• Feeling: Ready for the weekend
• Listening to: Waiting (by Kian)
• Watching: Great British Sewing Bee

Woke a little earlier this morning, but not much. Found it difficult to get going for work today and hadn’t really achieved much by 10am (D points out that this is normal because Wednesday is such a busy work day for me I tend to find Thursday a struggle).

I did manage to move myself to work at the kitchen/dining table today which F seemed to really appreciate. She did some great work this morning – she is always amazing me with how she uses words in her writing – she just seems to have a natural flair for the poetic both in terms of imagery and in rhetorical devices like repetition and alliteration.

B got on with his work quite happily again and seems to be OK and not overly stressed about work right now which is good. I think the school and teachers are starting to adjust to how they need to set work and how they can do so in such a way that supports the children having a regular timetable of lessons like they would at school.

Both B & F had virtual music lessons as well today – B on piano & F on drums. Bs lesson seemed to go well, although he really needs to practice more – but he knows this and suggested after the lesson that if we feel he needs a break from the screen at any point we should tell him to go and do some piano practice (not sure he’ll actually do this but it shows willing and awareness!)

We’ve been holding back on getting F going with these lessons because she’d seemed to find some of the online lessons & activities difficult to deal with. However, we talked to her earlier in the week to see if she’d be up for these lessons and she was keen. As it turned out – she did find it quite difficult and got quite upset during the lesson – but she kept going with a bit of help, and got through the lesson in the end. She can get very upset with herself when she feels she’s making mistakes but she never lets that get the better of her or show in a face-to-face situation – but with the online lessons somehow her usual coping mechanisms or defences just don’t seem to kick in. Ultimately if she can push through it maybe this will be something that turns into a strength – but it’s hard to see her get so upset when she is doing so well and really doesn’t need to.

Heard from L in Chicago that their lockdown has been extended to at least the end of May now – and I have to admit I can’t see it being any different here – and suspect that’s how it has to be if we are going to keep the situation under some level of control. It’s also very sobering to hear about the need for social distancing to be in place for a long time even after the lockdown measures are relaxed – it’s going to be a very strange world for some time yet.

On a more positive note, another lovely day outside, and a slower work-day meant I got to have lunch outside with everyone – which was very nice. Later in the day F and I played out in the garden with a Star Wars beach-ball – until it got a huge hole in the side. I cooked the kids their favourite spaghetti bolognese for tea and F wanted to eat in the garden, but we haven’t really got anywhere set up for this (I’d originally wanted to put some decking at the back of the house but I never managed to get to it – perhaps it should go on the projects list!)

Cutting the hedge back has either encouraged the birds in the garden or just made it easier to see them, and we’ve all been watching them fly around the garden, collecting material for nests, as well as offer educational opportunities for the kids as they demonstrate the “birds” bit of “the birds and the bees” outside the kitchen window!

I tried to organise the new plants in the pond today – but at the moment it just looks like a really muddy puddle. I hope that the mud will settle and it will look a bit more attractive as the plants establish themselves. D is really the gardener in the house and thanks to her we’ve got some lovely flowers coming now.

Finally got some lovely looking bags of coffee beans from E and family as a late birthday present – can’t wait to try them!

Stay safe, stay caffeinated, stay strong.

• Feeling: OK-to-good
• Listening to: Smoke on the Water
• Watching: Nothing today

I woke even later this morning and didn’t get out of bed until around 8:30. B was also up later than the last two mornings, getting up at the same time, and F was up even later and was shattered (having got to sleep only quite late last night). D, on the other hand, was up earlier than us all again and had spoken to her Dad who has been in India since before the global pandemic was declared.

We obviously did quite a bit of online ordering over Easter as this week we’ve had several deliveries of non-essential goodies. Yesterday we got 250 litres of multi-purpose compost which D had needed, and today I got bags of coffee (from Monsoon Estates near Stratford-upon-Avon), some plants for our nascent pond and most importantly of all some new headphones for me (Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT) which I’m already loving.

