Coronavirus Lockdown - Week 3: Part 2

Contd...

Thu 09 Apr 2020: It was really warm today, 21 degrees (grrrr, can’t find the symbol on the iPad keyboard!). Rhys wanted to take a walk to the local shop/Post Office to see if they had any bread rolls, so off we trotted. We’re very lucky to have a Post Office in our village, as I know of other rural Post Offices that have closed in recent years, so we like to give them our custom when we can. Our stroll took us through a small woodland, and the image of garlic bread popped into my head. One; I was obviously getting hungry as it was lunchtime, and two; I realised the garlicky aroma that prompted the image was wild garlic and the white flowers carpeted the ground on both sides of the path. Beautiful white cherry blossom greeted us in our meander, with white daffodils and tulips on the way back. We also saw our first butterfly of the season, a Cabbage White, I think it was. A very white themed stroll. Don’t you just love Spring?

Fri 10 Apr 2020: Yay! Ocado delivery this week, so I don’t have to take the chance of getting infected out shopping. Unfortunately, it looks like it’ll be the last delivery, as I can’t get a slot for love nor money. I may have asthma, but I don’t qualify for delivery slot priority. Apparently, it’s Easter Friday. As we’re not religious in any way, shape or form, without a regular routine, the days blur and we forgot it was Easter. We usually visit Rhys’s folks in Wales at this time of the year, but I’ll miss seeing the banks of daffs nodding their heads in the breeze in this year. 

We watched the final episode of Game of Thrones Season 8. We’ve throughly enjoyed this series over the past few years, but had to wait until every season came out on dvd before watching as we don’t have Sky, so we were always a few months behind. Last year we managed to watch three episodes whilst on holiday in the Lake District just after it had aired, but had to wait until now to watch the rest. I hasten to add that we ended up watching those episodes again. It certainly looks like it’s been set up for one or more spin-off series – gotta keep flogging it as long as it makes money!

Sat 11 Apr 2020: Another unseasonably hot but beautiful day, so we took a wander, OS map in hand, across the fields and found where our local brook joined with another, wider one with a small weir. Lots of burbling and rushing water – good job I went before we set out! I got some good shots of flora and a Lesser Spotted Rhys in willow branches.

Sun 12 Apr 2020: Easter Sunday, but no Easter eggs in this house – too many syns, as oil is added to the chocolate to enable moulding (sad face). Rhys did buy me some lovely Lindt choc bars, so we’ve been making that last as long as possible (happy face!).

Next post will be a weekly roundup, as I keep forgetting to write the blog daily, so by the end of the week I can’t remember what happened at the beginning!

Laters

Shel

Coronavirus Lockdown - Week 3: Part 1

Mon 06 Apr 2020: Wasp season has officially started. We usually get a few jaspers living in the countryside, but last year after the landlord creosoted the wooden boards on the top half of the house, we had an influx of wasps in the bathroom. We’d find them either stuck angrily in the Velux window behind the blind slats (even though it was open) and have to let them out or dead on the floor. A couple months down the line and we were into October and still they kept coming. There had to be a nest in the loft. This was confirmed one day as I was in the bath and heard the dreaded buzzing. I incredulously watched it come in through the window vent, head straight for one of the recessed light fittings and disappear. Blasted things! There’s obviously still a nest, whether it be new or old, so I let the landlady know when I saw her.

Tue 07 Apr 2020: Slimming World day. It helps to let us keep track of what day of the week it is! SW have recently opened a shop on their website and we can now buy Hi-Fi bars. These are yummy, mostly chocolatey snack bars that have a known “syn” value (SW’s unit for anything not fruit, vegetables, pasta, potatoes, rice, lean meat, fish and eggs). I bought 5 boxes - happiness, as we’ve nearly run out. These are our go to treat as we don’t have cake or biscuits in the house as we’re trying to stay on plan, even now. We’ve been doing SW for over 5 years and we’re not giving up now.

Wed 08 Apr 2020: I nearly didn’t make the Zoom chat with the work team at 11:00. I was happily eating a late breakfast and playing a game on the iPad when the reminder came through, but I had time to finish eating, make myself presentable and get set up ready. My boss decided he’s going to run a sweepstake on when the lockdown restrictions will be lifted. I’m being realistic (others call it pessimistic!) and reckon it’ll be at least July before we’re the other side of this, if not later. I hadn’t worked on my werewolf story for a while, so decided to write a timeline plan before I started writing any more, hoping it might keep all my events and characters from straying too far.

