On Monday I was into the Bristol office to work. The offices had all been closed, but I requested permission as the plasterers were at our house and the WIFI would be off.
It was nice and quiet, I spotted some new graffiti on the building opposite:
Coming home I got soaked going to the bus, but fortunately didn't have to wait long to get on the 49 and head home.
The plasterers had been and done good work with a bit to finish the following day.
Boris is desperate not to introduce additional restrictions over Christmas, so the plan has been emerging that the booster scheme is to be stepped up.
Tbh, I really was at sea with it all. The media was full of explosive headlines, everything was starting to feel more like a disaster movie. Stories of people in huge queues at walk in centers, places running out of tests, the website for bookings having people log on to be told "you are 5197 in the queue...". I didn't know what to do. Mark and I have an appointment already booked for our booster in early January. This was booked at the first opportunity once 5 months had passed since our 2nd dose (in November the booking system was opened up so that you could book 1 month ahead), also we had to book it in for 3 months after having had covid (at that point). Well now we can have our booster 1mth after covid, and the booking is opening up to everyone who had their 2nd dose three months ago.
I saw all the headlines, and thought - should I really add myself into increasing all this chaos...I have an appointment, shouldn't I just stick with that.
But then on Tuesday, I started to think that it was more important to get the booster earlier, not just for me (though I am in a more vulnerable age group, and those older in the main got their boosters in before all this chaos), but for protecting the community, and people we see over Christmas.
I decided to log on and see what the situation was. I got to the holding page where I was told I was 5934 or whatever in the queue, but it told me I would only have to wait 5 minutes. Sure enough, it eventually came through to me being able to enter my details and check availability before cancelling my existing appointment. There were appointments available for this coming Friday and Saturday - perfect. But I dithered.... the girls were coming in from school wanting to show me stuff, I called Mark to ask if I should...then I had got kicked out of that screen. A meeting was starting, I went into that and decided to try again in an hour when my meeting was done, and got all the numbers to hand so I could sort out appointments for Mark and myself. But by then, there was very little left: some appointments for 23rd Dec and even limited availability on the day where my current appointment was booked. I really kicked myself.
Tuesday was a non-uniform day for the girls and last day of term.
The plasterers were in during the day on Tuesday and done by the time the girls were home.
It was all pretty damp in there still, so for the evening the girls and I cuddled up to watch a Spider Man film on my bed. Mark went out to the shops for us.
On Wednesday, with the girls being off school now, I decided to try a run on Wednesday morning.
I had a busy working day, but I did try to get back on the booster booking system...
When I did get through, there were no appointments available.
Because all the work socials had been cancelled, we had been invited to join one of a number of different online gin tasting sessions. So I logged on for 6:30pm on Wednesday, having been sent my kit of gin, mixers, and snacks through the post.
It was quite nice, it was a chatty enough group, but it was a bit much gin to consume for a Wednesday night!
Mark was busy cleaning the floor downstairs.
On Thursday, Mark went for a scan on his knee and then took Bunnykins for an orthodontist appointment. She is missing her two lateral incisors, she will need to get that sorted out sometime, but her adult teeth are still descending so they concluded - not yet. At lunchtime we walked across to the hatch together.
Ben came over in the evening. We played in the front room as the acoustics were quite good.
We played a few new things; Do you hear what I hear, was a request from Bunnykins:
While we were chatting, we heard music outside. Santa was coming along Broad Street and our road was filling up with parked cars and people coming to Park Road to watch him pass.
Ben, the girls, and I hurried out to the end of the road.
It was chaos with the traffic, so it took quite a while for him to proceed towards us.
On Friday I wasn't working, this felt like the start of the Christmas holidays for me. I had arranged to go out for breakfast with Ben. We exchanged presents.
and enjoyed a good fry up.
It was really nice to catch up. My head had been a bit frantic, and by the time we finished I was feeling a bit more relaxed.
We were going down to Dorset the following week, so I had decided to give Mark some of his presents early so we didn't have to take them all with us. He was particularly glad with this one, as he doesn't like to share his Christmas pudding!
We had a guy come over to measure up for making us a built in unit for the front room. Then I nipped out to give blood.
In the late afternoon, I took Bunnykins out to get her hair cut.
The lady was really nice and straightened it. It looked lovely, but you can see Bunnykins wasn't pleased with having her picture taken - she did like the hair though.
I had picked up a really great t-shirt from the charity shop earlier in the day (after breakfast with Ben). I loved this Andy Warhole one, but I knew that Bobbers would too (she does love soup), so I had given it to her.
I took the opportunity to take a picture of the lovely Bunnykins with her lovely hair in her lovely new t-shirt...
On Saturday morning we took it fairly easy. Mark noticed that there was a craft fair over at the park. We decided to take a walk out. I tried to persuade the girls that it was actually quite cold and they should put some additional layers on.
They didn't really heed my advice!
We got lots of lovely things, and then ordered some pizza to take back home.
The girls were very cold by then. (Mark is warming up Woo's nose).
In the evening, we had moved the sofa back in the front room. We moved the telly back in too and watched Dead Poets Society (I had picked up the DVD at the charity shop).
In the evening, Mark and I had a mammoth wrapping session for the girls presents. I was pleased that I had got all the presents I felt I needed for the girls, but it took 2 solid hours between us.
On Sunday morning, Mark took the girls over to volunteer for Park Run. I got the room ready to paint, with floor coverings and stuff moved out where possible.
Mark and I then got on to painting; he with the roller, me doing the edges. It is a big room with a lot of edges! We had to use diluted paint as we were painting onto plaster, so it was super messy and seemed to take even longer.
We didn't get the room finished, we had to go get ready. Hannah was coming to pick us up.
Woo and Mark cracking nuts with their hands while they waited...
Hannah dropped Mark and the girls off at the pub, then she and I took the car back to hers and walked over to meet everyone else.
We then all walked back over to theirs for a lovely Christmassy afternoon.
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