How's life in the lockdown??

[Rocknroll59]

Curious to know how folk are getting on with the lockdown, staying at home, short walks, visits to the Supermarket?? In my case its been garden mostly and walks from the house. Filled the car up with fuel 5 weeks ago and done 54 miles !! that's just trips to the supermarket and the longest trip was 12mile round trip to visit Dads grave on his birthday Cleaning up and clearing flowers. Painted some furniture, and our summerhouse. Otherwise reading some books I needed to catch up. I have been listening to a lot of music however, some CD's and Vinyl which I haven't heard in a while plus some new stuff ordered online, which has taken preference over the TV (unless my wife takes over the lounge area) Can't wait to visit grandchildren and get out to some of my favorite walks. Neighbours have been brilliant we've all be helping each other which is why we've stayed where we are for 34 years!! What haven't I missed...the noisy rushing around and constant roar of far away traffic and funnily enough the sport on TV which I tended to watch if it was available, plus the small part time job I had...just can't see 'normal' returning anytime soon. I am concerned for those with jobs who may lose them in the coming weeks though, including my own children....

[wornish]

I am in the same boat in many ways. I think I have driven about 40 miles in the last 5 weeks all journeys to the supermarket for "essentials". Our kids seem to be OK but who really knows?
State pension just went up this month but taxman didn't hold back in increasing the tax on my annuity so net zero.

Great fun.

[MJ224]

I think we are all reading from the same book. My Electric car has not been charged for 6 weeks now, the mile to Tesco and the mile back has not used much battery power, and my house electric bill is down as a result..:-))

Yes neighbours are good, and the only chat I get locally. Wifey got marooned 50 miles away in Cardiff (so she says!) so living alone is interesting...…...I watch Mash every weekday night, corny, but I like it....

Still plenty of bird watching and looking for insects etc....Great fun and all within a mile..:-))

[wornish]

I agree. Keep washing your hands and taking photos

[Harold Gough]

Washing hands will have to come to a stop soon. Yesterday Tesco had dozens of gel dispensers but not a single handwash dispenser.

Harold

[Phill D]

Yes pretty much the same here, only done about 30 miles to local supermarket since lockdown. Everytime I take the car out the brakes have rusted on!
I used to like Mash too, havent seen that for ages. I recently found a Canadian series called Murdock Mysteries, that's corny too but I've got hooked, now on series 11. It's full of made up historical links to discoveries and people that are really quite clever and fun to look for.

[Phill D]

Haven't watched Columbo for ages, used to like that too. Endevour I agree is brilliant we watched it when it came out so up to date on that.

[Ian]

Julia and I like Murdoch Mysteries. I'm into Killing Eve now - having been put off by the title originally! Just finished Devs on BBC iPlayer - absolutely brilliant, The Mandalorian (Disney Star Wars spin-off) which is excellent, Picard (Star Trek spin-off) until it finished (is there a theme forming here ). Julia love anything Agatha Christie, Miss Fisher Mysteries and the sequel Ms. Fisher's Modern Mysteries, Death in Paradise, etc. I actually don't get to watch as much as I was expecting because I'm working on things to do with the forum!

[MJ224]

Phill, leave the car in gear and handbrake off. If that worries you put a brick in front of one wheel...:-))

[jonesy]

I took the car out for the first time since the lockdown... I only went to fill up with fuel as the prices are so low! (our local superstore is less than a quarter mile from my house so we always "borrow" a trolley to bring the shopping home rather than drive.)
I was managing fine while I was working from home, feeling productive, feeling like I was still part of a team. Then they pulled the rug out from under me, only a week after making the whole company use 2 weeks of their own holiday, they decided to furlough me and a couple of others... It would be a lie to say that I'm OK about it, but what can you do... Adding more to the redbubble store helps me as I am trying to help others with the charity/money raising side of it, but its currently bloody hard to even get to the bright side of life.

[MJ224]

Totally agree with you Phill. Watching the endless diatribe about the CV-19 is/was depressing. So I get my news form the radio, and rarely watch the TV news. Its what you call mono. news, same with Brexit for the last 3+ years. When this is all over the journalists are going to have to re-learn news hunting and presentation. (Not their fault I must add). I guess I am missing going to the seaside etc, and even volunteering for the WWT, but as a retiree, I am much better off than those who have mortgages etc to pay. I also dodged the bullet by selling the old boat just before the lockdown. The poor man who bought it has not been able to visit it for nearly two months now...Now that must be frustrating....:-(

[Rocknroll59]

Agree with that Mark...I've given up watching much of the TV these days.. The News...Daft questions from journalists and on and on and on about figures + statistics totally mind numbing...agree that we've had nearly 4 years of the B thingy and now this I think the TV will need a big rethink. As I mentioned I've listened to music more than ever just lately and added new artists etc so i'm happy with that. It is getting a bit tedious now though and when they finally say we can get out again it will be different that's for sure.

[Harold Gough]

Jonesy, I totally relate to your experience.