More in Part 2...

Coronavirus Lockdown - Week 2: Part 2

The week continued...

Fri 03 Apr 2020: As we had no Ocado delivery this week, I decided to brave the queues and do a Sainsbury’s shop with Rhys as my personal shopper and me with the list directing. The queue to get into Sainsbury’s was about a dozen people, all spaced out at 2 metre intervals via tape on the concrete. We thought we’d be there for a while, but it started to move after about 5 minutes, just as I stepped out of the line to go to a chemist for other items on our list. With me back in line, we all shuffled up with our trolleys, and kept going until it came to us. “Hold up,” the Sainsbury’s guy said. “Only one adult per household allowed in.” I thought I might try the high risk asthma route. My plea, and that I needed Rhys as my personal shopper so I didn’t have to touch anything, didn’t hold sway. He did say that I could come shopping between 08:00 and 09:00 and wouldn’t have to queue as I was high risk, but that defeated the object of not touching stuff! Next time I shop, gloves it is then. Rhys went in, list in hand, and I went to the chemist for other essentials.

I had time to kill, so went for a walk around town as my not-so-daily exercise. There were a few people milling about, keeping their distance from one another, but few shops open; food shops and chemists mostly. All the charity shops, cafes and clothes shops were dark and their doors shut. It harkened back to my childhood when shops were shut one day a week for stock take (pre-computer age). It was strange and sad to see. One bright spark in an otherwise slightly depressing morning’s outing was outside Specsavers, my local opticians, reading their Coronavirus notice (for lack of something better to do as I passed). The manager, Nicky, came to the door, grinning and waving a hello. It put a smile on my face as I waved madly back. They know me well in there as it takes a few tries to get my glasses right when I get new ones. Back at the car, I waited for Rhys in the windy sunshine. He took less than half an hour to shop!

Sat 04 Apr 2020: Saw my first bee of the season whilst putting the washing out. Those I don’t mind as we’ll all be scuppered if they die out and stop fertilising plants. Life would be a lot less sweet without honey. We finished watching two series: Altered Carbon Season 2 and Star Trek: Picard (both sci-fi). What to watch next? There’s a box set of Game of Thrones Season 8 calling to me…

Sun 05 Apr 2020: This was a very industrious, really warm day. I did two loads of bed linen washing and Rhys helped me put it on the carousel (interspersed with dog fussing), washing up and mended a ripped duvet button hole. You know when you keep looking at something that needs sewing and you keep putting it off? Today was not that day! We also repotted my two red flowering succulents. We did it last year and they went mental growing and doubled in size, so I bought larger clay pots and begged some compost from the landlady’s gardening shed. When I say shed, it’s a deluxe triple room aircraft hangar, so plenty of room to keep our distance!

More from my keyboard next week.

Laters.

Shel

Coronavirus Lockdown - Week 2: Part 1

Mon 30 Mar 2020: My good friend, Kay Ellis, emailed me her new novelette to proofread, so I cracked on with that. Jelly-Belly is a continuation of her contemporary gay M/M romance series, so check out her Amazon page if the genre floats your boat (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kay-Ellis/e/B00N6PF8PI%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share).

Tue 31 Mar 2020: Felt really tired today with a sore throat. I suffer from hay fever at this time of year and nothing seems to work for me to combat it, so I have to endure. This time, of course, the question was, “Have I got the Coronavirus?” Time to do the checklist: Temperature? No. Persistent new cough? No. Flu-like symptoms? Hard to tell. The worry is always there though. The evening brought a Slimming World meeting via the Zoom app. It seemed to work well and it was good to chat SW. Anything to try and keep us on track is a good thing. I’m just waiting for the online SW shop to open, so I can order some Hi-Fi bars and the new magazine! And yes, you get excited about little things when your world shrinks and you can’t go out or see anyone in person.

Wed 01 Apr 2020: 11:00 chat with the team at work to see how we were all doing, as most of us were working from home now. It was nice to see everyone and catch up, even though we weren’t allowed to talk about work (because I was on furlough leave – that felt so weird, because these are my work colleagues, not my close friends, so what do you talk about?). A couple of the younger women didn’t want to show their faces sans makeup, so we only had them on audio. Carried on with reading/proofing. It was quiet as Rhys had gone into work. They have a rota system, so they could all keep their distance and still get some work done.

