Life in Lockdown
Well, I think it’s safe to say that none of us are having the year that we were expecting so far. We had so many plans to go away in the van, me and mum had a trip to Seville booked for back in March (the day that Spain announced their lockdown) and now we’re all stuck at home wondering when this will ever end.
It’s not been as bad as I thought it would though. I really struggle with being cooped up in the house, but I think the fact that we’ve all not been allowed to go out has helped me get through it. And, we’ve had amazing weather the past few months – I couldn’t even imagine having to deal with this in the winter. How are you finding it?
We’ve been going on plenty of walks though in our local area, which has also really helped me not feel so cooped up inside. We did start to get a bit sick of the same route everytime though, so when it was announced that we could travel a little bit further for exercise, we took advantage of this. Don’t worry though, we’re staying close to home though (no more than a 15-20 minute drive from home) and choosing places that we know aren’t too busy.
I love seeing the seasons, and being such an outdoor person in general, I always love watching how nature changes throughout the year. I think people have definitely noticed that a lot more than usual this year though, but it’s been nice to see everyone else appreciating it a bit more too. And to start appreciating their gardens more too – one of my friends has decided to take up gardening this year, so I’ve been helping her out with any tips and I’ve sown her a few seeds that I can drop off on her doorstep once they’re a little bigger too.
One thing I’ve been really bad at lately though is cooking. Me and cooking have a weird relationship. I love it (I actually studied catering at college), but I just find it so hard to motivate myself to actually do it! In the winter it’s just so dark and cold, that I wrap myself in blankets on the couch and never want to leave. But during summer, I just want to sit out in the garden all evening while I can, basically until it gets too cold haha!
I’ve been cooking a little more than usual while we’ve been in lockdown, mostly because we can’t just pop to a restaurant for dinner if we fancy and a lot of the local takeaways closed for the first few weeks, though they all seem to be back to normal now. One of my impulse lockdown induced purchases was an Ooni Pizza oven. Shane was talking about it one evening as someone he works with has one, so I ended up buying us one. Everyone has had the same idea, because when I bought it back in mid-April, there was a month wait, now they’re on pre-order for August!
Ours arrived on Wednesday, so obviously we had to make pizza for dinner that night, and I can confirm that they were bloody amazing and we’re doing it all over again on Monday haha! What are some of your favourite vegetarian pizza toppings?
The cats have been loving having me and Shane home all the time – we’ve both been working from home the entire time and it looks like we both will be for the foreseeable (which I am loving btw). I’ve saved SO much money on fuel – I have a 50 mile round trip commute which can take anywhere between 45mins to an hour each way. I love the extra time I have at home now and I just don’t want to ever go back to the office haha!
In other news, my mum started fostering cats just as the lockdown was announced. Luckily for us, we live in the extension that my dad built when I was a kid, so we’ve been in our own little ‘lockdown bubble’ together, so I’ve been hanging out with the 2 cats she was given to look after. They’re 2 sisters around 2 years old who were indoor cats. Unfortunately, their owners never got them neutered, they escaped a few times, and when they came to us I had the suspicion that one of them was pregnant. Turns out, they both were (we think this is why they gave them up). Mittens had her 3 kittens (2 beige and 1 tabby) two weeks ago (on VE day) and her sister Luna had hers last Friday (3 black ones). I can’t wait for them to get to their playful kitten stage!
Anyway, that’s been my life so far in lockdown. How has yours been? How are you coping?
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