Week 15 Haircuts and decorating

Week 15 Haircuts and decorating

Woke up on Monday still feeling the stiffness in my neck and feeling like my head was made of lead, but at least it was better than Sunday. Got ready for my normal morning run, but when I tried to run it was too jarring so just walked instead.

Should have been getting on with the cleaning, but really felt the need to rest. Sitting supported at the desk chair is OK as is laying out on the bed, but moving around trying to do anything quickly sees me in pain from one movement or another. I got some desk things done including organising our summer holiday. We had booked 5 days on the Isle of Skye way back. It is a lovely spot right by a beach, so if we are able to go it will be a perfect lockdown holiday. It is a self catering house, well away from anything. We can just have a different house to sit in, take some games, some art stuff, some books and then when the beach is quiet - get in our wetsuits and get out there! At the moment Scotland is still not open for visitors. Anyway, if we are going to go we will need to break our journey, and from 4th July we will be able to stay in self catering places in England. So I booked a few nights in the North Yorkshire Dales and another stay in the Lake District; both were self catering houses with gardens. There are walks and streams and lakes to explore, so we can keep ourselves busy.


Woo wanted some help talking through her maths, so I went and sat in her room a while in her big comfy chair by the window. I think we made some progress, but I know it is not easy for her.


Meanwhile I had said to Bunnykins she could start planning for her next science topic task - we need to either do a fact file on all the light related stuff we've learnt and/or create a picture that explains how light helps us to see. She came back with this model she'd put together which I just love. It is of a group of scientists doing the different experiments that we have done.

The lady in the back corner is in charge and has just told them to shush and get on with their work... that is supposed to be me...hum

 This scientist is looking at how light sources and objects combine to create shadows (handy visor).

 This scientist is making a periscope with two mirrors and a cardboard box.

 This one is making a spectroscope with a tube and a CD.

This scientist really doesn't like being shushed; she's a bit worried. She's been writing up her work on refraction. She has been looking at how refraction changes an image seen through a glass.

I printed out some labels for our jam and got them put on the jars...but then needed a lie down.


Mark made tea; our normal Monday meal of pasta, quorn meatballs and garlic bread. It always smells and tastes yummy. While I was on my feet I decided to have a quick go at a project I had waiting. A while ago I had decided I wanted a crop jumper. I never used to like crop things - everything had to be long so it could be tucked right in. But now most of the bottom half things are high waisted; I just prefer how that style looks on me. My tummy podges out a little at the front but I am slim on my waist and shapely enough elsewhere. So something high waisted with a crop top I find quite flattering. Anyway, I had tried on a jumper, but wasn't that impressed and realised that it was just a normal jumper with the bottom cut off. So I had a look on e-bay and chose a second hand jersey jumper that I liked with the intention of cropping it...eh voila!...

Mush has been writing a blog during lockdown. She does hers daily, I had missed reading the last few so only today saw her post from Friday that is was 100 days in lockdown. 100 days sounds like alot, but then she said that after another 100 days it would be 4th October - somehow that doesn't feel like it will be that long away. Though I always have this thing where the 2 main months of summer (July and August) contract to what feels like just a couple of weeks.


For her post on day 101 she started talked about creating a bucket list of 101 things to do during and post lockdown. I really like the idea. I haven't always liked bucket lists I have seen, somehow they always seem a bit too much focused on go to this place or do this specific activity and I get how that makes a good bucket list, but somehow it doesn't appeal to find things that are high adrenaline and force myself to do it just because I can say I have. Anyway Mush had some really good items on hers that chime with the kind of things I would add to my own.


So from hers I would steal:

1. Help someone change their life
2. See the Northern Lights
3. Improve my ability and frequency of meditation - i.e. practice!
4. Learn a new skill every year (this isn't quite how she has it, but it is my interpretation)

I want to think about my own, I remember having a conversation with Ben about it where I listed out a few... but can't darn well find it in our chat history. Oh well. Also, I am starting this list of mine with "go to this place", but I didn't say that that was bad - just that I have seen some lists where that is all there is.

