Penny Blogs

Life seems busier than ever right now! I thought this lockdown thing was supposed to slow down everyone’s lives.

This four day week started with a couple of days with the eldest two here and home schooling them. Day one was fine as I was organised and had a whole plan of things for them to do. By day two I was flagging somewhat and it was all a lot more freestyle. Fitting in a million and one school governor things around their “lessons” proved to be rather trickier. Today they’ve been at their Dad’s and I’m still not sure I’ve managed to get much on my to do list complete as again I’ve been tied up in loads of governor things that need doing. We’ve managed to approve a school budget this week and get on with other time critical things that need doing but the to do list still seems to be growing. Teams has been brilliant for meaning that we can do online meetings at a moment’s notice and it’s been so much easier than just trying to do a conference call or everything via email. I’m hoping all this will calm down next week, but that depends on getting a few things sorted first. Fingers crossed we can.

I’m desperately trying to be more productive with my time at home. At the end of last week I managed to make a sun hat for the youngest with some fat quarters that I had hanging around and using a free online pattern (full post on that soon) and I have also planned a project from a book I already have to use some more fat quarters for a gift for a friend who is expecting a baby very soon. Tonight I’ve gone a step further and actually ordered a sewing patten to make something Harry Potter themed for the eldest’s tenth birthday in June. I fear this might be quite a sewing challenge, but I’ve got to stop putting off challenges like this and crack on and do things instead. I’m scared though! I’ll share the pattern just as soon as it arrives.

Today has also marked me finally getting. paint brush out and painting a wall inside the house. In the two years that we’ve lived here we’ve done far too little DIY and I’m determined to change this. It may only have been a small wall that I painted today, but at least I feel that a start has been made. Now to make sure that I paint another wall tomorrow and keep the momentum up on this.

I also made myself get out of the house properly today and go for a long walk. So many days I just find myself so busy at home that we never get round to it. I need to change that too. I make sure I get fresh air every day in the garden, but I need to push myself a bit more on the exercise front. Especially seeing as I’ve been baking rather a lot lately. I’ve a lovely new biscuit recipe to share soon too.

We’ve been playing a lot more board games here recently too. With a couple of podcasting friends we’ve set up a regular online games session and have so far managed Monopoly, Ratrace and also Careers – the latter of which is possibly one of my favourite vintage games right now. We’ve also mastered how to make these work via Skype – and again I’ll have a blog post up on Penny Plays soon telling you how we do it. Lockdown has seen us teach the kids how to play Ticket to Ride and they are both absolutely loving it. When they’re here a game before bedtime has become a bit of a ritual. They’ve also been busy teaching me how to play Labyrinth which I am loving. It’s sat there on our games shelf for years and for some strange reason hasn’t been played until now.

Tonight we’ve been told that lockdown has been extended for another three weeks. It’s going to be hard work, but actually I’m ok about that. I’m kind of in the rhythm of it all now and there are certain things about lockdown that I don’t mind. Only shopping once a week is doing our bank balance good and I certainly don’t miss the hours I usually spend in the car each day for school runs etc. I miss my friends and being able to take the kids places, but now that we can’t go out anywhere other than a walk it has removed some of that pressure about feeling that we have to do something productive with the kids every weekend that they’re here. That bit of life has definitely slowed down.

It’s also interesting to note that food shopping, and in particular food availability, seems to be getting back to normal too. Supermarkets are increasing their opening hours and I’ve noticed that Sainsburys have reintroduced all their extra Nectar points offers, suggesting that product ranges have returned somewhat. It may only be a small step towards “normality” but it’s a welcome one.

Today I not only left the house, but I actually drove a car and left the town in which I live!

Before someone calls the police, I was doing so under conditions permitted under lockdown. In my case going to collect my kids from their Dad’s where they had spent the Easter weekend. It felt so strange though. A journey that I often do three times a day and yet today the roads felt a little unusual. Just driving a car felt a little strange after three weeks of not being behind the wheel. It’s strange how something you used to do without thinking can quickly become alien.

Today is probably the first day since getting ill that I’ve felt anything like normal again. And it’s a wonderful feeling. It’s been lovey to actually have a clear enough head to sit down and spend a couple of hours going through some school governor emails and getting my head around the end of year financial return and also our budget for next year. It’s not exactly how we were expecting it to look when we started on it. Back then we weren’t expecting our kids to be sent home and the school to be turned into a childcare facility for key worker children. It’s staggering really just how fast things have changed.

It’s been nice having a couple of days to properly recover without the eldest two kids here. I’ve missed them like mad, especially since my eldest has been here for nearly three weeks without a break, but I also needed a bit of time to get well again, and I hope I have now managed to do that. With it having been Easter it was also nice to set them up a little egg hunt in the garden for when they returned. At the end of the day they are kids and it’s lovely to see them back being kids again, rather than being their teacher or answering all their questions about what they’ve heard on the news.

