Woke early partly because I wanted to try and get the deck completed today and partly because we’d ordered some breakfast pastries from Haddie & Trilby. I managed to collect the pastries without a problem, but the deck still not quite finished.
D also baked some peanut butter cookies so we were well served for sweet treats today.
The decking went well with lots of help from B and F, but in the end we just didn’t have enough time to get it finished. Last week the kids promised to make me breakfast once the deck was finished (to eat on the deck) and it seems a shame to leave it until next weekend for them to make good on their promise so I think we’ll breakfast on the partially completed deck tomorrow!
Woke even later this morning – not until 10. Everyone else was up but they didn’t seem to have got very far with the morning either, so I don’t think I’d missed much.
After breakfast I was determined to get back out and working on the deck, so with the kids helping I measured and cut all the noggings for the deck. Fitting them was a bigger task than I’d expected and took me most of the afternoon. Partly this was because some of the joists were too close together to fit a drill in properly – which resulted in a broken drill bit and me having to put quite a few screws in by hand – which slowed me down. By 4pm I’d managed to get all the noggings in place. Unfortunately I still need to add some additional supports under the joists – so not quite ready to lay the decking boards yet – but almost there.
The kids have been planning me a nice breakfast on the deck once it is finished so they want me to have done it by next weekend!
While I was working on the deck in the afternoon, D took the kids for a walk and also was busy in the garden and discovered a grasshopper on our hydrangea.
We had our weekly quiz with my side of the family later on and then a fry up for tea (thanks to D for that inspiration) and a nice evening watching TV.
I’m vaguely aware of the changes to lockdown going on outside our little bubble (in both senses) but so far they’ve not impacted on us. B definitely needs a haircut and I was going to cut it, but I’m wondering now whether we should try to get an appointment at the hairdresser – but B isn’t keen (because he’s worried about Covid-19) – and while part of me sympathises, it also makes me think it would be good for him to get used to going out again.
Stay safe and stay strong out there especially as we try to adjust to the more relaxed conditions we are living in.
Woke up around 9am but still feeling completely exhausted – which left me quite grumpy for most of the morning. I think the decking project was also stressing me out a bit – despite making a good start last weekend.
I decided to try an origami project to distract me, and while it isn’t perfect I’m pretty pleased with the dragon I made following a YouTube tutorial by Jo Nakashima.
After I’d done that, and asked D to check the weather forecast, I’d run out of reasons not to get on with the decking, so I asked B to come and help me and we got the tarpaulin off and continued to work on the frame.
We spent quite while trying to get the basic frame level in one direction while sloping in the other (so water runs off the finished deck) which means we spent a long time working on it without so much obvious progress. However, by the end of the day, we had got all the joists in the frame.
The plan for tomorrow (assuming it stays reasonably dry) is to put in the “noggings” which are short pieces of wood that run between the joists to add support – we’ll need to fit 14 I think so quite a lot of cutting and fixing tomorrow. I don’t know if we’ll get to the actual decking boards tomorrow – I hope we might at least make a start.
B was a complete star working with me on this – he stuck with it the whole afternoon and really helped me – it was great to work on the project together.
Meanwhile D was doing an amazing job tidying upstairs in the house and getting lunch and tea ready as well as finding time to bake a cake and finish her book – quite amazing.
F was a bit bored I think. Unfortunately I wasn’t really up to having her help me as well as B (having one of the helping is great, having two helping tends to be stressful). F did come outside a few times (she had no interest in helping D tidy up) but spent a couple of hours in the afternoon watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 – she’s currently on a bit of a HP kick having just listened to the Philosopher’s Stone as an audiobook while also reading the Half-blood Prince.
We finished the day with C’s quiz. It might be the last of these as life returns to a more normal pace. C has offered to keep going if people are interested, and I think a few people are – but even in the last few weeks there have been more people missing the Saturday evening as they have other committments and from today people may start spending Saturday evening in the pub again! We’ve really enjoyed the quizzes and very grateful to C for hosting them each week.
Watched a really crappy film with D this evening (trying to be Die Hard in a London multi-storey carpark!) but now feeling tired but pretty happy with what we’ve got done today and much more relaxed than when I woke up this morning.