The pond plants came a bit late in the day and I’ve only just (in the dark) put them in the (not really very full of water) “pond” (baby-bath buried in the garden). No idea how this is going to go, but it will either work or not I guess! If nothing else the birds have already been enjoying it as a birdbath.

I was pretty busy with work today – online course delivering in the morning, then meetings after lunch all the way through to gone 5:30 with minimal breaks. So my plan from yesterday to try and sit and work at the table with D and the kids a bit more went nowhere – but there’s always tomorrow.

Kids seemed OK today, although not sure how much they got done. I spent sometime showing B how to use Git (a tool used by programmers to help manage computer code as it changes and is updated) this evening and he’s published his first project on Github (a website for publishing code).

It was choir this evening which was lots of fun, and now I’m trying to update a Raspberry Pi computer and get it up and running as part of a project I’m planning.

In the meantime D and the kids did a quiz for Ds family and had lots of aunts, uncles & cousins all on Zoom together with B & F asking the questions – it sounds like they had a lot of fun. Both B and F were awake late though – not sure if they’d been asleep then woken, or if they’d been awake the whole time – could have some tired kids tomorrow.

Stay safe, stay strong.

• Feeling: Headachy
• Listening to: Nothing today
• Watching: Meet the Richardsons

Woke about 8am by which time D had done an exercise video (Davina) and B was already dressed (shirt, tie & blazer) and back at his school work.

F was a bit more reluctant to get the day started (more like me) and woke about 9am. Continuing with the “take it easy” theme she did an Andy’s Wild Workout (CBeebies) instead of Joe Wicks this morning – definitely a more gentle introduction to the day!

F finds breakfast very difficult – she doesn’t really like cereal, gets bored with toast, and getting her to have something is a struggle most mornings. This morning she rejected every option until I suggested a soft-boiled egg (“dippy egg”) at which point she decided she wanted to go “Full English Breakfast” – but since we didn’t have sausages, and didn’t want to open a tin of beans just for her, we settled on bacon, soft-boiled egg & soldiers – although once she’s done with the runny bit of the egg she’s really not interested in the rest.

A bit like me, B is sometimes a bit too easily distracted and prone to procrastination, but is generally happy to get on with his work – and today he worked through Spanish, French, Maths and English (and possibly some others) with no problems. F wasn’t really keen to get started on school work today, and disappeared upstairs to brush her teeth after breakfast and then didn’t come down again – she was back on her bed reading a comic book (Bunny vs Monkey). She agreed to come down and do some work once she’d finished – which she did. F’s school have started to publish some work sheets on their website (which they weren’t doing before Easter) so F eventually got on with the maths worksheet.

D found the whole process of getting F to start work quite stressful – although once F was doing the maths sheet she was very engaged and happy to work through all the questions. D sits at a table with B & F working, while I’m sitting at a desk on the other side of the room – I suspect this makes it easier for me to ignore whether the kids are actually getting on with anything or not (although I’m really good at blanking out stuff around me when I’m focussed on work). I’ll see if D wants to try moving around some days.

Lunch outside again and the kids played nicely outside quite a bit (not sure there were any proper fallings out today). I got on with work, and baked some sour dough.

Then for tea the slightly odd, but successful, combination of lamb burgers, a sauce made from left over barbecue sauce and bolognese and Yorkshire puddings – it was nicer than it sounds (honest) and I was very pleased with my puddings!

Talked to Mum this evening which was nice, tried (and failed) to work out a problem with some code and then watched a bit of TV. At some point during the evening I developed a bit of a headache so just taken some paracetamol and now going to head to bed.

Stay safe, stay strong.

• Feeling: Surprised how well today went
• Listening to: Nothing today
• Watching: The Mandalorian

Got up about 8am, D was already downstairs working and B was having breakfast. It was the first day “back to school” (at home) following 2 weeks Easter holidays, and I was really worried that the kids, especially F, would find it difficult to be told they needed to do school work again.

B decided to get dressed in his school uniform as a way of getting into the school mindset – which I think was a great idea and worked well for him. He seemed pretty focussed all morning and relaxed about his work – which was nice.