It was also lovely to have them here again this evening and to sit down with them to play a board game before bed. Over the last week they’ve both really got into Ticket to Ride and it’s great fun to play together – even if they did both manage to beat me tonight! I’m hoping that now I feel better we can make board games a regular part of our time at home together. Fingers crossed.

Weirdly, I’m also looking forward to getting back to home-schooling with them tomorrow. On Friday I had a phone version of my son’s parent-teacher consultation and after a few days off I feel ready to tackle the education side of things head on again. I’ve even had chance to get all organised and have their timetable for the day ready and everything printed out. If only I could be this organised every day!

I’ve been rather quiet on here and there’s a very good reason for my silence. Tonsillitis. Because, you know, getting a nasty bout of something whilst there is a pandemic on is a great thing to do.

The last week has therefore seen me laid low with a fever that had me hallucinating for four nights in a row and tonsils that became so big, inflamed and infected that I couldn’t even drink a cup of tea because it hurt so much. Yep – I was that ill that I couldn’t drink tea! For anyone who knows me you’ll realise just how serious this must have been.

The good news is that I’ve turned a corner and am now feeling so, so much better. The NHS 111 online service was fantastic when I finally decided I was ill enough to warrant speaking to someone. I filled in the form and it suggested that I needed to see a GP the same day. As it was a Saturday I was asked if I wanted a call back. I clicked yes and was told that a nurse would call me within 6 hours. Absolutely fine I though. After all, the NHS were a tad busy with far more serious matters. Just three minutes later my phone rang and I found myself talking to a nurse from the local 111 hub. After confirming my identity and me describing the problem she had prescribed some antibiotics and we then spent just as long deceasing which pharmacy it was best to have them sent to. An amazing service at the best of times, but in the current situation incredible.

So the last week has really been spent with trying to get better.

In-between all that I’ve been busy homeschooling and finding out that my eldest two’s Dad could actually have the kids for a while as it turns out that his definition of “self-isolating” was infact a bit selective on whether he was prepared to expose himself to anything his kids might be carrying or that his girlfriend might be carrying… Say no more.

I’ve also mastered playing board games via Skype with friends (expect some Penny Plays posts about that very soon), caught up with some of my WI friends for cocoa one night, watched rather a lot of Waterloo Road and also finally got the sewing machine out again.

In terms of the bigger picture here in the UK. The last 12 days have also seen the Prime Minister in intensive care with COVID-19, the death rate rise to nearly 1,000 death a day and the NHS do some utterly amazing things to support everyone who needs it. New hospitals have appeared in conference and exhibition centres, food supplies seem to be almost back to normal and people seem to have survived one of the nicest Easter weekends weather-wise in years without everyone breaking the lockdown conditions. Personally I’ve not been further than a walk around neighbouring streets in over three weeks, and actually I’m finding I quite like being so local.

As I’ve got better we’ve started some jobs around the house that we’ve been meaning to do for ages, and it feel lovely to finally see some progress being made. There’s lots more to do, but a start has at last been made.

In amongst all this madness my husband has also managed to start a new job. His new employer sent him a laptop ready for his first day and he’s seen t quite a bit of time since then doing online inductions and training, as well as meeting various new colleagues via Skype. All quite strange really, but a relief that he indeed has a job in these uncertain times, and also that he has a boss that actually seems to care about his employees. A nice change to the last job he was in!

So now, I just want to look forwards to things after the Easter weekend. To get things back to “normal”. Well, normal for lockdown and not hallucinating every night!

A short and sweet update today.

Day one of home schooling survived. But I’m going to have to lower my kids’ expectations of their new teacher significantly as I can’t sustain this for months! More on what I have found to keep them amused another day.

Also today – the realisation that I need to find a way to get the toddler fresh air and sunshine every day. The older two can be sent out into the garden for a bit. It’s not so simple with her as she’ll just try and eat the soil and climb the dangerous steps to the patio area. I need to think a bit more about how to achieve this two ensure she doesn’t just have months stuck inside.

And finally lockdown. Good. Too many idiots were thinking the social distancing rules didn’t apply to them. Too many people treated the weekend like a sunny Bank Holiday. Too many bosses (my husband’s included) who think that their work is “critical” when in actual fact they need to get off their high horse and accept that it’s not. Yes, this is all going to hurt many businesses, mine included, but in this case we don’t really have much choice. It’s just a shame that people were incapable of following the social distancing rules and so it’s had to come to this.

The key thing now is going to be surviving lockdown. How to keep everyone sane, still pay bills and also make sure everyone has enough to eat. Balancing educating the kids with keeping them in a safe, loving home. Balancing work with everything that needs to be done when you have a house full of kids 24/7. I don’t think I’m going to have time to be bored, that’s for sure. I just hope lockdown does what it needs to do to keep people safe and not to overwhelm the NHS.