the pog blog

I’m not usually one to participate in things I get tagged in on Facebook because…well, I just don’t. But sometimes ones come along that are worth doing. Like this one: Run for Heroes

– Run 5k

– Donate £5

– Nominate 5 people on your social media to do the same (remembering to tag us @Run.For.Heroes )

Donation link: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Team/RunForHeroes

All proceeds are going to NHS Charities Together who’s mission statement is to support the welfare and the well-being of NHS staff as they fight COVID-19. (you can read more on the link above). Their target was to raise £5,000. They hit £50,000 this morning and have now upped the target to £100,000.

Don’t wait to be tagged. If you’re fit, well and able to get out (within guidelines) and walk / run / cycle 5km, get out there and do it, appreciating the time you have that NHS workers don’t have the luxury of right now, and pop some money in the pot. Think of it as a coffee, glass of wine or box of chocolates you’d happily give if they look after your parents, children, siblings, partner… If you’re not in the UK, find a more local effort. Or start one!

Both sisters did it and tagged me, so I did it. Twice. I didn’t add a sweaty photo as 1) that’s not a good look and 2) I was wearing shorts. Helpful hint: If you are struggling with other people sticking to social distancing where you are, wear shorts…people stayed far further than 2 meters from me :)

Meanwhile, Dad (who I need to point out is 1) obsessed with the weather and 2) only takes the temperature in direct sunshine) submitted this to show that at 4pm yesterday the temperature hit 40 degrees….in direct sunlight. Not bad for April. Lets hope this is all over soon so everyone can properly enjoy it .

Stay safe, lovely people. x

Last week we had frosts. This weekend we started with spring and finished in summer; a gorgeous weekend for those of us lucky enough to have a garden. I feel so bad for those in flats, especially as idiots seem to be risking the ‘one hour to exercise’ by doing things as daft as having barbecues on the local beach…how stupid can you get?

Global confirmed cases: 1,237,420; total deaths: 67,260 (JHU)

UK confirmed cases: 47,806; total deaths: 4,934 (DHSC)

For our households though, this weekend wouldn’t have been very different if we hadn’t been on lockdown. We all got outside in the garden:

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Mum and Dad wanted me to point out that they did eat those seedlings (slim pickings though!):

And Sister 2 discovered that Little Wisp thinks she is the Andrex puppy:

Little Wisp also sent me a present she had made (with her Mummy’s help) which I LOVE:

I have always wanted to be Barbara from The Good Life. Last year turned out to be a trial run when I filled the raised beds himself had built so many plants that things were either teeny or refused to grow. This year I sent a photo of seed packs to Dad (because the garden centers are now all closed, so I’m having to try to grow from seed and really channel my inner Barbara in the process) and asked for help. I now have outside seeds and inside seeds and some that are just waiting a while:

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And last night I got Himself involved in sewing (!). I joined one of the many facebook groups taking requests from the NHS who are short of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). This group had been approach by a surgery that is opening tomorrow that will be taking in suspected Covid cases, but hadn’t received any PPE. They needed scrubs, masks, hats, etc. Himself and I made 10 masks to help a little:

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This morning part way through my run I got a message that I’d forgotten I was supposed to be having a zoom chat with friends who I was actually supposed to be (pre-covid) on a walk with. The chat replaced the walk and I didn’t want to miss out of the real thing and the virtual thing so I joined in. While running. Technology os amazing. So is the speed your run goes when you’re chatting to lovely people while you do it :). (They are usually a lot more smiley. I’m quite impressed that I managed to grab a photo when nobody looks happy!)

And finally, moving to that public health announcement: When making courgetti, this far (below left) is too far. It results in a steristrip and a plaster and still needing a dolly (do other people call them dolly’s or is it just my family?) and still bleeding through into your homemade garlic, lemon and parsley butter. (Two more plasters and one more stitch later, it’s now stopped bleeding, but my sisters and I agree that having the nerve endings at the end of your fingers and thumbs is a massive design flaw.)

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And then, because it was the first lovely weekend and because Himself loves them, we had a barbecue. Norman was upset he wasn’t invited and tried to gate crash…

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Despite lockdown, that was a good weekend. I just hope enough people stayed at home that it doesn’t get tighter this week. Those numbers are scary.

