Yesterday

... was a bit of a write off in many ways.

Got to talk to our sis without the hands free which made things a bit easier.  The antibiotics kicked in for a while but last night they caused her a lot of pain in her hands so it was back to hands free today.  She's to be referred to the Chronic Pain Management team and hopefully will get to see a Neurologist  to see if her MS is causing any of the current batch of problems. There was other news but that's for another time.  We are getting her a tablet so she can use facetime to stay in touch with folks when she gets home from hospital.  It will be easier than her trying to hold a phone and nice for us all to see each other.  Once we are out of lockdown my first priority is heading to Newcastle to see her.

I was planning on doing a stack of masks yesterday but my sewing machine kept seizing up and breaking needles. It definitely felt like someone telling me to leave it for the day. I finally got it working and only managed 6 masks  last night but rattled on with a load today and was able to give Shelagh 18 when she popped over this evening.  She has so far delivered 200 to a voluntary care facility in Chesterfield,  170 to a care home in Dronfield  and also supplied a few GP surgeries. We are now a 50 woman team, amazing for something that started less than a week ago. It's good to be able to feel useful at a time when there is little else for many of us to do.

This morning I noticed that my seedlings were starting to look very straggley so decided it was time to thin them out and pot them on to give each one more space. I'm delighted that so far I have 3 loofah plant seedlings, 8 cavalo Nero, 8 cherry tomatoes,  3 carrots and one single chard seedling.  My expectations   based on my past lack of green fingeredness, was zero so I'm more than a little delighted that things are growing. 

My next door neighbours have an allotment and have promised me some plants when they are ready so I gave them my first and finest looking loofah seedling as a gift. These I am the most excited about as they can be hard to grow in our climate as they need loads of sun, which to be fair we have had in abundance these past few weeks, so fingers crossed they continue as they have started.  I've cat proofed my seed trays with some lovely green netting I bought so we are all set now.

Ten Days

since my last post. 

So the first two weeks of lockdown were just me trying to maintain some semblence of normality.  The past 10 days have been spent digging a veg garden, pottering around and catching up on telly. 

Then all that  got put  on hold when I saw an advert asking for people to make medical masks for local care homes and GP surgeries on a local forum. The garden will wait, my seedlings are growing but still have more time before they need to be planted out.  It'll happen.  Other needs must at the minute.  I can't get my head around the fact that PPE still isn't getting to those who need it most.  Today, four, five, six weeks into this pandemic here in the UK, the Health Minister decides just today, that it's time to start testing the elderly leaving hospital before they are put into a care home. The previous practice was just to send them without a test. And they wonder why the corvid virus has spread like wildfire amongst our elderly in care homes?

So we take up the slack.  We have a merry band of 40+ women sewing masks from material they have cobbled together, or begged from donations. We know they aren't of the standard needed to stop the virus pentrating them, we can only hope that they are better than the nothing which is currently on offer ánd will at least help in some cases.  Even if they are used by staff for non-corvid cases, so that the real deal protective gear can be reserved for those on the front line of the pandemic, then at least it's something.

I've given up watching the news now on TV.  Standard platitudes and no real answers coming from our government.  I wouldn't wish this pandemic on my worse enemy, but I feel there are many who could have managed it better than those we have in charge at the moment.  I vary between trying not to be too cynical and just thinking them inept, and the other extreme of this somehow  playing out  exactly as they want it to.   

On a more personal and more important note, last night I found out my sister was admitted to hospital in Newcastle on Sunday night. She has a progressive form of MS and has been in hospital and a rehab centre for the best part of this year. I think she has only spent around three weeks at home so far this year.  Her last admission was three weeks ago. She was told she had a UTI, and was discharged before she was better. They needed the beds for corvid patients.  Her discharge letter to her GP said she had urosepsis, something the hospital had omitted to tell her. She has spent the last three weeks at home, quite unwell, until Sunday when she could bear it no longer and called an ambulance. The paramedics didn't want to admit her, and hospital was the last place she wanted to be given present circumstances, but she was beyond the care of her partner so they reluctantly took her into hospital.  After a chest x-ray she was told that she had the same abnormality as was shown on the chest x-ray she had 3 weeks ago.  The x-ray that the hospital had said was clear.    So it turns out she has had a chest infection for the past three weeks without knowing it. 

