Reality check - the Everything’s Covid Edition in Hot town, summery in the city - 2017

WHERE: lying in bed, one leg hanging out of the duvet. The curtains are closed but the window is open and I can hear the gentle rain and a groaning motorbike. Rich is sleeping next to me and Oreo is stretched out at the foot of the bed.

(by the end of this, Rich is awake next to me and Oreo is draped across my legs)

WEARING: a watch, four bracelets (Ehlers Danlos awareness, 4ocean, save the turtle and a rainbow), a tree of life necklace, a rainbow belly bar, wedding and engagement rings, a diamond ring that I bought with money my nana left me and a simple gold band on my little finger. In my ears are two waves (I’m craving the ocean so I’ve got jewellery to help!), a ring in my tragus, a lizard at the top of my ear, a star and a non closed ring.

FITNESS UPDATE: I’m currently running the Ridgeway, the ancient path that runs across southern England and has been used, continuously, for over 5000 years. I do a few miles a week and hope to achieve the entire 87 miles by the end of the year. I do have a niggly ankle but hoping to keep that at bay with stretching and strengthening.

IN THE NEWS: oh gosh. What isn’t? At the beginning of “all this shit” I listened to the news religiously but I gave up since Johnson wouldn’t know a straight truth if it shook his hand and introduced itself politely and honestly. I’ve started listening to radio 4 podcasts about the science that’s going on behind Covid. It’s still all very speculative but the theories are interesting. There is suggestion that people with O blood group are less likely to have severe symptoms. More testing needs to be done. I’m O but I don’t know about Rich and the girls.

READING: I’m reading Adventures of a Young Naturalist by David Attenborough. It’s fabulous. It’s about his very early foray into television. He wasn’t ever meant to be a presenter, he directed, but the presenter was sick so he was told to go on! The pace of life is boggling. In a time when we expect things now, without delay. He was on a trip in Guyana and wanted to visit a remote town in the middle of the jungle. He (and his colleague) managed to hitch a ride on a water plane half way, they were dropped at another village and were told that there would be a boat at some point going there. After three days they and all their recording equipment hitched a ride in a dugout canoe which wasn’t happy with the weight. They spent the trip bailing water out and only made it half the distance that was left before being told they wouldn’t be taken further. They stayed in yet another village for several days just waiting for another boat. All of this was done with utmost chill!!

It isn’t an autobiography but I think his is one I would actually like to read!

ACTIVITIES TODAY: at the scrap store I bought circles of wood. L and I are going to look to see what leftover house paints we have and, maybe, buy some more at the second hand house paint shop (yes, we have one!) before painting our circles.

I also need to contact The Beauty Guild about my insurance for nail art. I paid on Saturday as soon as I had finished the manicure course but it still says I don’t have insurance on my account details. I was wondering if it had to be checked by a human.

THINKING ABOUT: going to the beach… I know, I know!! I think if I do go I’ll go to Studland. It’s just over two hours away and is part of a nature reserve so no towns are in the direct vicinity, hopefully meaning that it won’t be too busy. The only thing is, if I announce that I want to go, the girls will want to come too. This wouldn’t be a problem if one of my girls was capable of being ready for anything earlier than 2pm. She isn’t. She’s been really upset recently at missing out on things but starting to get ready (a process that can take her upwards of two hours) at the time I said we needed to do things had got old so now, if she isn’t ready, we go without her. But there are always repercussions. Always. This involves her ranting at me about everything I have ever done wrong as a parent, in a loud accusatory voice usually with the statement that when she kills herself it will be my fault because I have failed her.

PLANNING: Planning seems rather futile at the moment. Unsurprisingly, our town has gone from a very low R through “all this shit” to a sudden wave. Funny that, just a couple of weeks after the opening of pubs… so having vague ideas without plans seems to work far better for me.

And thus ends this Reality Check.

Ooh, I was wrong, I haven’t finished. We just had some awesome, deep, long rumbly thunder ⛈