Stay safe, lovely people. x

There is a nature reserve at the top of our road.  90% of the runs (plods) that I have done for the last 2 years have gone through there one way or another, but I’ve probably walked up there with Himself only a handful of times.  We’ve walked up there a few times in the evenings over the last few weeks.  The sunsets and the views over the downs are amazing.

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Twice a year sheep are moved in to graze and they are there at the moment.  The other night we noticed how very skinny their legs are.  Himself decided it was probably down to the significant floof they have…

I’ve always wanted skinny legs (but sadly inherited the tree trunks both my grandmothers possessed) and I have decided that over lockdown, I can follow the sheeps example.  I just need to cultivate my floof! Sadly, todays floof did not give me skinny legs (legs not shown as their is sufficient trauma around right now) but I will not give up in my efforts to be as floofy as that sheep:

Meanwhile, Himself has been cultivating his fur.  Having always been clean shaven – other than a slightly testing 10 days at Christmas -, we are now into week three of the covid beard.  I said when he started that if he did it, he had to stick to the full lockdown period thinking that 1) he wouldn’t agree to that and 2) it wouldn’t be that long.  I’m not sure which of us is now regretting it more that we both announced we wouldn’t be the first to back down (me to change the terms, him to not stick to them).  On the upside, at this rate he will have no trouble getting a second job as Father Christmas come December…

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But in other far more important matters, Sister 2 has used her time to potty train Little Wisp, and to teach her to drive*. I think you’ll agree she looks like a complete pro:

And Little Pea celebrated is SEVENTH birthday. Little Pea, we’ll all have fantabulous party with you after all this is over.

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Mum and dad meanwhile, would like everyone to believe that this is all they have for dinner (the contents of the seed packs I got free with their provisions the other week):

Don’t believe them, they have food. But the seedlings are doing rather well, so if things do get worse, they should be ok ;)

Norman is still around by the way. He’s loving the time with us both here. He watched Himself working intently this morning and then found the best spot with me in the Hypno Hut this afternoon….

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Stay safe, lovely people. x

There always have been and there always will be ‘experts’.  I don’t mean actual experts – people with qualifications and knowledge about what they talk about, I mean the sort of ‘experts’ who saw a post that Mandy* off face book shared that said, therefore it’s ‘defs. 200% true’ (1: ‘defs’ is not a word and 2: 200% isn’t a thing, so I can’t bring myself to even read whatever it is they are spouting), but I’ve digressed.  What I wanted to say is that Coronavirus seems to have brought the armchair experts out in their droves, possibly because more people are spending time in their armchairs than ever before due to lockdown…

(*no offence to any Mandy’s out there)

One of the topics discussed a fair bit right now is facemasks.  Medical people need them for protection.  Key workers do too.  Do they make that much difference? Some say no, but I wouldn’t want to take the risk if I worked in a hospital.   The WHO seem to be changing their stance on all things masks at the moment and frankly if they are in a muddle, the rest of us don’t stand a chance.  The next question on the path is, is there any benefit to ones that aren’t medical grade (ie home made)?  And this is where I’ve been trying to sieve through facts and opinions.  Based on the fact that in the US the public are being asked to make masks for medical personnel who have run out I think I’ve come to the conclusion that 1) Medical grade ones are preferable, but should probably be left for those who need to wear them for long periods at a time 2) As long as nobody thinks because they are wearing a mask they don’t need to follow social distancing rules there is no risk in wearing one 3) Coughs and sneezes can land a lot further than the 2 meter distancing rule (that was backed up in some scientific research I landed on rather than arm chair experts).  If my nose and mouth are covered I wont inhale anyone else’s 4) You can have the virus for 14 days before symptoms show.  That includes me (I’ve only been to a few shops in the last few weeks, but there is always that possibility), so if my nose and mouth are covered all the time I’m out and I stand 2 meters from everyone, there is even less chance I could pass it on.  So that was my thinking when I made masks for Mum and Dad, and my family and some friends to pass on to people who have low immune systems and are still having to go to hospital appointments through all this.

And I thought I’d make them colourful, because why not?

There are now so many patterns available when you Google ‘face mask patterns’ I can’t find the one I used.  So if you want to make one, just do a Google.  There’s even a couple that don’t require sewing!