We realise the hospital is under duress with the corvid epidemic but she was understandably angry to find out that not only had they missed the abnormality on the first scan, but she had been discharged with another condition she knew nothing about.  My sister has fire in her belly. She will stand up and fight her corner.  The only light at the moment is that she is mentally well and ready to fight with her mental capacity, even though physically she is very depleted.

It's really hard to see her go through this and not to be able to go and see her, not being able to hug her, and to have to suffice with a telephone call, one side of which is on speaker phone because she doesn't have the energy to hold her phone. 

In the midst of all of this I am grateful that she doesn't have the corvid virus.  I know how much worse that would be, and how many more  dangers that entails. I went there mentally and emotionally last night and ended up in a state, so today I am trying to be more positive and look for where the light is shining.  Hopefully once her antibiotics kick in she will gain strength enough to fight this latest infection and she will get to go home again.

13

Today has been a good day on the back of a couple of bad days. I am so, so, grateful for the those who got in touch to check in with me, and for sharing some great listening party music sessions on Facebook last night which helped to divert my attention from the awfulness that is happening 'out there'.

So today we started off by tidying up the garden and ended up digging up a whole flower bed to convert into a vegetable plot.  Still a bit of work to do clearing a few plants and digging out roots and digging the plot over but the weather forecast for the next few days is cracking so I shall be out there in the morning to do a bit more.  There is nothing like getting immersed in some physical activity to pull you out of your own head.

I checked in on my loofah seeds and 7 of them have sprouted roots! How exciting!  That means something like 15 of them needed to go back into isolation for a bit longer, but I planted the others and will be sat with my fingers, toes and eyes crossed for the next few days to see if they take in the potting compost.  Wish me luck!

Spent the evening with another couple of listening sessions on Facebook. The first was Dave Sharp who shared some footage of a gig from Strummer Camp from a few years back. It's been a while since I saw or played any of his music so was nice to listen in for a short while.

The highlight of the night though was Jesse Malin's The Fine Art of Self Distancing party from New York which went live last night, so I got it on catch up. It's a long session but a good one to dip in and out of.  He is so entertaining and funny and his banter in between songs is hilarious and informative.  I'm not sure how long the link will be up onYoutube but hopefully it's here below for you for a while.

Day 12 in the Big Brother house

So here I am in the diary room again, cos it's starting to feel a little like being in the Big Brother house, except there are just the two of us and we aren't getting on each other's nerves yet. Which is good. We've both had a dip in spirits this week, but I'm finding for me, each day is different.  I'm limiting myself to watching the news once a day. For the most part the government's updates are exasperating because they have nothing new to report by way of action, and the daily increase in numbers succumbing to the virus are heartbreaking.   Yes, we will keep staying in doors, but we need to know that PPE is getting to the nurses, doctors and care staff who need it, that testing will be ramped up now, not by the end of the month and why the hell aren't we doing contact tracing?  We are doing our part, we need to see you doing yours.

Sometimes it's hard to sift out the genuine reports on social media, and for sure there is a lot of propaganda flying around.  Yes we all need to be pulling together, but we also need to be holding the government to account to make sure they are doing what they should be doing. That isn't a bad thing. It's not exploiting the situation. It's trying to make sure we get the best possible outcome for this awful, awful pandemic.

In other news, Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner are now the new Labour Leader and Deputy Leaders respectively.  I didn't vote for either.  I will however admit that I was completely torn as to who to vote for, and in the end my vote didn't make any difference.  Will I throw my toys out of the pram as many did when Jeremy Corbyn became Labour leader?  Of course not.   I will support Mr Starmer until he gives me cause not to and continue to try to put policy over personality.  For sure he has been chucked in the deep end and he shall have his work cut out.