The rules, as they seem to see it, is to keep out of the back garden but assemble at the side of the house (hidden by a tall hedge) and believe that nobody will notice the loud chatter from a house where we know only one person (grandmother) lives.

I agree with Rocknroll59 about the journalists and news.

Virgin Media has given us free access to about 30 more channels of crap TV, such that we have had to revive our favourites to stand chance of finding the channels we do want to watch.

Harold

[Ian]

I think we are all reading from the same book. My Electric car has not been charged for 6 weeks now, the mile to Tesco and the mile back has not used much battery power, and my house electric bill is down as a result..:-))

Yes neighbours are good, and the only chat I get locally. Wifey got marooned 50 miles away in Cardiff (so she says!) so living alone is interesting...…...I watch Mash every weekday night, corny, but I like it....

Still plenty of bird watching and looking for insects etc....Great fun and all within a mile..:-))

I keep our car charged to 60%, which seems to be a low-use recommended level for maximum charge over long periods (keeps the battery chemistry happy). In April we did 35 miles (just shopping miles) and then Julia had to go to a school she is going to do some part time remote teaching for, to pick up a laptop (they insist on her using theirs for some reason) and that was 40 miles round-trip.

Mark, I don't know about your Citroen(?) but ours loses about 1% battery a day because of the onboard computer and dash and rear security cameras we've installed. The car is Wi-Fi connected 24/7 when parked at home or with mobile data if there is no Wi-Fi. But the drain only triggers a re-charge once the batter drops to 5% below the target level and 5% is 3.5kWh - which is about 17p on our night-time rate (5p/kWh) - so our car is probably costing 40-50p a week doing nothing. 35 miles of driving we did in April was about a pound's worth of electricity, so overall car 'fuel' in April was probably £3.

There are some electricity tariffs now that can pay you to use their electricity when there is a surplus - Octopus Agile is one; which is excellent if you have a home battery.

Ian

[MJ224]

Not too sure what the daily loss is Ian, but I understand these Lion batteries like to be charged often, and not to go flat...I suppose I have only saved a few squids in the last couple of months of lockdown with ref to charging. I have an RX8 and a MGF to exercise as well. I hate to think they will deteriorate for lack of use. MG has soft top so I occasionally swank (!!) around the village with the top down...…

Just in case...verb (used without object)
to swagger in behavior; show off.

[Rocknroll59]

Nice to see your sense of humour is still intact Mark..

[MJ224]

Phew, yes I often laugh to myself...……..I know they are coming to get me, so making the most...……………….

[Internaut]

The shifting opening and closing times of our local supermarkets is dystopian (or is that Kafkaesque?) and is starting to grate somewhat. A couple of weeks ago, I left the house just after 06:00, with a view to getting to Tesco before 07:00. That worked out nicely; no queue to get in and they had everything I was after. Fast forward to this morning and I attempted the same. They were closed. They do this without warning and with no updates to their website.

It's all changing me into i) a more local shopper and ii) a posher shopper. The local M&S food hall is a beacon of sanity where the bread tends to be nicer/fresher than Tesco (for not a great deal more). Likewise, I've been happy with produce from the local Co-Op and will continue to give them more business. What I really like about Co-Op, though, is they have a small shelf reserved for beers from breweries local to me (not to mention attracting customers who are vaguely capable of following a one way system)!

Of the larger shops, Aldi does a good job of managing numbers and keeping things moving.

[Otto]

The Co-op give a decent discount to members on their own-brand products too - 5% - which is rather better than the 1% on a Tesco Clubcard!

[Harold Gough]

I have continued my mission of importing choice cacti, bromelliads, etc.before EU internal rules expire for the UK.

I have received one, and have another consignment on order, from Italy. I haven't mentioned the origin to my wife, to avoid hysteria! The way I see it is that it's a bit like after a plane crash. If you fly on a similar one with the same airline soon after, you are likely to be at least as safe as at any other time.

Harold

[Ian]

The shifting opening and closing times of our local supermarkets is dystopian (or is that Kafkaesque?) and is starting to grate somewhat. A couple of weeks ago, I left the house just after 06:00, with a view to getting to Tesco before 07:00. That worked out nicely; no queue to get in and they had everything I was after. Fast forward to this morning and I attempted the same. They were closed. They do this without warning and with no updates to their website.

It's all changing me into i) a more local shopper and ii) a posher shopper. The local M&S food hall is a beacon of sanity where the bread tends to be nicer/fresher than Tesco (for not a great deal more). Likewise, I've been happy with produce from the local Co-Op and will continue to give them more business. What I really like about Co-Op, though, is they have a small shelf reserved for beers from breweries local to me (not to mention attracting customers who are vaguely capable of following a one way system)!

Of the larger shops, Aldi does a good job of managing numbers and keeping things moving.

I have never had to wait more than five minutes to get into my local Aldi because they get you through the tills so fast.

