APRIL 2020

 Wednesday 1 April 2020

Today I did my first bit of 'helping the nation' and went to 'Aldi' to do a shop for a friends mum. It was so exciting to be out in the car after almost 2 weeks. I was going to go to either 'Tesco' or 'Morrison's' but both had huge queues so I went to 'Aldi' which didn't have any queues at all.

It was a bit difficult being a 'personal shopper' and knowing what to substitute, but I'm sure I'll get into the swing of it. What was even nicer, was having a real life chat with Mrs R when I delivered her shopping. She stood on the doorstep and I stood 2m away.

It's an 'essential' reason to go out. Yay! I'm going to do it every week for her. She has two daughters, but they both live away from Edinburgh, so it makes sense for me to do it. Also I can do my own weekly shop at the same time and the car gets a short run out. It's a win, win, win, situation. Plus Trixie, the Collie pup, gets some 'home alone' time. I spent a lot of time and effort last year training Trixie to become the 'perfect pooch' and I don't want all that training to go to waste because she's getting used to having me around 24/7.

Feeling happy today.

Thursday 2 April 2020

The days are becoming very samey and who knows when our release date is going to be.

Went out onto the balcony to do the 'Clap for the key-workers' thingy. The clocks went forward last weekend so it was light this evening at 8pm. Just to put things into perspective, a high percentage of these key-workers who are on the front-line, are putting themselves and their families at risk of Coronavirus, but are still only on minimum wage. When you think how much footballers & pop stars earn, this is totally wrong. The whole wage structure is totally wrong. In my opinion, these people should be getting paid extra for putting themselves on the front-line. As a 61 year old, general member of the public, I'm guessing that my opinion doesn't count for anything?!

Oh and when I went out on the dog walk this afternoon, I saw this poster in a window down at Tollcross.  Well I thought it was funny. Lol!!

Friday 3 April 2020

I know there's more important things to worry about in the world right now, but seriously...................... What part of, 'do not leave donations by the door', do people not get? When I took Trixie out this morning practically every charity shop that I past had loads of stuff just dumped by the doors?!! Who do these idiots think is going to take this stuff into the shop? Charity shops are closed. They are not essential. These shops are probably going to be closed for 12 weeks so what is going to happen to all this stuff?

This morning I felt a great sense of achievement when I changed my bedlinen this morning and took off my electric blanket for the summer (here's hoping it doesn't suddenly go cold again). I also turned the mattress over because that is something that should be done on a regular basis and never, ever is. That is how mundane my life has become. I even posted a photo of my newly made bed on FB and told the whole world what I'd done. Can't wait to get back to my normal eating/drinking/socialising posts.

And has anybody else had the post from the RSPCA popping up on their FB pages. Apparently people are abandoning their pets because they think they will catch Coronavirus off them. Pets are family. Are these same people going to abandon family members if they catch Coronavirus? As far as I am concerned, Trixie the Collie pup, is my lifesaver. I honestly do not know what I would do if I didn't have her. She gives me an essential reason to go out and she's company for me when I'm in.

I've spent most of my adult life living alone. I like living alone, but until the last couple of weeks, I'd never realised how isolating living alone was. I don't think I've ever spent a whole day alone without some form of human contact. Humans are social beings and I think when you live alone you make more of an effort to get that human contact. Whether it be going out to socialise with friends or doing an exercise class with other people, or even just going to work or to the shops.................. human interaction has always been a major part of my day which I had never even thought about before. Now I think about it all the time.

This evening I had a video chat on Facetime with my two sisters. They sent me a message saying, 'Shall we have a G&T together at 6pm?' Well I wasn't going to drink alcohol for the whole of April but I certainly wasn't going to sit drinking a diet coke if they were drinking G&Ts so I went out and bought 3 bottles of wine. ..........After all if I'm going to succumb to drinking alcohol on day 3 of my non alcoholic month, I might as well do it in style??!! So we drank and we chatted and it was fine, but realistically why did we do it? We normally only chat to each other every few weeks (obv they follow what I do on social media) so why does everyone suddenly feel the need to video call each other? I think I'm going to front up a new campaign – If you didn't do it before lock down, why are you doing it now?

Saturday 4 April 2020

The new slogan is, 'Its OK not to be OK'.