On a happier note, I listened in to Ian Prowse's FB gig from his front room last night.  He was brilliant, and energic and just what was needed to pep me up.  He's live every Friday night so go find him on FB, join his page and look out for him next week. Here's a taster for you.

Double Digit Day (10)

Today I have been giving this a whirl in tribute to Adam Schlesinger from Fountains of Wayne who sadly died yesterday from complications due to the brutal Corvid-19 virus.

I haven't played it in ages but for a while, a few years back there,  it was never out of the cd player.  

Day 9 - I think!

So last couple of days have been a bit grotty so not very much to report.  A bit of isolation fatigue setting in I think.  Spent majority of yesterday in bed feeling a bit shit and under the weather, so just decided to sleep it off.  I did manage to do a bit of sewing the past couple of days.  This one has been in the works for bloody ages.  I designed it from a card about 4/5 years back, got permission from the artist to turn it into a cross stitch, but then did nothing with it. Found the design whilst  tidying up my craft room (spare bedroom!) last year so waded in.  Gonna crack on with the next part of it this afternoon.   I don't really like working on the black aida, it's really hard to see the holes, so it takes me a lot longer than usual, but the black looks so damn good.  Hopefully I will get it finished before we are out of lockdown.

Anyway, dragged my sorry arse out of bed this morning and  went to water and check in on my little pots. Can't tell you how excited I was to see that the cavolo nero has started to sprout!  I might have a couple of green fingers after all!  Mind you, I had to look up what cavolo nero was.  I thought it  was some sort of cabbage, but apparently it's curly kale. Never knowingly had kale in my life, but if it actually grows into something half edible then I will definitely give it a whirl.  

Look at those little beauties!

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Decided to do a bit of baking, and made some cheese scones, one of my comfort foods.  Whilst the oven was on thought I would slice up some apples which had seen better days  to make apple crisps.  Did all the prep, sprinkled them in cinnamon and sugar and put them in the oven. Turned it up to max, cos that's what I remembered you did and set the timer for 20 minutes.  About 13 minutes in there was a weird smell coming from the kitchen, so went to investigate.  The kitchen was full of awful, acrid smelling smoke and the crips were, well, burnt to one! Not exactly what I had in mind. Ha ha.   Always check your recipe before you  go, especially if you are prone to being a little absent minded as I increasingly am these days.  

Fortunately the second batch turned out lovely though.

In other news, the husband's idea of isolation music is songs from War of the Worlds. 

I'm avoiding listening.

Day 6 - Sunday

I've been catching up on a bit of telly viewing the past week or so, although not as much as I expected if I'm honest.  That will probably change!

The programme that seems to be taking my friends and social media by storm is the Tiger King documentary on Netflix.  I can't believe I watched the whole series over two days.  If you've not seen it, be warned, Joe Exotic is completely self-absorbed, has little hold on reality, and has a passing resemblance to the current President of the United States.   It's a car crash of a show, but compelling viewing once you do wade in.  It's so off the wall it can only be real.

Joe Exotic

I'm pleased to see the return of Ozark.  I didn't realise there was another series coming up so was absolutely delighted.  If you've not seen it, give it a go.  It's main premise is similar-ish to Breaking Bad, though involves a whole family and how they end up in a situation where they are forced to launder money. The unfolding of how that affects the various family relationships and the journey it takes into Cartel territory is interesting. Morals are forfeited in favour of survival. 

My favourite character is Ruth, played by Julia Garner. Ruth is a tough talking trailer park girl, bright as a spark who pulls no punches when it comes to doing what has to be done. 

Of course it doesn't hurt that Jason Bateman is the lead character either.

Ruth

Day 5

Decided to rename our innocent looking black cat to Beelzabub after she puked up a whole dish full of cat food on the bed. The bed I'd just put clean bedding on the night before last.

She may look all cute and innocent sat there, don't let that fool ya.  She is a disgrace.