Ian

[BDennis]

Still sane here and enjoying the slowed down pace of life at least. Missing planned UK trips we had to cancel - our last trip was to WWT Slimbridge in February staying at a B&B, it feels like years ago now! We haven’t been anywhere for weeks just walks from the house. I’m normally away some week days for work to be at an office for my part time job but the ability to do my software job remote and actually have remote working forced on me rather than have to justify it is a blessing - I don’t miss the rushing about! I think I will stick with the remote working for the duration now. We stopped watching the news weeks ago and I just check the news sites for the summary. We have weekly Zoom / Skype / FaceTime meet-ups with friends and our RSPB volunteer group which gives some structure to it. I started off catching up with things on the to do list around the house and garden - painting outside doors and gates etc but seem to have slacked off on that. It is nice just to sit and watch birds in the garden and occasionally mow the grass. I have probably done more photography than I would normally have done by this time in the year but mostly wildlife and night sky. I was hoping to get more into landscape photography this year - there most be some possibilities around the flat arable farmland of east Bedfordshire. The forum here has been great so we have to thank Ian and other admins for that and for all the Zoom presentations.

[Harold Gough]

Some new, small conveniences:

This morning I am expecting a home-made cake delivered. Last week we had two beers, direct from a local brewery, total of 12 pints, delivered.

Early on, we had a box of fruit and veg delivered. "Local produce" included oranges, lemons & limes! We are still working on how to use the limes. The cabbage was so huge we had to give half of it away.

Harold

[Imageryone]

Lime is nice squeezed onto pancakes instead of Lemon, but you need a little sweetening. Enjoy........

[Harold Gough]

I think my wife and son might have done that. They had pancakes a couple of days ago and a lime has disappeared.

Harolsd

[Gate Keeper]

Yes pretty much the same here, only done about 30 miles to local supermarket since lockdown. Everytime I take the car out the brakes have rusted on!
I used to like Mash too, havent seen that for ages. I recently found a Canadian series called Murdock Mysteries, that's corny too but I've got hooked, now on series 11. It's full of made up historical links to discoveries and people that are really quite clever and fun to look for.

Hi Phil, I hope you are keeping well and coping with the lockdown. We also get the Murdoch Mysteries on sat TV and we like it, as it is light hearted and thoughtful. My apologies for my absence this week, we had the usual power cuts and yesterday it was a national cut. Kenya buys its power from Uganda and there was a power surge in Uganda affecting the supply to us. I tend not to be online much in the evening as we go to bed at 7pm, watch TV, read books or watch concerts online. From 7pm, its curfew and those caught being out if they are not essential workers, are arrested and sometimes beaten. A football stadium in the city is now being used in Nairobi as a Magistrates Court to administer punishment and ease congestion in social distancing for offenders and curfew breakers with fines or community service.

We are living on my NHS pension and I will be eligible for the state pension when I get to 66 next year, please God

In another thread, you asked about the garden and a walk through. I have done a few photos to give you an idea and hopefully will be able to add to them. I have not been able to get into the forest this week, as we have had heavy rains and the forest descends into a steep gorge. The paths we down to the bottom are muddy, slippery and dangerous.

Three weeks on since planting, here is a DIY Grow bag for Beetroot and Leeks, another grows Spinach and Beetroot. The bags need only water and we made them up from compost and added in some pebbles inside the sacks to assist with drainage.



DIY Grow bag

by philip Gate Keeper, on Flickr

A view from a bedroom of the house overlooking the pool, lawn and forest. The lawn is very green from the heavy rains we have been having.



view to side garden and to the forest

by philip Gate Keeper, on Flickr



view of Bougainvillea towards the tennis court

by philip Gate Keeper, on Flickr

[Phill D]

That's quite a strict way to ensure lockdown works. Not sure I'd advocate it here, even though we ought to have been stricter in my view.
Great views of your garden, that grow bag looks like an excellent idea. Thanks for taking the time to show us where you live .

[Gate Keeper]

That's quite a strict way to ensure lockdown works. Not sure I'd advocate it here, even though we ought to have been stricter in my view.
Great views of your garden, that grow bag looks like an excellent idea. Thanks for taking the time to show us where you live .

Thank you Phil for your excellent comments. We also grow bananas and avocados and now they are almost ripe for the picking, the monkeys will be along to eat them. I will try and get a monkey photo before I shoo them away

[Olybirder]

My hair had started to get rather shaggy and I figured that hairdressers will be snowed under with customers if and when they reopen, so I decided to invest in some hair clippers. I ordered a pair direct from Wahl UK, as they seemed to be out of stock everywhere else and they were dispatched in five days and arrived five days later. Lynn gave me my first haircut today and the results were quite impressive for a first attempt. We put a sheet on the floor and when we had finished I shook it out in the garden. Within five minutes the local House Sparrows had discovered the clumps of hair and were flying off with their beaks filled with it to line their nests. That made me feel ridiculously warm and fuzzy inside. A nice bit of recycling.

Ron