Not even 2 weeks into lock down and 'mental health' is becoming a huge issue.

I had absolutely no motivation to do anything today. So I didn't! The online exercises classes lasted for about a week. And my alcohol free month lasted until day 3. Does anyone care? NO!

Took Trixie for a walk in the Hermitage at 8am (when fortunately there weren't many people about) and let her off her lead. Can't be doing with all this, 'keep your dog on a lead' stuff. She's a Collie. She needs a good run about. She rolled in fox poo. Yuk! Apparently 50% of people who get Coronavirus lose their sense of smell, so working on that assumption; I haven't got it. She stinks!

Feeling a bit sad because this weekend I should have been heading down to Cornwall to spend a month in my very lovely home in St Ives. The weather is normally fabulous in April. Who knows when I'll be allowed to go there again. I've got loads of bookings from the beginning of May, but I'm guessing they're all going to get cancelled if lock down is going to be going on for 12 weeks. I advertise via 'Airbnb' who are now giving a full refund to all visitors who are booked between now and 31^st May 2020.

I'm lucky. I have savings, so I should be OK for a few months. After that, who knows?

I also can't see how the company who I work for in Edinburgh (as a self-employed 'meet & greeter' at short term lets), is going to survive this crisis. If 'Debenhams' and 'Cath Kidson' are going into administration, what hope is there for the rest of us?

Sunday 5 April 2020

It's only lock down day 13 and apparently 'Catherine Calderwood' has been visiting her second home. Honestly! She's Scotland's Chief Medical Officer. She's the one who fronts up the campaign for not visiting second homes and less than two weeks into lock down and that's exactly what she's doing. She obviously thinks she's immune to what she's telling the whole of Scotland. How she can go on TV and urge the public to stay home, to save lives and protect the NHS, and then tootle off to her second home. It's unbelievable.

Some MSPs have called for her resignation but apparently the First Minister has said that her advice and expertise were invaluable, so she's going to remain in her role but step out of the public eye. I'm guessing if she hadn't been in the public eye in the first place then she wouldn't have been recognised visiting her second home.

Monday 6 April 2020

I've been very unmotivated today. I haven't achieved one single thing and the whole day has just been frittered away. It's turned into a beautiful evening and in normal circumstances I'd probably go out for another dog walk. I don't really feel that I can justify doing that because I'm already going out twice a day, which is exceeding the one bit of exercise we are officially allowed to have. And the thing that is really annoying is that everyone is being encouraged to snitch on their neighbours if they see people breaking the rules. I've already bumped into one woman from the block of flats next door who said to me, 'Haven't I seen you out already today?' I just said that I had a dog in a 4^th floor flat and she had to go out for toileting purposes. I'm getting a bit paranoid about how often I'm going out now and who's watching me. I've started going out the back door for my morning walk and out the front door for my afternoon walk.

I can't say that all this snitching on each other is going to instil much community spirit. We should all be helping each other get through this, not telling tales on each other.

Tuesday 7 April 2020

Handy hint – If you have to press a pedestrian crossing button, or a lift button, or any sort of communal button; use your thumb instead of your finger because you are less likely to touch your face with your thumb.

Went for a walk around the Meadows this afternoon. It was a beautiful sunny day so there were loads of people just sitting around on the grass, albeit in groups of two/three and lone people sitting on the seats. The rules state that you are not allowed to sit down when you're out for your one bit of exercise. You're supposed to be exercising not resting!

I've heard reports of the police moving people on if they see anyone sitting down but the Meadows area is surrounded by student flats that have no outdoor space so I'm guessing on a nice day like this they just want to get out for a bit of fresh air.

Today I didn't see a single policeman at all. Unusual because they seem to have been patrolling the Meadows quite a lot.

Wednesday 8 April 2020

Did my second shop for Mrs R. this morning.  It's great that I have a legitimate reason to go out in the car. Went to Aldi because there wasn't a queue there and the queue at Tesco's was about a mile long. Took the opportunity to buy some plants for the balcony. I've been wanting to buy plants for the last couple of weeks but as far as I'm concerned plants are not essential so I'm of the opinion that it would be breaking the rules to go out to buy some.