      5. Do at least 100km of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella

      6. Visit the blue mountains in China

      7. Publish some non academic work (I do have published journal papers...which is nice)

      8. Walk the Wye Valley Way

      9. Feel like I have made a difference in the world

      10. Go on a painting holiday

      11. Paint portraits of my girls 

      12. Do work that makes a material difference to reducing CO2 emissions

      13. Win an award where I used skill or worked for it

      14. Mend a broken relationship

I think there are some things that would have been on my bucket list but I have done and I think it is important that I appreciate that. I always think it's good to reflect on things you have done as it makes you realise what you are able to achieve. Those things that I think I have already crossed off to some degree are:

• Go back to university and get a doctorate
• Publish something
• Perform music in a live venue
• Protest over something I am passionate about 
• Do a marathon (it was a walk, but it counts for me!)
• Understand and use mindfulness to help myself
• Travel to Italy by train with the kids
• Work overseas
• Work in a career that makes a difference in the world
• Present a paper and speak at an international conference
• Know who my friends are and spend good times with them

It's funny to say "crossed them off" - most things (apart from the doctorate) I should do again or keep doing! Maybe I should add them with "carry on..." but is that a bit phony?! - never mind the reference to 70s films 😂😜. "Carry on...mindfulness" would be quite a mess with your head 😂

There are lots and lots of other things that I am proud that I have learnt to do, like sewing, art and craft techniques; voluntary activities I've got involved in; outdoor pursuit things; times when I feel I have been the kind of person I want to be. What makes a bucket list I don't know - maybe it should all be go to this place or do this thing. But for me, those experiences are important, but what you want to do with a life has to be more than that, which is why item 1, 3, and 4, stolen from Mush, I think are spot on. 

Really I want to somehow embody the following:

• Be honest
• Be kind
• Be specific and don't hide who I am or what I think
• Be curious
• Make things happen
• Be brave
• Be healthy
• Appreciate art and nature and all life's beauty
• Create
• Make the world better not worse (even if that is on a very local and small level)

Mush is working up to a list of 101. I will see how I go, though I feel like for me that would be a stretch.


I saw this on Monday night, did make me laugh...

Tuesday morning woke up with my neck feeling much better but still a little delicate. I did a gentle yoga sequence and also joined in Karen's Latin Fever - but in a fairly controlled manner. Managed to get some jobs done and helped out with the girls before popping back down to the dentist for a hygienist appointment. She had to do all the scaling and polishing by hand so it did seem to take forever and wasn't massively pleasant, but again I did feel that they were taking all the right precautions so my main effort was to keep relaxed in the chair and not strain my neck again by tensing right up.

 Spotted this moth on the wall outside the surgery.

Bunnykins needed some support in her english but it was a difficult day where she was really struggling to interpret the request made by her teacher. Everything I suggested lead to resistance and a 100 reasons why not. She can be very literal but also get very stuck in an idea of how something should be done. In the end I just suggested she read as I didn't think she was going to be able to do the work in the mood she was in. My suggestion that she wasn't capable stirred her even further - I was expelled from the room, only to be called back in to help after she'd shown me how she had indeed managed to get a script written. As you can see, I still managed to draw some furry...

She was supposed to write a script for a conversation (one sided) with herself in six months time. A letter to her future self I guess. She got it written and was supposed to record it. She didn't want to be on screen so first it was Roo and then it was going to be her Lottie and then it was another heap of anguish and we called it a day.

 A letter to myself in 6 months time? It is an interesting exercise...


6 months from now will be 1st January (I am writing this on 1st July). I think I might suggest it as a team Challis project that we all do a video letter to ourselves in 6mths time.


A part of me doesn't think that much will be different. I would like to know if I have been able to hug anyone outside of my household. I would wonder if I am back to work and what is school like for the girls. I would hope everyone I know is OK. I would want me in 2021 to remember the good things about now - the being content at home, reading more, painting, gardening. Remember that life can have a simplicity. To enjoy time together and keep looking out for friends. Continue being grateful for all the luxuries we do have.


I had a bit of time in the afternoon before making tea, I had a choice of what I could do...clean the loos or do my artwork for art club. It was an easy choice 😂

This week's theme is buildings. I wasn't sure about where it was going but I decided I would start with a pen drawn picture of our house using a photo. I like drawing straight into pen, as you have to look carefully. I didn't look carefully enough and the bit of our house where the porch is isn't wide enough at all. It is all about practice. Anyway, as I was drawing it I got the idea about adding photos I have taken in the spaces for the windows. I liked the idea but thought a stuck on printout would look a little hokey. I then had an idea wondering if you could do some kind of transfer printing from an ink jet printer. I had a quick google and indeed you can. You need to print onto paper that is entirely non-absorbent like the backing of sticky paper.


I assembled a photo collage ready to print and flipped the image.

First I tried printing it out on some really shiny card we have, but that was still too absorbent.

