The Isolation Diaries – 20th and 21st March 2020

friday 20th march 2020

This morning was a much better start. Although, poor Ross had had absolutely no sleep and therefore he went back to bed for a while in the morning whilst I occupied Rex and Grace went upstairs to do some school work.

planting our fairy garden

Rex and I received a Fairy Garden to plant as a joint present for Christmas. This seemed the perfect time to plant the seeds as they take around 10 weeks to grow. It will be something to look forward to. It did take a while – and a bit of mess – to get it done but Rex and I enjoyed ourselves. We then played with some of his toys.

Recording my radio show

Ross and I went off to record my latest radio show. I was really pleased to be able to put a Disney song in every Friday and went for my absolute favourite to start with – Circle of Life from The Lion King. This song speaks volumes, especially at the moment.

catching up with some work

After a leftovers lunch, Rex went for an early nap and I went off to my office to do some work. I made a plan on how I was going to support my Slimming World members. I put a note in both my Facebook group and on the newsletter on how I was going to support – then I realised that Slimming World had everything in hand with plans to charge the members. They were looking to Zoom to hold virtual groups and there was to be an evening meeting to discuss it further with my District Managers and other Consultants in my district.

A local journalist friend of mine, Anna, from Crewkerne Headlines and Topics had asked if I would do a recipe feature online from her page. Unfortunately, I had to turn her down. With the kids, the house and all the things I had to do and needed to achieve I felt that this would be a bridge too far.

Whilst I was still working, Ross took the kids outside to play.

questions over slimming world

I have to admit that I was angry and upset. With the current crisis as it was, I felt that charging people was not a great idea. I felt that everything was a bit rushed in a country still trying to come to terms with huge changes after just a week. I prepared our Spaghetti Bolognese for dinner and then put Rex to bed.

I then joined our Zoom meeting at 8.30pm. It seemed that I was one of the only people who had used Zoom before. I have used it in the past when I worked for James Caan and Recruitment Guide and I am also presently using it for The Pinning Club which is a Pinterest course run by Jen Stanbrook (starting to get better on Pinterest now thanks to her!).

The meeting took a little longer than expected and, I explained some options of Zoom to others. I came away still uncertain and worried by the proposals.

in the news

After watching more of the first series of The Heist and eating our dinner, Grace went to bed and Ross and I watched the news. We had seen earlier press conference that Boris Johnson was closing all pubs, restaurants, theatres, cinemas, etc. The statistics were getting more and more scary.

One of my sisters – who lives in London and works for The Crystal Maze Live had been let go. So had her boyfriend. One of my sisters is a single parent with two young kids – and is a teacher. One is still stuck in Jamaica with my brother in law. One has had to move out from my mums and is with his girlfriend. One of my brothers and one of my sisters are with their 2 kids and respective partners.

Not only do I watch the news but I also look The Brick Castle Facebook page which belongs to my blogger friend, Jenny. Her updates are so concise and informative.

The Worldwide number of reported cases is now 269,911, and the number of lives lost is 11,267. Italy reported another 5,986 cases today for a total of 47,021, and lost an utterly heartbreaking 627 people. They have now lost 4,032 people to COVID-19.

It is no surprise really that I cracked out the gin today.

what we ate

• Breakfast – bacon and egg sandwich
• Lunch – leftovers
• Dinner – Spaghetti Bolognese

saturday 21st march 2020

For some reason, today was a more relaxed start to the day. Rex didn’t get up until around 8.20am(!). I was still worrying about the Slimming World situation from the night before but I am one of those people who likes to sit on things for a while before making a final decision.

a morning of work

With the fact that my blog work is likely going to be drying up (I have already had a couple of people withdraw their offers), I had a blog post I needed to write which I knew I would get paid for. After that I went through my bank accounts and PayPal account to cancel any standing orders or direct debits in a bid to cut back as much as I possibly could.

There are a couple of payments which I need to honour but other than that, that is it. Maybe Slimming World have the right idea. How many people would be prepared to pay it though is my biggest concern.

an afternoon with the kids

Whilst Ross set up his Radio Show ahead of tomorrow afternoon, Rex, Grace and I decided to go outside and play. The sun was out and we needed to brush some cobwebs away. We got out the bikes and I searched for the patio cleaner attachment for the jet wash.

Whilst we were out, the Parcelforce guy came. It wasn’t Andy, who is my usual delivery guy. Instead, we had Simon. I asked him place all boxes – which were Slimming World related – straight into the garage and he signed for everything for me.

Ross then came outside to join me and the kids and we chatted, played and did some lifting with his weights. A handful of people walked by the end of our road with shopping bags and smiled at us in the sunshine. It felt lovely and a bit sad at the same time.

the big bathroom clean

I had started to clean the bathroom yesterday, but I finished it full today including using a toilet renovation kit (!) which we had ordered. It definitely made a huge difference I have to say. The bathroom took a while.

With my sister’s 40th birthday a week on Monday, the rest of us were trying to sort something out as a surprise for her. I can’t say here in case she reads this (!) but I will reveal all next week.

Once the bathroom was finished, I went downstairs to play with Rex and then brought him up for his bath, book and bed. We are still keeping to his routine and, in a bid to try and get him to sleep earlier, we did away with his afternoon nap today. It worked!

burgers AND bradley

We had been looking forward to Ant and Dec tricking Bradley Walsh for a while, so it felt weird to sit down and watch the show without a live studio audience. Grace, Ross and I had burgers and jacket potatoes and had a laugh together. Just what we needed.

This evening I also got a message from Slimming World and their proposals for us and the members. When I read through it, I realised what they were trying to do to help us and our members and help them on a smaller scale to keep us all running. It all made a lot more sense and I felt much more comfortable about it all. The next job is how to explain it to my members.

in the news

The UK added 1,035 cases today and now has reported a total of 5,018 positive cases of COVID-19. We had tested 72,818 people as of 9am this morning and lost 56 more people to COVID-19, we now have a total of 233 losses of life.

The total number of cases worldwide is 301,100. The number of people who have lost their lives worldwide to COVID-19 is now 12,948. More reassuringly, 94,625 have recovered. Italy 53,578 (+6,557) Deaths 4,825 (+793).

what we ate

• Breakfast – Strawberries and waffles
• Lunch – Gammon steaks and salad
• Dinner – Sage and Onion Turkey burgers with Jacket Potatoes