The Isolation Diaries – 22nd and 23rd March 2020

sunday 22nd march 2020

A mothers day lay-in

Today was Mother’s Day. I had already received an apology from Ross for the fact that they hadn’t really been able to get exactly what they wanted. But, do you know what? I received the best gifts ever because they were from the heart.

I managed to have a lay in until around 8.15am and Grace brought me up a cup of coffee and sat with me whilst we had a chat and a bit of time to ourselves before Rex demanded all the attention!

When we went downstairs, the first thing I got was Rex shouting ‘Happy Mummy’s Day’ at me – which was so lovely. I had given Ross the review Chocolate Memory Box I had ordered from Morse Toad. I also received the sample of Cranberry and Blood Orange Liqueur from Cranes I had received for inclusion in a gift guide. On top of that, I received 2 hand-made cards from my kids, 2 shop bought ones, a beautiful painting of a rose from Grace as well as a hand-painted stone from her. I was one very lucky morning.

time for me

I spent the morning with Rex whilst Grace was upstairs and Ross recorded the rest of his Sunday afternoon radio show. Once that was done, the kids went outside with Ross, I had a bit of time to myself and spent it organising one of my sister’s 40th birthday surprises. We then had lunch and then I put Rex down for his nap.

I had a bit more time for me and, because I promised Grace that I would do some baking with her, I went downstairs around 4.30pm, we got Rex up from his nap and all listened to Ross’ radio show together in the kitchen. It was totally lovely. I had a message from Ross, Grace AND Rex and loads my own favourite tunes including White Water by Go West (lead vocals from Richard Drummie) and Under the Sea (from Finding Nemo) by Robbie Williams. There was also a dedication to Ross’ mum and to my own mum – which included some of her favourite Simply Red songs.

Whilst we were in the kitchen, Grace made the pasties which she should have made at school on Tuesday and I prepared our roast dinner. We cracked open some port and had a dance. There were lots of tears as I heard each of my dedications – and my mums.

talking to my mum

I managed to Facetime my mum and she got to see Ross and the kids. Once done, Ross took them upstairs so I got some time to chat with her and continue preparing our dinner. My mum was in good spirits and we had a lovely catch-up. She said that my brother, Olly and his family, had come over in the car and spoken to her from her driveway.

My step-dad, Ian was with her and they were keeping each other company. I am so glad they have each other.

roast dinner

We had a lovely roast dinner with a bottle of wine. I had also made some chocolate custard (Slimming World friendly) with strawberries. We watched some more of The Heist before Grace went up to bed and Ross and I had a catch-up.

what we ate

• Breakfast (cooked by Ross and Grace) – waffles, eggs and bacon
• Lunch – soup for me and bits and pieces for the others (!)
• Dinner – Roast Chicken with roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese and peas followed by strawberries and chocolate custard.

in the news

The UK added 663 cases today and now has reported a total of 5,683 positive cases of COVID-19. We had tested 78,340 people as of 9am this morning. We have lost 56 more people to COVID-19, including an 18 year old, we now have a total of 281 losses of life.

The total number of cases worldwide is 340,408. The number of people who have lost their lives worldwide to COVID-19 is now 14,573. Already 97,571 have recovered.

monday 23rd march 2020

trying another routine

Today, Grace received a timetable for her work which came via the Parent and Pupil Portal online. It did come through a little later but, thankfully, she is pretty much a self-starter. So, after watching Rex whilst I recorded my radio show for the afternoon with Ross, she went off upstairs and wrote a ghost story for English.

I spent the morning with Rex where we played with his cars, did some drawing and I also found some phonics for him on his tablet which he absolutely loved!

fresh air

We went outside around 11.30am for some fresh air and exercise – which seems to be working really well at the moment. We took Rex’s ride-on car, his Little Tikes Lorry Transporter and cars, and his bumble bee bike outside and I also got the sun-protector tent out to have a bit of fun with. Grace and Ross joined us and we spent a bit more time together.

slimming world work

Ross and I have agreed that he works in the morning whilst I care for Rex and then we swap for the afternoon – and great for him if Rex sleeps! Rex had other ideas today though, so Ross took him back downstairs for a play and then outside for a walk down to the local shop (but not in) and then on to the park where there were only 2 other people around.

I spent the afternoon trying to catch up with the members who I couldn’t contact via Facebook or by email. I spoke to a couple of them who seemed to be fine. I am finding it so difficult to try and keep 150 people together as well as cope with this whole deal. I need to put my family first and take some time out to come to terms with what is happening and, despite what Slimming World say, I just don’t feel like I am getting this.

There is information from different Team Facebook groups, from our Consultant’s section on the website, from the Consultants Facebook group and loads of consultants saying ‘yay, this is great’ and loads saying ‘boo, this doesn’t work’ (well, not exactly those words but you get my gist).

All I want to do is hole up with my family, do my thing, recuperate and make sure I am doing everything here to put our lives back together.

ross writes to the government

We noticed that, if you were self-employed, you had the opportunity to write to parliament to explain your circumstances by 5pm today. Ross is definitely the writer in this family so, after letting him know and asking Grace to watch Rex for a little while, he prepared a letter to send. He also sent it to me and I forwarded the same outline myself together with my thoughts added.

A zoom call with my members

One of the things I love about Monday’s is being able to see all the members who come to my group. It was great to have a Zoom call with at least some of them this afternoon and we had a great chat about whether they had lost weight, how they were eating, what they were eating and whether they were getting any exercise. One of my members gave me a great idea for dinner too. I have loads of potatoes right now and she talked about Bombay Aloo. Perfect!

Right now, it is my members who are stopping me from just jacking this whole thing in.

An emotional Rex

Rex had been very emotional today and threw lots of temper-tantrums – mainly about ice cream! He clearly was out of sorts today. Grace gave him a bath whilst I started to prep dinner and then I took over to read him a story and put him to bed. He was very cuddly and went down to bed really easily, You could tell he was exhausted – especially with no afternoon nap!

boris makes an announcement

Ross, Grace and I watched Boris Johnson make an announcement about the country going into lockdown and we watched that live. It made so much sense. Too many people are still going out and putting others at risk. We then switched over to watch the latest episode of Walking Dead – which seemed more believable now with everything going on! (gp)

what we ate

• Breakfast – yoghurt
• Lunch – Grace had her pasty she made yesterday, Rex had roast chicken which we put aside for him last night and Ross and I had chicken quarter pounder burgers
• Dinner – Spicy Indian Mince and Bombay Aloo

in the news

A good statistical milestone today, as over 100,000 people have now recovered from COVID-19 worldwide – 101,069 in fact.

The UK added 967 cases today and now has reported a total of 6,650 positive cases of COVID-19. We had in total tested 83,945 people as of 9am this morning. We have lost 54 more people to COVID-19, we now sadly have a total of 335 losses of life.

The total number of cases worldwide is 372,253. The number of people who have lost their lives worldwide to COVID-19 is now 16,312.