I found some backing paper (or rather found a sticky back sheet that I separated from it's backing). This worked perfectly. It slipped a bit which was a shame in that it obscured the big picture of Mark reading, so he is hard to spot now on the image (I tried to have a big picture of each of us in there). But I did like the spotty imperfect effect. One thing I was annoyed about was how big and prominent the image of John is and it doesn't look like he's on a computer screen. I would have changed that. I think I would also look at the colours of some of the photos and have say blue ones up in the corner where the sky is - that would feel like a good progression of the technique. I might have another go on an A4 scale and make it up again for potential framing. Who knows.

After tea, Mark went out to get groceries. Bunnykins and I played her board game and I got to use my own mini-mixel character: ukulele girl.

Then at 7pm I called John for our weekly chat. Everyone else was busying off somewhere. Mark chimed in with a few things and Woo joined us for a while but generally it was just us two. The camera angles with John do make me laugh sometimes. Though I do look quite glum on these! I did really enjoy speaking with him. We talked for nearly an hour, mainly about books but we also veered off into politics, bit of gardening too.

He'd heard from the nursing home that Mum has been out of her room. She's been bed bound for months now, but the staff have managed to get her sitting back up and spending some time in the lounges. It is good news but it doesn't mean recovery. It just means that she hasn't lost the capacity to sit despite being bed bound. The home isn't open to visit yet and John is keen it stays that way. I agree. That is what is safest for mum. I hope I do get to see her again though.


Mark and Woo had nipped out for a run towards the end of my call with John. They did 3k along their normal route. I was really glad she got out, and it looked another great evening for it.

Got the girls to shower and go off to bed. Then headed down for what is now our normal weeknight ritual. Mark makes me a "yogurt-y treat" which is plain yogurt, raisins, soft fruit (strawberries, raspberries or blueberries) and then a few bits of chocolate. He might have a big bowl of muesli or the same as me. I get a mug of hot water and we settle down to watch 2 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. As of last night we finished the penultimate episode of season 3.

I look forward to the certainty of this. There's not a lot of thinking to be done. It is pleasant (and yummy). I can just really switch off and relax. It feels like I am indulging, though I wouldn't call it a blow out 😂. And it is predictable which also has it's comfort in terms of not having to plan or think or decide anything. There are 7 seasons of Buffy on Amazon, so plenty to go at. We watched them all first time round back in the 90s I think, but my memory for this stuff is terrible so it's all new to me. Mark (who has an almost photographic memory) is happy enough to join me though will sometimes be on his laptop or nodding off. Most of the time he's into it too. We have our silly rituals where Mark plays the drums and I am on lead guitar for the intro - boy we put some feeling into it. Oh and critising Joyce the mum who always manages to make any situation worse. I find myself feeling a kindred spirit with Cordelia who is supposed to be the spoilt society girl - but I like her honesty - so if she says something true or funny or cutting - we'll have a high-five to congratulate me.

Wednesday morning my neck was feeling much better, but I still didn't feel I wanted to risk a run so went for a brisk walk. I also felt like Karen's arm focus on a Wednesday might be a bit much. I got on with some jobs (finally got the bathrooms cleaned), helped the girls, and pinched and propagated my coleus plants....here is an aside about the wonders of modern technology... so I have been buying some plants online and sure I get adverts for more plants. But I went on You Tube to post up some videos for this blog and wouldn't you know it...my suggested next video is about looking after coleus plants. This is the kind of AI I want because it was a really helpful video and I learnt that I had to pinch their tops and I could use these as cuttings to grow new plants. So anyway, I did that.


I did my hair a little differently this morning. I never normally use clips or anything, but my hair was flat as a pancake. Anyway, I quite liked it. I think it means I need another haircut though.

Bunnykins was in a better mood with getting her english work done, she was quite happy to have me sit with her while she worked on sentences with determiners, adverbs, two adjectives and a head noun?!  😜 I can't say I was much help, but she seemed to want the company and I guess it did help to talk through the different options.


We had our lunchtime field trip, postponed from Tuesday. We watched a really good documentary in the BBC's Culture in Quarantine series. This was a "get creative at home" program with Es Devlin describing her techniques for developing ideas and making models. It was good and got us all chatting about the creative process. She also demonstrated some pretty kick-arse projects she'd worked on including mazes and installations for concerts (Beyonce and Adele) and festivals (Coachella).


Anyway, Bunnykins had already got her artwork complete for this week's club. She'd done a pencil drawing of a city-scape, with some really lovely use of eraser smudging to create clouds and good use of shading to give depth.

