Coronavirus entry 32: Greetings from Timsbury!

I've arrived safely in the wonderful Timsbury, a small village just outside of the city of Bath, to spend a week with my Dad.

So far, it's been a wonderful couple of days. We arrived yesterday lunchtime to beautiful sunshine so did a bit of pottering around the house before taking an obligatory walk to the local pub, The Seven Stars, for a few drinks! 

The pub was closed throughout lockdown and only reopened again about two weeks ago after gaining new management, so you can imagine, this is big news for the village! It's also great for us as we love a pub visit, especially when it's only round the corner, so it seems silly not to support the local business! 

We even managed to do a little braai (bbq) yesterday evening which was lovely, although we think that may we be the last of this year now, but who knows!

Today has been much of the same. A little walk around the village, drinks at the pub and chilling around the house, and I couldn't ask for more! There's something about Timsbury that completely relaxes me every time I come here, and I seem to sink into this wonderful bubble of bliss. It's such a beautiful part of the country and the views from my Dad's house are so beautiful, as you can see in the photos! It must be the tranquility of village life, but also just being with my Dad, that I love. 

I was originally going to stay for a week, but my Dad suggested staying all of next weekend too so I'm going to go back a week tomorrow instead. The sweetest thing is Dad is going to drive me home again too and stay the night at mine so I'm making it my mission to enjoy every minute with him!                                                                       

Coronavirus entry 31: Goodbye summer holidays...

I am feeling somewhat flat today. The summer holidays are officially over and schools have reopened for the new September term despite the Coronavirus still lurking. 

I remember talking to my sister at the beginning of the school holidays and saying to her that I secretly hope my furlough doesn't end anytime soon because it's been so long since I had a school term summer holiday, and I really wanted to be able to have the opportunity to enjoy it.

Well, thankfully that happened. The last 5.5 weeks have been amazing. Although we can't forget the reasons around why I am not working at the moment, and the fact we are still very much surrounded by a killer virus, I feel so unbelievably blessed to have had the time off because I have had the opportunity to spend quality time with my 2 year old niece, Ella and build a really lovely bond with her. This girl has given me so much love and laughter this summer and they are memories I will always treasure. 

I have also been able to spend time with my two nephews, Thomas, 8 and Oliver, 5, who again, are the most incredible boys to ever grace this planet! Their intelligence, cheekiness, laughter and infectious happiness has warmed my heart so much. I really have been blessed with the most amazing niece and nephews and will never take that for granted. The only downside is the more time I spend with them, the more I miss them when they're not around.

Since coming out of lockdown, my family have been my priority. Not being able to see them for so long really was heartbreaking and a big struggle, and I think that's why I'm feeling the way I am today.  I have indulged in time with my family and friends and it really has been a blessing.

Now the day has come for schools, nursery's and childcare to restart and it's making me feel rather emotional. However, this evening I am going to a friends house for dinner, and tomorrow my dad arrives from Bath for the night and then I will be going back to his house with him for a week and I can't tell you how happy I am! I have seen him a couple of times over the last few months, but to be able to spend a whole week of quality time with him, will again, be priceless!

Coronavirus Entry 30: Here comes the bride...almost!

Another lovely weekend in the bag! I really have been blessed with some wonderful moments since we've come out of lockdown and I am making sure I enjoy every single minute of them. This weekend was another!

My very good friend, Chelsey, is getting married next month, but due to Covid (again!) we had to cancel her hen do which was going to be in July, however, now we are out of lockdown, and are allowed smaller get togethers, one of her bridesmaids arranged a surprise get together with some of her local friends to make up for it! 

After much organising a planning, we arranged a lovely afternoon bbq at another friends house and it went down an absolute storm. Chelsey was so overwhelmed and it was the first time we have all really had a chance to properly celebrate with her, and of course, it wouldn't be a hen celebration without the classic "Mr and Mrs" game and of course, lots of shots and one hell of a cake! 

The weather held out too, albeit a little windy but we didn't let that stop us. With drinks flowing, lots of cheesy music and a very happy bride-to-be, it was an afternoon of much laughter and happiness. The perfect set up before she says "I do".