The cat formerly known as Burdock

Spent the rest of the day cleaning the conservatory. To be fair, it usually gets its annual post-winter overhaul around about this time of year, but it was good to keep my mind occupied.  I can't wait for the nights to get a bit warmer so we can sit out there and watch the early evening bats swooping back and forth above the garden.  I'm dreaming of fairy lights and music sessions and wine. Happy times.

Big thank you to Jenny and Rob for working the technology to bring us a three way game of Jackbox tonight. Was really good to have the family together even if just in a virtual sense and to completely switch off from the CV words for a couple of hours.  Cant wait to see you all in person folks.

Day 4. You know the drill.

 Friday

Flights for Becky's hen do in  Lisbon next week are finally cancelled so today has been mainly sat on the phone waiting for Easyjet customer services to pick up.  Hoping its not a scam number, because this on hold play list is shite and quite frankly, a waste of good listening time.

Here's a better tune:

Day 3 in Clampdown, Mississippi

Thurs 26 March

Ventured back onto FB today after a self-imposed isolation from all that shit.  

That didn't go too well so here is a nice picture of the River Drone, looking very fetching today. She is making an effort to stay clean and sparkly despite the clampdown.

In other exciting news, I cut the grass and changed the bedding.

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Day 2 of The Clampdown

Wed 25 March

Pretty quiet day all round.  Woke up late and read in bed for a while.  

Went out for another little walk around the town,  this time via Sainsburys for the bits we couldn't get yesterday.  I waited outside the shop again, whilst Simon went in.  He was successful this time so we have bread and milk again and my oh so essential mushrooms and chocolate. Thinking of sending them in to the #jackmonroelockdownlarder challenge. 

If you're not familiar, Jack Monroe is a brilliant cook, famous for making nutritious meals on a shoe string budget.  There is a veritible cacophanyof tweets on twitter at the moment due to the BBC having employed Jamie Oliver to teach those of us who haven't stockpiled enough food to last  until  Christmas,   how to stretch our food supplies.  Jack has been doing this for years, and really should have been their first port of call. She's is the beginning and end of this and an expert I tell you. An expert.

@BootstrapCook (on Twitter)

Got Simon to get the whirly clothes dryer thingywotsit out the shed where it had got well and truly wedged between the lawnmower and Joe Strimmer the other day whilst I was foraging for seed trays.  Another beautiful day and got all me tea towels hanging on the line like a row of photos in a dark room - drying out. Except its very, very sunny and err, nowt like a dark room at all.

Checked on me little loofah seeds and transferred them to the plastic bag in the hope they will start sprouting. I've already neglected them for leaving them for more than 10 - 12 hours in room temperature water.  They have heated up and cooled down and heated up again in the conservatory in this lovely weather overnight and through the morning.  Hey ho.  I'm still expecting great things.

Simon noticed that one of my seedless trays of compost was looking suspiciously damp on the top. Bloody Burdock.  I forgot she likes to pee on anything that resembles a litter tray. Into theb in that goes then.  Makeshift cat-proof defences now in place on the rest and hopefully we will soon see some little green shoots poking through the soil.  I've used the last of my compost though so will have to wait until the clampdown is lifted and the garden centre open again to get more.  My little vegetable plot is going to be VERY little at this rate.

Caught up with Jenny on Skype tonight which was lovely.  We've organised to have a Jackbox session with her and Rob, Becky and Rob and us on Saturday night. Should be fun tuning in from different houses in different parts of the country.  Hopefully we will have a few laughs which I think will do us all some good.

I'm starting to  compile a list of things I want to do when this is all over and we are free to roam again.

1.  Visit Jenny and  Rob in London

3.  Go wedding dress shopping with Becky.  Unless we have further restrictions and it gets cancelled, it looks like theirs will be one of the first weddings in Sheffield on 1st August.  She'll be needing a dress then!