Inspired by the program she wanted to make a more 3D scene and was fully clear how she wanted it to be. Sometimes I get too enthusiastic (more than sometimes), and I can throw loads of ideas at the kids which for Bunnykins I think they feel like instructions and she gets overwhelmed and starts to meltdown. I saw the same coming today, so backed off, got accused of being passive aggressive (wow - from a 10yr old!), had a reasoned discussion about why that wasn't so and I was genuinely saying that she was entirely free to do it her way and I was just there to assist, then we managed to move on.

I left her to it as much as possible and was running about also wanting to chat to Woo about curtain choices for her room. Bunnykins came up with a great idea of using straws taped on the back of the card pieces to hold them in place as she'd noticed they were just the right length for wedging in the box she'd chosen.

Woo so far hadn't found time for her art this week, but she showed me a poem she'd written for school. It was inspired by gothic literature. I was really moved, I thought it was fantastic. We had a quick chat about using it for art club - she remembered seeing this thing on 5 minute crafts about sticking paper down on wood and then rubbing it off to leave a ghostly image. Woo found some wood and gave it a sand. We gave that a try though tbh we should have tried to find the video as it didn't work that well. But I think we'll look up the technique properly and try again.

 After tea we had our art club meeting. The theme this week was buildings. Bunnykins talked about her two works. The picture:

 And the boxed city-scape.

Mark told us about his creative process for making a house of books. He'd realised that he didn't have anything and was looking at the piles of books that he'd got for his birthday and that Woo had lined up for reading and was wondering if there were ideas in there and thinking about how nice they looked so he decided to make a structure and then he was thinking about how books are like instruction manuals for life (after an Ursula LeGuin quote), they can become shelter and protection.  And was thinking about one of his favorite books "A room with a view" and how in the film, George leaves the "?" on the picture because of the "eternal why" and that lead him to create a house with books with a ? shape hole in the middle.

Woo read her poem for us, and showed us what she'd made. We talked about how things going wrong helps us learn lots:

* Additional note as of Friday 3rd July:Mark had been wondering about this poem. Woo had said to me that it was inspired by another poem, but when I asked to see it - she couldn't find it. I started talking about plagiarism and how she should credit the other source if it was too similar. She got mad with me for suggesting that she could have copied a poem. And because I know her to be capable of writing beautiful things - I left it and I believed that she had written it. Anyway, Mark googled "In the Haunted House - poem" and the first results are shown below - see what you think...(probably need to click into the image to see the text properly in the fuller - blue- version) I was really upset with her, not for trying to copy a poem for a school assignment, but for lieing about it when the discussion came up. I mean I know how tempting it is and how at this age it is easy to make mistakes. And I feel foolish, so that is part of my own reaction. She had added the poem to a gallery of work on a google classroom and the teacher had given her a house point. I felt sorry for the teacher too, so this morning have e-mailed the teacher to point out what Woo had done and to suggest that if there are sanctions that should be applied...then go for it. 

Then there was mine, which I explained on here previously. I am definitely going to create another version as a lockdown art work.

I talked to everyone about the idea for doing lockdown letters to our future selves. It being the 1st July it seemed a good opportunity. Everyone agreed so I set up my computer in the study like a video diary room and did mine. I think I should have said more about things I want to remember - I mean specific events, but then again this blog is like an extended version of that.


I got Woo in to do hers, she was reluctant at first, but then I see that her video is 9 minutes long, so she must have got into her stride 😀.


Mark was out delivering jam to people. So I persuaded Bunnykins to have another go. She didn't want to be seen so we found a way that Luna could step in for her.  She was keen to edit it and add some special effects...so hers is a little different and I have watched it.


Mark came back and I got him sat straight down to record his. I haven't watched Woo's or Mark's and they haven't watched each other's. I have put in my diary that we will watch them on 1st Jan. They are below for anyone who is interested (not that I think anyone actually reads this 😂, it really is more for myself).

Thursday morning I was still stiff in my neck a little, but decided to have a go at my normal "energising sequence" yoga. It's quite intense, but I find the vinyasa with forward fold, flat back and mountain post a great stretch. Having my head hang free feels really soothing for my neck. I normally relish all the chaturanga and up-dog stuff but I took it easier and went for the modified poses. Still I made it through and it felt good. It's certainly a routine that builds up some heat.


At 10am I joined in with Karen's online Latin Fever. She finished off with I've had the time of my life
which is just such a feelgood song. My immediate thought whenever I hear a great song....can we do it for Ukuleleland? And my goodness me, I recon we can 😀...