Thu 02 Apr 2020: I managed to get some towels out on the line, so they’d be nice and crisp when dry, just the way Rhys likes them. We had dry and sunny weather last week, but this was the first time this week it had been dry enough. Have I mentioned before how therapeutic I find hanging out the washing? So nice to be outside with the sun on your back, birds singing in the trees, and if the landlady was in her garden, then I would get my doggy fix. Blue came bounding up to me, skidding to a halt as he collided with my legs. Why does he always stand on my toes? The great lovely lump. He’s a Greyhound/Bedlington cross – all long haired fluffy tones of grey and a loving personality. He’ll even try and take your hand, very gently in his mouth, as if to walk along with you. But when you throw a toy for him to get, can he run! Finished proofing Jelly-Belly and emailed it back to Kay - always a pleasure, never a chore.

Continued in next post...

Coronavirus Lockdown - Week 1: Part 2

The saga continues...

Fri 27 Mar 2020: My last day at work for an unknown length of time. I was stressed, but trying to look on the bright side - I’d have time to write! I had calls from both bosses thanking me for, basically, taking one for the team, but that there probably would be more of us furloughed before this was all over. Ts crossed and Is dotted, I turned my PC off and stepped away from the machine. I allowed myself a large whisky that evening.

Sat 28 Mar 2020: Rhys went foraging for food. The fruit and veg stall had taken over the marketplace to ensure social distancing. He went earlier this week so he had a chance of getting bananas, unlike last week when they’d all gone by the time he got there at 10:00. Sainsbury’s was still a bit hellish, especially for him, as he hates shopping. I usually use Ocado to deliver the weekly shop, but found out by chance that the reserved slot I thought I had booked now wasn’t, and the service was no longer available. Ocado hadn’t communicated this in any way – annoying, but not the end of the world as I made sure we were well stocked as usual. I managed to book a slot for the week after, but I do worry about those that don’t have access to online shopping, can’t get out to shop for themselves and don’t have family to help – what do they do? 

We had a role play gaming session booked with friends for the evening, but with the lockdown decided to play a board game through Steam. It took a while to set up as Rhys is a bit of a technophobe (I’m sure he thinks it defies him deliberately!), but ended up having an enjoyable game of co-op Lords of Waterdeep.

Sun 29 Mar 2020: We had run out of SlimmingWorld frozen meals, so decided to brave Iceland (no, not the country, the store!). I hadn’t been shopping since the lockdown and didn’t know what to expect. Luckily, it was Sunday lunchtime and quiet, with about half a dozen customers (including us) and a couple of staff. I kept my gloves on and tried not to touch anything. We all kept our distance and they had marked tape every two metres leading up to the tills, so you knew how far away to stand from the person in front. The woman on the check-out used hand sanitizer after every customer. What more can they do? The sun was shining, the wind was lazy (cut right through you instead of going around, but it was nice to be out.

Week 1 done. Well that was an interesting week, I’ll post more as it happens, even if I am a bit behind! How is everyone else coping/dealing with the lockdown?

Laters

Shel

Coronavirus Lockdown - Week 1: Part 1

I got an email from NaNoWriMo suggesting how to cope with being on lockdown by using writing, and one of the ideas was blogging about it, so here goes (will break it into bite size chunks as it’s a bit long):

Mon 23 Mar 2020: National announcement that the country is in Coronavirus lockdown.

Tue 24 Mar 2020: Mum had been in hospital for several weeks (she’s 87) and got home late yesterday afternoon. I was all set to go and see her, then I get a text from the government saying we were all on lockdown and not to go out unless absolutely necessary. We missed the announcement on the TV, so it was a good job I got the text. I didn’t go. I couldn’t bear it if I was a carrier and gave it to my folks – they wouldn’t survive. My sister texted to say she was OK and happy to be home. It’ll be touch and go if I get it as I have asthma. It was also my man’s birthday today. Rhys got cards and pressies, but I couldn’t get him the jelly and ice cream he said he wanted! His car’s engine light came on (again – fixed once already), so he called the garage, not knowing if they were going to even be open. They were, so we drove both our cars down and I brought him back. It needed a part, but they couldn’t guarantee how long it was going to take to get it. Fun times… not.

