AUGUST 2020

 AUGUST 2020

Saturday 1 August 2020

It's so nice that we can go out with our friends again. Met F in the park for a little stroll around and then we went to the Braid Hills Hotel and sat on their outdoor decking with a glass of wine. I think £17.50 was perhaps a bit excessive for two glasses of wine but it's so nice to have someone to talk to other than just the dog!

Thinking about it, even though I haven't had any income coming in for 3 months, I haven't been spending very much either. Just food shopping, wine and dog food! I've probably spent more in the last week going out and about than I did in the last three months.

Sunday 2 August 2020

Met up with eight friends and went for a walk at Lauriston Castle and Cramond. Don't know if we're allowed to meet with eight friends outside, but hey ho, we did it, and very pleasant it was too.

Monday 3 August 2020

Drove to East Wemyss in Fife and walked 7 miles along the coast path to Lower Largo. The walk went through the towns of Buckhaven, Methill, and Leven. What depressing places. Covid-19 has hit us all hard but these Fife towns were like they were still in lock down. For more than an hour me and my dog walked through eerily closed down towns. As we pounded the streets, the locked down shutters said it all. Nobody was about.

Some of these small towns in Scotland are never, ever going to recover from the last few months of lock down.

Wednesday 5 August 2020

Went out for a two hour dog walk in the rain and got back to the news that Aberdeen is back in lock down. Grrrr................... My friends, F & J were supposed to be coming down from Aberdeen so that they could take Mrs R (F's mum) back with them for a little holiday. They were also all supposed to be coming round to mine for dinner on Friday evening. Obviously that is no longer happening. Though to be perfectly honest, I don't really see how you can place one city in lock down and control who is going in and out.

This lock down thing is still really difficult. I've always liked living by myself and before lock down I never thought about how much human interaction I had. Now I think about it all the time. I'm trying to see at least one friend a day. Not that, that's working. I haven't seen anyone since Sunday. Actually, that's a lie. I went and did some shopping for Mrs R seeing as F isn't coming down. Stood 2m away from her doorstep and had a 10 min chat while I delivered the shopping.

Thursday 6 August 2020

On warm sunny days like this I don't care that I haven't seen any friends since Sunday. Just me, my dog, a glass of wine and a trashy magazine on the balcony. Bliss.

Friday 7 August 2020

Went for a walk with a couple of friends at Musselburgh Lagoons because they'd never been there before. Actually it's quite nice to go walking with friends. That's not something that we ever really used to do before lock down. All I did with my friends before lock down was eat and drink. It will be interesting to see if we continue doing this or whether we go back to our eating and drinking.

Saturday 8 August 2020

Another walk with friends. This time in Almondell Country Park with K & R.

Sunday 9  August 2020

Went for a little trek down the Royal Mile this afternoon. August is normally Edinburgh's busiest month and in normal times the Royal Mile would be wall to wall with people. But these aren't normal times. The Edinburgh Festival has been cancelled and the Royal Mile was eerily quiet. I wonder if life will ever get back to normal.

Monday 10 August 2020

Went out with F to the Black Ivy for a meal with the 'Eat out to help out' scheme. Apparently the 'eat out to help out' scheme is running from the 3 Aug to the 31 Aug and operates on a Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday. For any establishment participating in the scheme, diners get a 50% discount on food or non-alcoholic drinks. The establishments then can claim a reimbursement from the government for the discount they've given us. Mmmmm............... what I would like to know; is how the government can afford to do this? They seem to be throwing money at everybody. Obviously the scheme is quite good for people like me and I'm more than happy to 'eat out to help out', but the government are going to have to recoup all this money somehow once this is all over.

Went for a drink at Montpeliers afterwards. The last time I was there the staff took our temperature when they took our order. This evening there was no temperature taking and no details taken for 'trace and protect' purposes. Oh well, ho hum, we sat outside and were more than 2m away from the next table.

Tuesday 11 August 2020

This lock down hasn't really ended has it? There's nothing on TV that isn't a repeat and I've just spent the day alone. If the rumours are to be believed; there's going to be a second wave of Covid and all the over 50s are going to be told to go into isolation. Mmmmmmm.............. I won't be doing that! How would it be policed anyway? If I were out for a walk, would a policeman stop me and say, 'You look like you're over 50. Go home!'

Hopefully it's just a rumour?!

Wednesday 12 August 2020

Met J this afternoon and we went of lunch at 'Cafe Andaluz' and then cocktails at the 'Slug & Lettuce'. Loving this 'eat out to help out' scheme. Didn't have to give any 'trace & track' details at the Slug & Lettuce. There seems to be a huge difference in how different establishments are interpreting the rules.