Woo had a board game to make for RS. I gave her a hand making some of the chance cards and true or false questions. We played it and made a few changes.

Bunnykins had been drawing some of her lockdown memories as part of her English. I loved what she'd chosen and her illustrations.

I was busying about in the kitchen putting dinner in the slow cooker, Bunnykins made some jigsaws and we had a long running chat about which Hogwarts house various people would be in, like different Disney princesses and then other fictional characters.

She then helped me set up outside for Ben coming over. The forcast had a chance of light rain so I decided to put up a canopy under the tree - one to protect from raindrops (that eventually do get through the branches, but mainly to protect from falling apples!).

I had made it years ago - though "made" is a strong word... There are ribbons sewn on in strategic places so that it made a tented canopy up in the treehouse. The ribbons aren't entirely ideally placed now for this location, but they were certainly good enough.

It felt really lovely and sheltered to still be out under the tree but with the added security of the canopy. We were really happy chatting and playing. 

We all went and had some socially distanced curry outside on the near deck again. Then Ben and I resumed our playing. We mainly worked on time of my life. I could have played it over and over again...but ended up stopping with respect for our neighbours 😂. We had a go at some other songs we're working on with the band: Jolene and I will survive.

It was alot of fun. We did a video of time of my life...a work in progress 😀

It was getting a bit chilly, so time to call it a night. I made sure Ben understood there was to be no wave/weave 😄 and said goodbye.

Friday woke up with my neck feeling normal, went for a run - taking it fairly easy still. In the morning I help the girls get going with their tasks then I tend to mess around at my desk in the study a while...writing this stuff up or calling up about something we need for the house or whatever. All the while going back and forth to the girl's rooms when they need me.


I have decided to change up my routine a bit, as I think on the days where I was just doing yoga in the morning - I wasn't getting enough steps in. Going forward I will keep my runs on the same day, but do a walking workout or a walk on Tues and Thurs morning. Then Mon-Fri I will fit in a shorter yoga session each day in the morning. I like the look of this one as it has the vinyasa stuff from the energizing yoga practice - but it doesn't linger so long in the poses. I had a go this morning just before Karen's session. It was good - I was a bit wobbly - and it was quick - but I think as I get used to it that will be easier as I'll know what I am doing.


Also this morning got some really good news.... Scotland is opening up so it looks like our holiday is on at the moment! 🙌


Looking back on the day, it's hard to know what I actually achieved! I was busy all day and have a notebook full of stuff crossed off. I was back and forth to the girls - scanning or printing stuff for them, helping them download or upload. Discussing school work, checking on progress. I got my exercise done. Made lunch, tidied around. I paid people that needed to be paid. I made plans with people for things coming up. Checked in with friends. Wrote some of this. Oh and joined Ben's 2pm ukulele club. I just kept things running along.


I started to tidy away a few things in the study. This is my view for when I am working at my desk. It's not too crazy untidy and I love seeing all my photos on the pinboard behind the screen.

But if I turn to the side... this is the view....the study/spare room is a dumping ground for stuff that doesn't have a home or needs to go in the loft or needs to go out. The plan for Woo's room is that she will get this bed and we will move her bunks into here until we know she's happy with the double bed and we can sell the bunks. Given we aren't likely to have any visitors staying in the near future - having bunks in the spare room isn't too much of an issue...though it will need some thought eventually as I can't imagine asking Tim and Deirdre to decide who has top bunk...

Tea was an easy oven based Charlie Bingham takeaway. I had that Friday feeling, so settled down with some nuts, wine and a book. I have been getting through the book this week - it's the hunger games pre-quel and now that Woo and Bunnykins have both read it - I get to read it.

 After tea we had a stroll around the park. It was a bit damp, but that just means there are less people which is all good.

Saturday morning we were full speed ahead with redecorating Woo's room. We started with clearing out the study - getting everything into our room.

 Then dismantling the bunk - which was quite a puzzle. Even though it was only moving about 10m along the hall to another room - there was no way that the individual bunks could get through the hall so each bed had to have the ends taken off for the move.

 Bunnykins was great and got stuck in with helping. Both girls were super enthusiastic about moving stuff and boxing stuff up, taking posters off the walls - that sort of thing. So we stopped for a tea break with biscuits...

One of the things I found when we were clearing out the study was an old shoe box that contained the house plans Mark and I had drawn up many years ago, pre-kids and pre Bristol. We had talked about designing and building our own house. The box contained a paper model of the house - but it had fallen apart just from age and poor glue in the sticky tape... but there were some of the drawings we did.

