TeamChallis: Week 33 - Lockdown 2.0

Monday

OK well I am starting with Sunday night. We watched the last two episodes of Angel. I enjoyed the final series and liked the way it ended. I am going to miss my two favourites...Spike and Wesley.

There was the last ever glimpse of the trowel! And I didn't even capture it properly 😖. The trowel was from an early episode when poor old Denis was being bricked into the chimney by his mum. It became a little shared moment between Mark and I to yell "trowel!!" when we spotted it in the titles.

Then of course in the final series this corker was added to the titles...Wesley jumping sideways while firing two guns! 😍😂😂😂 I will miss it.

I felt uneasy that it had all finished and we're coming into the next lockdown.

Monday proper; mornings start with getting the girls off to school. As soon as Bunnykins is downstairs she looks to start building with the Lego before anything else and often has to be reminded to get her breakfast. She was showing Woo some of her creations and they were being really lovely with each other.

It was a pretty standard day. UkuleleLand ended up being called off, and I know was the right decision. Even though lockdown wasn't coming in until later in the week - the point is to minimise going out and that is something sensibly started early.

Tuesday

The other typical morning activity for Bunnykins is working on her spellings. She is very self starting. I was impressed with how she was just getting on with it and wanted to capture that moment.

The day didn't hold much of interest...a cervical smear test... has to be done but isn't fun! And then getting some cleaning done.

In the evening I had a good chat with John.

Wednesday

Ran back from walking Bunnykins to school. The run felt good. Had a shower and got on with some gardening - lifting more of my begonias. The sun was out, it was a lovely sharp and bright autumn day.

At lunch Mark came out and we cut up and turned the turf on the raised tree bed as we are going to plant a small wildflower area here.

It was nice to be out working in the sunshine. After lunch I nipped off to a nearby nursery to pick up some compost before lockdown. I also got a blueberry bush, some cyclamen (which just looked glorious glowing in the sunshine), a couple of half price pots and a pot of forced hyacinth bulbs. I was happy to be supporting a local independent shop. I had decided that the following morning (the last day before lockdown 2.0) I would walk back via some of the Downend shops and pick up a few Christmas presents and things to give them what boost I could before they closed for a month.

...except I had got muddled. When I had heard Boris say lockdown will start from Midnight on Thursday - I had thought he meant that you wake up on Friday with it underway. But NO! It was that you wake up on Thursday with it underway! He meant 0.01am on Thursday!!! 😧

I only realised this at about 4.30pm on Wednesday. I felt devastated. I am not a spontaneous person, I like knowing what the plan is. The plan can change and I did get a grip, but it was really uncomfortable and I felt a bit panicked. So there I was realising that I couldn't go to the local shops as planned. I knew it wasn't the end of the world at all. I could just wait until they opened up again at the beginning of December - and I will. But I had also been working on the assumption that Ben and I would have one last Thursday evening session before lockdown. I hadn't seen him on Monday at UkuleleLand practice and the last time I saw him - I thought I would be seeing him later in the week. It felt rather like the horrible start of lockdown back in March where everything is changing and you don't have a grip on it.

Fortunately this time it is possible to have a walk or exercise in a public space with one other person outside your household/bubble. So we arranged to meet in the park next Tuesday. That cheered me up.

Thursday

Lockdown 2.0 begins.

It was a misty damp start to the day when Bunnykins and I left to walk to school.

I walked back and stopped to check the shops I would have visited to see if they were doing any online thing that I could support.

Melanie's Kitchen was open. I went in as we needed to refill our washing up liquid (I had brought the bottle with me hoping it was open). I bought a load of other stuff including some good looking ready meals, soap, and a few bits like tofu and miso paste.

When I got back nearly home the sun was starting to burn through the mist but the cobwebs along the park railings were still heavy with dew. They looked beautiful.

I spent some time out in the garden planting. I know the cyclamen wont last much longer, but they look so good right now and I need something to look at now the begonias are going. The winter flowering pansies are nice but they are rather subtle.

In the evening Ben and I were back to Zoom. It was nice to be able to see him, but it's nothing like being in the flesh. Particularly when you are trying to figure out the rhythm of a strum and one of you has dodgy WiFi! Ben's kept freezing, especially when he was trying to demonstrate a strum - it was just pretty impossible. But anyway it was nice to chat and play a bit.

Mark and I had been watching bake-off in the evening now that Angel is through. We were sat on the sofa and Mark said "doesn't it seem a little cold to you? I mean we are using 3 blankets". I just shrugged and snuggled down further.

Friday

When I woke up I realised that something was rather wrong. We had gone to bed with an extra huge fleecy blanket on top of the duvet. When we do that it usually means that come 6ish and the heating going on, we are sticking out arms and legs and throwing off covers in a right old sweat. But no. I woke to my alarm at 6:30am feeling no compulsion to stick anything out. The room was cold. Very cold.

We quickly established that the boiler was kaput. Mark got the fire going in the back room as it was icy. We had had a couple of frosty cold nights and it was starting to feel like there would be a frost on the kitchen table. The fire soon warmed up the back room. Mark set about trying to get the boiler going. He was on the phone with his Dad, up in the loft, leafing through the manual, calling the boiler repair person.

Woo was having a lay-in as it was prize giving day. Previously that would have meant a half day and a trip to either Colston Hall or the Cathedral. Full uniform, hat on deal. It has been nice in the past as we have then had time to go for lunch before picking up Bunnykins. Anyway, this year it was going to be a virtual ceremony. She decided to sit in the back room as it was far too cold anywhere else. She started at 9:30 with a tutor meeting on Microsoft Teams. Then a break and into the ceremony. She spent much of the ceremony getting on with maths homework, which was hard for me to argue against, but I did think she should listen in a little.