Sister 1 and Little Pea are still waiting for their postman to deliver their masks.  Instead, she sent me some phots from her walk today that summed up the current world wonkiness and the calm that seems to be increasingly filling in the gaps:

 

Stay safe, lovely people. x

Little Pea made banana bread and wrote it up in his diary:

Mum and Dad have acquired an increasingly tame pheasant (possibly because of the quieter roads around them) which they are now feeding:

And have Sister 2 taking part in her online boxing class in a swimming hat and arm bands…just because.

While I made the most of the fact nobody could see my feet in online yoga:

And little Wisp -possibly the luckiest of us all in terms of awareness at this weird time – slept soundly.

Stay safe, lovely people. X

I mean, you know it’s gone weird.  This is a global level of weirdness that even people living under stones would have noticed, because it’s all gone quiet and now we can hear the birds sing.

I thought I’d start posting again, not because I have anything of particular note to say, but this has always been an online diary of sorts and it feels like the time that if you’re ever going to write a diary for your future self, this is it.  Also, The Pog Blog always helped me see things in a slightly different light and right now, when part of me – and I imagine most of us – is a bit scared, that might help too.  I’ll still aim for some smiles :)

In fact, this wont be just my diary.  I’m trying to rope a few other people in who have different things going on to me.

So for that future me who has forgotten how this all started, this is how it happened in my world:

• Corona virus was on the news in China then Italy, then there were things happening in the UK late February,/ early March but it all felt a bit distant.
• On the 2nd of March (I think) my doctor surgery closed as one of the doctors had contracted the virus on a ski-ing holiday and had come back and been to the surgery before the symptoms started.
• On Friday 6th March (I think) was the day I became aware that people were starting to panic buy pain killers and toilet roll
• On Friday 13th I went to Asda and discovered the scale of panic when I had to queue for an hour to pay (and discovered the toilet roll aisle really was empty!).  It still felt separate to me though
• Monday 16th was my birthday.  Himself worked from home so we could go out in the evening, not knowing that was the last day he could have worked in the office in London.  This was the day it felt like it all changed though.  Boris Johnson held his first daily press briefing live on TV and it felt like we had gone to war.  We had, but at least in this war everyone, worldwide, was fighting the same enemy.  Boris asked people not to go to pubs or restaurants.  I admit, we hurtled down to the quiet local and had a pint and a (veggie) burger at tables that had been distanced, knowing it was likely to be our last outing for a while.
• Friday 20th March all schools in the UK closed.  Himself’s boys were over the moon.
• Monday 23rd Boris announced a lockdown:
• Tuesday 24th Himself’s boys reported that they were already bored.
• Since then Price Charles and Boris are among people who have contracted the virus, online shopping slots are impossible to book and many, many people are unable to work.  On the positive side, communities are coming together in ways I’ve not seen before (We have a What’s Up group for nearby roads where people can request and offer help, for example, I’ve done and delivered a shop for a household in isolation), there are heaps of free online things today where generous people and business have done what is in their power to do to help and the birds….I’m sure I hear more birds now than a few weeks ago.  It could be because there are fewer cars; or it could just be that like many others, I’m appreciating the important stuff a lot more right now.

So we’ve had two weekends on lockdown and two and a half weeks of mostly being at home.  Happily, I had summer house plans before, so the weekends have been taken up doing this:

And making 18 face masks (I wore mine out for the first time today.  They steam up your glasses.  Do not wear while driving!)

I’ll try to start posting each day from now.  For the moment, I’ll leave you with the thoughts of my Sisters.  They both posted to face book this morning and it was these posts that made me ask if they would add contributions to this as we’re all doing different things right now.

Sister 1 (Nanna):

Sister 2 (Sal):

And my parents are self isolating due to their age and health conditions. I’ve asked if they would send me a photo each day too, as their experience will be very different to ours again. Mum will hate that Dad got this one of her:

I think this sums up the situation for many. Sister 1 visited Mum and Dad this morning, but nobody can go inside (households can’t mix without risk of spreading the virus), so a visit means sitting in the garden well away from them:

And I’m happily sitting in my newly named Hypno Hut, feeling very lucky that I’m not homeschooling children or having to self isolate, but trying to work out how to keep a tiny, baby business ticking over and support other people while I do.  It’s different for us all.  But it’s the same too.  And if nothing else, that is reassuring.

 

Stay safe, lovely people :)