I think I would still like this house now - there are a few things I would add and change - more sheltered outdoor space - but tbh - I would really like the way this house is put together. We are really happy though now where we are. I don't see us moving unless we're moving out of the area and probably out of the country!


We got the bunk set up in the study, and were then able to fill the top bunk with crap - er I mean valuable stuff that is kicking around the place. The bottom bunk will be Woo's hide out for a week or two.


Friday was Woo's last day of term, so she wouldn't need her desk so much - but she still has some maths to do, but we'll figure that out easily enough.

Had a brief visitor in the morning - Mush stopped by to drop off a book. Had a quick chat on the doorstep, and managed to start talking about Woo's curtain choice. Long story short - Mush told me that I need to let Woo make her own style choices. She is right. I have a favourite fabric choice and I am less keen on Woo's choice. Part of my reluctance to go with hers is that I do like things to last a long time and eventually she'll move out - so I don't want to be stuck with something I dislike (I know that is ridiculously long term thinking - but the curtains in our room are from the 70s - maybe earlier!! 😂 things last if you choose them right). But also Woo is a very cautious person and sometimes her first choice of things is very conservative or even sometimes she is too caught up in what she should like that she doesn't know what she likes. I understand her style well now with clothes - sometimes better than she does. But still - Mush was right - if I don't let her choose - how can she develop her own sense of style?


The rest of Woo's stuff got corralled into the center of the room, ready to be covered in dust sheets. The picture below is before we had moved her wardrobe. Once we had moved it to the center we could see that there was quite a bit of damp on that corner. Our house doesn't have cavity walls on the old part of the house - the extension does. And Bunnykin's external wall at the back - we added internal insulation. So anyway, I got in there with a bleach solution and scrubbed it all - getting the mold off and removing as much of the staining as possible. We then stuck the dehumidifier in there and had to just leave it to dry.

It wasn't a nice job, but good to see it all much cleaner. Mark made some almond cupcakes to say well done.

Tea was pizzas, but we forgot about poetry - oops. We had another nice stroll around the park afterwards.

Sunday morning Mark went off early for a run. I did my yoga with Pippa. When he got back I sorted out lunch while Mark painted the damp bits with stain stop.

I also did a quick bit of sewing to add a few extra ties to the canopy. We picked up this great desk lamp from Tim and Deirdre last week - it is a perfect task light and proper retro.

We had to leave the stain stop to dry for quite a while so after lunch Mark wanted me to cut his hair. He has almost achieved the full Bob Ross...

He has invested in clippers...with the intention of never going to the barbers again...so the pressure was on. I started out with the longest setting and just took it all back to something more manageable. It was really quite satisfying.

Then it was a case of using it on a shorter setting to take it back further around the tops of his ears and back of his neck. I was quite chuffed with how it turned out and fortunately - so was he 😀.

 Then it was my turn - the before photo:

I gave Mark similar instructions this time and he did another good job - I think it is a bit shorter than I would have liked, but it's cool enough. He did follow my instructions - I just think he was probably a bit more conservative last time - so it is my instructions that were out.

 Anyway, I do prefer it short - even if a bit too short - to long and straggly.

By 4pm we could get back to painting. We had some help from Woo and with the three of us working doing rollering and edges - we were done with a first coat pretty quickly.

Bunnykins had been busy creating a rooftop (well nearly rooftop) pool. It's deeper than it looks (note the splash) and has a pretty crazy slide which Bunnykins assures is entirely safe as long as there is no silliness (stern face 😠).

We got tea sorted...and eaten. Then it was time for a catch up with the mummies. Sharon couldn't join us until 40 minutes in. It was lovely to catch up as we haven't spoken in a few weeks.

It's been a funny week. July 4th was a big date for lots of things opening up. Pubs and hairdressers were open from this Saturday and the rules around meet ups changed. So you can have up to 6 people from different households or unlimited people from two households. I think you can also have a person sleep over. All things have to maintain social distancing with people outside your household or support bubble. Tbh it's all a bit confusing. We are sticking pretty much with how we've been doing it - though it's good to know we can have all 4 Dicksons over and it not be against the rules. But for now I am in no rush to get to a pub or hairdresser. The risk from covid-19 is still high. I worry that people thing that relaxing rules means it is all over. This is going to be with us for a long time and I plan on keeping myself, my family and anyone else who I am able to do so, safe.