Lockdown - week 5: 21st - 27th April

Part of me can't quite believe this lockdown has been going on for five weeks. The time seems to have passed in a daze. I've said it before but the day of the week, and the date of the month are losing meaning; the only real marker being the succession of flowers in the garden. The continuing warm weather still makes me feel that this is a holiday of sorts, which contributes to the aimless drifting of days.

With this in mind, I decided that I'd try to make something a little different for one dinner of the week. This week I tried making my own tapas - tortilla, patatas bravas, pan con tomate, chorizo in red wine and honey, and a cheese and meat board (or plate). It wasn't a total success as the tortilla got a little over-cooked, but as a whole it worked, and it's something that I'd eat out but not normally attempt at home. I even made gin tonico with my birthday Skye gin and  elderflower spritzer, garnished with lemon balm and thyme. I'm now wondering what to attempt for future weeks - possibly something that might pass as pub-grub with an 'all you can eat' salad bar, or 'extras' such as pickles and naan bread with curry.






I'm going to need to plan ahead for this when shopping but I'm now finding that although it may still be tricky to get a supermarket delivery (slots are sensibly being saved for the most vulnerable) it's comparatively easy to click and collect. This feels a safer, less exposed option than actual in-store shopping so Friday saw us heading off to top up supplies. Unfortunately the treats - chocolates and crisps - went a little rapidly, and we were soon down to 'proper' food.

I have a tendency to binge-eat like this at the best of times and lockdown has made that worse. At the end of Week 4, I looked at the scales and realised how easily and quickly I'm putting weight on, and decided I should do something to change my habits. I can't quite say I've been dieting, but I have started to watch how much I'm eating, and at least this week I haven't put more weight on (which counts as a result)

I've discovered online jigsaws - and yes, without a bit of caution, I could become hooked. As the pieces lock together they make an extremely satisfying 'click', so there's no change of putting a wrong piece in, and the monotonous sections such as sky are completed much easier than with a physical jigsaw.

I've finished a hat to go with my new rainbow scarf, finished a couple of weeks ago. Actually it's the second hat I've made, as the first was strange. I tried to use the scarf pattern but it looked like something a flower fairy might wear, so I unraveled the yarn, and knitted it up as a plain hat.



It's been another busy 'out and about' week, with livestreamed gigs and theatre.
Thursday - gig round at Frank Turner's, raising money for independent music venues, followed by Bruce Springsteen's segment from the Jersey4Jersey benefit.
Friday - Twelfth Night from National Theatre Live - brilliant and funny interpretation, and Tamsin Greig's Malvolia was wonderful. I followed it with Friday Night Dinner just to see her in something totally different.
Saturday - Bustival livestream festival, organised by Vans for Bands who are raising funds to supply their tour buses as rest and accommodation facilities for doctors and nurses. You can find more details on their FB page and a link to the crowdfunder here. I didn't attempt to catch all of the acts, just Mark Evans (with a Young Rebel set), Frank Turner (again), Will Varley, and Skinny Lister (with month old baby)
Monday - Sean McGowan livestream gig, followed by a trip to the theatre, this time for a RSC production of Macbeth starring Christopher Eccleston and Niamh Cusack




It's not been all fun though as recent news has reported that 'disruptive social distancing' is likely to the end of the year, and anyone over 60 ought to be considered high risk. For now things are manageable but I'm beginning to wonder what my situation might be in a few months, and whether I'll be able to see my daughters, especially if they're no longer working from home but mixing with other people in an office. Worrying, of course, won't make any difference so I'm trying to still take
each day/week one at a time; potter in the garden, sit in the sun, and try to enjoy this weird time.

Lockdown - Week 4: 14th- 20th April

Week four of the lockdown was another glorious time weather-wise, and I'm starting to behave  as if this were just some odd sort of holiday. Yes, there's still housework to do, but that's less important when there's no one else to see how clean and tidy - or not - the house is. There's still gardening, but the mad dash to sow vegetables that always comes at the end of March has passed, and things are quieter. Nothing seems to have much urgency to it, and the sun's been shining most of the time, so there's a great temptation to just sit and watch the flowers open - and that's what I've done for much of the week.








