.

I for one just want to get out of this lock down thing ASAP but it's not going to happen 

Buying paint, buying plants, buying a coffee, buying a take-away meal.................. to my mind is NOT ESSENTIAL. ….............But then of course we get all the posts on FB about how everyone's mental health is being affected.

And I totally agree with all that. Yes everyone's mental health is being affected. BUT I also think that we should just all pull together and stop all feeling like victims.

Everyone is obsessed with 'mental health' these days????

Life in lock down is hard for all of us and we all have different ways of coping with these difficult times. So let's all just pull together, embrace it and try to get on with it in the very best ways that we can because I don't think that this lock down is going to happen any time soon.

See you all tomorrow.

Toodles xxx

LIFE IN LOCK DOWN - STAYING IN

OK so we're in lock down. We've been in lock down for more than 6 weeks. We're only allowed to go out for our daily exercise or food shopping or to pick up prescriptions. …...............Or to walk our dogs.

I've just had a video chat with a couple of friends and one of them hasn't actually left her house since lock down was announced. …..........Oh I tell a lie. She did go to the end of her street to post a letter. How can she be happy doing that? How can anybody be happy having no human contact for 6 weeks? She's the same age as me. (61 years old if anyone is interested) and she lives alone, like me.

The difference between us is.................. I live alone in my own flat with my dog so I have a reason to go out. I've lived in six different countries during the 61 years of my life. I've worked in numerous different jobs and I've had numerous different relationships. All of which have failed I suppose. But there again can a 'failed relationship' only be judged on the fact that it didn't end in marriage?

I digress.

My friend lives alone in the house that she was born in. She was briefly engaged for a short period of time, more than 30 years ago, and that didn't work out, so she stayed living at home with her mother, until her mother died a few years ago. And now she is 'home alone' in the only house that she has ever lived in for the whole of her 61 years of her life and has only ever known. 61 years in the same house? I can't even comprehend how someone can live a life like that. My friend worked in the Civil Service since she left school until she took early retirement in her late 50s.

Anyway, I've known her since I was about 12 years old, and along with another friend that I've known since I was about 12 years old....................... we had a video chat.

Even though I've known this very lovely lady since I was about 12 years old, I don't actually know how she spends her day to day life. I know that she is very close to one of her sisters and very close to her niece who lives abroad. Apart from that I have absolutely no idea how she spends her days. To be honest I don't think we have that much in common. I'm a 'social butterfly' and am always out & about in normal circumstances. Because I live by myself and am 'home alone' I'm finding this lock down thing really hard. I HATE it.

However it transpires that my friend hasn't even been out of her house to buy food. It's not even like she's in the vulnerable category. Apparently her very much older sister & brother-in-law do a 'click & collect' thingy and so pick up groceries for her and drop them off on her doorstep. Fortunately the weather has been lovely in April so she's been out in the garden a lot, but she's not been out for a walk or gone out to the shops or gone any where. Apart from to the post box at the end of her street!

How can anybody be happy only doing that?

I feel like I'm in prison but at least I have a dog that I can take out twice a day.

I'm used to going out to my fitness club 4-5 times a weeks and I'm used to going out working and in normal times I usually meet up with friends at least once or twice a week for meals out or drinks. And in normal times I will go to a friends house for dinner or they will come to me for dinner.

I guess it's different for everyone but I don't really understand why she doesn't go out for a walk or go out to do her own shopping. When I asked how she spent her days she said she'd been out in the garden a lot. I agree that we're very lucky because for the majority of the last 6 weeks the weather has been really good. And my friend does have quite a big garden which I'm guessing requires a lot of work to maintain it. But seriously?...................... How can anybody be happy trapped in one house and garden for more than 6 weeks.

Oh well, I guess we're all different and everybody is coping with this lock down thing in different ways. If my friend wants to stay in, who am I to say that she can't?

See you all tomorrow.

Toodles.

LIFE IN LOCK DOWN - COOKING

Is any other single person doing loads of 'batch cooking' all the time because they're terrified of getting Coronavirus and being totally isolated for 2 weeks and not have anything to eat? And not having anyone to deliver food to them. …........And worrying that instead of actually dying from Coronavirus they might actually die of starvation??

My freezer is full. It is full of lasagne and fish pie and chicken curry and pork steaks and Cottage pie and Beef stew. I probably have enough food in my freezer to last me for two months. But the only veg I have in there are frozen peas and some carrots/cauliflower that I shoved in there a week ago because I bought it when I was in a 'healthy I need to eat vegetables mode' and then didn't eat it. …..........Oh and I do have oven chips. They're a vegetable? Right?