Wed 25 Mar 2020: I’d been working from home since Friday; picked up my whole PC and screen and set it back up on the desk at home. It was something I’d been wanting to do for a while. I was enjoying it and feeling a little guilty for being quite content in this time of national emergency. Then my boss calls me and asks me to volunteer to take furlough leave, which basically meant I’d be on 80% salary and not working for however many weeks this took to play out. It was a shock. I had two hours to decide. With shaking hands I did the maths and talked it over with Rhys. I could do it for maybe three months and it’d probably get a bit tight after that. It made sense to ask me; I was already at home because I was in the high risk category and some of my work had already been cancelled due to the Coronavirus. I said yes. I’d been working for the same company for over 18 years and they needed me to help them now, so they wouldn’t have to make people redundant later. It was a no brainer. My main question was, “How long have I got?”

Thu 26 Mar 2020: Rhys was worried he might not get his car back for weeks if the garage closed (although we did have my car) and hadn’t heard from them, so gave them a call. His car was ready, but I had to crack on with work, knowing that I’d either have until the end of the week or the end of the month. When I got the letter from HR, it turned out to be the end of the week. So much to do in so little time. All I could do was make sure what needed to be done got done by someone on the team, with as detailed instructions as possible. All but one of us was working from home by this time and I was worried that my work wouldn’t be covered and I’d come back to a massive backlog. I was assured there was cover and it wouldn’t be too bad, but my boss’s boss was a little too optimistic on timescales, thinking we’d be like this for weeks – I was ready for months. We got Rhys’s car from the garage. It cost him about £300. The second time since December, different fault. Time to get a new car, but it wouldn’t be any time soon.

... Part 2 to follow...

Blinked and missed it...

Seasons greetings!

You know when you haven’t seen someone for a while and they ask you what you’ve been doing and you can only really remember recent events? That’s what it’s been like trying to write this blog! I kept thinking that nothing much has happened in my writing since my last post, hence whilst no new posts, but actually stuff, strangely, has happened! And I seem to have blinked and missed most of the year…

February: Submitted a short to Siren’s Call e-zine, entitled “Party Pooper”, starring the Devil and was inspired by a Shinedown song, Devil. You can find it on page 118:

http://www.sirenscallpublications.com/pdfs/SirensCallEZine_February2019.pdf

May: Our annual trip to Scotland. Researched all things Scottish for my werewolf story. Came home via Ravenglass, Cumbria (and yes, it was a long journey!) for a steam train experience. Wonderful half size steam trains, and lovely people at the Ravenglass and Eskdale Steam Railway, who were ‘a small company making big assumptions’ when they gave us a certificate declaring we were now Mr & Mrs! We said, “Close enough” and let it slide - great day out.

July: I’m privileged to be beta reader/proofer for my friend Kay Ellis and had the pleasure of reading her latest offering, Judge and Executioner. Check it out at:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?i=digital-text&rh=p_27%3AKay+Ellis&s=relevancerank&text=Kay+Ellis&ref=dp_byline_sr_ebooks_1

August: Writing Magazine announced their competition for a dark tale, so I had a crack at a short fantasy story – The Death Gift. It’s set in 1920s Bath and on a steam train (you’ve got to get your inspiration where you can!) about a young lady who inherits an antique necklace with with some inherently dark properties. I was quite pleased with it, although trying to keep it within the 1700 words was a challenge.

September: Birthday gift of whisky blending experience in York. The presenter was the founder of the Whisky Lounge and knew his stuff. An enjoyable and slightly squiffy evening later, we took home two small bottles of our own blended whisky. Nice. Also had lunch at Betty’s (the café to go to in York); caught the Ghost Bus (hilarious theatre-like ghost tour in a black painted double-decker bus – haunted, I’ll have you know!); visited the Cocoa House (gorgeous single estate chocolate) – twice; and had Sunday lunch in the most haunted pub in York, The Golden Fleece (skeleton sitting at the bar and monster Yorkshire puds!).

October: Didn’t make it into Writing Magazine, but tweaked the same story and submitted it to Sirens Call – they liked it and will be published in January, so watch this space!

So there you have, up to date again. I want to write more, but life seems to keep getting in the way… if I made New Year’s resolutions, find time to write would be the one!

Laters…

Shel