After a few days of this though, rain arrived on Saturday, and I roamed the house looking for something to occupy myself with. I ended up tackling the ironing pile, and then making rhubarb muffins.


I've started to sort through and use up the weird odds and ends in the freezer, which resulted in some odd dinners - an intended pork goulash had to quickly change into moussaka when I discovered the de-frosted cubes of meat were actually lamb, and I've discovered that a small piece of kipper goes a long way flavour-wise in risotto.








Thanks to all the on-line streaming of shows, I've had a couple of 'nights out' - Treasure Island from National Theatre Live, The Phantom of the Opera, one of Andrew Lloyd Webber's productions on The Shows Must Go On YouTube channel , and Romeo and Juliet from The Globe Theatre. I'm really looking forward to these each week. I've had doubts in the past about 'filmed theatre' but I've really enjoyed these broadcasts from The Globe and National Theatre Live and after the first few minutes forgotten that I wasn't actually in the theatre. The Phantom didn't appeal to me as much, but musicals aren't really my 'thing'.



I've even been out in real life this week, to see the bluebells in our local wood. Even at seven on a Sunday evening some of the paths felt uncomfortably crowded, so there was a constant battle between enjoying being out and wanting to get home.

Having the lockdown extended for three more weeks came as no surprise, but by weekend rumours had started to spread that the corona virus exit strategy may involve advising the elderly and vulnerable to stay self-isolated for a year or 18 months! Now, I'm not in that group, and neither is my husband, although he does have health issues, but all along we've followed the health advice for it on the 'better safe than sorry' principle. If going forward into summer and autumn this were the advice what would we do? Tricky question, but one we'll need to think about over the coming weeks

Bluebell woods

With no end to the lockdown in sight, I decided the only way I'd get to see bluebells this year (other than those in the garden) would be to brave the crowds and visit our local wood.

The bluebells were as lovely as ever, some anemones were still flowering, may-blossom starting to open and  the sun shone down through the network of branches and new green leaves, but it didn't feel as calm and relaxing as I'd hoped.

Sitting on the edge of our housing estate, this is always a popular place for people to walk, but there seemed to be more than usual - dog-walkers, families with baby buggies, children on bikes, runners.

 I managed to find a few minutes peace by straying on to the lesser used paths that wind through the centre of the wood, but once I left them there seemed to be someone approaching  every way I turned. I'm a great believer in getting outdoors but I'm turning into someone who'd rather stay home in the garden! I hope I can shake this off when lockdown eventually comes to an end

Lockdown - Week 3: 7th - 13th April

Well, to be honest, this third week feels like it was almost indistinguishable from the second. Days and weeks are certainly starting to blur into each other, despite my best effort to recreate normal life.


I went 'out' to the theatre twice - first to The Globe to see Hamlet; a very interesting, compelling 'gender blind' production with various male characters played by women (including Michelle Terry as Hamlet himself), and Ophelia played by a man (Shubham Saraf). It's hard to make such a well-known script come over as new and fresh but this production did - and James Garnon almost made me feel sorry for Claudius. I wish I'd been able to see it live.
 A couple of nights later was a National Theatre Live recording of Jane Eyre, a co-production with Bristol Old Vic, starring Madeleine Worrall as the diminutive, feisty heroine, Felix Hayes as brooding Mr Rochester, and directed by Sally Cookson. I'm not generally a fan of books turned into plays, but this worked brilliantly - not trying to cram every bit of dialogue from the original in, but aiming more for mood and character development. Oh, and I loved Pilot the dog - the actor playing him almost stole the show.

