Time Flies In Lockdown

My oh my, how time flies. I can hardly believe we are almost at the end of April.

Does anyone else feel like the weeks are zipping by?

Merging milestones

I guess, traditionally our calendar is marked by certain milestones. Weekend, birthdays, holidays. Maybe we mentally mark out our year with things to look forward to. Short term we long for the weekend. As the clocks go forward to British Summer Time (BST) we anticipate the move to longer days and sunshine. Bird song, newborn lambs, the smell of cut grass, and the first spring shoots poking through.

And our much-awaited holidays, trips away, concerts, family get-togethers are the stepping stones which get us through the year. Well, that is kind of how we roll in our house.

But all of that has sort of merged into a rather nondescript calendar. Hasn’t it? Some of it will definitely happen – spring stops for nobody. The rest, well, that’s kind of a little uncertain.

Enterprise reaps green rewards

Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining. In fact I have kind of begun to enjoy not being tied to a conventional week. I can be more reactive. If the sun shines I can choose to step away from my screen and work in the garden.

And luckily for us, a local florist friend chose the warmest April ever to diversify! She has had to close her flower shop. But she is not resting on her laurels (no pun intended). Working with Greens (Nairn), her preferred nursery (also forced to close to the public) and also coincidentally one of only two we use for our gardening materials and plants, she has now opened up her ‘wee garden shop’. Working from her home (or rather her garden), she has a strict and safe pre-order and ‘no contact’ delivery process.

And because of her and her loyal team we took delivery of plants. Yay!

The result is we have now managed to progress a project which we thought would end up shelved completely this year. And potted up a few planters and baskets too. It’s made for a productive week. Working outdoors. I feel full of energy and positivity. That must be the Vitamin D at work. And the days have literally whizzed by. Indeed, time flies when you are having fun, doesn’t it?

And when the weather turned to rain today I simply made my Sunday, an office day. Half a day copy typing my Mum’s fictional novel and some blogging. Yes, I can declare, no constraints, ditching the conventional week has been refreshing. Liberating.

Food glorious food

You may also recall in the last couple of blogs I have hinted at a bit of an obsession with food! Well, nothing much has changed. Except, it has been five weeks since bringing home our last supermarket shopping – how time flies. But I can report we finally got a Tesco delivery! Here in the back of rural beyond we are already limited to slots. But something made me go and check out availability – while still lay in my bed one-day last week.

I wasn’t hopeful. Almost daily checks were showing nothing but tumbleweed. So I was pretty excited to see a number of times showing. Woo hoo! The shower and breakfast could wait. I bagged mine, threw some random stuff in my basket, so I could checkout fully later – and then tipped off my neighbours. Because we are all in this together – just a bit further apart [winks].

In reality I just wanted to buy some of the staples we were close to running out of. Personal hygiene, cleaning products and the odd pudding for Mr Smith – he was missing his treats.

Eat well

Meanwhile I really am enjoying using small independents. We have eaten pretty well as a result. We now have two reliable fishmongers. And so scallops, monkfish and langoustines have featured on the menu at the table of chef Smith in the past fortnight. I highly recommend it. Plus, we have been able to support our local shop, choosing to get our bread, milk, dairy and even our fresh veg from there. So cutting down Mr Smith’s ‘essential’ travel even more.

Although now our weekly milestone seems to be wholly anchored around food. Be it delivery or collection – and almost certainly disinfection! Because I am still working hard to make sure that the Covid-19 beast doesn’t get through my door. Every Thursday or Friday I don my marigolds, set up the decontamination area and systematically clean everything before bringing it into kitchen. It would be ludicrously funny if it didn’t take up an hour and half of my day! And if my hands weren’t cracking up with all the scrubbing and washing.

I am now sick of the smell of bleach – but for God sake don’t drink it. And definitely don’t inject it. Some days I shake my head and wonder what drugs that Trump fella is on?

Another week over

So that brings my She Wordsmiths round up to another close.

Next week I have an extra milestone to look forward to. Climbing Cairn Bannoch on May Day. Not in person of course – but virtually, as part of the CHSS May Day Munro Challenge. I plan to complete it as part of my daily exercise – let’s face it we have enough hills accessible literally from my back gate. If needs be I will lap my garden to get some extra steps in. Frankly, you can even do it in your house if you wish. Anyway, more about that next week.

I wholly encourage a little local exercise – or just some fresh air, reading a book or listening to a podcast or just recording the birdsong, on your doorstep. If you do feel trapped then maybe shake up your week, as I did. Go where your heart takes you, safely of course. For me, staying steadily busy, nothing daft, means my time flies every week still.

And with every week that passes, I hope measures will begin to arrive which mean we can start to emerge (I like to imagine like butterflies from a chrysalis) and safely enjoy a whole new normal but which still includes the things we love to do.

For now, I wish you all good health. Take care of yourselves, yeh?

Marie also writes for Medium as @marietsmith

Any links which take you to my Medium stories, from this blog, are entirely free reads – so fill your boots. Clap too if you feel the urge, because even unpaid reaction helps a story gain traction.