Penny Blogs

Days are blurring into one. Weeks are passing in a haze. It seems it’s over a month since I last wrote a lockdown diary, but to be honest I am losing all sense of time here. I have no real concept of just how long we’ve been at home for.

The last month has been a bit of a blur. My husband has gone back to work properly meaning that I am now home alone with the kids in the day time. he was working from home before, but now having an alarm set every morning and him being out of the house from 9 – 5 has definitely changed the routine here. When the older two children are here it’s all a bit of a blur trying to home school both of them whilst also stopping the youngest from destroying the house or trying to escape. When it’s just me and the youngest the days feel incredibly long as I’m simply not used to there just being the two of us here without things like the school run to punctuate the day.

We’ve finally tackled some big projects like moving my eldest daughter’s bedroom into another room. My husband’s final days of working from home involved trying to strip 80s style wallpaper and then a mad panic to get a Harry Potter themed room finished before LMC’s 10th birthday.

Said 10th birthday also meant a deadline for me to complete a Harry Potter dressing gown that I promised myself I would make in an attempt to make her lockdown birthday a bit more special. I’m delighted to say that both projects succeeded, so look out for blog posts telling the story of both.

In the wider world, the government here keeps making vague announcements about the easing of lockdown. Not helped at all by Dominic Cumming’s and his own personal version of the lockdown rules. I’m still incredibly angry about his actions and also his refusal to resign.

I’m also pretty mad about various people who seem to think that lockdown should be completely over and that the rules can be bent to suit them. Apart from my husband going to work and me collecting the kids from their Dad’s house, we’ve stuck by the rules completely. It’s hard, very hard, especially when you see others not following them, but I believe it is the right thing to do. Schools going back for some children has resulted in an awful lot of work for me as a school governor, especially in terms of reviewing risk assessments. The work school staff and teachers are doing right now is frankly incredibly, and I just wish they would get the recognition they deserve of that.

With all this going on what I am really lacking is time for me. Both time to work and time to relax. There are more bedroom changes that we need to complete here so that the youngest can finally move out of our bedroom and I know that will have a huge effect on being able to go to bed when I want and actually being able to do simple things like read in bed at night time to help me unwind. Until then though I fear it’s all systems go still. Lockdown has been long and relentless for parents and right now I can only dream of an end to it all and some proper rest and peace and quiet. I know we’re in an incredibly lucky position in that we’re all safe and well, but Covid is definitely starting to take its toll in an indirect manner.

I’m getting to the stage of lockdown now where I’m no longer sure how long things have been like this. I actually have to get the calendar out to work out just how many weeks this has been going on. I’d say that it’s becoming like a “new normal” but then it might just sounds like I’m jumping on the bandwagon of using a new phrase that the media and government seem to have adopted.

What is very obvious to me though is how many people seem to be now picking and choosing which lockdown rules to follow. There are far more cars on the road now than there have been before. People are starting to shop more often. They’re taking their kids to the supermarket as a jolly rather than only as a necessity. Those outings for daily exercise seem to be increasing in length and people are sometimes jumping in the car to go and do them. It’s almost as if people have forgotten the reason we’re doing all this.

I know things are hard, especially when you’re juggling everything as so many parents are, but I’m genuinely worried that this lax attitude that more and more people seem to have now is just going to cause a second peak in cases. I understand that there is a pressure to get the economy going again, but at what cost? I’m not convinced that everyone’s new laxer attitude is directly related to people needing to work though. That’s what concerns me most.

Back in our little bubble life has been progressing quite nicely over the last week, although things are so busy that I genuinely wonder how we ever found the time to actually go to school! Since the Easter holidays finished my daughter’s school work seems to have gone up rather a lot. Her school aren’t forcing her to do any of it, but she wants to try and keep up with what everyone else is doing. I’m trying to encourage her to do a bit each day and she’s actually been much better at cracking on and doing just that. Staying one step ahead of what she’s doing is the bigger challenge.

My son is somewhat harder to encourage to work, but he too has down some good stuff over the last week. I’m also working hard on trying to get him to see that him winning board games isn’t the only possible outcome of a family game. He didn’t take his first experience of losing at Monopoly very well. Then again, I wasn’t too impressed either when my daughter had me out this afternoon when I landed on her hotel on Park Lane!

The weather hasn’t been quite as nice this last week which means less garden time and on some days sadly none at all. The whole situation is so much easier to deal with if we can get outside regularly. Instead there have been a huge number of board games with the older kids and lots of CBeebies for the youngest. I figure that’s acceptable considering everything else going on.

My husband I have been trying hard to tag team as much as possible to both be able to work during the daytime and reduce the amount of evening time that I need to spend working. Some days it works well. On others not so much. I think the feeling of being constantly tired is just one I’m going to have to learn to put up with. Making more time to do things for me is helping my head though.

