Month: April 2020

So here’s the thing, today was my daughter Sam’s birthday. Should I say how many? Well she can always deny it’s 48 and what would I know, I only gave birth to her. She had a lovely day for it, 23º and as she loves the sun she spent the day in her garden reading a book Friends and family popped by and left cards and presents on the doorstep. What more can a girl want.
There was an item in the press today that police could check shopping trolleys to ensure that only ‘essential’ items are purchased. Now I have to say that everyone’s idea of essential items is different. One of mine today when I popped in for milk was salted caramel ice cream. Felt essential to me. For certain people a bottle of vodka might be, after all it could stop them going into withdrawal and needing an ambulance. What would yours be?
Another press release is that cats could carry coronavirus and should be kept indoors. Read on my friends, this only refers to pets of people in quarantine because they have the virus. But not if the cat is of a nervous disposition and therefore doesn’t like to be locked in. Who writes this stuff?
BoJo is out of ICU, good news.
The off duty cops took their police vehicles to Bournemouth Hospital and lights flashing cheered the hospital staff. All Britain came out on their doorsteps, balconies, windows and joined in applauding the medical staff and I believe all those who are still risking Covid19 by working and keeping the country on it’s feet.
My online Blog (as opposed to my FB blog) seems to have gone live and I have a comment from Martin. Thank you Martin, it was great hearing from you and I feel honoured that you took the time to read it. Tomorrow I hope to make it officially live and look at the layout etc. etc.
Am I the only one buying more kindle books these days? I seem to be buying one a day and I’m certainly not reading one each day. Truth to tell though, I seem to buy several books that I never read past the first few pages. They sound as if they might be interesting but don’t turn out to be my style.
Tomorrow I intend dieting, exercising and hitting my todo list. Watch this space. Sleep tight, don’t let the bug bite. 😴💤😴

Our leaders said that CV19 was not accelerating out of control. The PM is still in ICU but no worse. We are all still at home (as we should be) and trying to pretend we are busy. And the sun shone on our empty beaches and parks and reached, I believe, 21° or maybe even higher. Jeremy Vine had a phone in on family fall outs or arguments. One couple thought they might get divorced. It covered kids in bed till well past midday, chore sharing and whatever else families bicker over. No problem here as I live on my own. Although the guy downstairs doesn’t like me watering my plants on the balcony and someone else sent me a snotty email. I had no idea what the rant was about, maybe more to do with lockdown than me. I sat most of this sunny day in my spare room painting. It’s not exactly a masterpiece but it’s coming along. I heard from my grandson Christian which is always nice. I caught up with my dear friend Ilse in Hamburg. She’s in total lockdown in her apartment. Her adult children do her shopping and accompany her on her daily exercise walk. It seems they don’t ‘allow’ her to go alone. No comment. We spoke about Paco and Inmaculada as we were once all friends together in Madrid. 52 years ago we were having an English speaking coffee morning every two weeks taking turns hosting. We all had babies or toddlers and took them along with us. Must have been eventful although I don’t remember any problems. There are five of the original ladies left, we still meet up but usually once a year these days. Sadly we are all widows now, Paco was the last of our men. I saw him last May when we were all together in Madrid for Ilse’s birthday celebration.
I believe I have an online family party to log into tomorrow but more about that later. It was good to know that BoJo may be slightly better, I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for him and his mother is a fabulous artist. Wish I could paint like her. Dream sweet dreams and wake up full of happy thoughts, good night or buenas noches 😴💤😴

Today I literally was on the phone until 4 in the afternoon. Kept trying to go for a walk but as soon as I made a move in that direction the phone rang again, and again, and …..
Lots of nice, chatty catch ups I must say and I was more than happy to hear from people and plenty of time going forward to do everything else. I did escape as I say about 4 o/c and do you know, I think the streets were even emptier today. One of my calls was my son Peter about the online blog I’ve thought about creating but have been putting off. Now he’s going to help me set it up. We decided on a title which is needed, of course, to get started. Result: NannyJune.com – Musings of a Grandmother has been purchased. If we’re holed up long enough my daily post might be on there as well as on FB. Bit of work still to do but at last it’s become a work in progress. I spoke to a couple of people about our poor Paco and will try to speak to my friend Inmaculada in the morning. This evening I even managed to work on my painting, I’m really quite enjoying the challenge. Here’s the thing, once NannyJune is set up I could put paintings on there, short stories (got a few of them lurking on my computer) or any other nonsense I might come up with. What do you all think? I could even start up an advice column? but there again that could attract all sorts of strange or weird questions. I feel quite excited, I think. Sleep well my darlings, tomorrow is just another day 😴💤😴