I got on with some work in the back room too; laptop on lap. It was a strange day with us hunkered down together in the back room.

In the afternoon our garden furniture arrived. It looked great but there was a small problem. I had measured it up and figured, if tilted then it would fit through our doors. But when it arrived I could see that the design of the legs had changed a little so that tilting it wouldn't narrow the dimension through the door frame....

I sat out a little while on the front drive thinking that I should just stuff it all and set up a seating area by the bins.

Mark went round to next door and they were very kindly OK with the idea of us lifting a fence panel and taking it through their garden as they have a wide side passage. It was heavy though so Mark also asked Jason if he would come up after their run to help carry it.

I felt very grateful for the lovely people we can ask to help us, but also in my head I just felt full of arrggh over having to interact with the world and ask for help and worrying that it would make people feel negative towards me. I just wanted to retreat away.

The last part of Woo's presentation was where they revealed the new name for her school. She wasn't impressed. She liked Montpelier, but not the High School bit..."too American". I don't disagree but I am just so glad that it is changed.

Mark went off for a run. I went to pick up Bunnykins and also picked up a couple of electric heaters from Hannah. Karen also brought a heater round though I felt bad as she had picked it up from her parents. I had said that she didn't need to but she insisted. So I just worried about putting her out. Then Mark had got the boiler running (by sticking two wires together and bypassing something...er!) so then I felt really bad that I had messed her around.

I did just want to disappear. Back from his run the fence came down. It just slides out really so hopefully wasn't too disruptive.

Meanwhile a more peaceful me was watering my new vegetable patch in Lego town. I am told that the neighboring rabbits will probably eat all my crop but I am going to tend to them anyway.

Jason came round and the table and benches were quickly brought through. He didn't linger as it is breaking the rules to socialise in private gardens. So we were all business and then he was off again.

Mark, Woo and I got it moved around and into position. I was really pleased with the size and was looking forward to seeing it in the light.

Mark had been on medication meaning he couldn't drink all last week. But he was off it now, so after a supper of burgers and chips we cracked open the prosecco and turned it into Aperol Spritz. Which was rather nice.

Then we settled down to watch Strictly.

Saturday

After Friday I just wanted to spend the weekend not interacting with the world. There were some gardening jobs to be done and I wanted to get stuff ordered for the bench - cushions and such. But Mark and Bunnykins both had jobs for me first.

Mark wanted another haircut. I won't say I'm getting good at it or anything. But it is relatively straightforward now. I can see me doing this for the rest of time.

Bunnykins and I did a bit more on her homework - well she did it, I was just helping with getting some of the things she needed.

Then I went out to move around my pots and measure up the bench for cushions.

Bunnykins made a little knitting set for me. Here I am knitting on the roof terrace while Great Grandma reads the paper and has a brownie.

Mark dug over the bed again and got it raked. We put in a few daffodil bulbs and then sewed the wildflower seeds.

The rest of the day was quiet and I was able to just read my book. In the evening we had a zoom call with Tim and Deirdre. They do a weekly quiz with Deirdre's sisters. The losers have to make the quiz for the next week. They hadn't been quizmasters before and so wanted to try out their questions on us. It was fun. I think we did pretty well.

Sunday

Mark was up early for a run with Jason along the Chew Valley. They ran part of the route that Ben and I had walked but then further down to Chew Valley Lake. I woke to the sound of persistent rain. So it seems they got as wet in the Chew Valley as Ben and I did.

I put some lunch in the slow cooker and spent much of the morning reading. I finished my book. I really enjoyed this one. I haven't really come across it before but it is quite well known. It is seen as "feminist Sci Fi" though I think that is by people who mean to criticise it. It is feminist, but it is also a great novel on its own. I can see how traditional male readers might be irked by the different turn it takes from the preceding Earthsea books, but if you can't cope with that in your sci-fi then really...

Bunnykins challenged me to a Lego-off. She said we had to create a lawn mower. Woo was the judge.

I was pretty pleased with mine. It was a manual one - not electric or petrol.

Bunnykin's one was pretty slick and had an additional arm for picking up stuff for the compost.

She was declared the worthy winner.

After lunch, Woo asked if I would like to join her outside for some painting. It was really nice. The day was chilly but still.

I decided to draw my beloved begonias.

Then I thought I would test out the bench for reclining and getting comfy. I was really impressed. It will be marvelous with cushions.

We could hear the birds tweeting away. It was delightful. Then Mark came out to break up the pallets. That was 20 minutes of hammering and dinging 😄, before peace descended again.

I made a start on my next book...another Ursula K Le Guin.

Back inside I encouraged Bunnykins to do a little more on her project. She has had to make a display of some kind about Lillian Bader. Well she chose Lillian Bader from a list of black British women. Lillian Bader was the first black woman in the UK armed forces. It has been an interesting one as Bunnykin's great Grandma was also in the WAAF so we have pictures of that which are clearly of the same era.

I have been reflecting with Bunnykins how Great Grandma was really brave to go do what she did, but Lillian Bader had to be even more courageous because of the resistance and prejudice she would have faced. Bunnykins has made a fact file on Lillian Bader and then recreated a scene from a photo we have of Great Grandma next to a spitfire and substituted Lillian Bader in the picture.