I’m charging ahead with one of my crochet blanket projects right now. Encouraged by managing to join in with my knitting group last week via Zoom, and also a crafty catch up with WI friends too. It was lovely to see what projects everyone has been working on. I’m also making more of an effort to actually watch things on TV when I sit down rather than just aimlessly putting on whatever I first come across when I turn it on. As well as the end of Race Around The World I’ve also finally started watching Friday Night Dinner and enjoyed this week’s lockdown version of HIGNFY (and been tickled by the idea of Ian Hislop having a cat called Colin!) With the kids we watched the musical of The Midnight Gang from the Chichester Festival Theatre, which was excellent. I thoroughly recommend it.

I’ve also just started on what I think might be a bit of a rabbit hole of documentaries by Molly Dineen. Tonight we watched Heart of the Angel after someone recommended it on Twitter. Utterly fascinating. Combine it with the Hidden London videos from the London Transport Museum and it’s made me realise how much I want to spend more time learning about the history of the Underground. Our Tube Stop Baby project may be on hold for a bit, but I’ve got plenty of stations that I still need to write up and loads more I want to learn about stations we haven’t yet made it to. This could keep me busy for a while! Combine it with some of the other classic documentaries that have made their way onto iPlayer and that should certainly keep me busy for a while longer.

Add in another board games night with friends on Skype (Chainstore this time – a write up to come soon), plenty more jigsaw puzzles and my son doing an online Beaver sleepover and it really has been a full week. The eldest two are here less this next week which means a bit more time, but also time missing them. I usually keep my self busy when they’re not here and get out quite a lot to distract me from missing them. That’s obviously not possible right now and the quiet after they’ve left is strangely loud.

The first day of a new “working” week and the first day of my new routine of getting up stupidly early to try to squeeze in some work before everyone else gets up and either gets in my way, or makes so much noise that I can’t actually concentrate. My theory worked and I was able to get loads done at about 6.30 this morning, but I don’t really know how sustainable the plan is. I’m writing this at 9pm and I’m shattered. As I’m planning to do the same tomorrow morning it means I’m definitely planning some downtime after this. Well, once I’ve worked out what home schooling the kids will do tomorrow…

Speaking of the kids, I went to pick the eldest two up from their Dad’s at 9am. Weirdly every time I make this journey the roads seem a bit busier than the time before. I’m suspecting that people are starting to bend those lockdown rules a bit, and use the recent guidance to police officers as an excuse to change their behaviour. Certainly from what I’ve heard their Dad is. Apparently the poor dear is “bored” of walks near his home so is starting to drive elsewhere to go for walks. I really thought he’d know better.

Homeschooling today has involved my daughter studying the poem The Highway Man and Roman numerals and my son covering telling the time (those complex five minute time intervals) and plurals. The poem isn’t one I’m familiar with it all, and helping her made me realise just how long it is since I’ve read anything like this. Sort of gave me a bit of a brain workout I guess. Her school had sent home a fab idea for a dice game the kids could make themselves to learn their Roman numerals. I’ll try and get it written up so I can share it. Someone in their maths department has been fab at sending out game ideas, either using playing cards or dice. They’re a great way of getting the kids learning whilst also keeping them entertained.

The other thing that kids were really keen to do today was play Monopoly again. They only really discovered the game late last week, but both seem obsessed. The weren’t too impressed though when I won with over £27 million! For people used to original Monopoly I feel I should add that we were playing the Here and Now UK version which has much higher costs and values involved. £2 million for passing Go rather than £200.

The youngest has learnt how to say the word “shoes” which, as well as being incredibly cute, means that she also now shouts it when she wants to go into the garden. Which has been pretty frequently today. I managed to squeeze in some weeding whilst I was out there. Tomorrow our green bin collections restart after a bit of a Covid-19 suspension so I was keen to fill it up as much as possible.

A small eBay sale that needed posting means I was able to drag the kids out for a short walk this evening to the post box. Often they can’t be bothered and to be honest at times taking them out can be a drag as they just moan the whole way round. Tonight though I was pleased to see them chatting away almost like friends as we walked. Such a pleasant change.

Just before bed another board game came out. This time a Scooby Doo one that I have to say is possibly the most tedious game I’ve ever played. And over the years I have played a lot of board games! Please don’t buy it. You’ll only regret it.

The only other thing I’ve done today of note really is order the fabric to make LMC’s 10th birthday present. I’ve found a pattern for a Harry Potter dressing gown and as she’s wanted one for ages I thought I’d turn my hand to making one. Fingers crossed I can actually make it in time.

For now though, time to print some worksheets for tomorrow, turn off the laptop and enjoy a spot of sewing or crochet in front of the TV before collapsing into bed and doing it all over again tomorrow!