Woke up around 8 and got up to make tea and to get some bread going (as D had mentioned I hadn’t baked in a while) – I didn’t manage to get it done for lunchtime in the end but we have a loaf waiting for us tomorrow now.
I was feeling a bit lethargic first thing, and so rather than start on the decking straight away I did some more jigsaw and then F and I sat on the sofa and read to each other.
Eventually I worked up the energy to go and tackle the next stage of the decking project. I’ve reached the stage of the project that I find stressful – measuring and cutting and levelling – and I spent a long time trying to position and level paving stones to support the deck frame – it seemed to take forever and by the end I still wasn’t happy I’d got it completely right. Extra stress when it decided to chuck it down with rain – only for a few minutes in the end, but still a rush to get tools and timber out of the rain.
This is where I’d got to by 4pm. It doesn’t seem a lot of progress for several hours of work, but it’s as far as I can go until I get a delivery of supplies (hopefully Tuesday) – and by 4pm I was tired out!
While I was working on the deck, D took F and B out for a walk (they also got caught in the rain) and the kids prepared a quiz for my side of the family in the afternoon.
D made some more progress with the jigsaw – but C, who has the same puzzle, messaged me earlier to say she’d finished it, winning our informal competition to see who would complete the puzzle first. We’ve still got a way to go!
After two days in a row waking early, I slept in today and only woke at 9 – the last to be out of bed (although not by much – no-one was awake before 8).
I felt quite tired this morning, and it was raining (and thankfully much cooler), which gave me an excuse not to start work on the decking project straight away. Instead I returned to a jigsaw D and I started weeks ago but then had not returned to. I decided I’d complete the edges (and I literally just found the last edge piece this moment) and both D and I worked on the puzzle throughout the day.
It was very relaxing to just work on the puzzle for a bit, and hopefully we’ll do some more tomorrow.
Yesterday F was trying to get herself setup to borrow e-books and audiobooks online from the library (she enjoys listening to things but we don’t have a lot of audiobooks so she wants some more variety). Yesterday there was a problem with the online service and she couldn’t get it to work – but happily today it was all working and she got setup and spent some time reading an e-book (Phoebe and her unicorn) and listening to an audiobook (Tom Gates).
Having declared he was going to take a break from his animation/special effects work, B (predictably) changed his mind and did some more work on adding special effects to video clips of his cousins – he’s even managed to teach me a little of how Blender works.
Fs Kung-fu instructor had arranged a call this afternoon to talk about resuming classes. I joined the call, but D and I don’t feel its the right time for this kind of class just yet. I really want to see what happens to all the indicators after the additional relaxation of the lockdown on 4th July – which for me means waiting for at least 2 weeks after the 4th to see what the impact is. Although some of the other parents felt the same as us, some were very happy for the classes to resume as soon as possible – which brought it home to me how varied people are in either their assessment or acceptance of the risks involved.
After lunch the rain had stopped and I had a bit more energy so I decided I’d make a start on the decking. I managed to lay the landscaping weed suppressant fabric, get the gravel down and check the level in anticipation of putting the outer timber frame down (maybe tomorrow if the weather holds). I’m a little limited as to what I can do tomorrow because I’m still waiting for the timber preservative (for cut ends of the timber) and some joist hangers which won’t come until next week.
I’ve done a bit more than this picture shows, but as my mum immediately quipped when she saw the picture, “looks better already!”
In the evening we had our usual quiz and then (after some initial upset) some nice time watching TV with the kids before bed. Hope tomorrow is just as relaxing and productive.
I completely forgot to post yesterday – first day I’ve not posted since 22nd March when I started writing to try to record something of what it’s been like living through this strange period of time. What I’m finding at the moment is that coming out of lockdown is in some ways stranger than going into it.
Yesterday we all went to visit my Mum. The first time the kids and D have seen Mum since February. It was, of course, lovely to see her, but difficult as well because we are still socially distancing and a lot of the time I felt I was having to watch the kids (and to some extent Mum!) to ensure they weren’t getting too close. We also saw E who came to drop something for Mum while we were there – it was really good to see her.
