This week saw our new normal, with the children off school and Mr S and I working different hours to be able to care for them. We are both key workers and have to attend work onsite, although at present we are compressing our hours into longer days, I’m working 4 days in 3 days and Mr S, 2.5 days in 2 days. There seems to be quite high expectations of what we are to do with the children on our ‘school days. ’ I prefer a more relaxed approach, starting the day with a long nature walk, returning home for the core tasks and then more practical, fun activities in the afternoon.

I read ..

I’m preferring to read in the evenings rather than watch television, it’s a perfect distraction. I’ve read two books this week, Call me by your name by Andre Aciman and Never Greener by Ruth Jones. I was a little disappointed that the hype about Call me did not live up to the reality for me. I simply didn’t root for the main characters, they weren’t particularly nice and I didn’t find their romance authentic. However the characters and relationships were so much better in Never Greener. I love Ruth Jones’ tv work and her story was of the relationship dilemmas that people may face, do you go back to a former love, unrequited love etc.. was one the reader could relate to. The ending was perfect and you felt that every character got the right result.

I watched

I finally got to see Rocketman this week and loved it. I love a musical and could see this on the stage. Some of theatrical styles, eg through a door to a new scene, music to cross over scenes etc.. were in the film and I appreciated this, it felt original. The costumes were amazing and it was a film which I liked on so many different levels.

I made

It’s not so much about me making recipes this week but foods the children have enjoyed making with me. On Tuesday we made fresh pancakes on our return from our walk and on Thursday Little Miss made a delicious ginger cake with citrus icing. I’m keen to encourage a wider range of recipes and today, Little Miss and I made a chestnut and mushroom flan from scratch for tea, delicious! In this lockdown, it’s been nice to have more time to prep meals and enjoy around the table.

We have also made rainbows for our windows this week, this is part of a national project to add a little sunshine to our local neighbourhood.

I heard …

On Thursday evening, we went into the garden at 8pm to clap and cheer our nhs. The sound was incredible, I never expected it to be so noisy and emotional. It’s interesting to see the ways in which communities are still trying to be together and show appreciation.

So now it’s week 2 of lockdown. We’ve done our first week and I know what to expect and have made some minor changes to the routine. Let’s see what week 2 brings ….