In between these two, I went to an Isolate Live gig to see one of my long-live favorite singer/songwriters Sean McGowan performing live from his 'gaff' (well, his mum's front room), and on Easter Monday I went to a festival - not out in a tent in the back garden as I know some people did, but a sensible Front Room Festival organised by Folk On Foot presenter Matthew Bannister, featuring a mix of familiar and new (to me at least) folk singers. As at any festival I dropped in and out of the music tent, and I have to admit I left before the end but really enjoyed watching Beth Porter from the Bookshop Band, Nancy Kerr and James Fagan, Kris Drever, Rachel Newton playing the harp, and Jackie Morris paintings otters.

Apart from these 'evenings out' day to day life doesn't feel like it's changed that much. I finished knitting a scarf made with some fabulous rainbow yarn brought back from a trip to Riga by my youngest daughter.




I went out for a short walk one evening to see the sunset - but this time I encountered cyclists riding too close to the pavement, so there's another worry for when I'm out and about.










The weather has returned to glorious sunshine, and most of my days are spent pottering about the garden doing something or other.


Sowing seeds, watering tiny plants, tucking them up under bubblewrap at night, all with the intent of producing home-grown vegetables, makes me feel I'm clawing back a certain level of control over my life. I feel fresh fruit and veg may be hard to come by as spring progresses, and I'm targeting my sowing at producing crops as soon as possible. I already have rocket and mizuna for salad, and rhubarb for desserts; there'll be more to follow.



Obviously I haven't seen my family but we're keeping in touch with an almost daily video chat, often involving a lot of running around from my grandson, and a quieter pictionary style online game at weekends. There still seems to be as much traffic as ever out on the nearby main through-estate road, so at times it's hard to believe in the virus and that the world has changed.

I never expected three weeks to be the end of lockdown, and I've braced myself to follow the twelve week isolation period recommended to 'shielded' vulnerable people; I've no need to be as restricted as them but 'better safe than sorry' is my motto for now.

Lockdown - week 2

Week 2 started cold, dull and lethargic. Partly the weather's fault, partly the clock going forward last weekend. I've no need to be anywhere at 9 or 10 in the morning so instead of adapting to the new setting I just amble along on the old one, getting up an hour late, going to sleep an hour later.


With the weather returning to 'normal' there was less temptation to be outside pottering round the greenhouse and garden. With cold overnight temperatures forecast, the conveyor belt system whereby seedlings start inside, go to the greenhouse, and eventually to the garden or allotment was stalled waiting for more warmth. Over the last weekend the sun returned, and since then I've been busy outside doing something or other every day - I've planted out some mizuna and cabbages, and the tulips have started to flower. Everything looks better when the sun shines.

After my walk to the wood last week, I've decided to stcik to the garden and not go out. It feels too risky. When the weather's nice I have plenty to occupy and exercise me here, or I can just sit in the sun. I'd rather do that than dodge the rest of the neighbourhood out for a walk.




I have managed to go out virtually though - a couple more Isolate Live shows, S T Manville and Frank Turner one evening, and Thom Worth and Tankus the Henge (the latter direct from beside a canal boat, which must be a quite fun place to be stuck for lockdown) - and for my birthday John Allen (left) livestreaming music from his home in Germany, followed by an evening trip to the (virtual) theatre.






I've noticed I'm becoming more lenient with myself over things I'd resolved to do, or not. Now does not seem to be the time to worry about eating too much - and when a neighbour brought chocolates for my birthday I ate them all in hardly any time at all. My birthday cake got eaten in one evening. Another (on another day) got eaten straight away too. It might, if you were being kind, be possible to blame sunshine and all the garden-digging for making me hungry, but I seem to have no willpower when it comes to eating 'treats'. I need to kick this habit before it becomes ingrained, and I put on a ton of weight during lockdown.
I've also broken my 'no new clothes' resolution. I saw some colourful trousers in a sale, and, yep, I bought them (arguing that they were a birthday present). They're bright and flowery, and were very cheap, but ... but ... but ... I feel like I'm acting too much on impulse, and not considering things enough. Is this some weird side-effect of lockdown and isolation?

