Shani’s Lockdown Diary – Tuesday 24th March- Creative Solutions

Ok, so today has been pretty good. I seem to be getting some structure in place and all the tasks do not seem as overwhelming as they did in the beginning.

I was up early – I love the first hours of the morning – I cherish the alone time with my cup of tea – so soothing! This is my time to reflect. My first thing is always to look out at the view – sea, and mountains – and no, I don’t only do this in lockdown – I actually do this every morning.  Looking out at the sea and mountains is my form of meditation.  It gives me the strength to do my next task of the morning – laundry! Ugh!!!

Once I have Tália up, dressed and breakfasted, I set her up for her online lesson.  She already seems to be falling into this rhythm.  I call my mum to say good morning – can you believe she is only 10 minutes away, but I can’t see her?  Speaking to her always puts me in a relaxed and positive frame of mind.  Once I chat with her, I grab a strong coffee and I am ready to start my working day – it begins with my morning call to catch up with Debbie. After that time flies..

Nearly empty loaf of bread

We are running down on our stock of food – only a quarter loaf of bread, a few morsels of cheese, a couple of carrots. I know we can go to the supermarket but because Tália is such a high-risk case, the fewer trips we make the better. So I am having to be creative. Thankfully Natasha solves the breakfast problem by making pancakes – phew.. bread can last another day!

I try to be inventive with what I have and turn a frozen pack of peas into hearty pea soup for lunch and manage to stretch a small pack of pork to feed 5 by making it into delicious pork and vegetable fried rice.   We do have food – I just need to be creative!

After supper, Andrew and Natasha play games and it turns into a crazy drama. It is very noisy – I don’t think they have ever got through a game without one of them claiming that the other is a cheat!  There is a strong competitive drive in both of them.  Tália finds the whole spectacle highly entertaining and settles down to watch them as though she is watching a show.

Andrew then decides it is time to take a trip to the rubbish bins and throw our rubbish.  I make him wear gloves and when he comes back home, I ensure that shoes come off immediately and rush him to the basin – I put on the tap so that he doesn’t touch it and make him do the 20-second washing extravaganza.  Natasha thinks I have lost the plot… Once that is done, I send him up to have a hot shower. Oh, how our habits have changed in just over a week!

As I go to bed, I get a lovely surprise.   My daughter Natasha recently wrote a song – she wrote it before Coronavirus every existed, but the words are just so apt for what we are going through.  Well, in a nutshell, Les, my mother’s partner, has produced a music video of her song. Wow! I am struck by the video and by the words of her song. It is almost like she had a premonition…here is the video, in case you are curious…

7 Days till I can cuddle Tara…