Day 2: Not self-isolating now but social distancing.

Dear family, friends and followers.

Here we are day 2 of what was going to be self-isolating, but having spoken to our site manager this morning, we can move around the site, which is locked to the public and is shut to boats and boaters unless they moor with us. The main thing we wanted was our post from the post room, which we have been allowed to get. Because the site is on lock down, the postie cannot come in, but our amazing site manager is collecting the post from the sorting office twice a week. Now whilst we have been told we do not have to self-isolate, we will be making sure we keep our distance from other moorer's in the Arm, which is not difficult because we are an end mooring. None of the other boaters here have any symptoms, but I for one want to be careful because we do have elderly and those with suppressed immune systems. We have moorer's who have come back from Spain and Egypt and they are all fine, but even so I am cautious. I will be out doing our garden, so be prepared for lots of gardening posts. But today I am still in recovery mode from our dash home to our mooring.
This morning we were awake early listening to the sound of a Wren warbling away and a Robin joining in. There was no traffic sound at all, which was wonderful. Whilst we do not want Coronavirus or anyone to die, this lock down will be doing wonders for getting the pollution down to a minimum. With every minus comes a plus they say. Wildlife will be walking across roads safely and wondering where all the traffic has gone :-). I made us a cuppa and yes we did as usual when we are on the mooring watch the morning news. Of course it is all about the virus at the moment and to be honest it is depressing news when you hear about all the deaths across the world. So many families losing loved ones. It is all so tragic.
Up and about, I got on with using the other half of the mince I cooked off yesterday with the last of the Carrots and Mushrooms. I added some tomatoes and made a stock. Today's lunch will be a cottage pie, which will do use for two days.

I saw this Cornbeef Hash video, whilst I was sat drinking my morning coffee. I always have Cornbeef in the cupboard. It is part of my emergency food supplies for when we are out cruising. Quick and simple meal, which will do at least a couple of days.
Talking about food. There is a definite issue with getting a food delivery from any of the supermarkets, so I have been shopping local whilst getting home. We used small shops. Now we are home, I am going to do the same. Our local butcher does deliveries and we can order online, so I have placed an order for next week. Also a local pub is delivering fresh fruit and veg, plus bread and milk and I am going to try and get an order placed for that as well. Yes we will pay a little more, but it keeps local businesses going and they deliver, so no need for us to leave the security of our mooring. Deliveries will be placed at the gate, and we can then collect them. We will see how this works and I will of course post the results. We have a freezer, so we can freeze it until required. I am not bulk buying, I am getting just what we need for a week or two.  Shop local if you can because it may just save a business.

Shopping update: We have a fruit, veg, bread and milk order coming :-). A lovely lady rang me and sorted it all out. If this works well we will keep it up. Of course we will still have to find away to get things like tea, coffee, cereals etc, but hey one step at a time. I will keep trying to get a supermarket order in, but I am less worried now.

The afternoon was spent watching 'Robin Hood Prince of Thieves' with my feet up. I could of gone out and done some weeding, but to be honest I could not be fagged. The news that over 1000 people have now died in the UK from the virus, is so upsetting. My heart goes out to all their families and friends at this incredibly difficult time. Even those who have underlying health issues, it is to early to die. I will say this again as I did yesterday PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DO AS YOU ARE ASKED by Boris Johnson, because this is the only way we will get through this crisis and it is a crisis. We all now know that even Boris is not immune from getting it, so look after yourself and your family, by doing what is right.

Pop back soon xx