This is a more than usual self indulgent post as I want to have a record of how life is as we start to emerge from COVID-19 Social Distancing.
I am a person that likes a schedule! Even when I have nothing to do I like to schedule it.
I wrote before how COVID-19 had had very little impact on our daily structure, and that remains the case still.
Week & Weekend
We still maintain a week and weekend approach to life, not that we really need to, but it helps as so many others still do, so organising anything needs to take this into account. On the flip side we retain a Spanish approach to meal times etc which can make the above difficult for others!
During the week the focus is on walking the dogs, exercising, “work” and family.
Weekends we like to try and relax, and if we are going to socialise it will over the weekend.
Animals
Life is very much focussed around the animals so as a rule we have three starts to the day in the summer (two in the winter): as soon as it starts to become light the cats let us know, although as a rule that is about all they want to do, around 6am they let us know that they want to go out in the garden so we open up the lounge doors, which means the dogs can also go out and do their stuff. The cats never seem to be out for long as around 8am we wake again to find 3 or 4 of them back on the bed, the dogs back in their beds, and ironically we tend to get disapproving looks for waking them up and/or disturbing them!
Nothing happens very quickly or early these days but by 9am I am usually up (Sands tends to be a little earlier) and doing my first task of the day: cat litter trays, food and water, followed by a flick round The Cottage with a duster and give the Dyson a run out.
Toast (homemade bread & honey) and coffee (Espresso) and by 10pm we like to be out with the dogs. We do between 4 and 5 miles with them and weather permitting we walk them Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday (pm), so on Wednesday and Sunday they get a day off but the plan is that we go for a run *cough*.
We try and spend as much time in the garden as possible as the cats in particular use it more when we are there, and in the evenings we usually fight for room on the sofas …. although if we so desired there always seems to be a spare dog bed or two we could use.
Exercise
Age and old injuries limit what I can do but with the dogs we tend to walk 20+ miles a week over Cannock Chase so plenty oh hills and from time to time we walk them on Formby Beach.
I try and use the exercise bike 4 times a week, so some stretching and strength exercises for my back etc 6 times a week, and run a couple of miles twice a week.
Well that is the theory …………..
Food & Drink
As a rule we eat healthily. Always room for improvement but we try and have a balance, avoid too much processed food, and very rarely eat out these days.
Since we moved back to the UK Sands has turned out some great scones and cakes, which added to homemade bread and soups makes her quite the “Nigella” these days.
Weekday meals are pretty basic, healthy and more often than not vegetarian. As breakfast is around 10pm (pre dog walk) we have lunch around 4pm (main meal of the day) and then a snack around 9pm (bed usually 11ish).
Weekends we have Fish n Chips on a Friday a couple of times a month with my parents, and on the other weeks it is usually “treat” night i.e. Take Away, Pizza, Burgers etc. Saturday we have a brunch which is one of my favourite times to have people round, and in the evenings we like to have a nice meal and bottle of wine, generally alone. Sunday is a Roast (winter) or BBQ (summer) around 4pm. Again, happy to share this with company – we see my parents for Sunday lunch on the weekends we haven’t seen them on the Friday – and Sunday evening we tend to hit the Gin!!
Not a big drinker these days. I like my whisky, red wine and gin, and have a good selection to hand at all times, and there is always some real ales and Spanish beers knocking around. Over the years I have got pretty good at having just one or two drinks (and rarely drink during the week) but lunch on Sunday always has been and always will be the time for a “good drink”.
Family
I usually go and see my parents on a Tuesday afternoon. Is an opportunity to keep their IT up to date if nothing else, and we always have something to discuss regarding Marshall Innovations, and it gives Sandra some time on her own.
Thursday they come for coffee and cake, or afternoon tea, and we see them every weekend either on a Friday or Sunday, and of course on Birthdays, Fathers Day, Mothers Day and anniversaries.
Sands had been seeing her mother every couple of weeks, and I tended to go with her and the dogs once a month, but since COVID-19 this has changed and I am not sure what the plan will be moving forward.
Blogs/Work
We still haven’t really decided what we are going to do next. I have stopped the Pet Transports after 10+ years which has seen me drive over 800,000 miles and deliver over 8,000 cats and dogs and whilst I will always try and help in an emergency it is time to stop. Sands is still doing some cat re-homing but she only works with two rescues in Spain and one charity in Germany.
We are going to develop www.alstrays.com to focus on pet ownership and welfare, and share our experiences and knowledge gained over the last 15+ years.
We are working (slowly) on developing the Educational Consultancy and Online side of Marshall Innovations, and I am thinking of getting back into writing and content provision via this blog, so as a rule Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons are sent “working”.
I am also considering a number of charity and voluntary opportunities, but COVID-19 put that on hold so we will see.
Social
Like the rest of the world we have had no social life for the last three months, but unlike most of the rest of the world this is pretty normal for us.
I am the first to admit that I am not particularly interested in being sociable. It’s not that I can’t be sociable, or indeed dislike certain social events, it’s more a case of I don’t need mush of it so rarely miss it, go in search of it, or accept invites.
I have next to no interest in what they laughingly call a pub these days or in restaurants but I am very happy to have people come round to the Cottage for Saturday Breakfast, Sunday Lunch or a Friday Super.
Christmas and New Year we send at home. Zero interest in not being in our own home with the animals, but once again …. all welcome to join in!
Sport, Concerts & Theatre
Only thing missing from the current day to day really is the Live Events: Sport, Concerts and Theatre.
First things first, will be good when we can have people round again for a meal and a drink, but that wont be long, and we hardly need revolving doors to accommodate the crowds!
Football (season ticket at Man Utd) and Cricket (member at Yorkshire and Warwickshire) are my two main sporting interests, although we were thinking of watching the rugby more (Wasps the closest).
This is all on hold for now. Our Theatre and Concerts have all been moved to next year which is fine, and we were going to look at the RSC in Stratford as well.
Spain
This is off the agenda at the moment. We haven’t yet worked out how we intend to use it as we will need to go separately, as don’t want to keep moving all the animals back and forth.
Think Sands will fly over 2 or 3 times a year for short breaks and I will do a couple of longer trips in the van and bring some animals back with me to help the rescues.
But that’s it. Will be interesting to see how it all pans out over the coming months and years.