Week 21, twenty one weeks, 147 days since the first announcement that Coronavirus was serious and we were going to be locked down and not able to move about as freely as we had before, or as we ever would again for a long time. We finally got confirmation this week that our holiday in September to Morocco has been cancelled by BA and they have refunded our tickets. To
The social isolation diaries — week 20
I should probably think about renaming these now we are no longer in social isolation. Week 20 though, twenty weeks since the drawbridge got completely pulled up and just a few weeks since it slowly began to lower again. Unless you’re in the beauty industry that is. For this week, here in England, we had been told that the beauty industry would be able to open fully on August
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The social isolation diaries — Week 19
Week 19 Pick n Mix is back in Tesco. If ever there was indication that we are being encouraged to “get back to normal” that feels like the surest one yet. As I wandered into Tesco at the weekend I saw that the cafe was open, though hardly anyone was in there, and that the pick n mix was stocked again. Though, everything in the little pods was
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Why we need drive in cinemas to stay
Drive-in cinemas need to stay please! Drive-in cinemas in the US have been a thing since the 1930s and within thirty years there over 4000, but still there are very few here in the UK. That was until lockdown, or rather the easing of lockdown. With cinemas and theatres still closed, or with regular customers nervous about sitting near strangers for a few hours, drive-in cinemas have popped
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HomeLife
The Social Isolation Diaries — Week 18
Week 18 There’s no denying it is noisier, busier, harder to believe that all this <waves all around> is still going on. To be honest if you had been in hibernation and only now returning to the open air it would probably take you a while to realise that we are actually still living with a pandemic in our midst. There is very little to show for it
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Exploring
5 top tips for a day out with elderly relatives — AD
How to plan a day out with elderly relatives Now that the weather is warming up and some of the recent restrictions have been lifted you might be thinking about planning a day out as a family, so here are my 5 top tips for a day out with elderly relatives. Consider the terrain What might feel like an easy place for us to walk around can be much harder
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Exploring
Outdoor Adventures to have this summer — AD
Outdoor Adventures you need to plan now! it is safe to say that 2020 has been a very strange year. Many of us have had cancelled foreign holidays cancelled or moved to next year and so might be looking to have a break in the UK. I am not a fan of the word staycation, but it does seem quite apt doesn’t it? We should have been heading off to
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Developing film with coffee
Developing film with coffee sounds like a line from Peter Kay’s standup routine. Cheese….cake? Developing film?…..with coffee?? oh yes, developing film by using instant coffee and other ingredients readily available in Tesco can be done. There’s a lot of boring chemistry I don’t understand, but the gist of it is that black and white film has elements of silver that react to light. Turning those into a picture uses chemicals ….or
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The social isolation diaries — week 17
week 17 of lockdown Have you had a haircut? I am loving mine, and could have cried when I finally saw my hairdresser on Tuesday. I was terrified we would go into a local lockdown like Leicester and my appointment would have to be cancelled. I know that sounds pathetic but I hate having messy hair and looking bedraggled, so getting my haircut and catching up with my hairdresser was
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The social isolation diaries — Week 16
Week 16 in lockdown Haircuts. That is all we cared about this week. Haircuts and when we can get one. Since it was announced that hairdressers could open again on July 4th social media has been awash with people gleefully posting that they have an appointment booked. Or smugly posting that they were in the salon at 12.01 on Saturday morning (lucky buggers). I had to wait until Tuesday
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HomeLife
Buying a Quooker, what you need to know
If you are thinking about buying a Quooker, or indeed any boiling water tap, there are one or two things you need to think about. We didn’t really consider these things before we bought ours recently so I thought it might be helpful if I wrote them all down! We had been thinking for a long time that we would like a boiling water tap so when our old
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The Social Isolation Diaries — Week 15
Week 15 That is an exact representation of the number of cups of tea I have drunk this week, a week that felt like it was a month long. Probably because all the weeks are merging into now, aren’t they? Though this was a lovely week as we got to welcome Lady Barrow into our support bubble. Lady Barrow has been living on her own for the whole