By the time F came down at 8:30, B was already working, and F had breakfast then got ready to do PE with Joe Wicks before starting some work. She did a little bit, but I’m not sure was very focussed, and then D persuaded her to give the BBC Bytesize material a go. I was teaching my online course at 10am, so not sure exactly what this was like, but D said it involved Dick & Dom reading George’s Marvellous Medicine and then F spent time going through various Bytesize resources on the BBC website – so I think positive although it sounded like it lacked any structure – so F presumably just picking the things she’s interested in (which is a win I think!).

F also did some work on her website during the day, adding a place where people can post ideas of things to do while in lockdown and was delighted when B left a comment for her 🙂

I was on calls for much of the rest of the day – teaching 10-11, quick break for coffee and then a meeting, a break for lunch and another meeting, with a final hour from 6-7pm on another call. The online teaching seemed to go well and I’ve got two further sessions this week to the same group. I was a bit stressed with the other work today but only because I feel like I’ve fallen a bit behind (having focussed on preparing for the teaching last week).

B & F had online Art class after lunch (which again left F upset unfortunately – she gets very frustrated and sad when what she is doing doesn’t turn out as she wants / thinks it should – I really relate to this as I feel the same often with artistic endeavours – the visions in my head are always so much better than what I seem to be capable of realising). After that they both had online tutoring with Explore Learning – which went well – they always seems to enjoy this and I think the 1-to-1 aspects are a huge benefit especially at the moment – it gives a focus on the kids which they don’t get from anywhere else right now.

I’ve got a plan to try to fix some electronics to the wooden automaton I built yesterday to get sound played as the guitarist moves – hopefully something I can work on with the kids.

So a good first day “back” after the Easter holidays. I suspect it won’t all be plain sailing this week, but I’ll take that for a Monday.

Stay safe, stay strong

• Feeling: Glad it’s Friday
• Listening to: Nothing today
• Watching: Friday Night Dinner

Managed to get up a bit earlier this morning (closer to 7 than 8), and got on with some work first thing, then went to the supermarket to do the weekly shop. Sainsbury’s seemed reasonably busy but I was able to get in and out in around an hour which seemed pretty good going.

The rest of the day seemed to go pretty quickly with work, lunch, work calls 1:30-3 then 4:15-17:15, then tea and more work. Next week I’m delivering what was originally intended as a face-to-face course as an online course, and I’m not yet finished writing it. Instead of a one-day course this has become a mixture of 3 Zoom sessions (one hour each on Monday, Wednesday and Friday), plus self-paced exercises for participants to do themselves with me offering support through Slack (an online chat application). It’s definitely an experiment, but one I’m quite excited about – just hoping the participants get good value from it. Anyway, I’m still not finished writing all the material and so I think I’ll have to spend some time tomorrow finishing that off (to avoid ending up working on my Birthday on Sunday).

We had a Zoom call/family quiz with some of Ds side of the family this evening and then I spoke to my Mum while D put the kids to bed, before we sat down to watch some TV together.

Feeling a bit zonked now and don’t feel like I’ve really achieved much today (apart from coining the word “non-versation” to describe pointless chatter between B & F). Not even got any interesting photos to share 🙁

Stay safe, stay strong

• Feeling: More relaxed
• Listening to: Laundry Service by Shakira
• Watching: Breeders

Another later start, but thankfully this morning I woke up in time to drink my tea while it was still warm. D was already up and working. Surprisingly the kids both slept in and I had to actually get them to get up at 10am – Fs reaction was “I’m already up” (she was reading Harry Potter in bed) while B immediately got upset because he felt he’d wasted the day already (not sure B has quite got the hang of holidays).

I had a good morning work-wise and had a couple of calls over lunch lasting until 3, when I decided to take a break and spend some time with the rest of the family. I had a meeting at 7pm so I wasn’t entirely done with work for the day, but it was really good to spend some time with F, B and D.

We watched the Lego Ninjago movie (our second movie featuring Jackie Chan this week!), and I tried to help B with some code he was struggling with (I say “trying” in that I fixed the problem but it turned out that this made the code work in a way he didn’t want).

K from choir had posted on Fb about making paratha and I thought I’d give it a go as D was making us paneer & cauliflower curry for tea. I watched a load of videos for hints, but broadly followed the recipe and technique in this YouTube video.

