Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The Lockdown Diaries

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    A bit of showboating by Mrs HORN partway through administering lockdown haircut #3 resulted in a few seconds of runaway clipper action during which it felt and sounded like I was under attack from a screech owl.

    Hat weather, I reckon.

    Comment


      Day 92. Friday 19th June.

      Disturbed sleep again. Getting a bit fed up of this.

      Minimal home schooling happened to day. A few wordsearches, a worksheet about shapes, a 'how to draw Winnie the Witch' video, a couple more chapters of 'The Twits'. But mostly I left the kids to their own devices. They built a den in the corner of the living room and dressed as knights for most of the day.

      The only thing I could summon any sort of energy for was cooking, so I spent an hour and a half cooking an elaborate lunch. Harissa roasted aubergine and courgette on a bed of cumin-spiced brown rice, with baby plum tomatoes and olives dressed in balsamic vinegar, topped with pomegranate seeds, chopped pistachios and Greek yoghurt. The kids mostly eat the rice and toppings, but I really like it as a lunch and sometimes I'm not in the mood to cook "child-friendly" food.

      Let the kids play loads of ringfit adventure in the afternoon. Cooked pizza and chips for them for dinner so they wouldn't starve. Then we all watched Hotel Transylvania 3 together.


      Comment


        Having been pleased with the way the Grasshopper build went, I have chanced my arm on the Lunchbox Mini with the upper arm upgrades for whacky steering.

        Edit: I did think about getting the Rising Fighter, especially as it's 50 quid cheaper but it's essentially a slightly uprated Grasshopper with an (admittedly cool) different body on top. Maybe next time.
        Last edited by Eggchaser; 19-06-2020, 19:27.

        Comment


          My hair is longer now than at any time since 1975. As I started lockdown with a number 1 back and sides it isn’t Hair Metal terrible, but it’s waving and curling up at the back/over the ears, and getting foppish on top. I’m not letting Mrs Slacks near it, though. The only time she attempted a haircut it was so bad I had to go for an all over skinhead buzzcut.

          Comment


            I had food that wasn't prepared by me for the first time since mid-March yesterday. Take-out from a sushi restaurant, which was very exciting for me and the kids. I did get a little over-zealous in the amount of food that I ordered (the portions were also decidedly bigger than I remember them being).
            Suddenly people are crawling out of the woodwork wanting to spend time with my kids. My evil mother-in-law texted me last night wanting to have them stay over at her house, then this morning one of my co-workers asked me about their kids having a playdate with mine, and my son's friend's mother texted me about a playdate there, also.
            The safest option of these is the one that I'm pretty sure won't happen, which is the co-worker. Most of the reason that this won't happen is that the co-worker will (rightly) view us as too high risk as soon as either of the other two happen.

            Comment


              My son makes me laugh. His first topic of conversation this morning was "did you know that apples go black when they go off?" Turns out he's been hiding apple cores in the doll's house as a scientific experiment to see what happens to them. Now, he's eating toast dressed only in his underpants, a pirate eye patch and a knight's helmet.

              Comment


                And now he's practicing his sword dancing. "I'm letting the music take me mummy".

                Comment


                  Day 93. Saturday 20th June.

                  Saturdays shall hence forth be renamed as "far too much housework day".

                  Today's housework included: make banana and Nutella porridge for breakfast, three loads of dishwasher, three loads of laundry (washing, drying, sorting, folding, putting away), bin all the paperwork from the week, take all the various toys and books back up to the playroom, clean all kitchen surfaces, sweep and mop kitchen floor, sort through potatoes and empty all the ones past their best into the compost heap, empty all the bins, scrub bathroom sink, bin two large bin bags full of miscellaneous crap from the bathroom cabinets, take bathroom shelving unit apart, hose it down in the bath, scrub it clean, dry and restock it, clear everything off the bathroom shelf and scrub it clean, stand precariously on side of bath to clean all the black mould off the windowsill, frame and window, spray everything in sight with cleaning products and wipe it all down again.

                  Meanwhile my husband: cleaned out the fish tank, hoovered everywhere, set the kids up in the back garden painting on easels, started on the pit of despair that is otherwise known as our home office (it's where all the boxes of stuff we can't deal with go to die), set the kids up shredding boxes full of receipts and train tickets from circa 2014, emptied the shredder multiple times, had to hose the shredder down when it overheated, cooked egg fried rice and salmon for lunch and spaghetti with tomato sauce and meatballs for dinner, watered all the plants in the garden, scrubbed all the paint off the kids at bathtime.

                  There is still so much housework to do. I'm trying to thoroughly scour at least one different room every Saturday, but by the time I get round to the first room again they're destroyed. There's a few factors contributing to this. One is that I used to stop the kids destroying the house by taking them out for day trips, which I can't do any more, and there's only so many hours of the day they can entertain themselves in the garden. The other is that we used to have cleaners come once a week, but they opted out of cleaning and put themselves on furlough at the beginning of lockdown because they have contact with someone who has a compromised immune system. It's saved us lots of money, but frankly there are very few things I'd rather spend money on than paying someone else to do the cleaning so I don't have to.

                  I did have a nice chat this morning with my friend with the new baby though. It's still very early days and she's in total shock at the ongoing lack of sleep. Nothing can prepare you for it.

                  Comment


                    Just as I was shutting up shop just now, a bloke with a turban and a beard and baggy trousers and sandals told (not asked; told) me to give him the key to the khazis.

                    I told (not asked; told) him to fuck off (yes, all you, I'm rude, but I obey the law while I'm being rude). And then he offered me out (or in, or wherever you go to not have a fight).

                    Fucking hell. I'm a middle-aged man, he's a bloke with a turban and a beard and baggy trousers and sandals.

