DAY 1

No Monday morning catch-up, no hat required. In an attempt to make sure the weekend remains an event and that the days don’t all blend into one, I have decided to keep setting the alarm clock for 7am. Actually this morning Robert had the alarm clock as he had an early morning site visit. Rolling further back, there was no need for the alarm clock anyway because I decamped to the sofa at about 4.30am when the snoring became too much to bear. I only didn’t deploy the usual dig in the ribs tactics because Robert managed to get himself stung on the neck by a bee yesterday and as is now standard in these circumstances (an occupational hazard of being a bee-keeper) despite deploying Athisan and Piriton, the sting zone swells up rather alarmingly. His breathing is fine and he is in no way uncomfortable, but he looks a bit frightening. The Piriton, or possibly the bee sting, makes him very sleepy and the swollen neck cannot have helped on the snoring front, and it seemed a little harsh to be cross in the circumstances, so I just moved to the sofa and slept there until Alex got up for his early morning exercise routine. Who exercises at 6am! I blame the years of early morning rowing training.

I decided to walk into Henley first thing (well 8.45) to undertake a task I have been promising to do forever. It was a source of much anxiety amongst the men in the house, that until yesterday I kept my credit cards in my wallet together with a list of their PIN numbers. I can imagine the collective intake of breath from those reading this – how could she be so stupid? In my defence you have to remember I am really bad with numbers and can transpose a PIN number at the drop of a hat, however that is a pretty flimsy excuse. So into Henley I marched, changed the numbers on the cards and tore up the list of numbers in my wallet – very pleased with myself I am too. Task 1 for furlough ticked off. Given that I will now probably forget all those numbers, it will have the added bonus of restricting my capacity to spend money too.

The afternoon involved the usual domestic chores involving the laundry fairy and then once it had cooled down a bit I set about weeding the courtyard (another long overdue job). I foolishly thought Nick, who was sitting watching the TV between essay deadlines, might come and help, but no. He managed an hour of TV and some darts practise instead. I did suggest he might like to move the sacks of charcoal for me which he did very obligingly. Lifting he can clearly do, but weeding clearly does not fall within his skill set.

I made dinner and started a new book – The Silent Patient, so all in all a productive first day of furlough, long may my motivation continue.