SEPTEMBER 2020

 SEPTEMBER 2020

Tuesday 1 September 2020

Yesterday I went for a swim at my fitness club. It was lovely and quiet and I swam 60 lengths. For most of that time there was only one other person in the pool. However, it must have got busier later on because this morning a post popped up on FB saying that they could only allow 10 people in the pool so from now on we have to book. Grrrrr............ I can totally understand that from a Covid point of view. The pool is small and the changing rooms aren't very big either. But, one of the things I liked best about the club was the fact that I could just go for a swim or into the gym without having to book. Pre Covid if I went for a swim during the day I often had the whole pool to myself. Also non of the fitness classes have re-started yet. I have absolutely no intention of booking to go for a swim because I never really know what I'm going to be doing until I know what the weather is going to be like. And apart from anything else, we're not allowed to use the hairdryers. I often used to go supermarket shopping on the way back from the club and I don't particularly want to do that if my hair is dripping wet. I've frozen my membership for a couple of months because it seemed a bit silly to be paying for something that I'm not going to be using. Hopefully by November, things might be a bit more normal.

Wednesday 2 September 2020

All this talk in the media of September being a really sizzling month is starting to annoy me. It's cold. I've got the fire on, I've got my fleece on and I've got my fluffy slippers on.

Saturday 5 September 2020

Had three friends round for a social distancing Chinese takeaway.

Sunday 6 September 2020

Went for a walk with K along the River Almond to Livingston today. Planned to have lunch at the Livingston Inn in their beer garden. When we got there we were told they don't serve food in the beer garden and they don't allow dogs indoors. So that was the end of that idea. Just re-checked their website which says they are operating a reduced menu and describing the outdoor space as somewhere, where one could enjoy the sunshine. No where was there any mention that food wasn't served outside. Very, very annoying. Also when we did go inside to go to the toilet neither of us was asked for any 'trace & track' details. What a shambles!

Started to walk back and ended up in the beer garden at the 'Black Bull' in Mid Calder where we both had a very nice plate of scampi & chips. Watched the very lovely young waitress dealing with the most vile customer ever. Some horrible old man told her to take her mask off and when she said she couldn't because the pub was following government guidelines, he said he would rip it off for her. Seriously?!! And this is what staff in the hospitality industry are having to put up with on a daily basis. Well done to the staff at the 'Black Bull'. You were all lovely.

Monday 7 September 2020

Loving that the 'eat out to help out' scheme has been extended. Went out with friends and had a yummy steak in 'Elements'.

Tuesday 8 September 2020

Today the news has been full of how Covid is on the increase again. Well surely that's only to be expected now that all the schools/restaurants/pubs etc are open again. Surely, we just all need to learn to live with this. We can't be locked up forever. What's the point of living a life like that?

Trekked around town on a little mission to photograph pubs beginning with every letter of the alphabet. Honestly the things I do when I'm bored!!

Thursday 10 September 2020

Bored again so walked more than 13 miles. Obviously because I was out, I didn't watch Nicola Sturgeon's daily briefing. Not that I would have watched it even if I'd been in, but that's besides the point. It would appear that as of Monday only TWO households can meet up inside and out. What a load of rubbish. These rules just haven't been thought through properly.

I am single. Most of my friends are single. Now I can only meet up with one person at a time.

However, if my sister's family weren't 300 miles away I could meet up with all them. There's five adults living in one house. Both my nephews work in big organisations and are going into work and my niece is going to and from a student house and her mummy & daddy's. But they're officially one household so I could meet all of them. How on earth can that be considered safer than meeting three single friends? I just don't get it.

The only place myself and most of my friends go to is the supermarket and out for the odd meal. And from my experience shops and restaurants are very good at the social distancing thing. I bet it's not like that in the majority of work places.

The world has gone mad. I appreciate that the government are dealing with an unknow situation but people have got to start taking responsibility for themselves. If you don't feel safe going out, then don't go out.

For the first three months I think I followed the rules pretty much to the letter. I was a prisoner in my own home and had no human contact. I can't sustain that again. I don't feel that I'm putting myself at risk by going out and I'm not putting anyone at risk by meeting people because as far as I am concerned everyone has the choice of who they want to meet. If my friends don't want to meet me because they're scared I've been in contact with someone on a bus, for example, then that is their choice not to meet me.