Having said that, everybody seems to be taking up gardening and DIY and as such are (in my opinion) making non-essential trips to buy things. Gardening and DIY are not essential and yet the words, 'mental health' are being bandied around. Ie, apparently gardening and DIY is good for our mental health. I have one friend who goes out in the car at least two/three times a day to buy plants/paint etc. I don't see why she can't buy all these things together when she does her weekly shop. Maybe doing it that way might not be good for her mental health!

Thursday 9 April 2020

I don't do politics but honestly, how wonderful is First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon. She's so hard-working, always looks immaculate to face her public and is always in the front line for criticism. She's on TV every day to give her daily briefing. Obviously Boris is in hospital at the moment with Coronavirus, and it's good to know that he is now on the mend, but he doesn't seem to be around as much as Nicola.

My letter from Boris arrived today. £5million to send a letter to the nation to tell us what every Coronavirus ad on TV is telling us. STAY HOME, SAVE LIVES. I've pinned in to my notice board and it will stay there for the duration of lock down.

And talking about the duration of lock down...................... By Monday we will have done our three weeks in lock down. And what a long three weeks it has been. It looks like we're going to have another three weeks of this. We all must remain positive. Lock down now means that hopefully most of us will be around to see next year.

Friday 10 April 2020

I know it's the Easter weekend but seriously?................... what is it with all the queues outside the shops? It's not like anyone is going to be allowed to have the family round is it? Or are people starting to break the rules? I needed a loaf of bread so thought I'd just pop into the little Sainsbury's on the way back from the dog walk. There's never a queue there, but today there was 10 people outside waiting. Don't know why because there's hardly anything on the shelves in that Sainsbury's anyway. No way was I going to queue for a loaf of bread so I'll just have to be a little more inventive and have something other than toast for breakfast tomorrow.

I went back to bed after this mornings dog walk. The weather was rubbish and I had nothing to do so I thought I might as well just go back to bed. Hope this isn't going to be the start of a slippery slope. It's not that I haven't got stuff to do. I have but everything just seems to be such an effort at the moment. I'm definitely more motivated when the sun is shining. And it's not helping seeing sunny day pictures of beaches in St Ives. That's where I'm supposed to be right now. Goodness only knows when I'll actually be allowed to go to my home there. Grrrrrrr............

Saturday 11 April 2020

Do you know what is really starting to annoy me..................... the number of people who are going out in their car to do their daily exercise. Went to the Hermitage first thing this morning and there were four cars parked up by the entrance. One of them belonged to a lady with a spaniel and a little child of about 5. I spoke to her, albeit 2m away, and she told me that she came here most days. She told me where she lived, which was less than half a mile away, which does beg the question............... why does she need to drive. If she has an accident in that half mile which requires the emergency services, then she is putting everybody's lives at risk, just because she's too lazy to walk.

I want to come out of this lock down thing ASAP so I'm trying to abide by the rules, but it's not easy when everybody else seems to be breaking them.

Also it would seem that all the parks/open spaces in Edinburgh have signs in them now telling people that the parks are for exercise only and they cannot stop to eat or drink.

Sunday 12 April 2020

As each day passes I am becoming more and more unmotivated. I wish I could just go to sleep and wake up when this is all over.

Monday 13 April 2020

Lock down day 21. This should have been the last day of lock down and now nobody has any idea how long this imprisonment is going to last for.

Tuesday 14 April 2020

Went for a little trek around town this afternoon to see what was happening. Nothing was happening. The streets were virtually empty and it was really eerie. Don't think we'll ever see it like this again. It does however, pose the question................... when this is all over will life ever go back to how it was before? I doubt it? How can it? Peoples lives have changed dramatically over the last three weeks. Is there ever going to be recovery from this?

It's been compared to the 1^st & 2^nd World Wars. The difference being that during the wars we knew who we were fighting. The trouble with Coronavirus is that we don't yet seem to have a strategy to kill it.

But, we are lucky. We have food, we might have to queue but we don't have rationing. We have TV. We have the internet. We have phones. We have communication with each other. None of which people had during the wars.

More than 12,000 people killed by Coronavirus so far.

Wednesday 15 April 2020

Wednesday has become my new favourite day of the week because I go out in the car to 'Aldi' and do a shop for Mrs R and a weekly shop for myself at the same time. I even put on lipstick and mascara! It's also the day that I get to talk to a person in real life. Mrs R stands on her doorstep and I stand 2m away and we have a bit of a natter.