I'm going mad! On my list of jobs to do; I want to defrost the freezer. But I can't because it's full of stuff. So I don't actually want to defrost the freezer because I've invested a lot of time, effort & money in doing all this 'batch cooking' because I have somehow morphed into a 'domestic goddess'. And to take everything out of the freezer and let it defrost would probably not be a good plan.

Soooooo................... I buy more and more stuff at the local shops (which are way more expensive than going to a big supermarket once a week). I had a very yummy prawn Biryani curry from M&S the other day. Haven't a clue why? I have three portions of an equally yummy home-made chicken curry which is currently residing in my freezer.

BUT..................... I keep cooking more and more stuff and trying to cram more and more stuff into the freezer. The freezer is now FULL!!!.

Oh and while I'm having a bit of a RANT about cookery.......................... Did anyone else watch the 'Jamie Oliver' programme on Channel 4 at 5.30pm? It's not on any more. Now we've got 'Crafting Kirstie Allsop' which is equally annoying.

To be honest I haven't actually got anything else to do at that time of day and watching cookery programmes isn't my thing; but seriously.................. Jamie was the one who campaigned to get rid of 'chicken nuggets'. And now he's recording cookery programmes from his house with his perfect kids who are always chopping up stuff. The other day he made a stir fry which actually included more than 20 ingredients. How on earth can anyone in lock-down have more than 20 fresh ingredients in their fridge? What normal person even has a fridge big enough to house all those ingredients? Middle class people with that number of ingredients in their massive fridges are not watching TV at 5.30pm in the evening. They're too busy cooking healthy nutritious meals from scratch for their families.

Jamie needs to get back to basics and help the low income families who can only afford chicken nuggets. Times are hard and as usual, it's the families on the very lowest of incomes that are suffering. So come on Jamie................. Why don't you stop all this 'middle class' faffing around and actually show a low income family how they can feed their family healthily and nutritionally for less than a bag of chicken nuggets and oven chips at Iceland cost????????????????

Oh dear........................ I really must stop RANTING but seriously programmes like this really annoy me.

I CHALLENGE you Jamie Oliver to produce a nutritious meal for 4 for £5 or under. And none of this; 'from your store cupboard you can just use olive oil or this herb or that herb'. Families on the lowest income don't actually have anything in their store cupboard. That's why they go to shops like Iceland & Farmfoods to buy stuff like chicken nuggets and oven chips.

I personally just feel that for low income families life is really hard just now. And not just for the main meal of the day. Everyone is at home so that kids who normally will be entitled to free school meals are now eating all their meals at home. How is that working? And how can parents actually afford to feed their kids, especially if they've been working on a zero hour contracts and now have no work?

Just saying.

See you tomorrow.

Toodles xxxx

LIFE IN LOCK DOWN - MEMORY FEEDS

What is it with all these posts popping up on Face Book saying, 'I'm just posting this so that it pops up every year on my memory feed of how life was in 2020?' And then follows a big screed of stuff about how much petrol was and how schools were closed and how everyone was in lock down, etc, etc, etc.

Can I just say that I absolutely LOVE social history, so I can totally understand why everyone is jumping on the bandwagon and reposting these sorts of posts. Obviously we all want to look back on our lives in this terrible time and be able to see what we were doing 20 years ago. BUT actually................... we're living in a digital world. So even if we don't re-post all this mundane stuff on our own timelines it will be out there somewhere in the world of cyberspace.

The price of petrol and the fact that shops were closed and schools/colleges/universities and pubs/restaurants may not re-open forever; will be reported for ever more on all the social media/news sites. We don't need to re-post all this stuff. This is the type of stuff that is going to be re-posted and re-ported in the news for years to come.

If people want to make memories, real memories about their lives that no-one else has access to; or memories about how they are actually living their lives in lock down; then these are the things that they should be recording. Because these are the things that are going to be important in future years.

We all know that schools have closed and in 20 years time we can google how children learned in this difficult time and we can google how much a litre of petrol cost in 2020 and we can google how people went shopping during lock down or how lock down impacted on everyone financially. We've all got 'apps' on our smart phones so that we can fill in a questionnaire every day about how Coronavirus is affecting our lives. BUT actually all these questionnaires are data bases. There is no room for any personal comment or query. Every single question has to fit into a box.

….............And I don't know about anybody else, but my life does not fit into a box!

To make memories in these really difficult times of lock down then we all have to record our own stories. We have to record what we're thinking, feeling, experiencing. Of course we can all add a bit of info into a database but how many databases do you know that actually record thoughts and feelings?