Obviously I don't want to catch Covid and I think that should I get it, living with long Covid would be horrendous, but I'm not going to lock myself away on the off chance that I might get it.

Life is not a dress rehearsal!!

I don't understand why the government is getting so panicky now. For months we've been hearing that there's going to be a second wave of Covid. The pubs/restaurants have been open for a few weeks now and to be honest, the 'eat out to help out' scheme is obviously bringing people out to eat that in normal times might not be able to afford it. The kids went back to school in Scotland about three weeks ago so obviously the infection rate is going to go up.

As a responsible person I've downloaded the NHS Scotland app onto my phone so that I can be 'trace & tracked' or 'trace & protected' or whatever. Apparently when one goes into a restaurant/pub one just needs to scan some QR code and then one's phone will be notified if you've been in contact with anyone who has Covid. Sounds a bit complicated to me. Personally, I think if I get Covid it will be because I've sat next to someone on the bus who has it, and you don't have to scan it when you get on a bus. Also it relies on the person who has Covid, telling their phone that they have it so that their phone can connect with other users. I maybe a bit naïve here but I think there's going to be a large proportion of society that aren't going to bother with this. Apart from anything else, not everybody has a smart phone.

Saturday 12 September 2020

Made the most of being allowed to mix with three households and had S & K round for dinner. It's only two people for goodness sake. But if there'd been six people in each of the three households then I could have been mixing with eighteen people, even if those eighteen people had all been out and about doing their own things. Whoever is responsible for creating the rules hasn't created very sensible one's in my opinion.

Sunday 13 September 2020

Met the girlies at 'Cold Town House' and we sat outside. There were four of us and as long as we were outside we were allowed to do that. As of tomorrow, under Scottish Government Guidelines; we're not. As of tomorrow all of us single girlies who live by ourselves are back to being 'Billy no mates' again.

It really is so very unfair. Ie, if you are a household of six people then you are allowed to meet another household of six people thus meaning the more people who live in your household, the more people you get to mix with. If you are a single person living by yourself and your friends are single then you only get to meet one of them. Stupid, stupid, stupid rules. I'm getting really fed up with all this enforced isolation.

Monday 14 September 2020

Hating all these new restrictions already. Haven't seen anybody all day. Went on a mega long walk with Trixie, the Collie pup, and now I've got Coronation St, Eastenders and Des to look forward to on TV tonight.

I'm finding the difference in the rules between England and Scotland so confusing. We're all part of the UK. Why can't all the rules be the same.

In England, six people can meet inside and up to six different households outside. In Scotland 6 people can meet inside and outside but only from two households. That means that single people with single friends can only meet one person. And in Wales, I'm not sure what the indoor rules are but up to 30 people can meet outdoors. How is anybody supposed to keep up with any of this? Just watching the News and apparently we are now all being encouraged to report our neighbours if they have house parties or have more than two households in their house. Honestly?! That doesn't bode very well for good neighbourly relations does it?

Anyway myself and the girlies have a plan........................ We can't meet up in Scotland for lunch but what's to stop us all meeting in Berwick Upon Tweed???

Also Airbnb have just issued a statement to say that in Scotland, as the two household rule applies, hosts won't lose their superhost status if they cancel bookings due to there beings multiple friends sharing. This isn't going to affect my house in Cornwall because I only ever let it out to two people. However, I've got no work as a 'Meet & Greeter' this week which is probably because no more than two households can rent a property in Scotland. In fact my sister has got a property booked in the West of Scotland with friends and now they've got to split up and rent another property because they can't all stay in the same accommodation. Doesn't seem to matter that they can all mix in England. The minute they step foot in Scotland they aren't allowed to see each other.

Stupid, stupid, stupid rules! This whole Covid thing is now totally ridiculous. Unless you keep up to date with all the daily briefings (and let's face it, who wants to watch Nicola Sturgeon every day) how on earth are you supposed to know what's going on? And the other thing................. it's not exactly rocket science to realise that although the cases of positive covid tests are increasing (but more people are being tested these days) that was only to be expected once the pubs/restaurants/non-essential shops opened and the kids went back to school. Is the death rate increasing? It seems to me that a lot of people are testing positive but the death rate isn't anywhere near as bad as it was a few months ago.