It's like this so called localised lockdown in Aberdeen. F phoned me yesterday to ask if I could take Mrs R to visit her disabled son (who is in a care home and whom she hasn't seen since before lock down). That is absolutely fine. Obviously I will do that. But.............. apparently in Aberdeen all the non-essential shops are still open and the kids are all back at school. So, all that seems to have happened in this so called Aberdeen lock down is.................... the pubs and restaurants have closed again. Oh and people aren't supposed to travel more than 5 miles. Hardly a major lock down then is it?

It's been a glorious day today. Mega hot and sunny but what really confuses me is why I never see anyone sitting on their balconies? There's about 70 flats in my complex and the only person that ever seems to sit out in the sunshine is me. Why?

Thursday 13 August 2020

Took Mrs R to visit her disabled son in a care home today. It was the first time she'd seen him in more than five months and I have to say, it seemed very well organised. She had to arrive 15 mins before her appointed time to sign in and get PPE'd up. Masks, plastic aprons, etc. And then they had this gazebo type area where visitors could meet their relatives. Three comfy armchairs with a big clear plastic screen in between the two chairs that were facing each other.

It's so difficult isn't it? This Covid-19 thing has put a strain on everyone but there's always someone worse off than you. I can't even begin to imagine how difficult it is for a lady in her late 80s not to be able to see her son for more than 5 months. And because of the Aberdeen lock down, not being able to see her daughter either.

Friday 14 August 2020

K & R came round for dinner tonight. I made them Lasagne. Nice to be able to have friends round.

Sunday 16 August 2020

Went out with the girlies for lunch and left Trixie, the Collie pup, home alone for five hours. The last time she was left for that length of time was on the 16^th March 2020. For the whole of lock down I worried about how Trixie would cope when she was left home alone, after spending 3 months with me 24/7. For three months the only time she got left home alone was on a Wednesday for one hour when I went and did a supermarket shop for myself and Mrs R. Obviously as lock down rules have relaxed, she's been left home alone for a bit more, but not for five hours. Anyway she seemed perfectly happy when I got home and was happily snoozing in her bed.

We went to the 'Slug & Lettuce' this afternoon which we'd pre-booked. There were five of us from five different households and apparently only people from three households are allowed to meet. What a load of absolute rubbish. We're all single and live by ourselves so how on earth are the five of us meeting a bigger risk than say, three families of four people who are all out and about going to work and school. These rules are turning into a joke! If anyone questioned us we were just going to say that we were from three different households. Did anyone ask us? Of course they didn't! Nobody seems to care about the rules anymore.

The 'Slug & Lettuce' was quite quiet but we were still told that we'd have to order via the app. That seems to becoming the norm these days. I absolutely hate ordering anything via the app. For myself and my 60+ friends, part of going out for a meal is actually sitting down and looking at the menu. Not scrolling through a list of items on a tiny screen. As it turned out we were seated in a part of the restaurant that the wifi couldn't reach, so a real live person had to come and take our order anyway.

Afterwards we went to a Weatherspoons pub for another drink. I left my details to be 'traced and tracked' (but thought it was now mandatory for everyone in the party to leave details. Obviously not!) To be honest I don't think anyone knows what is happening anymore. The rules are changing daily and unless you have time to watch Nicola Sturgeon's daily briefing every day at 12.30pm, who knows what is going on?

Had to order our drinks via an app again. One of my more techie friends managed to do this. Or so she thought. The whisky, plus a glass of lemonade arrived in a half pint glass with all the lemonade poured in. Seriously? And how do you say you only want one lump of ice via an app? This resulted in so called 'techie' friend heading to the bar to find a real live person.

And then the most ridiculous thing happened.......................... Half way through our drinks a waitress rocked up at our table with another tray of drinks which we hadn't ordered. She was adamant that the drinks had been ordered for table 28 (which was our table). After a lot of too-ing and fro-ing, and the supervisor being called, it eventually transpired that table 28 in the Weatherspoons pub along the road had ordered the drinks. How mad is that? So it seems that technology isn't best after all?!

Tuesday 18 August 2020

The thing about lock down is...................... (OK, I know we're not officially still in lock down, but it feels like it) is I'm constantly obsessing about how much human interaction I have. Before lock down I never, even thought about how many people I interacted with each day. Now I seem to have become obsessed with planning to see at least one real live person every day.

