Issue 24
“Yesterday
was a bad day”
Last Tuesday was officially a day of reflection as it marked a full year since we went into Lockdown. There have been several thousands of words written on what this has meant for many.
All I can say is that it was
the definition of the grass not being greener on the other side. The gorgeous
trees were replaced with ferns so vicious they peeled the skin from your arms
like a cheese grater. The well trodden paths were replaced with walks of death.
Being an obstinate sort of fellow, I put a brave face and laughed it off as
adventure, the boys kept quiet and Em who had seriously questioned why there
was a need to cross over the road in the first place, ambled on
stoically.
As I tried to inject fun into
the “adventure,” by letting Toby choose the next path (there really wasn’t much
of a choice - more of a small gap between spikes), we rambled deeper and deeper
into the common, until the family reached a point where they could take it no
more. Hoisting Toby on my shoulders and half carrying the dog, we backtracked
as much as we could in an effort to find our way home.
It was one of those occasions
where, once we were home we would all laugh at and regard with fondness. So
far, the family haven’t seen it that way. Toby definitely hasn’t as he has said
at least 3 times a day since that it was a bad weekend.
Tidying and the Jab
With the kid’s going back to school we thought the lethargy
would disappear and the motivation would return. It hasn’t quite turned out
that way and the freer days we have been yearning for to tidy hadn’t quite
panned out. Tidying in the Donovan house is a relative term. We have spent
hours tidying, cleaning and sorting out our house only to find it back to a
mess within 30 minutes.
Still, Em and I said we would use Saturday to tidy and if both of us and the boys all took a room and went to town on it, we would get the house immaculate in no time. Saturday was going to be the day to cleanse our house and our minds.
Saturday morning came and I woke up bright and early with a
determination to clean like never before. However, within an hour that
enthusiasm had dissipated and when Emma and the boys woke up and showed similar
levels of motivation. The evil thoughts crept into my head, “What is one more
day? Who is coming around to see anyway?”
However, we were not to be deterred. Both Emma and I rallied and delivered a Braveheart-esque rousing speech which saw us all set to our tasks. We were all in the zone, we were flying, the house was just beginning to sparkle in certain areas and then the phone went. Our friend who had been volunteering to assist with Covid vaccinations had said they had stock left over and not enough people coming in. If we hurried we could get our jab now. There was no decision to make and off we went bundling all the kids in the car. We had to go in separately and all in all the boys had to sit in the car for over an hour but the whole experience was very smooth. I honestly didn’t feel the needle go in and apart from a sore arm the next day and tiredness, there were no ill side-effects.
The tidying didn’t get done but there is always tomorrow for
that, or the next day or maybe after Easter!
Papa don’t preach I have a
conscience:
Sometimes it is so hard to keep the immature, impish side of me
hidden. Most of the time I fail in fact, but I do manage it occasionally. I
feel sorry for Joseph as we have gone from homeschooling where we have been
hands-on and explaining a lot of the work to him, before he went away and did
it, to him returning to school and doing his homework completely by
himself.
This week he had an assignment where he had to write a letter from a Greek princess to her father explaining why she didn’t want to marry another King as she was in love with Lysander. Joe went away and wrote a rather decent but a little repetitive letter about how the princess was not a child anymore and did not care about marrying for riches. Actually, it wasn’t too bad and I am being a little harsh but still, he asked me to read through it (which I love doing with a red pen and correcting). I also suggested the odd line be tweaked or suggested other things he could write about and then the mischievous sprite took over and I suggested the following paragraph be inserted:
Daddy, daddy if you could only see
Just how good he’s been treating me
You’d give us your blessing right now
‘Cause we are in love
We are in love! so please!
Joe being 12, didn’t recognise the lyrics and thought they were
a good addition. I went down stairs giggling and was still chuckling half an
hour later at the thought of Joe handing it in. Em enquired as to why I was
chuckling and I told her. She was mortified as was Jamie who immediately went
and told Joe. I swear I wasn’t going to let him hand it in. Honest.
Sainsburys training
Before the pandemic started a
year ago, we had used the online delivery service for shopping very
infrequently. We are the type of people that likes feel every piece of fruit
before putting it in our basket and who checks the sell by date on all the food
and makes sure we purchase the item with the longest shelf life. Generally we
weren’t happy with the fruit that came delivered or the food was on the cusp of
being out of date.
When lockdown commenced and
booking a delivery slot became harder that getting tickets to watch Hamilton,
we continued to go to our local Sainsburys. Over the past year though, more
delivery slots opened up and either the quality of produce improved or our
standards became a lot lower as it is now our primary way of obtaining food.
In fact, I think it has been about 4 months since I last set foot inside a supermarket. This transition to online shopping happening organically and without us really noticing it is probably why I’ve never mentioned the self-imposed stress I seem to put on myself whenever there is a delivery.
Let me know if any of this
sounds familiar:
1) As soon as you receive the
email saying your shopping will arrive between 12 and 1pm you act nonchalant
but check the time every 2 minutes
2) When 12pm arrives you continue
to remain nonchalant only now you surreptitiously look out the window every 2
minutes.
3) As the hour wears on and
sweat a little as you worry that the meeting free hour you had is coming to the
end and there is a strong possibility you will be on a Skype call when the
shopping comes.
4) The Sainsbury’s lorry pulls
up, you notice it but this is where you fully demonstrate your nonchalance by
continuing to sit and drink your tea. When the doorbell rings, you leave it a
few seconds to make it look like you have not been waiting eagerly and then
recall you have no change to give the driver a tip and scramble around the
house looking for anything.
5) Open the door, make a bit of
small talk - there is an accepted code of small talk much like a cab driver
where you ask if they have been busy (of course they have), have you had to
travel far (yes, my next delivery is in Maidstone) and you feign surprise.
6) Take the sheet of paper
which details all of the substitutes Sainsbury’s have made. Now, this one is
much like testing the wine in a restaurant - You pretend to look at the sheet
but know you are going to accept it anyway.
8) Make a quip about it being a
good workout and then hand the driver £1 in 5p coins, shut the door and
collapse.
It can’t just be me, can it?
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