The result wasn’t as flaky as I was hoping – but I think I can see room for some improvements (slightly different coiling technique, thinner roll before cooking and cooking slower & longer).

Stopping work at 3 was so much more relaxing and pleasant even though I did another hour later on. I really need to find a way to work this into my day while we are all stuck at home (for at least another 3 weeks based on an announcement today – and lets face it that’s going to be an absolute minimum).

Didn’t go to the shops today – so that’s a treat (not) for tomorrow. But on the up side I’ve just placed an order for lots of delicious pastries with Haddie and Trilby for Saturday morning as an early birthday celebration!

Stay safe, stay strong.

• Feeling: Missing people
• Listening to: Voice of the Beehive
• Watching: Nothing today

Slept much better last night and woke a bit late (D had made tea but it had gone cold by the time I got to it). Spent most of the day on Zoom calls with work calls from 1-5 and then choir 7-9:30.

I managed to get out for a walk with the kids before lunch which was nice – it was so hot and sunny! Unfortunately D had to work up to 12:30 and I had a call from 1pm – so I ended up going with just the kids.

I baked some batch buns for the kids to have burgers for tea, and was pretty pleased with how they turned out (although they got a bit darker on top than I’d intended).

Also made baba ganoush from a sole aubergine we got in our veg box – thanks to @schopflin on Twitter for the suggestion.

Not quite sure what D and the kids got up to in the afternoon – there was a lot of lego over the floor at one point. I should have asked them over tea but I’ve got out of habits that would have been more natural when everyone is out doing their own thing like asking about how their day went – I must try to start asking about their day especially as I tend to get a bit blind to everything else going on while I work.

In the evening E posted a picture of I & R looking through my mum’s window to say hello to her. It made me suddenly miss them all.

Tired all of a sudden now. Tomorrow more work and the weekly shopping trip I think.

Stay safe, stay strong.

• Feeling: OK
• Listening to: Heartbeat song
• Watching: Hypotheticals

I was aiming to get up at 6am this morning and get some work done before everyone else woke up. What actually happened was I woke at 4:20, couldn’t get back to sleep, moved downstairs to listen to the radio for a bit, started to doze off, woken by a random phone call (with seemingly no-one on the other end) at about 5:30, eventually got back to sleep and then woken by the postman knocking at 7am, then finally made tea, took it up to D and then couldn’t find the energy to get up until gone 8am. So not an unqualified success.

Once I managed to get myself working I was pretty productive for the morning and had a couple of productive (but short) Zoom calls. At around 3pm I decided to cut the day short and spend some time with the family. I helped B with a Python install issue on his computer and then watched a kids Jackie Chan movie with F (The Spy Next Door).

F was pretty flaked out today after being awake until past 10pm last night. She was very pleased to get a birthday present this morning (the 7am postal deliver that woke me).

She declared her intention to watch TV after breakfast and then “go to sleep on the sofa”. We let her do the first of these (it is the Easter holidays after all) but drew the line at the second – and she played outside and made a plaster cast volcano she got for her birthday with help from D (who is working half days again this week). Happily this evening she (F) went to bed, and then to sleep, without any drama – she must have been tired!

B spent the day playing around on the computer and reading. He was doing some machine learning tutorial and asking me random questions like “how would you model genetics in a computer game” and “what equations could you use to model the environment” (way beyond my ability to answer) and trying to tackle vector algebra (which I think I only did when I studying undergraduate mathematics) – I don’t know how much he understands (probably more than I realise and less than he thinks) but he seemed to be both engaged and happy with what he was doing.

We had roast chicken for dinner yesterday – which we very rarely do, and it was a revelation for F – she thought it was like having Christmas dinner 🙂 That meant today we had left over chicken stir fried for tea, and I made a batch of stock with the carcass.

Going to go to bed at a sensible time tonight and try to get a good nights sleep. I’ve not left the house since my shopping trip last Thursday, and I don’t think the others have been out for over a week, so it would be good to get out for a walk tomorrow.

Stay safe, stay strong.