Hats off to Captain Tom for his NHS fundraising. I can even accept You’ll Never Walk Alone being Number One (even with Michel Ball) but I so wish they had promoted him to Major and done a version of the Bowie classic! Of course he has fathered a whole host of similar fund raising efforts, all worthy, and many entertaining and the 8 hour online concert was of interest, not least because it showed that despite the wonders of the Internet and social media nothing compares with a real concert. Ditto the valiant efforts by the likes of Have I Got News For You and Graham Norton with their online versions. Entertaining and appreciated but in a strong way a good reminder of what we are all missing through Social Distancing – human interaction.
There have been more poignant reminders though.
Gloves are off with the media and politicians for sure as the blame game starts and the media continue to be hell bent on creating negativity. Yes mistakes have been made. Yes we were woefully underprepared. Yes the Government that WE elected is weak (arguably inept). Yes we are being lied to. But ….. we know all this, can’t be surprised by all this and surely we can figure all that out after we have got out of this mess.
The positives can’t hide the fact there have been a lot of negatives I am afraid.
On a personal note not a lot has changed. My parents continue to make me proud with the way they are coping. We have bought an extra fridge and freezer to store more food (that is now pretty much back to normal availability so huge kudos and thanks to all involved). Tesco online deliveries continue to be as rare as Rocking Horse S**t, but Waitrose have come back strong and we share a weekly order with them, delivered to us and we then take it up each week, collect their meds, clean their house. They use a local company (or more accurately franchise of a company) called Wiltshire Foods for frozen meals which are really good and they enjoy, and they have joined us as customers of Donald Russel for meat, chicken and fish deliveries.
Add in Amazon and a weekly trip to M&S if required and we/they are well sorted.
They are walking every day (as we are with the dogs) and we all have our Marshall Innovations work to keep us busy.
Parents also use Netflix, Prime, Skype and WhatsApp, and have done for years, so they really are coping very well.
That said they are top of my Bucket List for when the social distancing guidelines are relaxed.
Sandra’s mother is in Formby, but is coping really well, and in all honesty is probably benefitting from a simpler, quieter life. She has a carer in twice a day who is absolutely brilliant. They get on well and when she is there they WhatsApp Sands, and Sands does the regular Waitrose order so all is good.
Slowly working through the Task List we set. We are doing a “deep clean” and spring clean of one area of the house a week (Garage this week if you want to know), which has been interesting in that we haven’t really had to change that much (we have not got to the clothes yet!!), and for us the house is pretty clean LOL. After an initial binge on booze and snacks, we are back to normal. I drink on 4 days (but never more than 3 drinks in general), we run on 3 days, I do some exercises on 3 days, and we walk the dogs 5 or 6 days.
Hope all well with everyone.
Keep Safe & Be Kind!