Just a life in the day….

I am feeling rather pleased with myself today. Why? Because I used the SnuGym this morning. And it worked extremely well, thank you.

Thursday is Yoga day, when Jaime streams her class via Zoom into our homes. Up until now, I have shifted furniture to find space for my mat in the lounge. Today, it was simply a matter of rolling my mat out, setting up the laptop and Bob’s your Uncle! There was plenty of space for me to wave my arms about and stretch out, so I was in business immediately.

There was only one drawback – and we already knew about it – and that was the howling great draft that whistles under the door leading to the garage. No problem at all when I was standing up and generally creating warmth through the activities. But, as soon as it was ‘lie down on the mat time’ at the end of the class, when we were doing our relaxation, it was a bit chilly. Mind you, I had a solution to that. I swiftly plugged in the heated over-blanket I had bought recently, and tucked myself under that. Cosy, cosy. I shall do that again next week. *Does a little dance*

After yoga, I fortified myself with some breakfast, having got up too late to have some before the class. And then pottered about doing a few little jobs and nipping up to the shops for a card for Freddie, whose birthday it is on Saturday. He’s going to be 5. Where did the years go? Surely it was only yesterday that he was just born?

After I’d done my few jobs, I sat down for a few minutes. And I am not quite sure how it happened, but the next thing I knew, it was half-past three. Crumbs! I’d been asleep for hours! I think this may be the third time that I have zonked out after yoga. Is it trying to tell me something?

Meantime, John has spent the day fighting the dishwasher. It has been very naughty and decided to conk out totally. “I’ll have a look at it,” John said, and promptly pulled the thing out into the middle of the kitchen. But, you know, things are never simple are they? The battery was flat on the multimeter, so he wasn’t able to check the flow of electricity to the machine. ‘I know,’ he thought, ‘I’ll message Anne while she’s at the shops to get a battery.’ Great idea, except I had forgotten to take my phone with me, despite telling him to phone me if he thought of anything he needed!

Anyway, suffice to say, despite the multimeter being up and running once a new battery was installed, it only showed that the dish-washing machine was dead and not to be resurrected. Time to buy a new one. And blimey!! Aren’t they expensive? John spent all afternoon trawling the internet to find a replacement that a)would be reliable b) didn’t cost thousands, and c) was in stock.

I woke up from my slumber just at the defining moment of ‘shall we get this one, or this one? Or this one that’s out of stock?’ You can imagine the contribution I made to the decision-making process, can’t you? Half compos-mentis, it all seemed a bit complicated to me. But, John thinks he’s ordered one. And it might come before Christmas. Or not. Watch this space.

I am not sure what I did then, but whatever it was, it was wonderfully interrupted by a video chat to William, who was keen to share with me a little note that he’d found in his money box from Grandma Hazel. It was lovely to see them all, and we had a laugh. The Sutton Sleaths often hanker after a bigger home, However, why do they need more space, when each and every one of them, including Chester, the dog, all want to crowd into one square metre together to be close and cosy? Whenever we video chat, that’s just what they do – squeeze in, squeeze in!!

We were still chatting when the doorbell rang, and who should be standing there, but darling Paul? He was calling to collect the birthday present that they’d had delivered to our house to keep it secret from Fred-Fred. Oh, it was so lovely to see him! We didn’t chat long, but just to see his beautiful face and hear his voice, there in our porch, is soul-filling. What a wonderful boost to the afternoon, seeing two of our three men.

This evening it was a Zoom-In with the College girls, and lovely it was too. So nice to see everyone and have a gentle chat to each other. I do love them. We were all bemused by the fact that Christmas ‘won’t be the same’ with some of us making plans to meet our families outdoors. But, better to be safe than sorry, eh?

And that has to be our mantra, surely? Because the figures of those who have been infected and died are shocking again. And it looks like the government will have to put several more areas of the country into Tier 3.

• 20,964 people have been confirmed as infected with the virus today
• 516 people have died from the virus today in the community
• 185 people died in hospitals on 8 & 9 December
• We are on Day 9 of our Tier 3 today since Lockdown 2 ended.
• And today is Day 267 since the beginning of our Lockdown 1

C’mon people!! This is madness now! We really need to take extra care. It’s not rocket science after all, is it? Ah well, horses and water…..

Take care everyone. Stay safe. Do all the stuff we’re supposed to. And God bless.