We went on a nice long walk (a little too far for F’s tastes) and had a lovely late lunch in Mum’s garden despite the very changeable weather.
We came back home mid-afternoon and did C’s quiz which was lovely as always and during that talk turned to whether the pubs might reopen soon and Saturday evenings might return to being a time to go out rather than stay in. I’d love to see friends and family properly again but I have to admit I’m not sure I’m ready for a return to socialising yet. I think it’s going to take some time for me to adjust again (just as it took me time to adjust to the lockdown) and I need to find a way of acclimatising myself to this mentally so I can actually enjoy people’s company rather than worrying about the risk. Not sure how though.
Today has been a pretty quiet day. I was up last, but it wasn’t that late. My neck and back had been aching since Friday so D suggested we tried a yoga session she’d found helpful before – so we did some Yoga with Adrienne before we had breakfast. My neck and back haven’t ached all day, so either it worked, or just two days away from my desk is good for me.
For breakfast we had some treats (chocolate almond croissants for me, D & B, cinnamon toast for F) and in the morning the kids made some lovely Fathers Day gifts for me.
After coffee I tackled the front lawn/meadow which we let grow during “no mow May” (I’ve been so dedicated to this that I’ve been not mowing the lawn since the start of the year), and trimmed back one of the plants at the front (at the same time trimming into a cable into our neighbour’s house – which luckily turned out to be out of use already!)
And then another coffee and an origami session with the kids – F challenged me to make a parrot following a YouTube video and I think it turned out pretty well (apart from the beak which I made a mess of).
I really enjoyed this (and another bit of origami inspired by someone from choir and her daughter which I did together with B). I think I’ll try some more origami when I need to switch off from other things.
This afternoon we watched Thor: Ragnarok with the kids, had our quiz with my side of the family and I made spaghetti bolognese for tea followed by sticky toffee pudding – yum!
Finally thinking about my own Dad today. Yesterday while we were with Mum we went to visit the garden of remembrance where his ashes are buried (first time D and the kids have had to do this), and in Mum’s garden she had a metal forget-me-not that was part of a display at Gloucester Cathedral earlier in the year. We never got to see the display at the cathedral (we’d planned to visit with Mum on Mothers Day and then lockdown happened) so it was lovely to see the forget-me-not in her Garden as a memory of Dad.
E sent a picture of some some beautiful flowers she and Mum had picked from Mum’s garden and placed in the garden of remembrance today. It was lovely to see.
I slept much better last night and woke up not feeling tired for the first time in days – which was really nice. F slept late (after a slightly disturbed night) and also seemed to be much more refreshed when she did finally wake up.
I ate breakfast out in the garden, to give me some motivation for my decking project – and then spent some of the day clearing the area where I’m hoping to do the decking.
We had a nice day overall. In the morning D spent some time doing some gardening (clearing lily beetle larvae off her lilies) while I fitted a water butt (hoping to catch some of the rain forecast for this week!). After lunch we all played a game “Head hackers” that the kids got for Christmas last year. I also got some sourdough going which I hope I can bake first thing tomorrow morning.
In the afternoon while I was clearing the area for the deck, D took the kids to the park where they played football which they enjoyed. After that the weekly quiz for my side of the family (set by cousin B this week) – F and I teamed up and won.
In the evening I tuned into “Sing it Loud TV” – a initiative by R (chair of the choir I sing in) to keep a sense of community and fun while we are unable to rehearse together. Lots of people had sent in little videos (including me) and it was lovely to see people.
It’s been an odd day for me. I woke about 7, still feeling absolutely shattered. No one else was awake so I came downstairs to listen to a podcast and went back to sleep on the sofa. I woke again later (maybe 9?) and went back up to bed. and D was awake by then, but I slept a bit more (until 10) when we all got up.
Despite of the extra few hours of sleep, I was still feeling shattered and feeling emotionally fragile. This stayed with me for much of the day and several times during the day I felt like bursting into tears.