If I don't have plans to meet anyone I just walk for miles and miles and miles with Trixie, the Collie pup. At least I have time to look at things which I maybe wouldn't have noticed before. I've photographed police boxes, clocks, etc. Before lock down the dog walk was just a dog walk before I moved onto the next activity. Now I don't have an activity to move onto so I just take my time whilst trekking around. It's certainly been a good few months for strengthening my bond with the dog!

Wednesday 20 August 2020 

Went out to 'Indigo Yard' with F today to take advantage of the 'Eat out to help out' scheme. It's great that we get such a good deal on food. We seem to spend an awful lot on the wine though. Lol! And the ambiance is spoiled a bit by the fact that there's big posters all over the place telling us how to 'stay safe'.

Saturday 22 August 2020

Today was almost normal.

Went for a walk up Corstorphine Hill with K this morning.

This afternoon I went off to do a 'Meet & Greet' in the Grassmarket. I've actually done quite a few 'Meet & Greets' this week. It would seem that the tourists are returning to Edinburgh. Even though the Edinburgh Festival has been cancelled, there's still a lot of street performers around. Not much social distancing and not many people wearing masks. The so called rules all seem a little crazy. It's manadatory to wear masks on public transport and in shops, where mostly people are keeping their distance. And yet crowds can gather together to watch street performers. It's mad!

Out of the five 'Meet & Greets' that I've done this week, only one American guy and one English couple bothered to wear a mask when they checked in. Obviously I've been issued with very stringent H&S procedures to follow and I'm pretty sure the visitors will have been given the same information. But do they bother to follow the rules? No they don't!

Compared to a couple of weeks ago when I went trekking down the High Street, and the city was like a ghost town.................... it's almost back to being as busy as it usually is in August. Where are all these people coming from.

This evening I went out for a steak with S & G. It was OK, but all the tables had sheets of plastic in between them.

Sunday 23 August 2020

I had two 'Meet & Greets' to do today. A family of four from Prague who weren't wearing masks. And a group of giggly girls from London, who were not from the same household (I know that because I asked them). They were sharing a one bedroomed flat with a sofa bed so presumably, as well as breaking the rule that states that only people from three households can meet, I can't imagine there would be any social distancing going on. It's all very well having rules but there is absolutely no way of enforcing the rules. It does very much rely on people's own conscience.

Having said that; the rules are so different in Scotland and England that no one knows what is happening. I only know that the rules are so different because I've got my house down in Cornwall that I let out so need to know what the rules are down there. If I just lived in Scotland all the time or in England all the time, I wouldn't even think about whether the rules would be different in different parts of the UK.

When Boris comes on TV, I'm sure most people think that he is talking about the whole of the UK, not just England. After all how many people in England watch Nicola doing her daily briefing and changing the rules in Scotland?

Monday 24 August 2020

Went out to Montpeliers with F this evening for another 'Eat out to help out' meal. Have to make the most of it. I think the scheme ends on 31^st August.

Thursday 27 August 2020

The weather is going a bit colder now and because I went a bit mad & chucked out loads of clothes during lock down, I don't seem to have anything decent to wear now. For the last five months I've just been slobbing around wearing dog walking clothes.

Went to M&S this morning to buy a couple of pairs of trousers. I'm not sure that I understand all this 'not trying on stuff'. After all, if I bring it home, try it on and it doesn't fit, then I've got to go back out again to return it. Apparently once the goods have been returned, they sit somewhere for 72 hrs before they're allowed to go back out onto the shop floor. Surely it would make more sense to let customers try the clothes on in the store so that if they didn't fit they could then go straight into the holding bay, thus meaning the customer didn't have to make an extra trip back to the shop and in the process have to navigate public transport and a lot more people. #Justsaying

I was supposed to be heading off on a cruise this weekend, but obviously that's not happening now. However, it would seem that a lot of restaurants are extending the 'eat out to help out' scheme into September, so maybe I can just spend the next week eating and drinking and pretend I'm floating around on a cruise liner.

Friday 28 August 2020

Should have been off on a cruise today with three friends. Instead S has recreated the 'sail away' party in her house. Not sure how many of us can officially meet indoors anymore but does anyone care. A good time was had by all.

Monday 31 August 2020

Went back to my fitness club today. Whoooo hooo. All seems very safe re social distancing measures, though the club was very quiet. Swam 60 lengths.

This evening I went to the Merlin with F&J to make the most of the 'eat out to help out' scheme. I have to say this is one of the advantages of lock down. Actually, as far as I'm concerned, this is the only good thing to come out of lock down.