Lockdown Life in Lincolnshire

I am not quite sure how this is going to work out but, I am going to attempt to keep an occasional diary of my life during 'Lockdown III'.    Lockdown life is not too terribly different from my old quiet life, but it is different.   I am different.    Are these changes reversible?  Time will tell.

Here goes.

I walked Toby down the old railway line and out to the back of the village, skirting around the old gravel pit fishing lake then along the farm track to the next village.  Home through the fields.   It was cold but dry.  Underfoot was squelchy and slippery.   I had to 'jump' in several puddles to clean about half a pound of mud off each boot.   The day I don't enjoy washing my wellies in this way will probably be the day I hang them up for good.

Toby was so muddy that it was a two-towel job to get him clean and dry.   His reward was a handful of dog biscuits, my own,  a large mug of tea and a bowl of creamy porridge, perfect for a chilly morning.

The supermarket delivery was booked for 10am and he arrived exactly on time.   The virus has changed things, made this simple process so much more complicated. Masks, social distancing, disinfectant.  Nothing too arduous, just time consuming and tedious.

Having trouble with the internet connection again.  This kind of thing often happens here.   BT are sending someone out but s/he won't be here for almost two weeks... Great service.

My next small task is to write a postcard to my granddaughter.  Since Lockdown 1 we have been exchanging notes, letters and postcards.   The pace is entirely set by her needs.   These little notes of hers have filled me with delight.   Messages from her heart.   All the shades of emotion, light through to dark have been covered.   I often think they have run their course but then she lets me know that she is missing our exchanges.

The ones I have received have been tied with ribbon and are placed in boxes, along with old letter from my mother, father, aunt, great grandmother, to be kept safe until the day comes when she will come across them and remember the fun we had.

Self Medicated - Updated with Photograph!!

No, I haven't been ill, apart from having a few days given over to migraine and nausea, but I have been self medicating, without drugs.    I occasionally suffer from the type of migraine which completely wipes me out with pain and sickness, which usually last three days, then they go, leaving me feeling worn out, but pain free.

I know the food/drink which triggers them, so they don't feature in my diet.  However, something was causing this fresh crop of them.   I decided that perhaps it was stress.

My mornings were spent reading/skimming half a dozen British newspapers, of all colours, I like to get a balanced view, make up my own mind instead of relying on the bias of any one journalist or paper with their inevitable political leaning.    I would move on to reading papers from Germany, France and the States.

Lunchtime would see me dipping in to watch an hour of the news on assorted television channels, including RT and Al Jazeera!

In between times I kept an eye on the worldometer, Johns Hopkins, and reading blogs; no wonder my stress levels were increasing.

I admit that I am avoid medication wherever possible, so I decided to try a total news blackout.  Jump off the merry-go-round.  Step away from those things which were winding me up.

I have taken time to enjoy even longer walks with Toby, gardening, organising my (far too many) shelves of books, baking, reading, and I have even watched a few very enjoyable films:  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Bookshop, and The Bookthief. 

It was really difficult to keep away from the news, etc, but I feel much better for it! 

I have emerged a calmer person, free from headaches at present!

The only thing it didn't help with was my hair.   I haven't been to the hairdresser since very early November...so you can imagine how much it had grown.    It should have been cut in January, but the episode of the broken ribs meant that I couldn't do that.

The ribs have healed, slowly, although I still feel as though I have a strong bulldog clamp on one rib.  Time will sort that out, or I will learn to live with it. 

Time drifts, my hair grew longer, which was nice at first, but then it reached tipping point.   It made me feel a mess, which was making me feel grumpy/grumpier.

What to do?   Watch a few clips on U Tube - how to cut your own hair...  It didn't look too difficult.

I searched my drawers, found up an ancient pair of thinning scissors.   Decided to have a practice -  on husband's hair!      At first I was nervous, but once I relaxed and just did what looked right, it became easier.   Result, one pleased and very neat-looking husband.

Time to have a go at my own hair.

So I did.   Result: one slightly asymmetrical Old English Sheepdog-style hair do, just what I was aiming for.  😀 

Cutting the back was difficult, but I just clipped away until it felt right.    I know it is messy, far from perfect, but I love it, which is just as well because now I have to wear it for quite a while!

(Eeeek!  Never mind the haircut, look at that double chin!  Lockdown chin?)

Double Bed? Single Bed?

When I sat down to write this post it was supposed to be about life in one Lincolnshire village.  Tomorrow, perhaps.   My thoughts have been hijacked by Millie.

The cats have taken the new laws and regulations to heart. 

Normally they would be out and about, hunting, sunbathing, persecuting birds, mice, rats and rabbits.

Instead they are spending most of their time sleeping indoors.




Sometimes they curl up together for an hour or two, but that always ends in tears.





Millie, the small ginger cat, has decided to take up social distancing.

For the last few days she has ignored all her usual beds, cushions, and rugs.  This tiny basket has become her favourite retreat.