Oh and I know I've been ranting a lot about how all the Edinburgh parks and dog walking places have become over-crowded with people coming out for their one bit of exercise a day, when they've probably never exercised in their life before, but, I've become very inventive with my dog walking routes. All the golf courses are closed and you are allowed to walk on them so today I had a lovely long walk on Braid Hills golf course. Obviously there are signs at all the entrances telling people not to stop to eat or drink, but as it was such a nice day there were quite a few people sitting down, but to be honest the golf courses are so huge it's very easy to social distance. And also there wasn't a policeman in sight. I'm guessing the golf courses are just too big to patrol.

Thursday 16 April 2020

Apparently we've got at least another three weeks of lockdown. When will it ever end? Apparently it takes three weeks to change a habit and yes, I suppose it probably has taken three weeks to get used to our new way of life and new routine. Having said that; if I hadn't had Trixie the Collie pup, I don't think I would have had a routine. At least she gives me a proper reason for going out.

I actually did some work this morning. I had to go to a property (that I do meet & greets at) and check that that the door had been double locked. They're obviously not expecting to rent it out any time soon then. Obviously the minute I'd finished, I used my hand sanitiser in-case there were any nasty Coronavirus bugs lurking around.

One of my friends has decided to do a live 'songs & sundowners' session from his garden shed. It's brilliant! It pops up on my FB page and I've actually worked out how to google chrome cast it onto the TV. So now I have two things to look forward to every week. Shopping for Mrs R on a Wednesday and Songs and sundowners with D every Thursday evening. I'm starting to feel I can put stuff into my diary again. Lol!

Been watching Martin Lewis on TV, who is always good for financial advice, but my situation doesn't fit into any of the categories that he has been talking about. If I'd registered my home in Cornwall as a business instead of a second home I would be entitled to a £10,000 payout. If my self employed income from 'meet & greeting' was my main source of income I'd be entitled to some sort of a grant. It seems really unfair that I'm not entitled to anything so am having to dip into my savings just to live. And also all these people who are in effect getting £10,000 for their second homes don't have to pay council tax. I'm paying full council tax on a house that I'm not even allowed to go to. Are the council going to refund me for the number of weeks that I'm not allowed to go to Cornwall? I bet they don't. Obviously people aren't able to make money from renting out properties for holidays at the moment, but I know people who have a second home, registered as a business, and they don't rent it out at all. That means that not only are they not paying any council tax, they're also getting £10,000 for doing absolutely nothing. It's no wonder that sales of hot tubs are increasing!

On a more positive note................. isn't 'Tom Moore' wonderful. As a retired army captain, he set out to walk 100 times round his garden before his 100^th birthday on 30^th April. He's now raised more than £15million. How amazing is that?

Friday 17 April 2020

I think I'm developing a really strong bond with my dog. Initially I was worried that lock down would turn her into a really clingy pooch because we are together 24/7 but in reality I think it's actually made her more obedient. I spent most of last year training her and was worried that all of that training would go to waste. However, she still seems happy enough to stay home when I go shopping on a Wednesday and when she's playing, her recall is perfect, pretty much all of the time. The only time she doesn't come back straight away, is if she's chasing rabbits or squirrels. I'm a bit worried about the lack of car journeys though. She probably hasn't been in the car for a month. She's never had a problem in the car before but that's because I took her out regularly when she was a puppy. Driving from Scotland to Cornwall is a long way and I'd hate her to be distressed for 600 miles. Haven't a clue when we'll be allowed to go out in the car again for a non essential reason.

And the thing that is annoying me most today...................... Is anyone else getting fed up with all these adverts that are popping up on FB for 'free' online courses. There's nothing free about them. I'd love to do a 'free' online course. It might stop me slobbing around and watching daytime TV, but these courses are not free. I've started to sign up for quite a few now. You have to fill out an application form so that they get all your details and then at the very end they ask for card details so that after the initial free week or month they want to take at least £50pm off you for the rest of the course. What is free about that? Now I keep getting emails saying that I haven't completed my registration. Well of course I haven't. Why would I want to pay £50 a month for the next 24 months for a course that I probably would give up the minute we're released from prison? It's very, very, annoying.