We all have to make our own memories. And, the only way that future generations will actually understand what we are all going through during the Covid-19 crisis is if we all personally record this somewhere.

Yes, a lot of stuff will keep popping up on FB feeds for years to come (& that's assuming FB will weather the storm) but I actually think if we really want to show what is happening in the world right now, then we need to stop filling in all these stupid data based questionnaires that seem to be popping up all over the internet and instead just start writing down our own thoughts and feelings.

Facts can always be googled later. How an individual is feeling right now cannot.

See you tomorrow.

Toodles xxxx

LIFE IN LOCK DOWN - DOG WALKING

So when lock down was announced on Monday 23^rd March 2020, I initially didn't think it would be any great problem. After all, I'd voluntarily gone into 'self isolation' for three days before that. I had food. I had toilet rolls. I even had pasta.

….............And I had a 16 month old collie pup who needed a walk at least twice a day. I had an 'essential' reason to go out. And I was quite happy to go out only twice a day to walk the dog. Oh and a quick trip outside between 10-11pm for her to have a wee before bedtime because I live in a flat.

On the afternoon of the 23^rd March I took my collie pup, for a walk in one of our normal dog walking routes and had a lovely time. The only other people there were lone dog walkers walking their furry friends.

The minute 'lock down' was announced............ psychologically my whole perspective on my life changed. I was no longer free to do whatever I wanted. We were being told that we could only go out for one hour of exercise a day.

I broke the rules........................

…..............On the afternoon of 24^th March I went back to my normal dog walking place (after already trekking my dog around the streets in the morning) and it was absolutely mobbed with people. It was like the whole world was out doing their one bit of exercise a day. Seriously?!

There were joggers, there were cyclists, there were zillions of people walking dogs. It was like, overnight the whole world had gone into some sort of mad exercise mode. Boris had told us we could exercise once a day so everyone was exercising once a day. The PM had spoken so we all had to go out.

Where had all these dogs come from. When did they normally get their walks. Were they normally picked up via the 'dog walking vans' first thing in the morning and transported to places unknown at a vast cost to their owners?

It was weird?! All of a sudden, our normally quiet dog walking routes were over-run with zillions of dog walkers. Oh and I have to say most of them were things that were crossed with a poodle so were some sort of 'doodle' things. And most of them were wearing full body coats. Right down to their paws.

It was ridiculous?! Grrrrr......................

Zillions of poodly/doodly dogs wearing designer coats in our dog walking places. It was an absolute nightmare.

For the first couple of weeks of lock down I just didn't have a clue where to take my pooch to give her some run about time. I couldn't let her off her lead because she was a very bouncy little collie pup and 5 weeks ago still had a tendency to 'jump up' at everybody who she saw. And as all the dog walking routes were now filled with joggers and parents teaching their small children how to ride bikes; I just couldn't risk her doing her 'jumping up' thing every 2 mins. For almost 2 weeks I kept her on her lead, I avoided my normal dog walking places and just trekked her around the streets on her lead. And for the first two weeks of lock down the streets were a lot quieter than the parks?!

And then I had a 'lightbulb moment'........................ if I took her to the parks/dog walking places first thing in the morning (ie before 9am) I was sure it wouldn't be so busy. My theory was correct. Yay! Having said that, there were still a few joggers around and there were still a few families out with little people at that time. But nothing like the hoards of people who descend on these places during the day.

….........So then I went through a phase of taking her somewhere for a 'run about' first thing in the morning and trekking her around the streets on her lead in the afternoon.

Fast forward to almost 6 weeks in lock down and actually........................ I'm loving the fact that I have to be more resourceful re where I walk her. I have found some fabulous new places to walk. Mainly on golf courses, where we have the 'right to roam' in Scotland, but I've also walked around places that I would never even of considered walking around before.

And the best thing about being in lock down from a dog walking point of view...................... my collie pup has become far less 'jumpy'.

'Jumping up' at random people was her worst quality a couple of months ago and I was tearing my hair out as to how I would ever train her to keep all her paws on the floor whilst retaining her friendly nature towards all humans & dogs. Perhaps she's just outgrown this. Or perhaps because there's zillions more people around I'm just able to catch her before she actually jumps and I can reinforce the command, 'No jumping' on a more regular basis. Who knows. She's not perfect yet (and probably never ever will be) but the number of people who are out and about walking certainly seem to have contributed to my collie pup turning into a 'perfect pooch.'

See you all tomorrow.

Toodles. Xxx