Unlucky number. After I went to bed all the power went off on this side of Bournemouth. I went to the bathroom and there was no water, no idea what was going on. Then of course I couldn’t go to sleep. I eventually had a few hours and showered and dressed. All the services were working again but not me. I felt really dopey so went and laid on the bed and slept another couple of hours. There’s certainly something about hanging around the house with no plans for the day> Makes me lethargic. I had a phone call from a friend in Madrid who has been laid up with the COVID 19, caught it off her son. Neither of them were too bad, she said it felt like any regular winter flu. Worse news was the husband of another friend has it and he was already old and unwell so he is in ICU. Only time will tell.
I’ve prepared a canvas as I’m going to do an acrylic painting which I’m hoping to start tomorrow. I’m looking forward to having something to focus on.
I had to go for a walk and get some exercise just to clear my head. I’m getting used to almost empty streets, not feeing quite so spooky. I though the councils were supposed to be finding somewhere for the homeless people. Each time I go out I’m approached by people begging. They don’t ask for a lot, maybe a pound, one today just wanted 30p. I hadn’t taken my purse again so couldn’t help out and 3 people approached me. They don’t come too close but it must be scary. What scared me were the birds in the Gardens. There were so many seagulls and they are enormous. I wondered what they eat now as they used to scavenge from the bins around town and outside restaurants. I was worried about being attacked by them. Couldn’t help thinking about that old Hitchcock film Birds. I saw a strange sight as I walk back home. A small plane flying over. It seems some sort of life continues. The Queen came on the tele and encouraged us all to be brave and British. I think we’re lucky to have her, she never flaps. I hope you all enjoyed your day in the sunshine. Good night everyone. Sleep tight 😴💤😴

My first call today was from my sister in Australia. She had just received the birthday card I posted on March 16th for her birthday on 25th. I thought 9 days would be ok but apparently not. It took about 20 days. She’s postponed it anyway due to the lockdown so we could say it was early.
I did some balcony gardening (is that possible?). I decided to put my mother’s day hydrangea in the large tub on my bedroom balcony. I had to remove an old rose bush first and there were a whole load of weeds growing in the tubs back there. All looking great after a good tidy up. I hadn’t long finished and I was out there tidying up when the guy in the flat below called up. He asked me to be careful when watering my plants as the water was causing damage to the wood on his balcony. Now I don’t suppose the endless storms and rain of this winter could have had anything to do with the damage? I certainly hadn’t been out there with the watering can since last summer.
The garage door has been fixed so I’ve been shopping. Went late hoping for an empty shop but quite a few people there. I bought too much, again, Honestly I think I could almost last out foodwise no matter how long the lockdown is. I managed to break a tumbler as I was putting things away, bits of glass and water all over the floor.
I wonder if I’ll be able to carry on with my plants. I really don’t feel like a dispute with a neighbour and I’ve heard through the grapevine that he’s a difficult man. mind you, it has been said that I’m a difficult woman. Let the party begin. sweet dreams 😴💤😴