Saturday 18 April 2020

I'm becoming very inventive about finding new places to walk the dog far from the madding crowds. Golf courses are my favourite. They're huge so even if there's other people there, there's plenty room to socially distance.

However, walking past the entrance to the Hermitage this afternoon, there were at least 15 cars parked along the edge of the road. Seems like a lot of people are breaking the rules and are driving to do their one bit of exercise a day. And what is being done about it? Absolutely nothing. It's so annoying for those of us who are trying to keep to the rules. Obviously I had to do a bit of research into open spaces in Edinburgh so when I got home I looked at a map. Every single home in the city is within half a mile of an open space/park so in my opinion there is no reason at all why people need to use the car to go to somewhere to exercise. If they walked to their nearest park it would be a lot healthier for them and they wouldn't be putting extra pressure on the NHS. For example, if they have a crash on their non essential journey and the emergency services are called, then that is taking NHS staff away from other work that they could be doing.

Sunday 19 April 2020

Walked through 'Braidburn Valley Park' this morning. All the seats have got notices on them now telling people that the park is for exercise only and we are not allowed to stop to eat or drink.

Monday 20 April 2020

Four weeks into lock down and today I actually had a chat (and a glass of wine) with friends in real life. Yay! Was walking past my friend, Gs garden and she was partaking in a glass of wine with another friend, S. They asked me to join them and we all sat 2m apart. G lives in a ground floor flat and as it was a hot day the flats above had their windows open. We were aware that the people up above could hear our conversation, but as nobody has done anything, nobody has anything to talk about. Our main topic of conversation was how long the queues were at supermarkets. I was probably only there for about half an hour and when I left, we agreed we'd do it again next week if its nice weather.

A couple of hours later I got a phone call from G to say that one of her neighbours had said that if she has friends in her garden again, she's going to report her. Honestly, all this snitching on your neighbours is going to tear communities apart.

Tuesday 21 April 2020

Did the dog walk this afternoon to a friends house and had a social distancing G&T in the garden. Fortunately her garden is not overlooked, so no nosey neighbours to snitch on us.

Wednesday 22 April 2020

I've just discovered that the 'rules' in England are different from Scotland (& probably Wales but I don't know anyone who lives in Wales). In England you can now drive a short distance to do your daily exercise. You can also sit down for a rest during your exercise. You can't do either of those things in Scotland. Having said that, if you need a rest during your exercise, then you shouldn't have gone that far in the first place. It's not compulsory that you go out for an hour. If you only managed a 10 min walk before lock down, why do people think they can do an hour long walk now?

I was talking to a friend today (on the phone) who said she'd received an anonymous letter telling her that her son had been out and about with his friends and if he did it again, they were going to report him. Firstly, he hadn't been out and secondly why was it an anonymous letter. Because she didn't know who had sent it, she couldn't put them straight. If you've got something to say, why don't you just be honest and upfront and put your name to it. There's far too many keyboard warriors around at the moment.

I'm living in fear of someone reporting me because I'm taking the dog out twice a day. Even though I can justify it as being essential (living in a 4^th floor flat and the dog needs to go out for toileting purposes), I'm constantly worrying because there just seems to be too many busy bodies around that seem to want to report the teeniest, weeniest little things without speaking to the person involved first.

I've got a friend in the police and she told me that the police are dealing with more complaints that we will ever know. Obviously that's not being reported in the news because all that is reported in the news is stuff about Covid-19. Apparently the victims of domestic abuse has increased massively over the last few weeks.

What is more important...................... Saving someone who could be killed by an abusive partner or reporting someone for sitting in a garden?

Thursday 23 April 2020

Just wondering if anyone else with a dog is experiencing 'issues' when they talk to friends on the phone? Trixie, the Collie pup, never used to bother if I talked on the phone. Now the minute the phone rings she goes into 'spoilt brat mode' and leaps around all over the place and keeps jumping up at me. It's very odd. It's almost as though she wants my whole attention all the time and gets cross if I'm giving attention to someone else.

Friday 24 April 2020

It's been beautiful today, so apart from the dog walks, I've spent pretty much all day on the balcony. It's really strange because out of the 70 flats in this complex, I'm the only one that seems to use the balcony. Even on a Thursday evening when we do the 'clap for the key workers', the other residents stand at their windows and don't go out onto the balconies.

