Staying Home: Day 78

I am still surprised at how full my days seem  to be, despite the limitations. I suppose I shouldn't be - work takes the same amount of time, most days we are walking for an hour or more, and there is more reading, crafting and family time. Having more of a routine and structure in my day is definitely a positive, and something I need to keep when life goes back to "normal" (or whatever the new normal proves to be).

I worked for most of the morning, with a break to help unpack a large food order from Waitrose,   then took a long break before an hour and a half virtual workshop about online engagement this afternoon. Today was food delivery day with a vengeance, as our fish box and veg box also arrived. What had started to look very bare cupboards, fridge and freezer and now well stocked, though with five of us here that won't last long. During my break I did another 25 minute yoga class on the Fiit app, and spent some time in the garden knitting, reading and doing some Duolingo Welsh. The workshop was useful, but whether logistics and the restrictions of working in local government will make it impossible to put any of the ideas into action, I don't know. In the public sector wheels often turn slowly and ultra-cautiously. Working in an area which is very much outside the norm, with very different requirements, means there are a lot of frustrations and things we would like to do but can't.

We did a three mile walk today around the woodland / canal loop and saw the swans and cygnets again - the cygnets are at the endearingly fluffy stage. I am so glad to be able to exercise properly again. Six weeks ago anything more than 15 to 20 minute walks left me flat out, so to be able to walk for over an hour after doing yoga this morning is huge progress, even if my lack of fitness during the yoga class is galling. As we headed back from our walk, we met H and her boyfriend heading off on theirs after he finished his day's work. M worked this morning, TG did bits of schoolwork - she didn't have too much to do - and I'm not really sure what H did for most of the day. At least some of the time she was in the garden.

We tested out the new BBQ this evening (no, we didn't cook on those flames!), with grilled steak and sweetcorn, though I opted for a vegan burger rather than the steak. The cheap and cheerful charcoal bags H had picked up at Tesco Express weren't the best, but by using two of them we managed to compensate for all the little bits of charcoal that fell through the base of the BBQ!

While we waited for the BBQ to be ready to cook on I finally finished the William Morris cross stitch bookmark by sewing on the felt backing. I am really pleased with how it turned out. After dinner we played a game of Scattergories. Nobody got too heated, but in our family it is never a peaceful game - everybody has opinions and nobody holds back on expressing them. H's boyfriend's family are much quieter, and I'm afraid it is a bit of a culture shock for him!