As far as I'm concerned I'm pretty much back in total lock down again. I'm going to a single friends house for dinner tomorrow night but apart from that, my social diary is free for the rest of my life.

Wednesday 16 September 2020

Went for the longest walk ever. 15.3 miles. Well there's not much else to do is there.

Just sitting here watching the news. Not that there is any news these days. It's all just Covid, Covid and more Covid. Surely there must be other things going on in the world. Why is the fact that Covid cases are increasing, news? We've been told for months now that a second wave of this deadly disease was coming.

I need a new hobby, or a new job, or something to occupy me. I'm back to being 'Billy no mates' again. Unfortunately my house in Cornwall is rented out until 2 October otherwise I'd be heading back down to England. Why Scotland can't have the same rules as England and allow 6 people or 6 households to meet up, we don't know. These rules are really penalising single people. I've had to cancel three lunch/dinner reservations with two people because I'm not allowed to go out with two people. And yet, if I drive an hour down the road to Berwick Upon Tweed, I can have lunch with five other people. The world has gone mad.

A lot of businesses are not going to survive this lock down. The hospitality industry in particular is going to take years to recover, if in fact it ever does.

Thursday 17 September 2020

I've got three 'Meet & Greets' to do over the weekend and a single friend to meet for dinner on Friday night and a single friend to meet for dinner on Saturday night. At least I've got something in the diary to look forward to over the next few days now.

Monday 21 September 2020

Walked 4 miles to J's house with Trixie, the Collie pup, and had lunch.

Apparently Boris & Nicola are attending an emergency COBRA meeting tomorrow. 

 And then no doubt new rules will be issued. Personally I don't really care if pubs/restaurants have to close at 10pm. What I do care about is, if there is a total ban on meeting anyone from a different household. Obviously the government are just working from database figures and apparently, grandparents seeing their grandchildren is very important, but so is being a single person 'home alone'. On the News today it was stated that there are 125 suicides a week. Mental health in the UK is becoming a huge problem. Nobody seems to care about that.

This whole situation just seems to be a joke now. Obviously Covid is a huge problem but the second wave has been talked about for months. It just seems like it's the only topic of conversation now. Why????

Tuesday 22 September 2020

Here we go again! Nicola Sturgeon has spoken and now we can't meet anyone in our house. It's going to be a long, long, winter. Apparently this could go on for another six months. Six months? As though we haven't all endured enough now. Yesterday when I went to J's house, I sat on one sofa and she sat on the other. We were a lot further away from each other than 2m but if we go out for lunch in a restaurant, we most definitely would not be 2m away from each other sitting opposite each other at a table, and yet we can do that. It's absolutely crazy.

People are already going mad again. I popped into Waitrose for a loaf of bread this afternoon and the toilet roll aisle was practically empty. People panic buying again!

Not sure what the English rules are but I'm heading down to Cornwall in October. Yay! I guess if I have to be 'Billy no mates' down there, at least it'll be a change of scene.

I'm just so grateful that I have Trixie, the Collie pup, to take on long walks. If I didn't have her, I don't know what I'd do.

Wednesday 23 September 2020

Today I went out for the day with S. We sat next to each other on the bus, walked side by side on the beach, sat opposite each other at a table while we had lunch, sat next to each other in a pub and sat next to each other on the bus home.

If Nicola hadn't introduced the, no other households in your house rule', then S would just have come to mine for dinner and we would have been sitting on different sofas for most of the evening. As it is, if either of us has Covid, the chances are that we will have passed it on to each other purely because we've been in such close proximity to each other all day.

Thursday 24 September 2020

Did a couple of 'Meet & Greets' this afternoon. Both couples who had had to cancel foreign holidays so thought they'd just have a little staycation.

I'm just thinking.................. These new rules are going to end up being really expensive for me if the only place I can meet my friends is in a pub or a restaurant.

Oh and does anyone else think that the universities have gone back earlier this year? Last year I did a lot of 'Meet & Greets' at the end of September where students were staying in short term lets while they looked for accomodation. This year they all seem to be back at University and are being told that their uni is their main home and they can't go home to mummy and daddy whenever they feel like it. And they might not even be allowed to go home for Christmas. I can't see students following that rule.