Yes, I found myself locked in when I wanted to go out. Needed some shopping so I left it till the end of the day when the shops are virtually empty. I was going to get something for dinner while I was there. Grabbed my mask and gloves (and clothes) and went to the underground garage for my car. All good so far, drove down the ramp to the exit gate and it was stuck. Neither open nor shut and not enough room in the gap to drive a car through. Oh S%@* I thought. I got out, wiggled the gate a bit. hit the remote a few times but nothing. Back upstairs and a search through the fridge for something to eat. Friday special it wasn’t. Good thing I still had ice cream. I had a nice walk earlier down to Bournemouth Square. I needed to post a letter and headed for the post box in WH Smiths. usually shuts at 5,30 but new closing time is 3 o/c. I missed it. I wandered through the gardens down to the pier and the sun was shining and everything felt great, almost normal, except it was quiet and downtown is never quiet. The beach and sea were beautiful. Has anyone noticed that there’s nothing on the tele. By the time I got back and found I was locked in etc. etc. I felt it was viewing time. I keep finding myself watching old episodes of Greys Anatomy because there’s nothing on regular tv. No wonder Zoom is so popular. Over 30 people read my post yesterday, this could be a sign of people getting desperate in lockdown or maybe just lousy tv. Either way I appreciate you making me feel it’s worthwhile. I hope someone fixed the garage gate, if not I might have to eat the plants instead of planting them on the balcony. Nothing wrong with a bit of vegan. Keep safe everyone and sweet dreams 😴💤😴

50 years ago today in Madrid I gave birth to my son, Happy 50th Birthday Peter. Hope you had a lovely day working in isolation with your gorgeous family. I couldn’t have predicted any of the events that were going to happen in the next few years. Our leaders announced today that it might be a good idea if we wore masks. Not to protect ourselves but to protect others if we were to sneeze or cough. Can you imagine sneezing with one of those things wrapped around your face? I made a paella, not a real one but a rice dish with stuff I had in my fridge/freezer. It wasn’t too bad and there’s enough for a couple more days. I also cleaned my shower head and as I write this I’m thinking “really and who cares?’. Honestly the only thing I’ve written that made you sit up and listen is when I said my zoom got hacked by porn. Did you notice that FaceBook has changed it’s look again. It’s all done to confuse. Yesterday I lost my post before I finished and now there are actually two versions of the April Fool’s Day post. Oh maybe that’s why, could it have been an April Fool’s Joke? I did practice my vocal chords today with the help of youtube but I think it sounds pretty bad (my voice not Youtube). I need to learn a lot more before I go public. Elena called me late afternoon and said she was outside my building and did I want to run down and see her and the girls (from a distance, of course). I grabbed some sweets for the girls and ran on down. Wonderful to see them all and they brought me some tulips. I did a little dance in the entrance and embarrassed them all. I might post a photo of that in a bit. We all had a group birthday chat for Peter using BlueJeans. And that was pretty much that. At 8 o/c I went onto my balcony to clap and I could hear a couple of people in the large block over the other side of the car park and my neighbour below me came out as well. Not many but better than last week. Hope you all had a good day and enjoyed the sunshine. Don’t forget to beg, borrow or make a mask, we could get creative and have a competition – the Great British Mask Making Challenge – Sleep well my lovelies 😴💤😴

I think that might be a bit of an oxymoron but I had to mention it so now it’s done. My body doesn’t know what time of day it is and I almost forgot to go to bed last night and then didn’t get up until 11 o/c. Coffee is my drug of choice and the only thing I hoarded. Foresight is so much more useful than hindsight. I don’t like pottering, not any more. Once upon a time if I had a day when I could potter I enjoyed it. I thought I might as well do some housework, that’s how bad it’s got. I did it to disco music and danced onto the balcony. There were two lads playing football in the car park, such a lovely sight. I spoke to both my daughters and Elena wanted to know whether, if I do learn to sing will it still pass to her through our genes? I suppose it might, I’m beginning to believe anything might happen. It’s funny how some days I can turn my pottering into something quite good like painting or planting or exercising and other days nothing happens. I made myself go for a walk and took a different route. Very nice and a few people said hello which felt sort of normal. A guy asked if I had any loose change which felt very normal except I hadn’t taken my purse as all the shops are closed. A message for all you parents stuck at home with bored kids. It’s ok to lie and tell them that a new law says they have to go for a walk every day😇 You could also tell them that the police are watching them through their tablets or whatever. They’ll never know, mothers don’t lie, do they? That’s all I’ve got you April Fools, good night and I’ll try to do better tomorrow 😴💤😴