2.  Visit our Eileen and give her a huge big hug

3.  Go to the John Rylands Library in Manchester. I was planning on going last Saturday before the Jesus and Mary Chain gig, before it all got cancelled. I've only seen photos but it.looks quite the building inside and out and I can't wait to go and get me some pics.

4. Big old get together with my Waster mates to celebrate life, music and friendship

5. Catch up with my ex-workmates,  I missed out on our day out as I was full of cold a couple of weeks back, and not knowing if it was the dreaded virus or not thought it best to keep my distance. It will be so lovely to see them all again.

6 Go to a gig. Any gig!  Though possibly the Rifles gig which is rescheduled for mid August - please God we are free by then!

I'll be adding to the list as I start missing more and more things I guess!

Clampdown

Well, from Tuesday 24th March, 2020, the good folks of the UK, whilst not completely confined to quarters, have entered what is possibly best termed as a, well, I'll let The Clash explain:

So it seems as good a time as any to start blogging again, if only to pass some of the time in a more constructive way than sitting on my phone for large portions of the day.

So Tuesday, the first day of The Clampdown.  

I can't remember the last time I exercised, and Simon can't do his regular 3 times a week swimming at the moment with the swimming pools shut.   Whilst not quite in the age group for self-isolation, as we aren't getting any younger, we thought if we managed to get out for a wee bit of walking every day then that is better than nothing.  So we had a wander around the town. It was hard to equate the glorious sunny day, with what is happening, except that fact that the park was empty, the play areas cordoned off, and I waited outside of the corner shop whilst Simon went in.  The few people we did encounter were people walking their dogs, and either we or they crossed to the other side of the road to give as wide a berth as possible. 

We saw our neighbour from 2 doors down as we got back to the house and had a bit of a chat about the state of things.  He'd been shopping for our mutual neighbours, an elderly couple who are self-isolating, who had requested beer and toilet rolls.  Pretty much the same supplies they had asked us to get them the day before. I fully expect to hear drunken singing wafting across from their garden in the next evening or two. I hope so anyway. 

Yesterday I had dug out from the shed some plant pots and seed trays, and scrubbed them and left them in the conservatory to dry overnight.  So after a spot of lunch, I set too filling them with a bottom layer of pea gravel and a load of compost.  I retrieved the seed kit that Simon had bought me for Christmas to discover that it included tiny biodegradable pots and a small disc of some sort of compost stuff that expanded on watering.  I ignored the stuff I'd already done and sorted out planting some veggies seeds into the little pots that came with the kit.   

Next up I had a bit of a treasure hunt, trying to remember where I had put the couple of packets of loofah seeds that I'd bought a few months back. I knew they wouldn't be in a logical place, like the utility room, shed or garage, and eventually found them buried on a pile of paperwork on the spare bed. Well, it made sense to me anyway.

I got up a youtube tutorial to see the best way to plant the loofah seeds, and apparently it all involves some nail clippers, kitchen roll, water and a plastic bag!  The mind boggles.  Not a plant pot or compost needed quite just yet. I set the pots aside in the conservatory; at least they will be prepared for planting in a few days time. 

One of my fave TV programmes is First Dates, and I just adore Fred Sirieix. I got his book as a pressy from my birthday from Becky and Rob and thought it was time for a bit of light reading to counteract the doom and gloom that has been so (understandably) pervasive for the past few weeks. 

Had a lovely long chat with my sister. She's had a really tough time of it the past few weeks, having gone almost straight from a 3 month neuro-rehab stay, into the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle with  urospesis. She's back home now though, still not 100% but getting there and sounding like her normal self again.  Having MS she's self isolating and I am desperate to see her but just need to be patient until we get through the pandemic.

Caught up with the girls and friends via the various message aps.  It's a gruelling and worrisome time for all in different ways, especially those who are ill or on the front line working for the various emergency services.  It's heartening to see how everyone is doing their best to lighten the load for others and pulling together though, and it's those things  I need to concentrate on as much as possible over the coming weeks.

I'll leave you with the loofah vid as I know can't wait to see what on earth you need the nail clippers for!!