EH - Essex > Hebrides...the next step of the adventure?

EssexHebridean

People really are baffling aren't they SH - if they have been there until now they surely should have stayed, although it may be that they were being made to feel unwelcome by those locally!

HH sorry to hear you're poorly - and I hope that nobody WOULD get nasty about people heading out for exercise but I have seen it happen elsewhere so decided I'd rather pre-empt! 

And on the subject - we've been out for a lovely 3 mile wander this morning - sticking entirely to cycle tracks and the paths through the woods - just glorious out there again thank goodness, it definitely helps to have some nice weather while we are easing into this new normal I think. I took the camera, MrEH took his binoculars, so I will have some photographs to post on twitter and maybe instagram later on. :-) 

I have a notebook on the go with things that need doing (bokings to be cancelled, refunds to be claimed etc) and also things that need to have an eye kept on them - so money coming back on refunded things and that sort of thing. Also things like sorting the CC bill as without a normal routine it will be really easy to let things like that slip.

HairyHandofDartmoor

I'm glad you had a lovely walk EH . We've got to keep our sanity intact somehow!

savingholmes

Congrats on the walk. It sounds lovely. At least my view was nice today. Even going for a 1 mile or so drive to the chemist seemed like an outing!

EssexHebridean

Definitely needing to take stock of the small moments of joy at the minute I think - in some ways I almost wonder if I am seeing them more than usual at the moment. Watching the birds as we walk through the woods on what a friend of ours has taken to calling a "Boris Walk", and even a glance out of the window at the sun shining through the flowers on my balcony wall - very glad  we got out at the weekend and spent on some plants! 

I've had a little more work to do today thank goodness, and now also have the document shredder I was waiting for so can crack into some of the dead files.Just need to get to grips with how long I can shred for without a break without overheating the thing now!  Also still have a walk to look forward to today - we have agreed to go out as soon as MrEH finishes work at 5.30 just to mix things up a bit and see how many people are out at that sort of time - that way it gives us a better idea of what times work best. 

Although we are trying not to use the cars much at all I am going to take mine out for a short trip tomorrow - to the nice local bakers a couple of miles away as they have advertised that they are still open, They are a nice little  business, treat their staff like family, and I'd like to continue to support them. We were going to make a loaf tomorrow so I'll buy from them instead, and that will do lunch, and breakfast over the weekend. I was originally thinking that I might spend some of tomorrow doing some work, but I'm leaning more towards not doing so now I think, as much as anything else in a bid to try to keep things a little more normal. So I may suggest that MrEH and I go for another run/walk first thing, then I can allow my morning to follow a fairly usual pattern. I have assorted cleaning jobs to do around here, and can also set aside time for some self-care stuff. 

redofromstart

We are doing walks for MH too, work is really rather difficult and just breathing helps.  Have quickly learned to go half an hour before dark rather than at lunchtime though when it was full of families on enforced 'outside, right now' marches.

Naomim

redofromstart said:

We are doing walks for MH too, work is really rather difficult and just breathing helps.  Have quickly learned to go half an hour before dark rather than at lunchtime though when it was full of families on enforced 'outside, right now' marches.

We have just come back from an "outside, right now" walk. Wasn't too bad, a few people around but we were in a park big enough that if someone was coming your way you could walk off at a tangent to ensure more than enough distance was around you.  Good job the dogs don't have to be social distancing! 

HairyHandofDartmoor

I used to find early mornings quietest in the park, but that was while most people were getting ready for work, so it could all be different now. When I'm allowed out on Sunday I'll start testing out a few different times to see which is the quietest .

savingholmes

Glad most of you are getting out for walks. I dropped something off at a neighbour and that's been all so far. Weather has been beautiful. I did admire the flowers in my garden up close. There were some hidden away which I found which was also nice.  

EssexHebridean

Thanks for popping in ladies - lovely to "see" you all! Great to hear that most of you are managing to get out and about too - and yes Naomin to dogs not being good at social distancing!  SH I've been appreciating the sunshine we have had too - it's definitely helping things isn't it!  HH hope you've managed to get out now you are allowed early mornings have definitely been reasonably quiet around here but that may not be the same everywhere. Redo I don't mind the "outside - right now!" groups as long as they keep in their group and not straggle all over the path making it almost impossible to keep distance! 

So I did indeed manage to keep the Friday and the weekend fairly "normal" and my goodness it helped! We basically treated the weekend as just downtime - no pressure to have to do much, and it was nice! One job I did need to do was to get into the Town Centre to collect an order from Superdrug - I finally managed to find the ST's I was desperately in need of available to order from there for collection from store, and on a special offer price too which was handy. Also restocked on deodorant and hair dye while I was in there too which was useful.Still really quite angry that people would panic buy female sanitary products however - it's OK for those who can just use "whatever brand" but there are many like me who for various reasons HAVE to stick with a particular brand/size etc - and I was far from the only one facing the possibility of running out. It's just plain selfish.  Anyway - town centre was just plain odd - Superdrug is in the shopping centre itself, and was one of only about three shops open (Wilko and Tesco being the other two I think) and the whole of town was just crazily quiet - another of those odd "Zombie Apocalypse" moments that keep occurring! Got home and cursed myself for not thinking to take photos actually - but suspect I may have to go back at some stage for further supplies of the same sort of thing so will remember to do so then.

I'm finding blogging daily quite useful at the moment - not least for making me really start to think about the positives that can come from this situation if we let them. How often do we get gifted quite so much time, apart from anything else? No commute time to take account of, and for many an actual expectation that they have time for exercise - for some people this will be the first time in a long while that they have taken time in that way, purely for themselves. I'm also finding that I notice the little things around us all the more at the moment - flowers, trees breaking into bud, even the occasional contrail across a blue sky - yes I would see them in normal circumstances, but I'm not sure I would "look at them" in quite the same way. I'm probably not explaining that well am I! 

Trying to bake once weekly at the moment - so made a variation on Jack Monroe's Peach & white Chocolate traybake on Saturday - using Raspberries and a mix of dark & milk chocolate - very tasty indeed, we cut them into slightly smaller pieces than she suggests and they're lasting well in an airtight box, the last couple of bits will get eaten tonight. It feels nice to have something a bit "treaty" at the moment, so as long as we keep the focus on daily conscious movement I'll keep baking! Need to drag out some recipe books and find some new recipes I think. 

savingholmes

The baking sounds fun. I can relate to appreciating the little things more - even the more annoying neighbours are suddenly more interesting to talk to.