Lock down day 100,135....or so it feels

Sunday
Total world cases: 3,554,549-------------------  88,884 increase
Total fatalities:  247,604------------------------- 3,857 increase
UK total: 186,599-------------------------------  4,339 increase
UK Fatalities: 28,446--------------------------- 315 increase

Monday
Total world cases: 3,640,815-------------------  82,266 increase
Total fatalities:  251,816------------------------- 4,212 increase
UK total: 190,584-------------------------------  3,985 increase
UK Fatalities: 28,734--------------------------- 288 increase

So - its Tuesday today - but I didn't update the figures last night - look how the UK fatalities have reduced, I hope it is even lower today!  It is great news - not for the people that still died however, but great for the people still alive that could have been just another number if we hadn't locked down.  The news is always discussing when the lock down will be lifted, and I understand people want to get back to normal - or as normal as it can be, but come on people!!  Don't rush - lets continue to save lives and not go out until it is really safe!!  

I am trying to type one-handed, as one of my cats - mercky is paddy-pawing my arm and licking me as she has done since she was a kitten.  My arms always look a little shredded but its so sweet...

Anyway in the news yesterday the Nightingale Hospital in London - built in the excel centre to take 4,000 patients has stepped down as it is not needed anymore.  I don't think it was ever even a quarter full - they built it all but didn't have the staff to manage it!  But it is great news that its not full of people!  I'm not sure how they predicted we'd need it - we ended up one of the worse hit countries and yet didn't really need it.  I believe this is because they managed to free up so many beds in hospitals.  The doctor staying with us in our annex told me that the hospital is really really quiet because they don't have many covid patients, and there are no visitors allowed in the hospital.  So far from being over run it is eerily quiet.  We are no way near over this nightmare however - and there is fear of a 2nd wave once we all emerge from our houses....

The news is boring - same old stuff....companies losing business (new car sales down 97%), articles about what to expect at work when the lock down is eased (all of a sudden we won't need 2 metres distance between us, suddenly a metre is fine!), there is to be a trial of a tracing/tracking app on the Isle of Wright (to see if you have been in contact with infected people)...who died of the virus that we might know (keyboard player from the Strangles), midwives still delivering babies in the middle of the chaos (the token good news story).....Countries doing well....countries doing badly....predictions....guesses....

So....yesterday - we organised our food and meal plan as we always have to make our shopping last us until the next one....we seems to be saving money as we are not wasting food like we might normally do.  We went for a walk - we did a 5km route that I used to run.  Took a few pics...

It felt today that Andy was feeling low - not surprising considering that we are in the middle of a pandemic, his job is not secure, we can't leave the house or go anywhere other than the walk, we've suffered a bereavement - the world as we knew it has gone, hopefully temporary but who knows what the new normal will be like - it all sucks really.  I kept having low moments too - suddenly thinking about not seeing my dad again...

Groundhog days....the highlight of our day being.....can't think of anything....well...yesterday was saving a mouse from the cats and it looking undamaged (unlike the dead one we found earlier in the day).  We got to the end of Money Heist....that has kept me occupied in the evenings for a couple of weeks.  Have to d=find something else now.  There are other things I could be doing - getting my sowing machine out and making masks, painting in the attic, cleaning....but I am not doing any of these things.  Lost all motivation - for quite a while now!  Not sure how to make this better - when I force myself to do things and not sit around like this....

in my PJ's, unbrushed hair.......I don't seem to get any pleasure from it and it feels like so much effort.

Tonight we are having another quiz night with the kids - that should be good.....sorry - I'm obviously not feeling in a great place right now.....

 

Friday!

Morning!

I had a really bad nights sleep last night - decided to leave my door open so the cats could come in - not doing that again! Periodically one of them would jump on the bed and wake me up by walking over me and at 5am mercky decided to come and sit on my head and purr so loudly! She then decided to paddy-paw on my face and lick my eyelids and my lip!!

My eyes are stinging today, I guess because I didn't get much sleep! I am sat here with a dilemma about what to do today.  I should really be getting the tiles out of the bathroom as I now know that they are not asbestos...or continue to strip the wall paper in the bedroom.  However, I am also wondering if I should go for a run before it gets too hot but its already 10.22....I could also spend the day getting the house clean and tidy ready for the weekend....oohhh what to do.....

