Morning all!
Well, the world’s gone mad hasn’t it. I hope you’re all well and taking all the precautions you need to.
I really hope you’re able to too, not everyone gets to hide away from the world, some people have real lives.
Huge thank you to, not just NHS staff who are getting us through this madness but also huge thanks to the shop workers and delivery drivers and everyone else thats occupation doesn’t allow them the reassurance and relative safety of working from home.
In all honesty not much is going to change in my life, I’m very very lucky, my normal is pretty much self isolation.
I see Kim and Michelle occasionally in the week and very very occasionally another friend or two, but a normal week is just me, myself & I.
This is not a sad or tragic thing, it just is what it is, it’s possibly by design. I love people, I really do, I love chatting to loads of people but I’m also very self contained and happy in my own company.
As for seeing people, I did have a lovely lunch planned for 25 friends for Sam and Milly’s engagement on Saturday just gone.
For obvious reasons Sam is very scared of coronavirus, like me he has a very low immune system (a little lasting gift cancer gave us), he has asthma (a little gift his father gave him) and he’s just recovering from 3 chest infections on the bounce.
He felt too exposed and vulnerable to come, and to be honest I’m with him on that.
So without the guests of honour there seemed little point in the gathering.
Unfortunely, I had catered for it before it got postponed (postponed sounds a much more cheerful way to put it don’t you think, I’m hopeful we will be back to a new normal at some stage, preferably after everyone is vaccinated).
So with Milly, Sam and Zak not able to come and a mountain of food to get through, Kim, Matt and the twins and Ben came to help us get through some of it.
I had bought a 6kg joint of salt beef and 40 bagels amongst other things. I’m currently roasting the very large gammon joint I bought for it as I sit typing this, Chris can have sandwiches as he’s home for lunch for the time being.
So while everyone else on the planet was stock piling loo roll and pasta (give me strength! The bottomed community really did let themselves down with that little escapade) I was buying bagels and bunting.
I decided that in light of how fast moving the developments are and the likelihood of wearing this frock out somewhere nice are now zero, I would dress to impress even though there was only 5 of us and none of them cared. The point is I cared, I wanted to look nice, I will continue to want to look nice as we move forward too!
So it was carry on as we had planned, but just in a much much smaller scale. Twenty seven became 5.
My theme was Spring/Love is in the air, so I bought pretty things to adorn the table.
I bought those macaron things, (taste ghastly but look delightful), marshmallows and meringues.
I wanted to feel like Spring had sprung.
Which is what led me to my choice of outfit.
Dress from Ralph Lauren, Shoes from Jimmy Choo
What could feel more spring like than this little number.
Cheerful (much needed in these most stressful of times), comfortable, and in my opinion (the only one that counts really) gorgeous (the dress I mean, not me).
We had a very pleasant afternoon, we got through a fraction on the food. Some has been frozen, some was consumed on the day and the day after and the rest given away to friends and neighbours.
I love food but even I can’t get through 40 bagels.
Some of our guests that had been postponed had bought beautiful cakes for the party, and to save themselves from eating them they very kindly dropped them off.
I was blown away with how thoughtful they had been.
And the added bonus they tasted as good as they look, so thank you Mix & Catie, they were amazing! xx
The girls played beautifully, how lucky to be 2 and half, how lucky to not have all this noise going on. Wouldn’t that be lovely to be blissfully ignorant right now?
Then it was home to bed for them and continue to eat for Chris and I, what? I hate waste! Hahahahaha
Turns out that Saturday was probably our last interaction with other humans in the flesh for a while, I’m glad I made the most of it.
Sunday was pretty much spent how every day for the foreseeable future is going to be ~ at home, in my comfies. :)
I did some house pottering and some garden pottering.
And then I said to Chris we should have a spa day here. I can be very inventive when needed, oh boy that’s going to come in handy over the next few months. Hahahahaha
So we had a wallow in the hot tub, followed by face packs each.
Bikini from Tesco.
Robe & bed socks from The White Company.
Chris popped to Tesco to get some crisps (potato chips) and while he was there he picked up some face masks, I believe he entered and won the worst face mask chooser ever contest!
It remained shiny, dripped all down me and didn’t ever dry as promised, into a “peel off” mask! Hahahahaha
Ok it wasn’t the best spa I’ve ever been to but what else was there to do on a rainy afternoon in Braintree (Essex, not Massachusetts, I wish, I wish!).
We knew new strategies for containing the contagion were on the horizon, but they have come a tad sooner than expected.