                    Comment


                      I asked my mother-in-law about her recent interactions with other people, since she wants my kids to stay over with her. It turns out that she's been going bowling. Furthermore, from her reply it appears that she hasn't even been wearing a mask while going bowling (though she wrote the reply in a way that rather blurs this point, I suspect deliberately since she was a lawyer and thus I'd expect her know exactly what she's writing, though maybe this isn't the case).

                      Comment


                        I wouldn't attribute any cunning to anything a lawyer writes outside professional advice. I can barely articulate myself outside my narrow sphere of expertise, my debating /persuading skills amount to "Here's a link, read this", "What he said." or world of snark.

                        Comment


                          Day 100 of sheltering in place, and we're all reasonably alright. Made sandwiches, sourdough cheese biscuits, and soup for dinner tonight to clean up some stuff that had been lingering in the fridge/pantry (the biscuits were made with the discard from my starter, will try doing pancakes next time). Kids are officially done with school and so far our attempts at structuring their time while we're both working have been a complete dumpster fire. Having everybody at home is really emphasizing our lack of space here and the wife is agitating to start thinking about moving somewhere larger. I'd do it in a second if we didn't have to go through the madness of buying and selling houses.

                          Comment


                            Day 94. Sunday 21st June. Father's Day.

                            I actually slept well and deeply for once. Woke at 7am to find more messages from my friend who's a new mum. Sent her some reassurance and links to information. Then remembered it was Father's Day. Daughter was already awake so I set her up making Father's Day cards and cleared the kitchen to make a big cooked breakfast.

                            Then I waged further war on the bathroom. Today's tasks included: pulling all the disgusting hair out of the plugholes, scrubbing bleach into the black mould with a toothbrush, cleaning the bath and shower, squeegeeing the shower door inside and out multiple times, scrubbing the toilet, cleaning under the sink and round all the pipes behind the plumbing, mopping the floor, cleaning inside the toilet cistern, cleaning all the bath toys, sorting the bath toys and putting them in the newly clean shelving units, scrubbing the skirting boards and bathroom door. This is all probably part of the bipolar. When I clean, I really go to town. I don't think the bathroom has ever been cleaner. What I'm terrible at is the regular maintenance. It's my husband who does the daily cleaning of the toilet and weekly quick cleans.

                            Once there was literally nothing left for me to clean in the bathroom, I was satisfied. The rest of the house though looks like one of those old Yellow Pages adverts where someone arrives at a student flat and immediately assumes that there must have been a burglary.

                            Then we went out to the park with bikes, frisbee, bubbles and inflatable lounger. Had a lovely few hours outside in the sun, though my daughter did wind herself once hurtling down a hill and landing on her bike handlebar.

                            Now watching The Greatest Showman and eating pancakes.

                            Comment


                              Who's toothbrush did you use?

                              Comment


                                Damn! Beaten to it...

                                Comment


                                  We keep old toothbrushes for micro-cleaning.

                                  Comment


                                    Originally posted by Sporting View Post
                                    We keep old toothbrushes for micro-cleaning.
                                    This.

                                    Comment


                                      I bought gas (petrol) today for the first time since early March, I could probably have delayed another week or two but thought I'd better have more than a 10 mile trip in it just in case.
                                      Yesterday morning we headed up to the cemetery at 9.45 am - it turned out this was not a great idea as we got caught in tons of traffic heading to the coast, so turned around and postponed till this morning. In normal years the coastal traffic doesn't really get going until close to 11 on weekends, so it did seem like a whole bunch more people are heading there, maybe because there's less other stuff to do. This morning we headed up at 8.30, and it was fine. Coming back down again an hour later we saw that there was a bunch of cars heading over the hill.
                                      After that we had another first time since March experience, as my son met up with one of his friends in the park for a playdate. It was kind of nice - they both wore their masks and sat a few feet away from each other talking for over an hour, then kicked a ball around for a bit. The less nice part was that I had deal with my daughter whining about being bored for most of the time.

                                      Comment


                                        Is that up to Colma or further north?

                                        Our nieces have been going up to a friend's (empty) house on the northern edge of Sonoma for the past month or so and have noticed the traffic getting more and more "normal" over that time.

                                        Comment


                                          Further south actually - Skylawn, 92 and Skyline.

                                          Comment


                                            So on the way to Half Moon Bay

                                            Comment


                                              Ah, I always think you are further north than you are

                                              Comment


                                                Originally posted by Balderdasha View Post
                                                My son makes me laugh. His first topic of conversation this morning was "did you know that apples go black when they go off?" Turns out he's been hiding apple cores in the doll's house as a scientific experiment to see what happens to them. Now, he's eating toast dressed only in his underpants, a pirate eye patch and a knight's helmet.
                                                and

                                                Originally posted by Balderdasha View Post
                                                Interestingly, my daughter has only ever viewed it as a cutesy animal story, but my son saw straight to the gruesome heart. "What happened to all the people who weren't on the ark?" "Could they swim?" "Why didn't God tell them to build an ark?" "Did the wasps sting the other animals?" "What did the tigers eat?" "Where did all the animal poo go?"
                                                Your little fella is awesome. I am always amazed at how totally committed children are to living at 100%.

                                                That flooding of the Black Sea, sounds a lot like the event that flooded Doggerland. When the melting icewater in the middle of the ice sheet breached the outer wall and things got extremely messy. Galway bay was an inland lake around the same time.

                                                Comment


                                                  Lockdown hair continues apace.

                                                  Comment


                                                    Fookin' 'ell, Chewie, what was it like working with Harrison Ford?

                                                    Comment

                                                    Working...
                                                    X