Well. The title is quite tongue in cheek, it’s not been ANYTHING like a holiday! As a couple it’s been a few weeks of hard graft for us both, we’ve both been at home. I’ve been furloughed (Rob here) from work and Tracey has been doing all the running around. She’s been at work 2 days and working at home the rest of the week.
As this is totally new territory for the both of us it’s been a steep learning curve. In my case I’ve been kept busy with painting the house and the fences in the garden, as well as a myriad of other little jobs that we’ve both been putting off over the last few months. No excuses now! (I bet every bloke on the planet hasn’t been able to say “I’ll do it when I have time”). I bet there isn’t a house on the estate where we live that hasn’t had a something done in the last few weeks. Also I think we’ve really annoyed the cat by being here. Normally she has a few hours a day where she is fast asleep in her comfy bed, but with us being around the house she keeps getting up and giving us both dirty looks before returning to bed.
Apart from painting our house I’ve also detailed my car. It was LOOOOONNNNNNGGGGG overdue, so I bit the bullet and did a deep clean. A wash, then got rid of all the road tar stuck to it because of the new roads by us, then another wash THEN I ran a clay bar over it to clean it again. Then washed again then polished… have you ever started a job and half way through think “man alive, WHY did I decide to do this?” I must admit it looks like a different car! Clean and polished. So I was stood there with a brew thinking great job. And it popped into my head “ I wonder what it will look like with new wheels?” So cue the next job, I went out and purchased some paints and a trolley jack and set to revamping my wheels. 3 days of cleaning, sanding and painting. Layer after layer after layer. Eventually finished, they look absolutely fantastic. So pleased I did them. It was a hard thing to do. But it’s rewarding to take on a new task and break it down step by step and see the results at the end. I’d tell everyone to try something new when you have time. The experience will really surprise you.
When I’d done all that I decided the garage needed a clean out. (I really do like making a rod for my own back don’t I?). As I work for Jaguar Landrover as an engine builder – we have set standards to work and clean by. We call these “5-S” “sort, set, shine, standardise and sustain”. So off I went, anything that wasn’t used got put away or recycled. My tool chest was cleaned out and a little search on Amazon found me a tool tidy set. This kept me quiet for most of the day. And the end results are well worth it – all tools in their home, no more searching for 30 mins for a socket! Amen!!
As a couple we’ve been doing new things to keep fit. As the gym is closed we’ve been doing some online classes. For a change I’ve been doing walks. At least 10K per day with a weighted rucksack. I’m loving these. I combine them with a trip to the shops if we are running short on anything. I’ve worn one pair of trainers out in these weeks we’ve been off. I had to order a new pair from Under Armour, these are my birthday present from Tracey. We were supposed to go to London and see the Tutankhamen display but due to the Covid 19 lock down that trip was cancelled, so I’ve had a fancy pair of walking trainers instead.
We know during these trying times that people have struggled. And we mean REALLY struggled. As a couple we made a point of contacting friends and family and just checking in with them. Ive seen a few folks on Insta and YouTube seriously struggling with isolation, so please check in with family and friends and the folks you normally chat too on Insta and Facebook, it takes seconds and can make someone’s day.
Here in the U.K. there should be an announcement on the lockdown some time this weekend (may 7/8/9). Hopefully I’ll be back at work soon, they seem to be ramping up in that direction. I really enjoy my job at JLR. When I joined 4 years ago it was a total career change for me, I’d been a lorry driver (HGV) for 27 years – so going from that to working on a production line building high spec engines was a real eye opener. Fingers crossed we get the go ahead soon to go back in.
We’ve had lots of little side projects as well to keep us busy, Tracey is a Holistic Therapist (as well as her part time day job), so she’s been working during the evenings to get the certificate to prove she’s safe and competent for working after the Covid-19 outbreak is called off, and I’m pleased to say she’s passed all the exams with flying colours with a score of 100%. Yay! I’ve been doing little bits of writing mainly to keep the mind going, and also I decided on a whim to buy a Boba Fett Lego set. Loved doing that I can tell you. He sits in my man cave with my “baby Yoda”, or the child, my friend Kate made for me. I was going to keep him in the living room but someone vetoed that right away….
As bloggers we took the decision not to blog twice a week while this crisis is going on. I for one can only watch and read so much negative news in one day. And I don’t want to be writing about it as well. Hopefully when the news about re-openings start up we can start sharing news.
On a side note I’d like to say that on the whole the blogging and vlogging community has been brilliant over these last few weeks. Folks like Rix Flix and Ear to Ear Magic and Allears.net keeping us informed and keeping calm, and also the DSNY newscast channel has been great, as he said he will NOT post rumours or conjecture about anything.. good man. We’ve seen a massive rise in ‘’click bait’’ articles re the parks. I’m not going to name these channels and pages but suffice to say I’ve unsubscribed and made my feelings felt on these. It’s hard enough ATM without headlines like “WDW TO CLOSE FOREVER’’ UNIVERSAL TO CLOSE TILL NEXT JUNE” REALLY?? Knowing 90% of Florida relies on tourist money??? Whatever! (Sorry for the rant, but as my mom used to say “if you cant say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”.
We’ve been trying a few new things we hope to share with you all soon. We hope that it starts to settle down ASAP and be safe for everyone, and as it stands we have 80 days till we fly, and 20 days till we start looking at fastpasses with the 60 day window. So we’ll leave you with that. Stay safe. Say hello to friends old and new. And we’ll speak to you all this coming weekend!!
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