D had suggested we go somewhere for a walk but I was still nursing my coffee at 11 and I think she had given up on me doing anything with the day – so she started to get the kids out of the house to do a short walk in Leamington. All F wanted to do was go and play in the playground (the signs saying you weren’t allowed to do this have now been removed) and that was creating some friction – so I suggested to D that she could take them to the playground and then we’d all go somewhere for a proper walk afterwards – this was my own attempt at making sure I didn’t just spend the day moping around the house feeling sorry for myself.
Once everyone else had left the house I had a look for places we could go (and even paid a subscription for the Ordnance Survey maps so I could try to plan a route) but without a lot of success – so instead I got myself ready, filled a couple of water bottles, and went to meet everyone at the play ground – only to find them heading back!
So eventually we decided we should head to Charlecote – where there is a National Trust property with a large deer park and I’d found some other foot paths on the map. We found that the NT property (Charlecote Park) is limiting tickets and only taking online bookings – and they were all sold out for the day – so instead we drove a mile along the road and walked by the River Avon.
It was a beautiful day and we had a really nice walk seeing enough people for it to be nice without so many you felt like you were constantly avoiding them.
I really enjoyed being out, and thought I’d shaken my mood, but when we got back home for a late lunch I felt down again. We had an afternoon of games playing another Unlock card escape room and the Harry Potter SceneIt game that C dropped off for the kids earlier this week.
Rather late in the day I decided that I should bake some bread so we could have hot dogs for tea, which meant eating late – but since we’d been late all day that didn’t really matter. We had C’s quiz at 6 which always cheers me up, and baking (as long as it goes well) often improves my mood – so by the time we sat down to eat (in front of the TV as a treat) around 7 I was feeling much happier and balanced.
After the kids had gone to bed, D and I settled down to watch Blinded by the Light. Its a film, based on a true story, of a British Pakistani boy growing up in Luton in the 1980s who dreams about becoming a writer and falls in love with the music of Bruce Springsteen. For the most part its a feel good movie, and the for children of the 80s like me and D, it was very nostalgic. At the same time, seeing a National Front march in Luton in the 1980s in the film when we’ve seen such similar images from London today was really difficult and it had me in tears that we are still dealing with these problems today. Overall though the film is uplifting and the music – both by The Boss and the other music from the 80s that makes up the soundtrack – is a joy. I’d really recommend.
I’m feeling more settled this evening than I have all day and hope this is a good sign for tomorrow.
After a lazy afternoon yesterday we had an even lazier day today. D and I both slept in and F eventually woke us at 10:20! After a late breakfast D and the kids watched the new Maleficent film (Maleficent: Mistress of Evil) while I listened to some music and generally did very little.
In the afternoon I edited together a video for something the chair of our Choir is planning, and managed to fit one of the water butts I had delivered a couple of weeks ago.
For tea I made Yorkshire puddings and onion gravy to go with sausages – bit success all round (F loves onion gravy, and we all love yorkshire puddings).
This evening was the Bare Necessities music showcase to raise money for a Coventry-based charity (you can donate at Feeding Coventry) – which I’d recorded a couple of songs for. The whole showcase is available on Facebook if you are interested.
Nice day today. I got up about 8am to get some bread in the oven and do a bit of tidying around the side entrance to the garden – because C and N came over for a socially distanced visit in the garden this morning. The weather could have been nicer but it was so good to see them and just sit and chat for a bit. We ate pastries and drank tea & coffee while the kids played in the garden.
In the afternoon we played a game that D had ordered which is an escape room card game called Unlock which was mainly fun despite a few frustrations when we couldn’t solve some of the puzzles – but we got there eventually (although just over time and with a few hints).
We chilled out for the rest of the afternoon, I dozed on the sofa, B worked on a quiz for tomorrow, D worked on a jigsaw and F made a board game of her own which was some kind of energy/food chain based game where you worked up from sunshine through algae, plankton & fish up to human. I didn’t completely understand the rules but we played an enjoyable game where we both seemed to win!
We carried on the lazy theme (and bread based diet) by ordering in pizza for tea and then did C’s weekly quiz which was fun as always (fancy dress was historical figures and so B came as Einstein and F as Alexander Hamilton)
Time for bed now, but a nice day and so nice to spend time with C and N. Stay safe, stay strong x