(My parents are stuck on holiday in a very locked down Tenerife, with no word from the airlines on how they plan to repatriate them. These are trying times, but I’ve got a friend and fabulous travel agent working on it ~ Jane Sheffield of Travel Counsellors is going to get a big hug when the no physical contact ban is over).
So far Chris and I have had to cancel 3 fancy dinners out, 1 day trip to Bicester shopping, 1 trip to the theatre, 4 fancy days out, a 4 night stay in London and 3 holidays (I’ve had to invest in fake tan for the first time in my entire life, I’m so pasty white and it looks set to remain that way for a fair while).
But do you know what, as disappointed as I am, I’m happy to forgo it all if I can out run corona for as long as possible, I currently have a little sniffly nose, and don’t want anything more than that if I can help it.
I appreciate that over 80% of people will have it either unknowingly or mildly. I get that, I see the numbers, that’s great! And I’m really hopeful and happy for them.
But that does leave the other 20% rather exposed.
So I will gladly stay at home, play indoors and tend to my garden (literally it had to come to a near Planet of the Apes style apocalyptic scenario to get me in the garden weeding) grateful for something to do! Hahahahaha.
I’m also hoping to avoid becoming obese, the early signs aren’t looking hopeful, I’ve put on 4lb since Friday!!
I’ve upped my hand washing, I’m a hand washing germaphobe anyway so my hands are flaking off as I type, I’ve increased my fruit intake, I’m taking extra vitamin C and D and praying by some miracle that means I avoid it.
The latest tiny snippet of info in a void of any more solid info is DO NOT take ibruprofen (Nurofen etc) if you have coronavirus. It’s not known for definite if it makes it worse or not but I’d rather not take the risk.
Hopefully I can get my mum and dad home Sunday, which would only be a day longer that planned, fingers crossed please. x
My personal plan for the near future;
Try and remain calm in a sea of angst, dress for the occasion I was planning on being at, had this bug not got so out of control, and reminding myself that 80% of the population will get through it ok, whilst doing everything I can to protect the most vulnerable amongst us.
I will not hoard food, I do not need to, because even in lock down the grocery shops remain open.
I will not hoard toilet roll, for the same reason as above, and by the way viewers our loo roll is made in the UK and they are making plenty.
I will help other people in a time of need, and I will offer help to those who have been advised to lock down.
My Sam is in the vulnerable category. He deserves to feel safe. We all do. Let’s do what we need to get done.
Look out for local, small business that may well struggle, my friend owns a wonderful restaurant in our village, called 47 The Street, in Rayne.
But with Boris’s vague but highly charged “I’m not banning restaurants from opening but I am highly recommending you don’t go to them” speech they are going to suffer, Same with our wonderful little tea room at the old Rayne Station.
All business will suffer, big and small. The economy is always on a knife edge, sadly.
I work for Neptune in Colchester, I luckily work from home for them, but they need your support in these tricky times too, you could place an order with a phone call to the store, if you didn’t fancy popping out.
So let’s do our best to look after everyone that needs it.
…And if anyone is really that bored, I’ve got a lovely big, straggly looking garden that is still in desperate need of weeding. Just bring your own tools and plenty of anti bac hand gel, and I will stay at least 2 meters away ….let’s face it, you’ll be perfectly safe from me, I’ll be indoors watching Neighbour’s (the tv show, not my actual neighbours, things haven’t got that bad…yet! Hahahahaha).
I spent my morning risking a hernia flare up by moving furniture to new places all over the house.
Very relaxing actually, just switch off from the world, I promise you you won’t regret it.
We are living in a wilderness of mirrors and misinformation.
Let’s try and remain positive, I’m thinking of all the positives that have come my way today that have made me feel happy,
So far mine have been;
1, I’m not poorly
2, I enjoyed my blissful ready peeled orange from M&S
3, I was able to give my neighbour some eggs that she hadn’t been able to get hold of
4, bought ‘ready mixed’ 2 stroke petrol for the hedge trimmer, (who knew that was a thing?)
5, spent time in the garden getting some sunshine on my bones
6, I put fresh bedding on my bed, and can’t wait to get in it.
7, I don’t need loo roll half as much as others…
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I’m still merrily enjoying D mix, if you did want to get some, I believe the voucher code they made for my readers still works.
(I get nothing from you ordering, just happy to share the adventures of my happy little gut).
Use code;
GLADRAGS15
at
wholebeinghealthfoods.com
For 15% off.