Coronavirus entry 29: A visit to my mumma's

The last couple of days have been so nice. I went to my mums yesterday and ended up spending the night and it was so lovely. She lives about a half an hours drive from me so I usually just visit for a few hours, but given I'm furloughed, I was invited to stay over for a change so I thought why the hell not!  

She took me out to lunch to a lovely hotel called The Stanwick Hotel. It was a lovely sunny day so we sat outside and had a few drinks and shared a sandwich, and what was even nicer was a wedding was taking place too. Obviously, it was very much done under covid rules, but it was lovely to see that despite what we are going through, people are still managing to celebrate happy moments together. 

We then spent the afternoon chilling in her garden enjoying a few drinks and the sunshine before being joined by some more family which took us into the late evening. 

It was so nice to spend the time with her and enjoy a bit of relaxing too. Unfortunately, today we have woken up to wind and rain so it's not as nice, but I am home now, despite getting thrown around in my car quite a lot on the drive back, but I am relaxing on the sofa for the rest of the day, where I will no doubt end up contemplating my life choices!

Coronavirus entry 28: A weekend of happy times

This weekend has been lovely. After the threat of going into a local lockdown, we were pleased to hear on Friday that for the time being, Northampton won't be going into lockdown providing everyone in the area remembers what the original covid rules are and sticks to them! It doesn't mean we won't go into lockdown, but for now we are ok.

On Friday I went round to see my friend Chelsey to have lunch with her. It was her birthday yesterday and she had plans, so I wanted to see her beforehand. We decided to keep it social distanced given the latest news, but it was so nice to see her and catch up. 

Yesterday, my mum invited us all round to her house for a last minute bbq and it was so lovely. Another successful family day where everyone was relaxed and just happy to be in each others company. We stayed up late playing games, drinking lots of booze and listening to a variety of music. The kiddies were there to and it was so nice to see them having fun together. We all ended up staying the night and even stayed for a fry up this morning too! 

I'm now chilling on the sofa wishing I was still with everyone, but I'm looking after my niece tomorrow morning and have my sister in law staying the night too so have another lovely day to look forward to. I'm feeling incredibly spoilt with these family days and I hope I get a lot more to come! 

Coronavirus entry 27: Are we going into a local lockdown?

Northampton has been on the Government radar for a potential local lockdown now for a couple of weeks, and it looks like we may have well and truly shot ourselves in the foot after local food factory, Greencore, announced 300 members of staff have tested positive for Coronavirus.

Greencore manufacture food for M&S and have 2,100 members of staff working for them. They decided to start testing people because figures in the region were going up, hence why we are under the watchful eyes of the higher powers!

The scary thing is that Greencore's factory is round the corner from where I live so does that mean I am now at even more of a risk of getting this virus? As per usual there are rumors that local residents will be invited to have a test done, but given those 300 people have been sent home to isolate for 2 weeks now, I wonder if that will happen. I guess for now, all I can do is continue to do as I have been and IF I do get any symptoms, get a test done.

I really hope we don't go into another lockdown though; I'm not sure I'll cope!

Coronavirus entry 26: Enjoying some sunshine!

This week has been a quiet one for me as my family have been busy doing their own thing so I thought I'd make use of the time on my own to rest and most importantly, enjoy the sunshine. 

In all honesty, I have switched off from the Coronavirus news for a bit now. I don't want to lose track of what is going on completely, but it does get you down listening to the negativity every day. Once again, there was a lot of criticism against people who spent the bank holiday weekend at beaches. Many people think it's too dangerous still and also, the amount of litter that has been left has been really sad to see. Suffice to say, it's caused a lot of anger from all over the country and to be honest, I just don't want to hear it right now so I have been taking some time out to potter in my garden, tidy my house and enjoy a bit of down time, and it's been lovely. 

Friday was particularly unexpected! I was invited round to my neighbours house for a few drinks at 8pm, and I think I ended up rolling in at 2.30am! It was only meant to be a few drinks and a little catch up, but turned into quite the sesh! I was so hungover yesterday, I could barely do anything. Infact, I spent most of the day lying on the sofa feeling sorry for myself! It was such a funny night though and no doubt will be having more nights like that!