Happy Lockdown Birthday

It was my birthday over the weekend, and, despite the lockdown and family not being able to visit, I was determined to make the best of it.




I actually started a couple of days early. A neighbour brought round some flowers and chocolates - leaving them on the doorstep and retreating to the end of the drive while they were picked up. Treating the chocolate box cautiously, I pulled off the plastic film-wrap, and then sat down and just ate them all (I don't normally eat much chocolate but seem to be craving it all the time at the moment)

For my birthday itself, I'd made plans ... but first I watched a video of grandson singing Happy Birthday (almost), chatted with my daughters, opened parcels (brought by delivery men) and a card, made by my eldest daughter and grandson, transferred electronically and printed down by my husband.




I'd already decided breakfast would be something other than the usual cereals - so, croissants (from the freezer) with jam, and coconut cream












I then took a long relaxing bath with some of the soap rose petals I'd received - aren't they beautiful? Almost too lovely to use.








But thought this present should wait till later in the day :)








It was already getting quite late for lunch even by our standards. Again, I decided it should be something a little different - a proper lunch-out sort-of meal with a mass of side salad - and accompanied by live music from German artist John Allen (via his Facebook page watched on the tv)

My evening plans included dinner (cooked by my husband, though he hadn't realised before) and a night at the theatre. Okay, more live streaming, but my youngest daughter suggested I put makeup and jewellery on make a proper night out of it. So, here I am looking a little greyer than usual because it hasn't seemed worth dying my hair when I'm seeing no one.

I made the effort to have a properly set table, and wine to accompany the food, a pasta dish similar to amatriciana, with bacon, tomatoes and mushrooms in a spicy sauce (it was only after serving it that OH realised he'd forgotten the mushrooms!)

Then we were off to the living room/theatre. The National Theatre regularly stream plays to cinemas, now they're streaming to our living rooms via their YouTube channel. Each play will be available for a week, and this first one is One Man, Two Guvnors, starring James Corden. It's an almost-slapstick, farcical kind of comedy, and not really my kind of theatre, but pretending I'd gone out was fun.

Part of my daughter's cunning plan was to have a (very) small amount of ice cream in the interval, as you might at the theatre,  but I settled for a quick, queue-free, dash to the bar to sample my present from her - Isle of Skye gin :)


Doing something different made the day feel special and memorable, and all in all it was much more enjoyable than I'd expected.

Dodging people to find wood anemones

During this first week or so of lockdown I haven't really been bothering to take my hour's worth of exercise - I figure than I'm busy enough in the garden to not need to specifically go out walking, and also there are people outside, even if they stay two metres away. I went out on a couple of evenings to catch the sunset, and then one day decided it would be nice to see anemones up in the wood.

It's not a long walk, maybe half an hour so well under the recommended exercise limit. At first the route skirts playing fields, so there's plenty of space to avoid anyone else out walking.






The rough edges have been seeded with wildflowers, and at the moment there are primroses and cowslips in flower there.







 In the wood, hawthorns are coming into leaf, and the wild cherries are in flower.














I couldn't see frogspawn on the ponds, but these two ducks seem to have take up residence in one of the smaller ones. You need to look closely to see them - the drake is hiding behind the reeds on the right, and the duck is in the water behind the black 'planter' in the centre.

A little further on, the first bluebells were showing colour, but by this point I was getting worried about the number of people around - the path isn't very wide, and everyone seemed to be walking their dog there, and not worrying too much about keeping their distance.

Fortunately the anemones are off the main path, and I doubt many people know where to find them. There isn't much of a path to them at all these days, as the volunteer organisation in charge tries to keep everyone on the main path by 'fencing' it with brushwood and logs, and the smaller paths are dropping out of use (the beautiful display of bluebells won't be visible if these plans go ahead, which is a shame). 
 There are three or four clumps of wood anemones in different areas of the wood, but without paths it's too easy to end up in brambles, so I just headed for the easiest to find - a patch maybe a couple of metres square. Having found what I'd come looking for, I decided it was best to head home. I'd intended to walk the full circuit of the wood, but I'll leave that for another time, later in the evening, when fewer folks are out and about.