Covid cases are on the rise again but we all knew that was going to happen didn't we? Apart from my 'Meet & Greet' visitors who I spoke to for about 5 mins, I haven't had any human contact today.

Friday 25 September 2020

Another day without any human interaction at all, apart from doing one 'Meet & Greet'. I'm back to being 'Billy no mates'. Normally, I'll have at least one (and sometimes two/three) friends round for dinner every week and I will go to a friends house every week for dinner. Now I'm not allowed to do that. Grrrrrrr...............

Totally understand the need for 'households' not to meet each other. But, a single person should not be called a 'household'. A single person is a person who just happens to be living in a house by oneself, and although all the pubs/restaurants that I've been in have felt very safe; I've been sitting a lot closer to my friends than I would have done if they'd been in my own house.

The media seem to be blaming the spread of Covid on the students (who have tested positive but have no symptoms), who are then going home and infecting grandparents and parents. I can understand that, but now they're being told to stay in their student accommodation and do as much online learning as possible. What I can't understand is why they were ever allowed to go back to uni in the first place. What's the point of them actually paying accommodation fees if they're just sitting in a room doing on line studying. They could be doing that at home. Just imagine how first year university students must feel if they've left mummy and daddy for the first time and are now being told that they must stay in their rooms and cannot go out to make new friends.

Obviously no one wants to get Covid, but if I do, I think I will probably catch it off someone on a bus because that is the only time I come into contact with someone I don't know and am less than 2m away from them for more than 15 mins.

I've already got the Scottish Test & Protect App on my phone and have just downloaded the English Test & Trace App in preparation for when I go to Cornwall at the end of next week.

Saturday 26 September 2020

I'm finding these new rules, very, very, frustrating. I guess I'll just have to accept them but hopefully when I go down to St Ives at the end of next week I might be able to have a little bit more human interaction.

Sunday 27 September 2020

I did a 'Meet & Greet' this afternoon. Today's visitors were a family (Ie a household) who had booked an apartment because they are now not allowed to go and stay with their parents. Having said that, they'd already dropped one of the kids off at their parents house, because apparently under 12 year olds aren't included in the rules. So how does that work then? Presumably the child goes to school so is probably a lot more likely than his parents of testing positive and yet it's perfectly OK for him to go to his grandparents house, whereas if the parents and older child want to meet up with their parent/grandparents, they've got to go to a pub/restaurant. The world has gone mad!

Oh and the other thing that happened today.................... How Nicola Sturgeon can say that it's not the students who are causing the problems, I don't know. I read an article this morning that said that the most recent cases of people testing positive for Covid were in the 15-19 year old age group. 43% to be precise. Everything that is popping up on my social media and newsfeed is about all the parties that the students are having at Pollack Halls of Residence and how the police are being called to break them up. If the reports are to be believed there are security guards patrolling the corridors and not letting people in or out. According to the rules the students are deemed to have formed a new household and are now not allowed to go home to mummy and daddy. With universities attempting to deliver all their learning online, it's hardly surprising that loads of students are just giving up and are going back home. Why on earth would any of them want to go to the expense of going to uni when they can go home to mummy and daddy (and probably live rent free), get a job in the local supermarket and save masses of money ready for when the world is Covid free.

Monday 28 September 2020

I've just worked out how much cheaper it is buying dog food in bulk. Actually I worked this out a few weeks into lockdown. A 15kg bag lasts about 3 months but because a 15kg bag is so big, the only place I have to store it is my spare room. During lockdown that didn't matter too much because the spare room became a dumping ground. Until recently I've been hoping to turn my spare room back into a spare room again because I was hoping I was going to be able to have friends to stay again. Doesn't look like that's going to happen anytime soon so I might as well just continue buying 15kg bags of dog food and keep them in there.

6 months ago I never thought that we would still be so isolated in September. I'm almost getting to the point where I don't care if I live or die. I don't think I'm having a mental health crisis just yet and in theory I do believe that at 61 years of age, I've still got a lot to live for. But, maybe we just all need to get on with living our lives for however long we've got, because we certainly aren't living our lives at the moment.

#thingscanonlygetbetter

Tuesday 29 September 2020

Wednesday 30 September 2020

What an absolutely dismal day. Haven't been anywhere. Haven't done anything. Totally bored. Very tired.