I could go and get ready for a run....do a shortish one....then get some work done in the house - and finish early enough to get the house tidy ready for Andy coming home.  That sounds like a plan.....

six hours later

So, I went for a run - 7.4km so not so short...here it is:

So my average time was 6.58 min/km which is quite good for me.   Just before I went for a run Mercky decided to try and climb up my leg...as soon as I looked down, my leg was bleeding! I have little cuts all over my legs as their claws are like little razor blades!!

Anyway, I got back home, and got the quote back from the plumbing/electrics for the annex - I had put £3,500 in the budget, hoping it would be less and it has come back as £6,200.  We don't have £6,200...so that was bad news.  Then I got a call about the asbestos testing we got done the other day on the tiles in bathroom.  He just wanted to check that I'd understood the results.  As it happens, I hadn't because I thought that it said it was not asbestos - but it was!! So - that was bad news too....got to figure out how to get rid of it now!

So, rather than work on the house, I decided to dye my hair and then go out into the garden for a bit. Its so gorgeous, we are so fortunate to have such an amazing house and garden.  Big cat Itsy joined me in the garden...

Underneath the Indian Bean Tree (which incidentally, doesn't grow beans and is not from India)

  

Big Cat (as opposed to one of the kittens) Itsy:

View of the garden (big tree is the Indian Bean tree)

Me messing about sending snapchats to Lissa:

So...now I await Andy's return.  He's caught in traffic so he will probably be a bit stressed and tired.  Hopefully getting back to our awesome house and having the weekend ahead will make him feel better! I am going to go and sit in the garden and give him a call....

xx

The sun has got his hat on...

The hottest April day since 1949! So...decided to do more stuff in the garden.  Actually the gardeners were here this morning...Chloe and Neil.  They used to look after the garden before we moved in - so we asked them to carry on.  This was supposed to be until we got the time to do it - but we'll never be ble to do what they do! They know what they are doing and we don't! The garden is very big - probably 3/4 acre and there are all sort of things growing in it - its amazing in the summer.

Chloe usually nips in to use the loo - and this morning I was still in bed! It was about 9.15am and I felt really guilty about being in bed at that time.  I was awake and on my phone...but still ended up answering the door in my dressing gown!

I had cut the grass yesterday - so today I raked the dead grass up - took forever - I then decided to mow again and go a little shorter, I got about half way through and then the STUPID mower wouldn't start again!! I really wanted to hit it with something...or set it alight....

Let the kittens out in the garden for a bit and they loved it! bit too ambitious though and I thought I would lose them - so had to get them back in and I felt so guilty!

So now...I am not sure what to do with myself.  Andy isn't here and he is not back until tomorrow. It is almost 5pm...so I suppose I can get a shower...then errrrr.  Or, I could rest my legs a bit then maybe go on the running machine for a little bit.

Anyway...not feeling in a great mood now.  Don't like it when Andy is not here and still annoyed about the mower lol.  Here are some pics of the kittens in the garden that will cheer me up...

Mercky (above) and May (below)

below is Itsy stalking May

Tuesday 17th April 2018

Morning!

Well it has taken me a while to be able to write this blog this morning due to this little critter:

She sits on my laptop - or my keyboard when I am on the computer constantly!!  Here she is meowing non-stop.  I took her with me on a hunt for her sister May...and that did the trick - they are now running riot!

My dad just called me - he is trying to sort out doors for the annex.  I thought he was going to get them made by the guy he works for, but it seems he is looking online to buy them.  I've already done that and can't get the right dimensions.  With the house being listed the planning ppl want them to be all the same proportions as the existing doors and its a pain in the butt!! I'm sure with my dads help we'll get them somehow!

So - the day ahead...need to go out buy something for food later, and I've got to start stripping this wallpaper!! Also need to chase David for the quote on the plumbing and electrics for the whole of the annex.  This quote is important - we'll find out if we have enough money or not to do it - or if we have to do some of it and then wait until we have more money!

Laters....