Day 9: Who is going mad?

Dear family, friends and followers.

My assessment of the week gone by.

The eerily quiet empty Birmingham road at "rush hour", and the equally eerie Industrial Estate in Budbrooke Road, which is always busy normally has been void of any life, apart for the very odd few delivery vans or the cement lorry still going about its work. We have been getting deliveries here in the Arm. The drivers come to the gate, where they can ring the number on the gate and someone will go and collect the item being delivered. I have been collecting items for a neighbour and also stuff which Keith had ordered for his railway. I actually had a new battery delivered for my laptop. It was delivered by a Hermes driver. I think this has been the only time Hermes actually delivered on time and the parcel arrived at its correct destination.
Thank you to all the Key Workers who are doing amazing thing. I PERSONALLY THANK YOU ALL :-)

Okay own up. Who is slowly going mad with being in lock down?

If you are self-isolating for the 12 weeks, how are you keeping yourself active and stir crazy free?
I would be interested to read your solutions to a situation which could actually send us all mad, especially if you are living with folk who are jarring on you ordinarily.
Living on a boat, you have to get on well with your other half, because you are living in a tube which is six foot ten wide and however long your boat is, in our case seventy foot long, but under half of that is living space. Because we have liveaboard since 2005, we are used to being in each others pockets and spending 24 hours a day, 7 days a week together, but that does not mean we do not grate on each other from time to time. We have however never had a row in the Twenty years we have been together. We are fortunate that we can live on a boat together and not row. I have heard some humdingers in my time when passing other boats and it is clear that boat life is definitely not suited to everyone. I always say to people considering life afloat. If you and your partner argue, living on a boat may not be for you, because on a boat the only escape is the towpath. Which means if you row a lot one of you will be walking the towpath a lot.
At the moment if I feel the need to get out, I will sit on our pontoon or go for a walk in the arm. This is not because my other half is driving me up the wall, it is because I just need space and air. For anyone living in a house they can go to another room and shut the door, or go outside into the garden. We do not have other rooms as such on our boat, as it is mostly open plan, which means the outdoors is very important. Staying calm and not getting down is the key to this situation. Do something which makes you happy and the same with your partner. For us it is working on his railway and for me it is crocheting, gardening or reading. Of an evening we love to watch films. Last night's delights were Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 and Indecent Proposal.

Today began in the good old usual way. I sat up until gone midnight trying to book a new delivery slot for food, which would be in a couple of weeks time and even though I got through from the queuing stage, every slot was filled. Having slept like a log, I was still awake early.
After my usual boat jobs of a morning, which this morning included emptying the cassette. I decided that we would be having Sweet and Sour Chicken and Veggies for lunch and I made enough to do us at least two days. I am still using the veggies which came in the fruit and veg box on Tuesday from one of our local pubs The Four Penny Pub.

The sauce was shop bought, but was fine. I put it on the coal stove to cook. I had thought I might of let the stove out today, but there was still a nip in the air and because Keith feels the cold more than me, I decided to keep it in for another day.
Whilst lunch was cooking, I took myself off out into the garden again and did a bit more weeding. The one thing I noticed was the increase in road noise. It has been so eerily quiet this past Eight days and yet this morning I was hearing more cars, but no road workers on site.

The soil in our garden is a bit like concrete at the moment, this is mainly due to no rain. I am hoping by digging it over it will make it easier in the future to weed. I am getting on top of the weeds, which are mainly Wild Garlic Mustard.

It seeds really easily, so I need to get rid of it out of the garden, otherwise it will just be everywhere. Another name for Wild Garlic Mustard is 'Jack-by-the-Hedge', which I think is lovely. It can be used as a herb in cooking, but right now I need to get it under control in the garden. After an hour or so gardening, it was time to turn my attention to lunch. Our rice tin is now only half pull or half empty depending on which way you look at it, so I will need to try and get some more on my shopping order and hope that they have some in stock.
After a really nice lunch and coffee, I got on with some more crocheting and sorting out my Winter/Summer clothing. For me it is time to put most of the Winter clothing in the box and bring out the Summer things. I always keep some warmer tops on hand just in case, but I am ever hopeful the weather is warming up and we can soon put away our down jackets.

Today has been a day of tragic news of more people dying including a five year old child. So I am pleading with you. PLEASE STAY AT HOME. HELP SAVE LIVES.

Pop back soon xxxx