Talking of beds, the vegetable beds have been dug over now, including the two which were going to be removed this year.    I have decided that this is not the year to cut down on growing food!   The polytunnel is ready for action, the small greenhouse cleaned out.

Time for a rest.

Are you managing to keep busy and motivated?
Stay safe everyone.
X

Violets, Butterbur, and Letters from a Girl.

I wonder whether anyone else has noticed what a good year it is proving to be - for violets!   Scented violets in particular.   The byways,  lanes, fields and woodlands seem to have far more of these miniature beauties than I have managed to find previously.

Most excitingly, the same can be said of Owl Wood.   A couple of years ago there was just one tiny patch of scented violets, now they have spread far and wide, much to my delight.   There are also drifts of primroses running up and along the banks, under the trees and spreading beautifully through Owl Wood.

White violets are pretty, but lack scent; there are masses of them on the verge outside Parsonage Cottage.       It is the deep violet ones that have that wonderfully elusive scent, which gains strength when the flowers are brought indoors and gradually warm up to room temperature.

Letter from a Girl

My granddaughter continues to write her daily letters.   This is the one she wrote this morning, before heading off to school.


To Granny,
Friday is our last day of school because more than a hundred people have died of coronavirus.  The only people who are allowed to go to school are children of key workers, Mum and Dad are key workers.     *****'s going to Dad's school and I am going to Mum's.  Children who have special needs can go to school too!
Love from ******




As ever, there is no peace in this house, as I was trying to take a snap of the letter, Sparky tried to snatch it away.

Letter from a Girl Photobombed.

I walked Toby for an hour this morning,finishing up by the old watermill.

The old watermill
click to enlarge.

The Butterbur has grown surprisingly quickly; the flowers are now about nine or ten inches long, and look very different from those round, virus-like flowers of just a couple of days ago.

So that is life in my little corner of Lincolnshire.   As always, lots going on which doesn't make it on to the blog, but that is true for all of us.

Stay fit, keep busy.

Elaine

X

Sad! Very Sad! Meloncoly!!! Letters from a Girl, 2

This morning's letter from my eight year old granddaughter.   😢

To Granny,
Parents evenings have been cancelled because of Coronavirus all all training clubs cancelled.   50 people have now died from corona.
I'm worried.
SAD!
VERY SAD!
MELANCHOLY!!!

No need for me to play amateur psychologist here, the worry is plain to see.

Coronavirus on the Verge

Butterbur

I am happy to say that life, here in the sticks, pretty much goes on as normal, by which I mean that each morning I still take Toby-dog out for his three mile hike, whether he likes it or not.  Some dogs have a tough life.

This morning we headed off in the direction of the lovely old watermill and there I espied a very large coronavirus-like thing on the side of the lane.   

Butterbur! 

This weird looking plant starts off quite low to the ground but eventually opens up on a long stalk and the green leaves grow to look like four foot high rhubarb leaves. 

This is the first one of this years crop, soon the lane leading to the watermill will be smothered in them.   Until we moved here, about 14 years ago, I hadn't come across these strange flowers.    Their preferred habitat is wet meadows, damp ditches and riversides. 

A few years ago I did some research and found that Butterbur was one of the plants which they tried out as a cure for the Bubonic Plague.

These days extract of Butterbur is sold as a "herbal supplement used for pain, upset stomach, stomach ulcers, migraine and other headaches, ongoing cough, chills, anxiety, plague, fever, trouble sleeping (insomnia), whooping cough, asthma, hay fever (allergic rhinitis), and for irritable bladder and urinary tract spasms."

I copied the uses from the internet, noting that 'plague' was also included!

Please do not rely on this to treat the current 'plague'.   It simply struck me as bearing a very similar shape to the coronavirus and the neat link to the plague made me smile.

Have a good weekend.  Stay safe.

Commonsense

My circle is small, my direct contacts limited.
No need to worry about Coronavirus here, then?

Certainly no need to panic, but we do need to be sensible.

We have our grandchildren in for breakfast and tea each school day (and often at the weekends, simply because they regard our home as their second home).

They attend different schools.  Total number of students - we'll ignore the teaching staff, TA's, etc - they come into contact with: >900.

Their parents are also teachers.   Each day they come into contact with > 1220 - again, we'll ignore the teaching staff, etc.

This means that every school day we are just one step away from contact with over 2,000 children.

So what?

Past experience has taught us to be careful - in the last few months we have had to watch out for nits, thread worms, impetigo and chicken pox, as well as the more usual coughs and colds, thanks to the contacts of our grandchildren and their parents!

So, we are taking precautions. 

We are being careful, not panicking. 
We are both 'elderly', yes, we have to face up to that fact! 
Husband also has underlying health issues. 
Life continues as normal, but with sensible lines of defence.

Extra hand washing, using anti-bacterial gel when necessary, extra cleaning of door handles, etc. 

Keep calm and carry on, but be sensible.
x

ps I am way behind on blog reading.   I will catch up, though it may take a day or two.