I love my balcony. I think I'm really lucky to have a little bit of outdoor space.

I've actually been sitting reading a book today. I never read books. I don't see the point in reading books. There always seems to be something more interesting to do. At the moment there isn't anything more interesting to do! OMG! I'm turning into a bookworm.

Saturday 25 April 2020

Met a friend this afternoon for a socially distanced G&T in her garden. OK it might be breaking the rules, but after 33 days in lock down, this lack of human contact is starting to affect my 'mental health'.

The term 'mental health' is starting to be bandied around quite a lot. As far as I'm concerned, anything that someone is doing, that they shouldn't be doing, is justified by saying they need to do such and such because they are suffering from mental health problems.

Covid is being compared to life during World War 1 & 2. Don't think 'mental health' had been invented then!

Sunday 26 April 2020

Went for a walk on 'Mortonhall Golf Course' this afternoon. There were loads of signs up all over the place telling people not to use the bunkers as sandpits and not to dig in them. The notices didn't seem to be doing much good. There were lots of people sitting in the bunkers having picnics with little people who were digging and building sandcastles in the sand. Is that really such a bad thing? It looked to me as if it was one bunker per family and is it really damaging the bunkers that much if some little kids do some digging in them?

Far more worrying is the reports of teenagers tearing around on motorbikes and mountain bikes which are churning up the grass.

Monday 27 April 2020

Met a crazy mad woman today who was sitting on the grass on the Meadows playing on her phone. Took Trixie for her afternoon walk on the Meadows. It's usually quite busy there so I keep Trixie on her lead. Today it was quiet so I let her off lead to have a run about. She was running around quite happily, when all of a sudden 'mad crazy woman' started screaming at me, 'Keep it away, keep it away. Dogs have got the virus'. Now bearing in mind Trixie was never any nearer to her than about 5m and bearing in mind that no one is allowed to sit down during their exercise................ as far as I was concerned 'crazy mad woman', was the one who was breaking the rules. Seriously?! If she is mad and crazy enough to think that a dog more than 5m away from her is going to give her Covid, then she shouldn't even be going out.

Tuesday 28 April 2020

Tonight I watched, 'How to keep your dog happy at home'. What a load of rubbish. They've done agility in a huge garden and have been faffing around in a skateboard park. What on earth has that got to do with keeping your dog happy at home. How about a programme that actually teaches you how to keep your dog happy when you are prisoner in a 4^th floor flat.

Wednesday 29 April 2020

It would seem I am an inspiration...............

When I was out on the dog walk this afternoon I met a young couple who live in the block of flats next to me. I'd noticed they had a Labrador puppy and when I spoke to them today they told me I'd been their inspiration for getting a dog. (Nothing to do with lock down). Apparently I'd met them last year when Trixie was a weeny, teeny puppy and I'd inspired them to go ahead with their dream to get a dog. Ie, they'd thought if I could have a bouncy little collie pup in a 4th floor flat, then they could do the same. They'd got him a couple of months before lock down but obviously they're finding it very difficult to socialise him.

This brings me onto my rant for today..................... It would appear that loads of people are now buying dogs on a whim (and the price of dogs is rocketing). How many of these people are actually thinking of the long term effects and commitment of owning a dog. We're not going to be locked up forever, even if it feels like we are at the moment. Humans need to commit to the whole of a dogs life which is approximately 15 years. I don't believe that the majority of people who have bought a dog (so that they have an excuse to go out) have any idea of the amount of commitment that a dog requires. Have they even thought about who is going to look after it when they all go back to work/school? And for those people buying a puppy, have they actually thought about how they are going to socialise it when no one is allowed to meet anyone. Last year when I got Trixie, the main part of her training was socialising her so that she got on with all humans and dogs. How is anyone going to achieve that in lock down?

Thursday 30 April 2020

Thursday evenings at 5pm have become my favourite evening of the week. My friend, D, streams a 'songs & sundowners' session live from his shed. I google chrome-cast it onto my TV and dance around my living room. Can't say it's doing much for my liver though. By 6pm I've usually drunk half a bottle of Pinot. Oh well, hey ho, I would have drunk a lot more if I'd been out with my friends in real life.

And then at 8pm I go out on my balcony and do the 'clap for key-workers'.

It's all go on a Thursday night!!