Lockdown - Week 1 - busy, busy, busy

How did your first week of lockdown go? Mine, to be honest, felt rather like a normal week, but with less shape to it than normal.


We'd been staying home for a while already, but obviously not enough people were, so last Tuesday advice became orders, and everyone apart from essential workers was supposed to stay in. Strange then to wake up the first morning of lockdown and hear normal traffic on the nearby main road through our estate; if anything, throughout the day, it got heavier. And so many people were out walking, taking their allowed hour of exercise.

The first few days were warm, and I've thrown myself back into vegetable gardening (I'd somewhat let it slip at home over the past few years though my husband had kept the allotment going). I've sown quick growing salad leaves, pumpkins and cabbages in the greenhouse, turnips in one of the small garden beds, with more to follow. With the weather being fine and sunny, I also made time to just sit outside, listen to the birds, watch the buzzards high above, see if I could spot the grass growing and flowers opening.








A couple of evenings I went out to catch the sunset, generally it's quiet then

but there were still dog walkers around, and I don't feel confident that if a dog ran over to say Hi that its accompanying child wouldn't. One afternoon I went as far as the wood to find anemones, but although the walk there wasn't bad (beside playing fields so lots of space to pass people), everyone seemed to have the same destination in mind, and once in the wood the footpaths seemed too busy for my comfort. I don't think I'll be doing that again.

There are other ways of 'getting out' though.

I've attended an online book launch for Sarah Jasmon's You Never Told Me (if all had been well, I'd have visited my Manchester daughter and gone along to the actual launch, but that wasn't to be). Over on Facebook, Sarah's now set up a page, Books From the Boat, where she'll be reading a chapter from the book each evening.

And I can even 'go out' to gigs.
A lot of touring musicians have effectively lost their jobs due to music venues closing and tours being cancelled, so they've gone online instead; no tickets required, but drop them a few quid, the money you'd have spent on drinks maybe, by Paypal if you've enjoyed the show. So I've seen Grace Petrie, Fast Car To Florence, and a new single launch from Gecko. I caught part of a Frank Turner 'gig' - each Thursday evening he'll be streaming live through his Facebook page to raise money for a different music venue's employees as obviously they've been affected too. I've listened to various living-room sessions from folk singers on The Covid Musical Collective, and a variety of artists through Isolate Live. (both of these can be found on Facebook, if you're curious)

Oh, and I've seen all those photos of goats taking over Llandudno.





I've done less helpful things too - spent too much time checking social media for updates, and too long counting tins in the food cupboard, or checking what actually IS in the freezer (it's always full but I can never find anything for dinner) - it's like a never-ending stock take. Social media is hard to kick, but I'm trying to limit my time on it. And, to stop me counting tins and packets every day, I've made lists. I love lists, they give me a feeling of control. Now I know how much I have of whatever, and can tick items off as they're used.



Not that many days in, and I found I was losing all track of the days. This seems really odd as the only fixed events in our lives are dustbin day (Thursday), and Friday when we see elder daughter and grandson, and OH goes out running with a club in the evening. I'm beginning to see why some people like to shop the same day every week. To add some 'shape' to the days, I'm making an effort to pick fresh flowers from the garden on Fridays, ready for the weekend, and I've re-introduced Sunday roast which we don't normally bother with.(chicken this week thanks to home delivery groceries, to be followed by the pork and gammon that have been in the freezer since Christmas).


I definitely haven't had time to be bored this first week. In the last few days I've seen several arts organisations putting content online - from virtual tours of museums, to National Theatre and RSC putting shows online, and Hay Book Festival intending to go 'digital'. I could be busier than usual.